Monday, December 4, 2006

Pangalatok a derogatory word?


It is worthwhile to create a continuous thread out of this topic. Still some are claiming that "Pangalatok" is derogatory word as some use it. You can post your comments. There's no need to register.

Here's the complete sentences of the person who had chosen to be called "Concerned Pangasinense":

People from Pangasinan are called Pangasinense.This is the word we were taught academically in school and this is what is in the books:NOT Pangalatok-----Pangalatok means Pangasinense sira toktok.We are even called PangalatoT.I hate when I say "I am from Pangasinan" and the follow up statement is "So you are Pangalatok" or "So you are Pangalatot".I have silently protested this since I was young.Now that we have internet we can correct this offensive error which is becoming routinely used even Pangasinense themselves and some journalists(some of the younger ones)with out intende malice because theses slang words had been tolerated by Pangasinense. People even Pangasinense themselves call our dialect Pangalatik, Pangalatit. Wether we speak Ilocano only or Pangasinan only or Bolinao only or Zambal only or Tagalog only or combination of any, we are all Pangasinense.I will request someday the Pangasinan Provincial Board to pass a resolution affirming that we are Pangasinense:NOT Pangalatok.

Do you buy his claim that "Pangalatok" means "Pangasinense sira tuktok"?

While in my other blog , my friend states these arguments:

Which came first? I don't have any historical sources on the origin of the the word "pangalatok". But it is common sense to say that "pangalatok the language" existed first before somebody gives the meaning "pangalatok as ... tuktok". That means pangalatok is not coined from "Pangasinense sira toktok". With these statements, Pangalatok that refers to the people is neither offensive nor insulting nor derogatory at all though it is misused by many.


Have we come to the point that we have to settle this out? What's your take, Please leave your comments!