Caveat: The purpose of this blog post is neither to proclaim myself as a grammarian nor to despise my fellow Filipinos who are still unfamiliar with the concoctions. It is to help our country get its rightful place in all English Proficiency Tests (i.e., by sharing some of what I know as far as these concoctions are concerned). I am well aware that I still have a lot to learn in English.
Filipino concoctions is the term I use to describe nonexistent English words or phrases (e.g., masteral, cope up, equipments, and with regards to) that have penetrated the walls of our English language usage, particularly the academe, ever since I can remember. They are treated as official English words by most of us. Faculty members and university officials are no exception. For this reason, you can surely hear them spoken and written in the country–even in formal English.
It is interesting to note that Philippines is the country to beat when it comes to business English but not English Proficiency Tests where Singapore and India are on top. Singapore ranked third (with a score of 98) in the Educational Testing Service (ETS) ranking based on TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) scores for 2010. The Philippines ranked 35th out of 163 countries world wide. The only other Asian country to score higher than the Philippines was India (19th with a score of 92). Malaysia tied the Philippines for 35th place with a score of 88 (“What Asia Can Learn From Philippines About English Education“). Several factors could be attributed to this saddening news such as the government’s losing interest in educational programs, continuous proliferation of the Jejemon cyber language, apparent deteriorating quality of teachers teaching English, error-riddled English textbooks, decreasing English content in public primetime television, Department of Education’s bilingual program to promote the use of Tagalog, and our consuming passivity towards the usage of Filipino concoctions as official English words in the academe to name a few. The latter is what my wandering mind chose to weave into this post.
Filipinos are well-known for their passivity that you would not see line cutters in the Metro Rail Transit during peak hours being called out. The same goes for people in the teaching world because correcting a fellow teacher for that matter is an outright disrespect. But let us face it, tolerance of such gradually can ruin students’ competence of the English language–even teachers’. Our tolerance towards this problem has already taken its toll so I must do now what I should have done before.
Not too long ago, I prepared an examination in one of the subjects I taught where I included, as part of the multiple choice, some of the most commonly accepted yet nonexistent English words in the country. The problem surfaced when I was confronted by my immediate supervisor, upon checking my work, on this particular item:
“Next year, I am planning to take up a (a. Masteral b. Masteral Degree c. Master’s) in Special Education.”
She told me, in a condescending tone, that the foregoing question has no sense. According to her, it is an easy one because letters a and c are adjectives; therefore, a noun, Masteral Degree, is easily spotted. Now, tell me this is not a problem.
I have my fair share of grammar mishaps like bad diction, which could be sprouting like hairs on my blog posts, but at least they are found in the English dictionaries. Concoctions whose masterpiece is masteral is a direct if not unforgivable abuse to the universal language.
That call-one’s-bluff moment gave me the right time to rectify the masterpiece by narrating to her my research about it.
First of all, there is no such word as masteral and you cannot find the same in any of the most reliable English dictionaries: Oxford English Dictionary (OED), Merriam-Webster Dictionary, dictionary.com, and thefreedictionary.com. Our late mentor for the National Secondary Achievement Test (NSAT) likewise said that masteral is not a word but a mere product of solecism.
Secondly, I have confirmed that masteral is not an English word with Prof. Lisa M. Kusko, author of the Easy Tips for Business Writers and an acquaintance in the blogosphere. I would like to quote her reply to my inquiry just a week ago.
Interesting. I have never heard the word, nor did I find it in a dictionary. I’m assuming it’s used as an adjective for an academic degree, as in masteral vs doctoral degree. However, in American English the expression is master’s degree, and the only entry in the American Heritage Dictionary specifies “master’s degree” with no alternatives.
Lastly, there is but master’s which is already a noun in its very form and it means Master’s Degree. If you are in doubt, go type master’s in the search field of the on-line dictionaries I have enumerated earlier. You will, for sure, get a result.
On the other hand masteral will not get any but if you will via Google, there will be results. The sad part is, the various sites that will display the word are maintained by Filipino webmasters.
On a side note, let us now dissect some of the OTHER COMMON FILIPINO CONCOCTIONS.
- ADVICES (X) for PIECES OF ADVICE or SOME ADVICE (√)
Juan thanked his father for all the advices he had given him.
