This, above all:

This, above all: To be God's best for The Coach and for Anna

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

"Pure, unadulterated Cebuano"

It hurts to laugh.

While most of my stitches are healing well, the hole on my right, through which a pipe drained blood and liquid for four days, still gapes and throbs. When I sneeze I anchor my tummy in with my hands, afraid that the force might hurl my insides through the gauze. Rising in the morning is a major production: I slowly maneuver to my left, slip an elbow underneath, secure my right palm on the bed, and lift myself up by degrees. It does not help that The Coach keeps our bedroom Siberia-cold (I have to burrow under three covers!); my joints are all stiff, and much of my body refuses to wake.

But.

I cannot help but check out Himantayon for my regular fix of laugh-out-loud Cebuano humor. The term himantayon means—geez, now how on earth do I translate that? (Me, with my clumsy Tagalog.) A pakialamero is more of a meddler and a busybody. A himantayon—from the word bantay—is more circumspect and subtle in his or her snooping, though no less heedful or alert or even catty, though never malevolent. A glamorous gossip, how 'bout that?

(Help, I am floundering. It's like explaining the mechanics of labyog and kumbayot.)

Anyway, this site, which I discovered through fellow Cebuano Isolde Amante's*, celebrates all things BisDak—that's Bisayang Dako or "Big Bisaya," literally, though that translation fails at capturing the self-jest that can be at times droll or comical or tongue-in-cheek or farcical or downright clownish.

I love it. It's home. And I'll read it if it kills me.



* If you crave good fiction, check out Isolde's Dance, deservedly a winner at the 2000 Palancas.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Miss Janet,

I agree, as a fellow bisdak, we have the best humor. The Himantayon is hilarious.

janet said...

Hi Ivy! :) We gotta contribute to that site--keep it going. :)

Isolde Amante said...

Hi, Janet! Thanks for a major compliment, coming from the writer of "Undercurrents." :) Other than (occasionally) muttering to myself, the Himantayon site has drawn strange looks my way at a coffee shop or two. Hadlok tingali tan-awon nang babayeng mokalit la'g bahakhak atobangan sa laptop no? Pero sige lang, the belly laughs are all worth it.

Cheers,
Isolde

janet said...

Haha, ako sad, mora'g buang sa balay, dako kaayo'g ngisi!

Looking forward to more of your fiction, Isolde. You ought to come up with a collection! :)

Anonymous said...

Ma'm Janet,

Una sa tanan, hinaot unta nga maayo naka, kung wa pa, here's hoping you'd make a speedy recovery. Mam, kung sakit ikatawa, NGISI lang. Mao ra gihapon na. Ang importante nga nalingaw ka.

Salamat kaayo Ma'm Janet sa kanunay nimong pagbisita sa among gamay'ng payag ni Tayon. Salamat nga nakahatag mi ug bisan gamay'ng kalingaw ug kalipay kaninyo. Salamat sad kang Isolde (contributor baya ni namo sad!), ug kang Ivy.

Salamat sad sa paghimo ani nga entry. Mura'g nibukad ang among atay...honest. Kahilakon ko ani nga linya o: "I love it. It's home. And I'll read it if it kills me." Pa-ayo na baya Ma'm ha? Salamat kaayo. Ari nako kay mutulo na gyud ang akong luha...

Salamat Ma'm Janet! Padayon!

- Himan