PINOY TRIVIA

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• Cebu is the first Philippine City.

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• Maria Teresa Calderon - World champion speed reader as listed in the Guiness Book of World Records

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• In the Philippines, Filipinos were introduced to the English language in 1762 by British invaders, not Americans. Philippines is the world's 3rd largest English-speaking nation, next to the USA and the UK.

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• Gemma Cruz was the first Filipina to win an international beauty title - Miss International 1964.

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• Dan Inosanto -- Pinoy who taught Bruce Lee how to use arnis de mano.

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• Philippine Airlines took to the skies on March 15, 1941, using a Beech Model 18 aircraft amid the specter of a global war. It became Asia's first airline.

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• The world's largest pearl was discovered by a Filipino diver in a giant Tridacna (mollusk) under the Palawan Sea in 1934. Known as the "Pearl of Lao-Tzu", the gem weighs 14 pounds and measures 9 1/2 inches long and 5 1/2 inches in diameter. As of May 1984, it was valued at US$42 million. It is believed to be 600 years old.

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• Alto Broadcasting System (ABS) Channel 3, the first television station in the country, went on the air in 1953.

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• Fernando Amorsolo, a painter, was the first national artist declared by the Philippine government. The award was conferred on Amorsolo in April 1972, several days after his death.

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• The world's second deepest spot underwater is in the Philippines. This spot, about 34,440 feet (10,497 meters) below the sea level, is known as the Philippine Deep or the Mindanao Trench. The Philippine Deep is in the floor of the Philippine Sea. The German ship Emden first plumbed the trench in 1927. The world's deepest part of the ocean is the Marianas Trench, which is over 11,000 meters below the seal level.

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• The symbolic name for the Philippines, Juan dela Cruz, is not a Filipino invention? It was coined by R. McCulloch-Dick, a Scottish-born journalist working for the Manila Times in the early 1900s, after discovering it was the most common name in blotters

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• Bagumbayan was the original name of Luneta Park.

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• The Philippines is home to some of the world's most exotic birds. One of the most endangered species is the exotic Kalangay or the Philippine cockatoo (Cacatua haematuropygia), which belongs to Psittacidae or the family of parrots. Some cockatoos can live up to 50 years. They are known for mimicking human voices. Most of them measure 33 centimeters in length and weigh 0.29 kilogram.

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First "Filipinos"
The term Filipino originally referred exclusively to Spaniards and Spanish mestizos born in the Philippines. Espanoles-Filipinos -- children of Espana and Filipinas -- was how they specifically called themselves. Later the native upper class of indios ("uncivilized heathens") and Chinese mestizos, believing that education and wealth gave them the cloak of Spanish culture, also began calling themselves Filipinos.

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Juan de la Cruz
Contrary to popular notion, the symbolic name "Juan de la Cruz" is not a Filipino invention. R. McCulloch-Dick, a Scottish born journalist, coined the generic tag while working for the Manila Times in the early 1900's after discovering it was the most common name in police blotters and court dockets in and around Manila.

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Maria Mania
Why do so many Filipino women (and men) carry "Maria" in their names? A major cause dates back to spanish times when parishes would refuse to baptize a child unless the parents chosen name included the allusion to the Virgin Mary. The practice resists to this day, but on a far less pervasive scale.

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"Pilipinas"
The term Pilipinas, as distinguished from Filipinas, made its first public appearance in a stamp issued during the Japanese Occupation of Manila in World War II. Not until 1962 did the Philippine government make a similar change from Filipinas to Pilipinas in officially describing the nation.

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Months & Days
Hundreds of Spanish words have Tagalog roots. Examples: acharra (atsara); banguerra (banggera); barrumbado (barumbado); bucayo (bukayo); caua (kawa); cascasero (kaskasero); panciteria (pansiteria); quizame (kisame); salacot (salakot); tampipi (tampipi); tinapa (tinapa); tulisan (tulisan).

