Transnational bebot-ism

So you’ve all probably been wondering, “where’s Michelle’s response to ‘why bebot?’” Sorry, I went on a trip and then got lazy, and well… I kept putting off posting, and then I started to hesitate writing.

Some of my hesitation on responding to this topic stems from the fact that I quite don’t know how to answer the topic question. Before the Black Eyed Peas put Stockton, California back on the map by shooting their music video “Bebot” there, I had no clue what the word meant. To be truthful, not many of my other friends who spoke Tagalog knew either. We were born here in the U.S. or came over when we were so young, that we hadn’t learned the slang used by our elder siblings, cousins, and other relatives.

A few weeks ago I called my mom and asked her if she knew what the word meant. I wanted to get a sense for how the word has evolved since she used it and how it is used now. Here’s how our conversation went:

Me: Ma, do you know what bebot means?

Mom: Hah? What’s bebot?

Me: You know, it’s sometimes what people call pretty girls… I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking you!

Mom: Oh! Bebot… I think it has something to do with the ubet (Ilokano for butt).

Me: (Spluttering) What?! No mom, it’s not the butt. It means babe! You know, when a guy tries to hit on you by getting your attention by saying hey baby.

Mom: Oh, BEBOT! Yeah, it was never anything but a name to me. There were some girls in my village who were called bebot. It’s just a nickname. Why? What’s wrong with saying bebot?

Me: Nothing, nothing at all mom.

For my mother it served no negative meanings. I wanted to know what my friends in the Philippines thought of the word, so I asked them.

Friend 1: Here in the Philippines, I’d only use bebot for close friends and use it only as a joke. Other than that, I don’t ever want to be called bebot because it’s something that ghetto people here would call chicks… it’s a bit derogatory depending on who uses it.

Friend 2: It’s not really so nice because it doesn’t [connote] respect.

As Grace-Sonia pointed out, a word becomes transformed over time. But it also changes when used in different contexts. In the Philippines, some people may think it is a word disrespecting women. Yet here in the US, bebot doesn’t hold as much power in the negative sense.

So why use bebot? To me, this word is a metaphor for the transnational Filipina. Whatever the original meaning of bebot, it has become transformed and adapted to the culture that it was transplanted to. By cultural definition, I am Filipina. Yet, by US standards, I am every bit an American. My passport is blue, I pay taxes in California, and I vote every four years for president. Yet, this doesn’t make me any less of a Filipina as those who live in the Philippines.

This blog site will help the three of us understand the transformed meaning of Filipino-ness and how identity can be defined by our different experiences, both in the Philippines and here in the US, more particularly, in California.

Do you get where I’m trying to go with this? I sure hope so, because this is all I can say about it.

GSM: My Friend Bebot

This is slightly embarrassing to admit, but until recently, I did not know that "bebot" was a word in Tagalog.

"Bebot," for me, was the name of a fellow Filipina childhood friend. I really looked up to her. She was four years older than me. Somehow she got assigned the unofficial and sometimes unfortunate task of entertaining me and my younger brother at all our parents' parties and get-togethers. "Behhhbot!" I recall her mom calling out to her when we showed up at the door. She would come down the stairs, and lead me and my brother up to her room, where the other kids would be, playing and telling stories. Bebot kept all the kids together, despite our range of ages (my brother and I usually being the youngest) leading games like Simon Says, Red Light Green Light, or Musical Chairs.

It wasn't until the Black Eyed Peas song came out that I learned that "bebot" was a Tagalog word. If you enter the word on Wikipedia, an entry for the song's video comes up, and it explains that the word is "Filipino slang for 'pretty woman', 'hot chick', 'hottie', 'babe', 'baby'." Later, I learned that my friend Bebot's name wasn't really Bebot afterall. It was Emelita. "Bebot" was a term of endearment that her family used for her as the youngest child. (Secret: even though I'm in my thirties, my mom still calls me "Bey," short for "Baby").

I'm not sure which is more embarrassing. Revealing that my mom still calls me Baby, or admitting that I learned what "bebot" means on Wikipedia.

Like many second generation Fil-Ams, I grew up with two languages, Tagalog and English. I did not take classes in Tagalog, so my understanding of the language is limited to familial conversations and is purely contextual. So perhaps I can forgive myself of not knowing a Filipino slang word like "bebot."

However, in any language, words can evolve and change over time. Some words develop, taking on more complicated and nuanced meanings. Also, whether or not one chooses to use a particular term, may be affected by one's environment, education, and experience. And somehow, between the time I was five years old and now, "bebot" had gone from meaning "baby" to "hot chick."

In naming our blog "Musings of a Bebot," with the implication being that me and my colleagues are the "bebots," what does this all mean? In adopting the word "bebot," do we immutably cast ourselves in the diminutive category of "hottie?" Or rather, do we make the word our own, and stretch its definition?

Only time will tell. We're just in the beginnings of launching this blog. And on a personal note, there is still so much I would like to do with my life. It seems premature to define "me" just yet. Perhaps I should take a cue from my old friend Bebot, and simply start with trying to keep all us kids together and being there to lead the games.