This is one of those uncountable nouns (e.g., knowledge, love, and peace) which are not objects so it cannot be pluralized by simply adding s. However, they have forms that express plural concepts (i.e., adding counting word such as a unit of measurement or the general word such as pieces) as in, “You should thank me for the pieces of advice I gave you”.
- COPE UP (X) for COPE WITH or COPE (√)
A friend once told me that he could no longer cope up (sic) his life after breaking up with his girlfriend.
Like the rest of the concoctions, I would like to reiterate that this concocted verb phrase is not only common in the academe but in the business world. I have heard popular tycoons in the country who used this word in their speech.
Please make a note of this: cope rarely comes in its verb phrase form and when it does, it is always followed by with not up.
- EQUIPMENTS (X) for EQUIPMENT (√)
Reminder: Please take good care of the gym equipments.
By definition, equipment is already plural and it is one of the few uncountable nouns (e.g., aircraft, data, and furniture) that do not need plural concepts.
You need to know that I put a big cross (X) on the word equipments upon seeing that reminder at the gym where I work out. Of course, I am seriously joking.
- FILL UP (X) for FILL OUT (√)
Please fill up this form.
All right, I know this one does not fall under the umbrella of concoctions because, unlike the rest of the words, fill up is in the dictionary. Howbeit, it also used by most Filipinos in formal English when they imply supplying the missing or desired information on a document, which may justify its inclusion on the list.
When I applied for the civil service stenographer exam and teachers board exam five years ago, I came across proctors who used the word fill up to suggest supplying desired or missing information on forms like application forms. I accompanied my cousin a year ago when he applied for a board exam too, and I was not surprised to hear proctors in the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) using fill up as for that–still.
Prescriptive grammar commands that if you want a document, list, etc. to be supplied with missing or desired information, the correct verb phrase is always, always fill out as in, “Please fill out this application form”.
- TRAINOR (X) for TRAINER (√)
A couple of months after my wife gave birth, she told me she is planning to hire a personal trainor to help her get back in shape.
Looks like the sequence was followed: commentator, editor, professor…trainor. Well, it is understandable since the three correct items in the series are all referring to a person; thus, one is likely to concoct trainor for someone who trains. Until, he learns that there are also words like backer, interpreter, presenter, and so forth.
As long as my wife thinks that what she needs is a trainor, I would not let her hire one.
- USB (X) for Flash Drive (√)
USB’s common usage as an abbreviation of the computer term USB flash drive explains its inclusion on my list.
It is understandable that one is most likely to use USB as a shortened form of USB flash drive because of its shortness. After all, we are talking about shortness and USB sounds really short, compared to flash drive. My investigation, however, says that the correct contraction of USB flash drive is not the initialism USB. It is any of these terms: flash drive, thumb drive, jump drive, pen drive, key drive, token, or simply USB drive.
Here is what iwebtool and dictionary.com say about USB:
USB stands for Universal Serial Bus – the most common type of computer port used in today’s computers. It is a standard for connection sockets on computers and other electronic equipment. It is the very port where keyboards, mice, game controllers, printers, scanners, and removable storage devices (e.g., USB flash drive and external hard drive) are plugged in.
One way of confirming this is to watch English movies or TV series like Prison Break where this particular storage device (please look at the photo) was repeatedly contracted as flash drive.
(Photo Credit: Squeeze the IT Bug)
I know you can grasp what I am trying to put across if I end my explanation with this sentence:
I am sure you would not want to bring a base unit with you the next time around so do not forget to bring your flash drive, please.
You can check the leading grammar sites and dictionaries to verify everything I wrote against the words at dispute.
I have been teaching the correct words for these concoctions since I entered the academe, add to that reminding the same from time to time. But whenever I include these concoctions as part of an exam, majority of the students still fail to recognize which is which. I cannot help but consider faculty members who use the so-called concoctions in their lectures almost everyday as one of the main reasons for such failure.
See, Filipinos are inclined to believe and respect people in authority to the extent of taking what they say as absolute facts particularly the very words they use. Who am I compared to the college dean and the department head who are guilty of taking some, if not all, of those concoctions. I used to think I can never do something about their proliferation until I created this blog. Thanks to the efforts of Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis who paved the way for my voice to be heard. And, of course, WordPress. I believe that sharing this post to my colleagues, current and former students, and friends via Facebook and Twitter can help, even in a small way, my country in regaining its title as the best English-speaking nation in Asia.
