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.
In Brazil, we order names alphabetically using the first name, not the last. In my university, the 600 engineering students were divided in 10 groups in alphabetical order. So, everyone in my class had one of 4 or 5 names starting with M.
ReplyDeleteSo everyone needed a nickname. For some, it was the last name. I was the youngest of the 600. Someone had the brilliant idea of calling me "Nenê" (literally, baby) and it stuck.
So all my college friends call me Nenê and many of them don't even know my real name. That may be fine when you are 17 (it is not), but it generates some interesting stories until these days.
There are some funny stories of, 25 years later, people introducing me to CEOs of companies in a business environment as "Nenê".
Marcio.
good to know i'm not the only "baby!" thanks for sharing. what a great story. seems to me as if your nickname is translated as "young genius."
ReplyDelete