MANILA, Philippines - I heart you. And when it’s over, I “hearted” you? With many Filipinos unable to pronounce their English a’s and e’s correctly, miscommunication with an English-speaking native is imminent. They “heart” their parents may be heard as “they hurt their parents.” Which becomes worse when the parents are dead and the sentence becomes they “hurted” (h∂rted) their parents when what the speaker is saying is “they hearted their parents.”
In the era of on-line social networking and the “jejemon” argot, the English language is again facing a siege. One such assault is the use of the word “heart” instead of “love.” The origin is quite obvious. Since anybody may care to remember, one symbol of love has been the shape of a heart, which is among the easiest shapes or figures to draw, like a smiley or a star (J or * the latter actually an asterisk). Thus an illiterate or one who is in a hurry will simply draw the visual representation of love to scribble an expression of his love to his inamorata.
It may have begun with the bright idea hatched decades ago by New York City propagandists who came up with the slogan “I ♥ New York,” placed in a square box, which became a hit and has caught on to this day. Mercifully, nobody has had the idiocy to say “I heart New York,” or nibble his loved one’s ears while saying “I heart you.” The fault seems to emanate from Internet postings where the expression is supposedly commonly used.
I understand the so-called “jejemon” jargon arising from the need to abbreviate or shorten words and phrases to accommodate a complete message in the then very limited texting space of the mobile phone, with shorter time for pressing keys. “Nasaan ka ngayon? Papunta na ako sa kinaroroonan mo” becomes in text code “Sanka? Punta na me jan.” Convenient, terse, odd, also kind of funny, but one gets used to it. For English texters, “wru” is understood as “where are you?”
“Tsup!” used to be the written word for the sound of a kiss. Now, it’s “mwah!” and we’re used to it. Will lovers be saying “may I mwah you”? Or worse, “may I tsup” you?
Will we get used to “I heart you”? “Heart” is one letter longer than “love.” So the extra letter is more cumbersome for amorous lazy bones. Tell a hearing-impaired individual “I heart you,” and he may shoot back, “Did you say, you heard me?”
For now, “I heart you” has entered the local cultural landscape with the new GMA primetime romantic comedy series I ♥ You, which is expressed alternately as “I heart you” (by some stars and production and PR folk) and “I love you” (a voiceover for the audio-visual presentation correctly said). Will the anomalous expression “I heart you” survive the show I ♥ You against all odds and high or low ratings?
My hope is that “I heart you” will be a passing fancy. And there is a big chance it will be. Over three decades ago, a popular expression was “wanakosey,” meaning, “wala na akong say (or sinabi),” originating from gay lingo (“I have nothing more to say” or “no comment”). The word was even used as the title of an all-star Pinoy comedy. Now, the new generation may find “wanakosey” extra-terrestrial in origin, like “walandyo,” “yeba,” or “walastik” of days of yore.
English, like many other living languages (Latin is a dead one, for example), continues to evolve. It is early to say whether this new corruption of the English tongue will stay (or spread beyond Philippine territory, heaven forbid) or simply go away like a fad. Will we see or hear the day when a couple, before they kiss or go to bed at night, whisper tenderly to each other, “I heart you”? And then go “tsup-tsup.” Or is it “mwah!”?