Tara na at mag-blag!Blog. This is just one of the many foreign words that have no direct translation in the Tagalog language.

I’ve read an interesting article a month ago over at PauloMartinez.com that invites Pinoy Bloggers to go and look for a Pinoy term of the word “blog”. Weeks have passed and I went back to see if anyone had left any suggestions for the term, but unfortunately, there wasn’t any. I then wondered, “Why aren’t bloggers interested in looking for a Tagalog term for the word Blog?”

It’s not easy to coin a term

I think that one of the reasons why bloggers are not even trying on looking for a tagalog term is because coining a term is not as easy as it sounds. Aside from the reason that it needs to sound good, there’s also the problem on whether the masses will pick the term up and use it.

An example of this would be the word, Blogista. Which is a term thought up by some bloggers to refer to “Pinoy Bloggers.” There are some who use this word, but the majority of the population does not. I guess this is because Blogista doesn’t sound well on other people’s ears the same way the word Rakista (an informal term for a Filipino Rocker or A Filipino who loves Rock) does not appeal to other Filipino Rock lovers.

I am not an expert but I presume that in order for a word to be considered a successfully coined term, it must at least be known and used by the majority within a specific group.

Take the term “Pinoy” for example. It is probably the most successfully coined term in the history of the Philippines. Even though it is odd sounding and the word has initially no real meaning, it is now the most widely accepted term used to refer to Filipino people.

We don’t need it

I bet that even if someone does manage to coin a term for the word a lot of people would still use the original one. Why? Because bloggers have already become accustomed to using the word blog.

It’s the same reason why a lot of Pinoys still prefer to use words that they have already been accustomed to over newly created words. You don’t see people creating a unique tagalog terms for Cellphone, Computer, Television or Internet. These are the terms initially introduced to people, it would be very hard to break the habit and use a new word in replace of the old ones.

Having a Pinoy term for the word blog may seem novel and nationalistic, but why create a new term when the original word would suffice, right?

To tell you the truth, I actually felt a little excited when I first read Paulo’s article. But after seeing the way his article was ignored, I realized that maybe having a Pinoy term for the word blog is just not meant to be.

Just another one of my personal thoughts. Share yours below!

Happy blogging!

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