Swardspeak

**Swardspeak** (or ***Chuva***) is a secret language that came from the mixed language with the names Taglish and Englog. It is used by gay people in the Philippines.

Swardspeak uses word from Tagalog, English, Spanish, Cebuano, Japanese, Sanskrit, and other languages. Names of Celebrities and trademark brands are also used.

Gay people use Swardpeak to make themselves feel special. The language changes a lot. People who use the language are called _Bekimons_. This word is from the words _bakla_ (gay) and _Jejemon_.

The word "Swardspeak" came from the 1970's book called "Swardspeak: A Preliminary Study". "Sward" is slang for "gay male" in the Philippines.

## Rules

Swardspeak is a form of slang. It changes a lot and the meaning of words are hard to know. The rules are explained below.

- The first sound changes to the letter "J" or "Sh" or to the sounds "Jo-", "Sho-", "Ju-", "Shu-", "Ky-", or "Ny-".

|scope="col" width="200"|Word|scope="col" width="200"|Language|scope="col" width="200"|Meaning|scope="col" width="200"|Swardspeak|scope="col" width="200"|Swardspeak meaning|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|shorts|English|trousers|nyorts|trousers||||||
||Tagalog|assistant|julaylay|assistant||||||
||Tagalog|spouse|jowa|lover||||||
||Tagalog|spouse|jowabelle|lover||||||
||Tagalog|child|kyota|child||||||
||Tagalog|sibling|shupatid|sibling||||||
||Tagalog|stinky|kyoho|stinky||||||
||Tagalog|to go [to a place]|jonta|to go [to a place]||||||

- The last sound changes to "-ash", "-is", "-iz", "-ish", "-itch", "-ech", "-ush", or "-oosh" as a suffix.

|scope="col" width="200"|Word|scope="col" width="200"|Language|scope="col" width="200"|Meaning|scope="col" width="200"|Swardspeak|scope="col" width="200"|Swardspeak meaning|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||Cebuano|a small amount|jotis|a very small amount||||||
||Tagalog|what|anech|exclamatory what||||||
||Tagalog|this one|itich|this one||||||
||Tagalog|fat|jubis|very fat||||||
||Tagalog|bitchy|taroosh|very bitchy||||||
||Tagalog|nothing|wash|nothing||||||

- Changing "a", "o", or "u" sounds with "or", "er", or "ur", especially with "l".

|scope="col" width="200"|Word|scope="col" width="200"|Language|scope="col" width="200"|Meaning|scope="col" width="200"|Swardspeak|scope="col" width="200"|Swardspeak meaning|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|hello|English|hello|heller|hello (used as a wake up call)||||||
||Tagalog|maddening or insanely [entertaining]|kalurkey|maddening or insanely [entertaining]||||||
||Tagalog|beautiful|gander|beautiful||||||

- Changing places of letters in a word. Used mostly in Cebuano swardspeak.

|scope="col" width="200"|Word|scope="col" width="200"|Language|scope="col" width="200"|Meaning|scope="col" width="200"|Swardspeak|scope="col" width="200"|Swardspeak meaning|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||Cebuano|no, not|ilij|no, not||||||
||Cebuano|bad, unpleasant|nial|bad, unpleasant||||||
||Cebuano|lover|bayu|lover||||||

- Puns,  code-switching, onomatopoeic  Anglicization of words.

