I’ve been “Generalized”

My idol, Mindanao Bob talked about being Filipinized in his wonderful blog, Live in the Philippines. Suddenly, I thought if it’s being accustomed to Gensan life, it must be”Generalized”.

I will talk about having gotten used to some things here I found odd before or being “Generalized” since locals are called Generals, right?

Coming from Manila and being paranoid about English grammar and pronunciation all my life, I was shocked at some bad-sounding pronunciations (to me). (I’m trying to be very careful here yah know.) One big example will be when people use the word “nag-meet” which they pronounce  “nag-met”. The first time I heard it five years ago, I almost fell off my seat. One other word I have heard that made me stop is “cobwebs” which I have heard pronounced as “cobweybs”. Oh no… Seriously now.  So far, those are the only two words I can remember.

But honestly, now I have understood that that is the way those words are pronounced here. When people use those pronunciations now in conversations with me, they don’t sting my ears as much as they did before. For me, it’s like pronouncing often and “ofen” and cupboard and “cuboard” or the extra hard Ilocano pronunciation of “wrangler”.

I also noticed that Generals like eating barbecue a lot. What with all the clusters of bbq stands in most every neighborhood and that big bbq place in Lagao. Barbecue would not be anywhere in my top ten list of food preferences but lately, I have appreciated barbecue more.

I eat a lot of tuna but as I said in my previous blog, I have yet to learn how to eat sashimi, kinilaw and durian.

But I guess my biggest “generalization” proof is enjoying life in Gensan.