The Filipino concoctions I presented here are only some of the many ones that are not only commonly used for in the worst degree, treated as official English words in the country. From here on out, I humbly suggest that we should not forget to consult a dictionary whenever we come across unfamiliar words, especially those that merely sound or look familiar.
You would not want to add another “concoction” to the list, would you? But in case you have one, please drop it in the comment box. It would be educational to read “concoctions” from your list too.
Related Article
- The 7 Unforgivable Sins of Social Media (wreno2010.wordpress.com)
- Trainor (usingaborrowedlanguage.wordpress.com)
- My First Lazada Philippines Shopping Experience (momonduty.com)
- 25 More Grammar Rules Every Call Center Agent Should Know (weareibex.com)
- Are you passionate about grammar? (grammarly.com)
- Masteral (tagaloglang.com)
Hi, Kuya Sony. This is a cute post – and one where I can easily relate to as a writer and editor. I am guilty of unwittingly using these concoctions every now and then, which I think isn’t really surprising since we hear those everyday. Nevertheless, I have a pet peeve against people who fall for misused words. My favorite example for that is “entitled.” Even the Supreme Court got that wrong. 🙂
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Exactly, Mark — we hear those words every day (like you said). And believe me, I also do have a bugbear for those people who fall for misused words, especially the ones with propensity to turn the tables.
Thanks for sharing your favorite concoction!
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I’ve facilitated w writing workshop in QCPU last year and I began my talk with an activity about commonly misused/misspelled words. Believe me. The list is very long. LOL.
As a politics junkie, I can share with you two other concoctions: “presidentiable” and “senatoriable.” 😛
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I know it’s too much to ask but can I have a copy of that long list, please?
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Hahaha! It’s actually not a list naman. I just chose 10 examples. LOL. Sometimes, we misspell things out of time constrains, which happen often. 🙂
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Thanks dito Sony. I will take note of this. 🙂
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My pleasure.
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This is cool information, especially the masteral for master’s!
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Ann, I am more than happy to know you just acknowledged that masterpiece (masteral) as incorrect now.
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Excellent examples! And Sony, your English is better than the vast majority of residents in the US. Just sayin’. 🙂 Hope you and your family have a great weekend!
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Bonnie, you just made my heart skip a beat.
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I believe the correct expression is skip a beat, unless you were being ironic? 😉
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Thanks a lot for your keen eye, Cybelle. I succumb to your correction.
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Thanks for this informative post, Tito Sony.
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Iñigo, I’m glad you found it informative. Don’t forget to consult the dictionary whenever you encounter unfamiliar words, okay?
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okay 🙂
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We’re cool! 😉 Regards to your Pap and Mam.
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hi sonny, can you clarify if there is such a word as “fishes”? what i know is school of fish. also, for jewelry and furniture, you must use the word “pieces” of jewelry or furniture to make the words plural (i was supposed to use the word “pluralize” teeheehee). yeah, i’m guilty for using the word masteral before. now i’m using master’s. another mistake i made just recently, was using the word “celebrant” instead of “celebrator” for those celebrating their birthday.
unfortunately, no matter how you simplify the english language, Filipinos will still want to combine english with tagalog, thus the coined term “taglish”. i think our race is the only one that likes to do that. who knows eventually it’ll become the most popular type of dialect.
by the way, how was your compre?
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Fish is indeed a troublesome word being generally used as a plural in the context of food, but forming a regular plural otherwise (tonnes of fish, the order of fishes, the miracle of the loaves and fishes, the phrase “sleep with the fishes”). The usage does vary, however, so that for example the phrase “five fish in an aquarium” might to another native user be “five fishes in an aquarium”.
Using the plural form fish could imply many individual fish(es) of the same species while fishes could imply many individual fish(es) of differing species. The latter is similar to school of fish, which means a group of fish, in this context.
As for jewelry or furniture, you got it right. Although plural concepts, by adding pieces to each of those words, are not — most of the time — needed.
Regarding compre, I am still preparing for it.
Thank you for taking time to ask and share some of those confusing words here!
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Very interesting post.
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Thank you!
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Educational.