|scope="col" width="200"|Word|scope="col" width="200"|Language|scope="col" width="200"|Meaning|scope="col" width="200"|Swardspeak|scope="col" width="200"|Swardspeak meaning|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||Cebuano|gay|biyuti|beautiful, pretty||||||
|drama|English|drama|drama|melodrama, exaggeration, drama [queen]||||||
|career|English|job|karir|to take seriously (used as a verb)||||||
|carry|English|carry|keri|to carry [oneself well]||||||
|feel|English|to sympathize|fillet o'fish|to be attracted to someone||||||
|G.I.|English|a member of the United States armed forces|g.i. joe|a foreign lover, particularly American||||||
|opposition party|English|opposition party|opposition party|a party with a lot of unexpected problems||||||
|gurang|Hiligaynon|old|wrangler|old gay man||||||
|_Wake up and smell the coffee._|Philippine English|_Wake up and smell the roses._|kape|to be realistic||||||
||Spanish|mother|mudra|female friends with children||||||
||Tagalog|obnoxious, unpleasant|antibiotic|obnoxious, unpleasant||||||
||Tagalog|pig|boy band|fat kid||||||
||Tagalog|free (as in the price of goods), to treat someone out for free|liberty|free (as in the price of goods), to treat someone out for free||||||
||Tagalog|prostitute, to pound, to hammer|hammer|prostitute||||||
||Tagalog|[sun]beam, ray|silahis|bisexual male||||||

- Words from popular culture, mostly celebrities or TV shows. Based the things they were famous for, because parts of the words rhyme, or both.

|scope="col" width="200"|Person / Object|scope="col" width="200"|Word|scope="col" width="200"|Language|scope="col" width="200"|Meaning|scope="col" width="200"|Swardspeak|scope="col" width="200"|Swardspeak meaning|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Crayola|cry|English|cry|crayola|to be sad|||||||
|X-Men|ex-man|English|a male person who came out|X-Men|a male person who came out|||||||
|Gelli de Belen|jealous|English|jealous|gelli de belen|jealous|||||||
|Noel Coward|no|English|no|noel coward|no|||||||
|Oprah Winfrey|promise|English|promise|oprah winfrey|promise|||||||
|Sharon Cuneta|sure|English|sure|sharon cuneta|yes, sure|||||||
|Jesus Christ Superstar|resurrection|English|resurrection|jesus christ superstar|fashion make-over, to change into [more fashionable] clothing|||||||
|Maxine Hong Kingston|taxi|English|taxi|taxina hong kingston|[to wait for a] taxicab|||||||
|Optimus Prime|transformation|English|transformation|optimus prime|fashion make-over, to change into [more fashionable] clothing|||||||
|Coffeemate|_Wake up and smell the coffee._|Philippine English|_Wake up and smell the roses._|coffeemate|to be realistic|||||||
|Carmi Martin||Sanskrit|karma|carmi martin|karma|||||||
|Anaconda (film)||Tagalog|"snake", slang for "to betray"|anaconda|traitor, to betray|||||||
|Mazinger Z||Tagalog|gay|badinger z|homosexual)|||||||
|Barbra Streisand||Tagalog|to block|barbra streisand|to be rejected bluntly, blocked|||||||
|Jiminey Cricket||Tagalog|housemaid|chiminey cricket|housmaid|||||||
|Tommy Lee Jones||Tagalog|hungry|tommy lee jones|hungry|||||||
|Julie Yap-Daza (famous the book _Etiquette for Mistresses_)||Tagalog|to be caught|julie yap-daza|to be caught [cheating]|||||||
|Jupiter||Tagalog|sibling|jupiter|sibling|||||||
|Lupita Aquino-Kashiwahara||Tagalog|cruel|lupita kashiwahara|cruel|||||||
|Mahalia Jackson||Tagalog|expensive, precious, dear|mahalia jackson|expensive|||||||
|Mariah Carrey||Tagalog|cheap|murriah carrey|cheap|||||||
|Rita Gomez||Tagalog|irritating|rita gomez|irritating, annoying|||||||
|Pagoda Cold Wave Lotion||Tagalog|tired, exhausted|pagoda cold wave lotion|tired, exhausted|||||||
|Ayatollah Khomeini||Tagalog|thin|fayatollah kumenis|thin|||||||
|Pocahontas||Tagalog|prostitute|pocahontas|prostitute|||||||
|Winston Churchill||Tagalog|high society|churchill|high society|||||||
|Tom Jones||Tagalog|hungry|tom jones|hungry|||||||

