Brownout Blues

Tagbilaran City is famous for its brownouts nowadays. Thanks to its electric company. But as the old cebuano adage goes: Pildi ang maglagot!

Yet, although some people might not agree, brownouts have one advantage. These bouts of power outage happening for as long as PPUD was privatized brings old habits of story-telling, or joke times or playing famous card games (in our case "onggoyay").

So recently, out of the blue, our family gathered around the candle light and started playing card games and at the same time telling old, sometimes corny, yet funny jokes. It was kind nostalgic in a sense that memories of the old come back. But of course, these were some of the best times of my life.

Here are some of the more well-known old jokes that I can remember. It's the famous "translation" jokes. It's like an old record always jumping back, yet, somehow still effective in some ways. So here are some samples:

Q. Unsay Inintsik ug kuwang ug sinko? A. Sinkongkwang
Q. Unsay Inintsik ug auto nga nabangga? A. Lomping
Q. Unsay Inintsik ug rocking chair? A. Siyang Towangtowang
Q. Unsay Inintsik ug lata nga natumban? A. Pilong

Or some famous Japansese translations:

Q. Ano sa Hapon ang pangit? A. Kamukhamo
Q. Ano sa Hapon ang gwapo o maganda? A. Kamukhako

There are German translations, too:

Q. Unsa ang German sa 7-Up? A. Sprite
Q. Unsa ang German sa tuli? A. Slizenotten :)

And a whole bunch more...but maybe next time. Or aptly saying it: MAYBE NEXT BROWNOUT!

Well, here's a preview (kay basin makalimot hinoon ko). This is a joke delivered by the late Sen. Ninoy Aquino, the same time he was giving a speech in Boston (I think) while in exile in the US during the Philippine Martial Law time: While on one of the infamous political gatherings in Malacanang, a Japanese ambassador took the stand and gave this speech in front of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos: You Firipino peopre, you are very rucky. You got a president who roves (robs) you and a first rady who roves (robs) you more!