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Thank you for saying that, Jen! I would like to thank you too, by the way, for your post, I AM FILIPINO. I am actually memorizing it again after so many years. Like you, I was also cringing while reading it.
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Thank you Sony 🙂
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Bro, how you play around with words with ease and make them bounce to life is inspiring. You have a gift with words and you have a passion for higher learning. That is an amazing attribute. I wish a lot of our youth now would share a similar enthusiasm. Such a fun and enjoyable post. An amazing concoctions that challenges the mind. And yes, I believe that Filipinos speak English fluently. I’ve been working with multi-cultural group for the past 9 years and I could say, we can express ourselves in English like its our second language….this makes me proud of being “Pinoy.”
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Bro, thanks for the compliment!
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This cracked me up…good to know I’m not the only language Nazi in Manila. I find that English has degenerated rapidly in the past 10 years or so, pretty much everywhere that it is spoken; something to do, I believe, with changes to the educational curriculum and the fact that studying grammar is considered ‘dull’ and irrelevant…all the stress in Western schools being on “fun” and “engaging” subjects. At least Filipinos don’t claim English as their first language, and can be forgiven for not being perfect at it…(although our Tagalog is degenerating in the same way, spelling-wise as well as being diluted with English into some horrible mishmash pidgin…)
Good on you for carrying the torch…I hope the message gets across!
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Thank you so much for the “push”! I appreciate that.
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I enjoyed reading this very witty post Sony. I must admit that I haven’t heard of most of these “concoctions,” so I have officially been enlightened! Most of my concoctions involve making fresh fruit smoothies. Ha! Ha! Nonetheless, I immensely enjoy reading all of your posts. Your English is a sheer joy for me to read with “or” without concoctions. 🙂
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In that case, thank you Donna. That’s so sweet. 😉
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This is brilliant Sony for me our Department of Education should give much importance for English subject particularly in grammar, proper pronunciation, diction and intonation. Because this is worldwide, I feel so sad if I heard one of the teachers who taught English subject using colloquial way of pronouncing the words. We should adopt what is right to be more competitive to other nations; they should secure the quality of our educations and must start from prep to college…
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I couldn’t agree more.
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hahahaha
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Great post very helpful 🙂
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Thanks, Jake!
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Thank you for the pieces of advice so we can fill out our English equipment for us to cope with language development. We may never have Master’s Degree in English, but with you as our personal “English” trainer, we have chances to improve.
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You just perfected my exam, Jon. H’m … I wish all my students were like you.
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Naiilang pa ako minsan pag ginagamit ko ang word na “master’s” dahil feeling ko mali lalo na pag unang nabanggit sa conversation ang “masteral”. Ever since kasi ang sama na ng tunog ng “masteral” for me. 😀
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I sympathize with you, Irish. Diyan sa atin kung sino pa ang tama siya ang nagiging mali pagdating sa punto na kesyo yan ang nakasanayan. Basta wag ka ng mailang kasi tayo ang tama. Hehe…
Thanks for the comment!
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One of the English teachers in the public high school where I come from swear that there is really such a word as MASTERATE. She acknowledged, though, that ‘masteral’ is an incorrect term. But still…!
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Glad she acknowledged. But masterate is…bet you know what I’m going to say.
😉
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Another word that Filipinos often use that has become a peeve for me is traffic.
“Traffic sa Edsa”
“There’s no traffic”
Traffic refers to flow, so the correct usage should be slow/heavy traffic or traffic jam but Filipinos often refer to these as simply traffic.
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That is something really new to me. Consider it noted.
Thank you very much.
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I have a question 🙂 would you consider the Philippine English as a concoction? As you know, we have our own list of words very distinct in usage, label and sometimes meaning to other Englishes such as overpass” ,underpass”, salvage (to murder), over using preposition in verb phrases and the morpheme ~able, and whatnot. Most of the people in the academe would usually defend their mistakes as a variety of English specific to Filipinos and that they are acceptable because they are understandable. I always wonder if these words can really be used in natural conversation with other English speakers. I am usually dumb with English and I don’t really know how to check whether I am using a concoction or not as I grew up with them in schools.
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No, it is not a concoction in the sense that it is used to imply the kind of English used in the Philippines–unless the word “Standard” is added to it as in “Standard Philippine English”. Philippine English is only a variation of American English and it follows the latter’s rules in spelling and grammar
except when it comes to punctuation as well as date notations.Hope I answered the question.