- From other languages like Japanese.

|scope="col" width="200"|Word|scope="col" width="200"|Language|scope="col" width="200"|Meaning|scope="col" width="200"|Swardspeak|scope="col" width="200"|Swardspeak meaning|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|(bīru)|Japanese|beer|berru|beer||||||
|(otoko)|Japanese|male|otoko|manly man||||||
|(watashi)|Japanese|me, I|watashi|me, I||||||
||Spanish|small|chiquito|small||||||
||Spanish|vagina|coño|high society||||||
||Spanish|vagina|coño|speaker of Coño English||||||
||Spanish|obscenity, means "in a fist"|puñeta|profanity, equal to "fuck"||||||
||Spanish|seven deadly sins|siete pecados|nosy, gossipmonger||||||

## Examples

- Tagalog nursery rhyme "_Ako ay may lobo_" (I Have a Balloon) into Swardspeak.

|scope="col" width="300"|Tagalog|scope="col" width="300"|Swardspeak|scope="col" width="300"|English|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|_Ako ay may lobo _ _Lumipad sa langit  _ _Di ko na nakita _ _Pumutok na pala _ _Sayang lang ang pera,_ _Pinambili ng lobo_ _Sa pagkain sana,_ _Nabusog pa ako._|_Aketch ai may lobing_ _Flylalou sa heaven_ _Witchels ko na nasightness _ _Jumutok lang pala _ _Sayang lang ang anda _ _Pinang buysung ng lobing_ _Kung lafangertz sana_ _Nabusog pa aketch _|I had a balloon It flew up in the sky I can't see it anymore [I didn't know] it had popped Wasted my money Buying the balloon If I had bought food instead At least I would have been satisfied||||

- Tagalog nursery rhyme "_Bahay Kubo_" (Nipa Hut) into Swardspeak.

|scope="col" width="300"|Tagalog|scope="col" width="300"|Swardspeak|scope="col" width="300"|English|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|_Bahay kubo, kahit munti_ _Ang halaman duon,_ _Ay sari-sari_ _Singkamas, at talong,_ _Sigarilyas at mani_ _Sitaw, bataw, patani_ _Kundol, patola, upo’t kalabasa_ _At saka meron pa_ _Labanos, mustasa_ _Sibuyas, kamatis, bawang at luya_ _Sa paligid-ligid_ _Ay puno ng linga_|_Valer kuberch, kahit jutay_ _Ang julamantrax denchi,_ _Ay anek-anek._ _Nyongkamas at nutring,_ _Nyogarilyas at kipay._ _Nyipay, nyotaw, jutani._ _Kundol, jotola, jupot jolabastrax_ _At mega join-join pa_ _Jobanos, nyustasa,_ _Nyubuyak, nyomatis, nyowang at luyax_ _And around the keme_ _Ay fulnes ng linga._|Nipa hut, even though it is small The plants it houses Are varied Turnip and eggplant, Winged bean and peanut String bean, hyacinth bean, lima bean. Wax gourd, luffa, white squash and pumpkin, And there is also radish, mustard, Onion, tomato, Garlic, and ginger And all around Are sesame seeds.||||

## Books

- _Visayan Swardspeak: The language of a gay community in the Philippines"_ - Crossroads, 1990
- _“’Performing’ the Filipino Gay Experiences in America: Linguistic Strategies in a Transnational Context.”_ Beyond the Lavender Lexicon: Authenticity, Imagination and Appropriation in Lesbian and Gay Language. New York: Gordon and Breach, 1997. 249–266
- _“Global Divas: Filipino Gay Men in the Diaspora”_, Duke University Press Books, November 19, 2003.

## Infobox (language)

- **name**: Swardspeak
- **nativename**: Chuva
- **ethnicity**: Gay community
- **states**: Philippines
- **familycolor**: Creole
- **fam2**: Taglish and Englog
- **script**: Latin alphabet, Latin
- **iso2**: cpe