Never Ever Say Goodbye

Notes and Glossary

Bayan Ko
(written by Jose Alejandrino; translated into Tagalog by Jose Corazon de Jesus)

Ang bayan kong Pilipinas,
lupain ng ginto't bulaklak.
Pag-ibig ang sa kaniyáng palad,
nag-alay ng ganda't dilág.
At sa kaniyáng yumi at ganda,
dayuhan ay nahalina.
Bayan ko, binihag ka,
nasadlak sa dusa.
Ibon mang may layang lumipad,
kulungin mo at umiiyak!
Bayan pa kayáng sakdal-dilag,
ang 'di magnasang makaalpas?
Pilipinas kong minumutya,
pugad ng luhá ko't dalita,
aking adhika:
makita kang sakdal laya!

English Translation (Literal):
My country, the Philippines,
land of gold and flowers,
It was Love that, as per her fate,
Offered up beauty and splendor.
And with her refinement and beauty,
The foreigner was enticed;
My country, you were made captive,
Mired in suffering.
Even the bird that is free to fly,
cage it and it cries!
What more for the country most splendid,
would she not yearn to break free?
Philippines, which I treasure,
Nest of my tears and suffering;
My aspiration:
to see you absolutely free!

Terms and their meanings are in the order of appearance.

Charol - a term for the material used for fake leather shoes; they are usually very shiny and cracks easily.

Ingat - a Tagalog term for "take care"

Gaga - a female derivative of the insult "Gago"; means crazy, stupid; English equivalent: Moron or Idiot but it usually hits different in Tagalog.

Manong - an honorific attributed to middle-aged men

Barangay - a term meaning district, town, or village; it's the smallest administrative region in the country (according to Wikipedia, of course)

Tricycle - a type ofp public transport that is just a motorcycle slotted with a sidecar

Aling - the feminine counterpart of "Manong"; given to middle-aged women

Kumare - from the Spanish "Comadre" that is used to refer to women who were a child's godmother. Over time, it just meant "friend" and is used my women to refer to their female friends.

Kumusta - from the Spanish "Como estas" which means "How are you?"

Po - a word added to written and verbal language to switch into formal.

Kalaro - a term used to refer to everyone included in any game you are playing. Lit. "playing with"

Prangkisa - from the English term "franchise" and the Spanish term "franquicia"; this means right to ownership of something

Payless - a brand of instant noodles

Galunggong - considered to be a cheap fish back then and is only attributed to the poor

Talipapa - it's another term for wet market but as opposed to "palengke", this word usually refers to small businesses.

HEKASI - a core subject in elementary schools; it's an acronym for HEograpiya, KAsaysayan, at SIbika (Geogrpahy, History, and Civics)

Bayad po - a term to say to public transportation meaning "here's my fare"

Daw - lit. "he/she/they said"; used to repeat what someone said to another person

Kariton - a term for "cart"

Rotunda - a term for "traffic circle"; usually seen in highways with multiple intersections that they opted to make it a huge circle

Para - there's literally no translation for this but it's something you say to public transportations to say that you're getting off somewhere.

Gotohan - a term used for restaurants or small business that serve a dish called goto which is composed of goat meat in a stew

OJT - lit. On-The-Job Training

Kikam - it's a sausage-like thing made from processed meat and is usually sold as street food or used in dishes like pancit.

Barrio - from the Spanish term of the same spelling; it means a small town

Emperador - one of the well-known brands of liquor in the country

Sando - a piece of clothing without sleeves; see: Wifebeater (American) or Vest (English)

Tsinelas - flip-flops

Sari-sari store - lit. Various Things Store; these are small, retail convenience stores that just really pop up everywhere. They are mostly managed by families.

Kanto - a term meaning "corner"

Pare - shorthand of the word "Kumpare", from the Spanish "Compadre"; masculine version of Kumare

Chakte - a term meaning "twine"; used to refer to braided white twine

Dos por dos - lit. "two by two" from Spanish term of the same spelling; used to refer to a plank of wood of the same measurements.

EDSA - acronym for Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue; one of the biggest (and most common victims of severe traffic jams) highways in the National Capital Region.

So...if you look at the previous terms, you'd see a lot of Spanish-derived terms. That's because the Philippines was actually colonized by Spain for a whopping 333 years. When they couldn't keep us a colony anymore, they sold us to the US and we ended up getting colonized by them too. Then, in the Second World War, we were also briefly colonized by Imperial Japan.