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts by the way.
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I’m not a linguist but as far as I know language does evolve. These “concoctions” might sometime be considered as a official English words.. Let’s take for an example the words Boondocks and xerox (a brand name which is considered by most people– especially English native speakers– as a verb).
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I agree. Until then, we have to wait for their lexicalization.
Thanks for the heads up.
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It’s happened! Presidentiable and other Filipinisms are now in the OED.
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Hello, Ara. Could you write those Filipinisms that made it to OED here?
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Hi! I enjoyed reading your post. Another concoction I oftentimes hear is “votation.” i learned during my high school years in the ’50s that the word does not exist. No dictionary carries it up to now. Yet many professionals, both in public and private offices, use it.
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Thank you very much for sharing that concoction, Efgie. You actually gave me a heads ups. It is greatly appreciated.
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Hi! I wonder why a number of speakers get confused with the use of ” despite ” and
“in spite of.” I wish they would learn that “despite” doesn’t need “of ” at all. This morning, for example, a speaker said this: ” Let us continue to work with fervor ” despite of ” the indifference of our big boss.” Speech, after all, is a habit.
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I was already in college when I learned about the differences of the two when it comes to their usages. Good thing I was never fond of using despite. I had always preferred in spite of as it sounds more beautiful to me–although prolix.
Anyway, let’s make it a habit to promote, no matter how pedantic, the beauty of Standard English.
PS
People use it because, like all of the concoctions mentioned in the post, they were already regarded as correct. I usually put in but I’d rather stay on the safe side.
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CPU means Central processing unit and is part of the System unit (bigger one). You can search in Google the difference between the two. I believe you have mistaken CPU as the system unit. CPU is a chip. Another concoction of a Filipino.
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Thanks a lot for your keen eye, Mayann. Consider that part edited by now. Never knew… Again, thank you.
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By the way Sir, Thank you very much for this Blog. This is very informative. Some of the terms I used until I’ve read this. Thanks again!
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The pleasure is mine, Mayann. I really appreciate the correction.
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I had an interesting conversation with a friend over the same topic. I wanted to find proof that Masteral is not a real word (aside from the red squiggly lines under it) but couldn’t find any. Turns out I couldn’t find it because the word doesn’t exist in the dictionary! So thanks a lot! 🙂
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Thanks for that another, I may say, acknowledgment and for your time to let me know about it.
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Interesting you cite Oxford English Dictionary. OED is not a prescriptive type of dictionary, but a descriptive one. It will list instances where a word is used, different shades of meaning, etc.
case in point, did you know that the word dilemma was once used as verb? Since nobody uses it, we don’t consider it as proper.
Similarly, if there comes a time that a large number of English speakers do use the world masteral, it will soon be part of the OED, then later in standard abridged dictionaries.
If you ask me personally, I would love the word masteral to be recognized. Yes, I will still use master’s as in master’s degree, but prefer masteral thesis.
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I am, of course, not closing the possibility that the subject word will soon be recognized as an English word. Until then, it is not.
However it may be, your comment is very much appreciated. Thank you very much.
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I agree! Filipinism (terms that are grammatically incorrect but are used by majority of Filipinos; example is “masteral” which you have discussed above). This manner can provide confusion to other nationalities especially to native speakers. This can also become a factor in getting your target score in your English proficiency exam like the IELTS or TOEFL.
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Thank you very much for making me feel you are one with me on this endeavor, Tifflowe. I was actually so hesitant to post this before because I thought readers would think the “other way”. I’m happy that the idea of giving a helping hand was clearly put across.
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Somebody should make a list out of all these dreadful Filipino concoctions on the English language. I work for the government and I am inundated by words such as “equipments” and “infrastructures” in plans and reports. There is Singlish and then there is our own cultural attribution to the English language; but using these concoctions in professional and formal settings is unacceptable, and the continued proliferation of which may reflect substandard qualities exercised in our supposedly respectable educational institutions.
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I am definitely with you on that.
Thank you very much for supporting this, I may say, campaign!
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By the way, “fill up” is not entirely a made up concoction. http://thefreedictionary.com/fill%20up
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At this point, I have to agree with you.
