JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

For years and I mean years I’ve been after Danton Remoto to write an official essential dictionary of gayspeak. “Oh yes,” he always says, “the GayDic. We’re working on it.”

“You’ve been working on it for years,” I point out.

“But my co-author wants it to have the proper research, citations, bibliography. . .”

“Tigilan ako ng academic ek,” I say. “The thing is to put it out as quickly as possible because gayspeak is so dynamic, it changes constantly, by the time your book is in stores its contents will be dated.”

“I know, I know. . .” Then he runs for public office. Still no official dictionary of gayspeak.

And now the straight guys have beaten him to it.

True, the subject is technically showbiz lingo and not gayspeak, but who do you think invents the stuff? It’s like jazz, all riffs.

And it’s not a dictionary, but a collection of ruminations on contemporary language (riffs on riffs).

And the author is Jose F. Lacaba a.k.a Ka Pete of Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage, Mga Kagila-gilalas na Pakikipagsapalaran, the screenplays of Bayan Ko: Kapit Sa Patalim, Sister Stella L and others, and the Showbiz Lengua column in Yes! magazine.

Ka Pete ponders the etymology and usage of taray, kikay, krung-krung, carry-carry, kaposh, and other “words that usually have no dictionary existence” that have crept into everyday Filipino speech anyway.

You need this book to explain why we sound like this today.

Showbiz Lengua: Chika & Chismax about Chuvachuchu is available at National Bookstores, P295. Or you could win a copy in this week’s LitWit Challenge. Category: Best story written in gayspeak.