filipino english and american english are different. words that they use for things, we don't use. for example, whenever i arrive in the philippines, i am always informed that so-and-so will come "fetch" you. or the word "avail" is used quite regularly. so whenever i am there, i take a cautious approach, not to offend anyone by my facial reaction or verbal response to something they say that sounds weird. umm... in american english, only dogs fetch things...
so here i am, i've just landed at iloilo airport in visayas. we stop to get some jollibee for breakfast before hitting the road for our several hour journey to eastern samar and estancia where we have community members and staff who were affected by the typhoon. the pastor, his wife who is also a teacher at the pre-school there are sharing with me their experiences the past couple of weeks since the typhoon hit and the challenges and all. then the pastor says "if only we had an elph. that would help us so much." So i want to smile but they are serious, so i stay serious... maybe an "elf" is a term filipinos use to describe hard working people, willing to roll up their sleeves and work hard... like santa's elves do when the christmas season comes around. so i say, very seriously and sympathetically, "oh yes, some elves would probably be very helpful." they look at each other, smile and start laughing... because an "elph" is actually the name of a pick-up truck type vehicle... it would be helpful so they can drive over all the broken branches on the ground and help with the clean up... we had a good laugh about that. i dunno... i didn't want to come across culturally insensitive...
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