Appreciate the heads up, pal.
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No, I apologize but I have to retract my previous position about “fill up”. After rereading your article on its “fill up” section, I realize that wrongful usage problems must have possibly crept to widespread application. Even Americans themselves are guilty of grammatical or applicability mistakes such as “here’s the things/materials that we need…” whereas the correct form is to use “here are…”. I therefore submit that “fill out” is what we should really be saying when it comes to questionnaires and survey forms.
Please continue to uphold stringent standards on the proper use of the English language, even in the Philippine context. Jejemon is slowly and gradually creeping into horrific levels of acceptability in selected sectors of our society, and as responsible citizens who want to maintain integrity in all formal modes of communication, we should remain steadfast and not let deleterious norms taint our legacy to the youth of today.
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In that case, I should say thank you.
Consider your request done–with pleasure.
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Here is another annoyance to report. Many Filipinos use “secured” instead of “secure” when they really mean “secure”, and vice versa. Even our own laws and its write-up reports can’t escape this mistake, to quote, “The EO further seeks the issuance of a secured identification (ID) number called the Common Reference Number (CRN) that will ensure unique identification of individuals through the use of fingerprint biometrics, digital facial image, and signature…”. It is such an eyesore.
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I admit, adjectives such as secure, mature, and select (without the “ed”) with them came only to my senses when I was already in the Graduate School (2009).
Glad I had a very assertive classmate–turned good friend–who always call my attention with regard to grammatical errors. Since then, I didn’t stop digging the English language. I am sure I still have a LOT to learn.
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Where do we draw the line between a “Filipino concoction” and a dialectal difference between two varieties (in this case, Standard American English and Philippine English)?
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Hi, Aldrin. Thanks a lot for bringing your question up here and my apologies for not getting back to you on time. I had to review my blog post thoroughly.
Anyway, I hope the blog post below will shed light on the subjects you wished to discuss.
https://yobynos.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/filipino-concoctions-philippine-english-and-standard-american-english/
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Why do you use the word “academe” instead of academic or academy?
“Off the light”
“For a while” (Please wait for a while; just a moment, I’ll be with you shortly)
Prof. Harry Rogue in a recent blog post stated that he had “a training.” You can have training, you can have a training session, but, you can’t have “a” training.
Q: What are you doing? A: I’m eating foods. What? Can’t you just say “I’m eating.” “I’m having lunch.” In terms of plurality, if you’re fat is it because you eat too much foods or too much food?
Lastly, you can’t attend a university foundation. However, you can attend a university. A foundation is NOT an institution of higher learning. In many cases it is the fundraising arm of an academic institution and philanthropic in nature.
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I personally love to use academe since I am a teacher (and, yeah, by profession). The way I used it in this post, I believe it’s in the right context. Academe refers to the campus activity, life, and interests of a college or university; the academic world. Its synonym is academia (the academic community or world).
Anyway, academic doesn’t seem qualified as an option there. I’m referring to my usage. Moreover, academic is an adjective. It can’t sound right and fit in the context but a noun (academe/academia) does.
Thank you very much for the pet peeves you shared. I’ve made a note of all of them, and I hope you won’t see them in my next posts.
Cheers, Tim! Hope to see another comment from you soon.
PS
My sincere apologies for the late reply. I must have overlooked your comment.
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I have come across many pages that has a similar topic but was drawn to this, I guess, because of it’s sincerity. He is sincere in wanting to improve the way Filipinos speak English. The piece is beautifully written. I even finished reading everything down to the latest comment.
Although, I would not tag myself as an excellent or perfect English speaker and writer (I’m far from it), I would consider myself a Grammar and Language Nazi. English is my favorite subject when I was still in school so I have high respect for the language. I find people who commit the mistakes mentioned in this article (not entirely their fault) disrespectful to the language I love.
Anyway, working in a call center, I hear tons of phrases that would make my ears bleed. But the phrase “if in case” is what irks me the most.
“Here is a duplicate key if in case you lose the original.”
Consider yourself lucky if you haven’t heard this before and I’m sorry for introducing it to you. I mean, for the love of God, just choose. Is it “if” (which already denotes condition) or “in case”. “If in case” is NOT CORRECT. It is NOT a thing. It will NEVER be a thing.
