I find this super interesting. Any resources to read more? In all my travels, Philippines stands out as having the most unique people. I could write a novel on it, but in the name of not sounding racist, won't. It's not bad things, or good things, just different things. I'd love to know more about their history.
For some reason, pointing out differences in people triggers some racist warning. I think it's absolutely fascinating. I'll list just a few.
To list a few examples from the Philippines...they point with their lips, small people with unusually big feet, which probably lends to climbing trees. I noticed this riding transport, as everyone wears flip flops. I wear a 13 US, and I borrowed shoes that fit from a 5'7 man. I saw people climb a vertical tree like a ladder. Please don't take this as some insult, I'm jealous.
They generally have small noses and recognize people by noses. I've never had so many people comment on my nose in my life. Half were in awe, half were insulting.
But it varies so much. In Manila you see a lot of lighter, almost hispanic looking people. In the villages, you see darker and wilder looking people. I remember a bad storm in the villages, and a lady sitting rocking holding her legs and something just seemed so primal in the reaction and look on her face.
I'll -never- forget how they cry, it's so different than Americans. Haunting really.
Probably the most stark thing I noticed though was how easy they sleep. You could get on a hot, crowded, bumpy bus and everyone is sleeping as if they're on a mattress. My wife and daughter are from the region, and are usually sleeping by the time I leave the neighborhood in my vehicle, which makes me think there's something there.
They are the friendliest, and by far the most spry people. I remember waking up hearing the hotel lady's flip flops clanking as she ran between rooms. Everyone ran everywhere, it's so much faster and more efficient than how us overweight Americans waddle around. Jealous, again.
I happened to be in a village where someone died. I was blown away by how different it sounded. The first person almost sounded dramatic(to me), but the choir that joined truly made something that was haunting.
I never knew my nose was large, or anything really. The first person I met told me I had a 'sharp' nose and kept staring at it.
What I figured later was that Americans have tons of ways to differentiate people. Height, weight, eye color, hair color, race, etc. In a more homogeneous country, I guess noses are definers.
A common nickname for westerners in China is dabizi (大鼻子), literally "big nose". And a mysterious yet common compliment in Japan is to be told hana ga takai (鼻が高い), lit. "[your] nose is high".
> I'll -never- forget how they cry, it's so different than Americans. Haunting really.
How do "Americans" cry exactly? Perhaps the Americans you know, or what you've seen depicted in movies, but you can't generalize about all Americans, not at the least because that term isn't defined at all by things like how people cry.
> They are the friendliest, and by far the most spry people.
I'm sure you meant nothing but the best, but using superlatives, even positive sounding ones, to describe an entire population, especially one as diverse as those of the Philippines, echoes colonial perspectives that denied the cultures that they subjugated the right to be complex.
It's akin to how white Americas would often essentialize blacks as inherently rhythmically or musically gifted, ostensibly as praise, but in doing so casting them as incapable of doing things that whites did.
I have no doubt that your own personal experiences with them are as you describe, but they are just that - your experiences, and not generalizable.
I think you are well intentioned, but your choice of descriptive language, superlatives and broad characterizations echo the language used by less well intentioned people of the colonial era, which is why it comes across the way you yourself described it.
If you read colonial ethnographies, you will find descriptions written in the same tone.
> If you can't tell a difference between an American and Filipino cry, you have no business refuting anything
It's entirely unclear what you mean by American here. Big diverse country after all.
No, I understand it perfectly. And it's BS. I'm not usually confrontational here, but please, stop. Make a twitter post about awful me, where you'll probably find validation, but don't try to paint me as bad innocently here, please.
My wife, a dark villager, is a starkingly beautiful person, who knows everything. Hole in your shirt? She'll sew it. Found an unknown plant? She'll identify it and tell you how to grow it. I had a weird bump on my arm that wouldn't go away...she said it's an infection and cut it out...and now it's gone. I could probably list a hundred remedies she has.
She's the most amazing person in the world I've ever met, please don't treat me like some carpet bagger or colonist. I ran the entire thing by her before posting, and she, as a person with experience in both worlds, agrees.
But, we'll leave it to you, a presumably white person, to tell us both how to feel. So please, educate us.
> But, we'll leave it to you, a presumably white person
Bad presumption. I'm 100% not white. I passed no judgement on you or your beliefs, but rather on your ethnographic writing tone. You seem intent on making that about your family, which is irrelevant to my comments.
That's a fair statement, and you're right about that. I used it more as a defense than an intellectual debate, and I apologize. My only intent was to show how much I love the people I'm 'generalizing', as not to show bad intent. But it was, admittedly, a bit of an overreaction.
I understand the colonial tones, but bear in mind those folks always have something in mind. Slavery, resource extraction, invasion. I have absolutely no ill will or intentions, which I hope makes some difference. I truly find beauty and interest in people's differences.
Thank you for the open minded and decent response. Based just on what you've written, I have no doubt that you are a person with genuine admiration for the peoples you have encountered.
I hope that my comments about your writing tone can help others better understand you as you are and not the way you say you are often perceived.
I have to agree with the other commenter, your characterizations sound patronizing and your generalizations are incredibly unscientific and anecdotal. Just because you like Filipinos doesn't mean anything when you're drawing conclusions that just sound ridiculous. Source - foreigner who spends a lot of time working and living in the Philippines.
Of course it’ll be broad characterizations. How else do you describe a large population of people? Individually person by person? I find OPs take interesting and informative. Your comment on the other hand has added no value.
People notice what they see with their eyes. If you only had one trip to the US, and spent your time in say, Arkansas, imagine what you would write America was like, using superlatives.
It's not wrong, but it's also not universally true. That's how observations usually work.
> Quantitative acoustic analysis of these recordings has produced further insights into the factors that shape a baby’s first sounds. Newborns whose mothers speak tonal languages, such as Mandarin, tend to produce more complex cry melodies. Swedish newborns, whose native language has what linguists call a “pitch accent,” produce more sing-songy cries.
It's not that far fetched to imagine that adults can vary in the way they cry for many reasons, and this variation be consistent across populations.
Disappointing that cancel culture has actually stopped you from educating us on a topic I would be interested about. I knew this was bound to affect me personally some day but I didn't know how to tackle it.
I wrote more in another comment, at the risk of getting canceled. I just don't understand why noticing trends and things about other people is racist. Most things I noticed were things I was jealous of. All people aren't the same, no matter what people push for.