Sorry I got fired up at the end. Keep up the good work.
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I am so humbled by your comment. The commendation is really appreciated.
Like you, I would not consider myself an excellent English speaker–never in fact. I just have so much respect for the language. It pains me to see and hear the younger people and the older ones (i.e., professionals) continue committing the same grammar blunders.
The case for the latter is actually a lot more challenging. When I was teaching, I can make use of the authority vested in my position to set the record straight–easily. The one thing I should watch out though to be effective in this endeavor is I make sure that each grammar pet peeve I correct is supported by more than one research and tons of references.
The pet peeve you introduced me is something I rarely use. Suffice to say you gave me a reason to use it sparingly. “In case” I forget, I will always refer to your comment.
Thank you very much, Gian.
PS
Hope you stick around.
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Very, very helpful. Thank you! 🙂
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The pleasure is mine, Christine. Thank you!
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Thank you sir Sony… i’m so ashamed showing my pictures of my graduation, because the tarpaulin hanged on the stage had this very BOLD words indicating ( 6th “MASTERAL AND DOCTORAL” hooding ceremony) … OMG! … i’ve heard many times and i knew that this word “MASTERAL” does not exist in the dictionary, but i felt disappointed that our university was using during our graduation and hooding. 😦
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That makes the two of us, El El C Soriano. The only thing that matters now is that we know “masteral” as a nonexistent word and nonstandard in usage. Still praying though it will vanish in Philippine English.
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Fascinating! You learn something new every day! Thank you!
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I’m happy to hear that, Ed. Thank you very much!
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My father, who is a wide reader and who is a driver who finished high school, was the one who taught me that “masteral” is wrong. Nakakatuwa lang that there are people out there who shares the same sentiment. This was very helpful and I’ve added one more talking point to our family conversation. 🙂 Thanks Sir Sonny!
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I would want to hug your father, Noreen, upon reading your comment. It couldn’t be more comforting on my part na may tulad niyo who shares the sentiment ll.
Thank you very much for sharing that to me, and you are so welcome!
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I knew it. now I know the reason why it breaks my heart using the word “masteral” lol. i mean, it doesn’t sound nice even though it rhymes with “doctoral”. my gutfeel has been right all along lol.
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Thank you for sharing, Jessie. Comments like yours make my day. 🙂
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I knew “masteral” should be the correct term and so with the non-USB correct alternatives! I’m really glad to have you confirm this.
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I’m so glad to be of help to you through this article in a way.
I should really write something like this again soon.
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I am confused. This article actually states the opposite of what you said in your comment “I knew “masteral” should be the correct term…“. “Masteral” is not a valid English word.
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I actually asked a friend to make sure I understood your comment. Long story short he refrained me from saying what I was supposed to reply to you.
The meat of the article is, the word “masteral” is a Filipinism and it is grammatically incorrect in Standard English.
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thank you for this article… i stumbled upon your blog because of the word ‘masteral’. i was about to embark to a new career and i just have to use that word to explain my plans of taking a master’s degree BUT i was not sure whether to use masteral or not so i searched through the internet and there’s no such word and then i found your blog… very helpful and informative. should i continue to use masteral, i could lose my chance for a new career. i hope you share with us more abused words, terms or phrases…something like a dictionary.
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The pleasure is mine, Sir Christian. It’s the comments like yours that truly inspire me to continue on writing something to this effect.
You made my day!
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Accountancy??? When did that happen?
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http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=accountancy
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This is an interesting article.
Filipino English is very distinctive, isn’t it ?
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Indeed!
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AVAIL
This hugely Indian English colloquialism is a bona fide English word, a reflexive verb, is used loosely and freely nowadays by Filipinos to make a sales pitch. It’s not very common elsewhere in the English-speaking word, except maybe in Philippines and India.
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Thanks for the information, Tony. Consider it noted.
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Thank you for sharing. Hiw about this?
Happiest Birthday Anne!
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Thanks, Jean. And, and happy birthday to Anne🍻😅
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trainings. I use training activity or training event or training session instead.
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Thank you for the comment and addition to the list, Myra. I did learn about “trainings” being nonstandard a few years ago and blogged about it to make sure I remember it. This is the link to that:
https://yobynos.wordpress.com/2015/02/27/care-for-trainings-or-courses/
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