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Q. Are there more Filipino males than females?
A. Just slightly. The latest count put the ratio at 100.9 males for every 100 females. In Metro Manila, however, the Filipino male is outnumbered: 92.6 to 100.

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Q. Where did the terms kuya and ate come from?
A. Most experts point to Chinese origins. Kuya is said to be a combination of two Chinese words: ko (elder brother) and a (a term of kinship); ate from the same a plus chi (elder sister)

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Q. How many Philippine presidents were bar topnotchers?
A. Three: Manuel A. Roxas, Diosdado Macapagal, and Ferdinand Marcos.

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Q. All Filipino names for the days are from Spanish, with the sole exception of Linggo (Sunday). why not Domingo?
A. Linggo comes from the Malay Mingu, which is a corruption of the Portuguese Domingo (Sunday). But on its way to the Philippines, Mingu became Linggo.

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Q. The Pasyon, subject of the pabasa during Lent, holds what distinction in Philippine publishing history?
A. It's the No. 1 all-time bestseller in the Philippines.

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Q. Ramon Magsaysay named his presidential plane Mt. Pinatubo. Why?
A.Mount Pinatubo in Zambales was Magsaysay's area of operation as a guerilla leader in World War II. He went on to become military governor of the province at war's end.

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Q. What's special about the 1926 film Tatlong Hambog?
A. It featured a kissing scene between Elizabeth "Dimples" Cooper and Luis Tuazon -- the first in Philippine cinema

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fast facts

* Three Filipino babies will be born in the next 60 seconds or so.
* One hundred thousand hectares -- the size of 375,000 basketball courts -- of Philippine forest are denuded every year.
* Every day about 250 Filipino babies die of preventable diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhea and measles.
* The Philippines has not enjoyed complete internal peace for the past 40 years.
* There is one live chicken for every Filipino.
* The average Filipino bride is 23 years old; her bridegroom, 25.

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The typical Filipino breakfast is not tapsilog (tapa, sinangag and itlog). It's kankamtuy: kanin, kamatis and tuyo.

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Chop suey is not a native Chinese dish. It originated in the late 19th century in a California camp where the Chinese cook simply threw together what he had left over and called it 'chop suey', a phonetic transliteration of the Cantonese tsa sui, which means something like "odds and ends".

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There is no pancit Canton in Canton, and no lumpiang Shanghai in Shanghai.

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The choice of Gabriel "Flash" Elorde's sobriquet had nothing to do with speed. In fact it was originally "K.R.S. Flash", the initials supposedly for Kintanar Radio Shop (or Station) as Elorde's first manager (Kintanar) was a Cebu radio ham. The "Flash" was taken from the regular radio line "news flash bulletin".

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Mactan Myth
There is no historical evidence that Lapu-Lapu killed Ferdinand Magellan in a one-on-one duel during the Battle of Mactan on April 27, 1521. Nothing of the sort was was never mentioned by Antonio Pigafetta, chronicler of the Magellan expedition and the lone available source on the subjects. His account: Magellan was hit first on the right leg by a poison arrow, then on the arm by a bamboo spear while a bolo slashed his left leg. When he fell, a swarm of attackers finished him off with a hail of hacks and stabs.

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First Pinoy in the Sky
The first Filipino to fly as a passenger was an Igorot chief named Gagaban. He rode with American pilot Lee Hammond in a Red Devil biplane on a short flight over Luneta on February 12, 1912.

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Pinay Make-Up
Although cosmetic products were already widely sold in Manila in the 1910's -- thanks to the American occupation -- it was only about 15 years later that the ordinary Filipina could wear make-up in public with full confidence. Before then she ran the risk of being mistaken for a bailarina or a vaudeville artista.

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Not Limasawa
Filipino historians now agree that Limasawa Island, in Leyte del Sur, does not deserve the honor of being the site of the first Mass in the Philippines. The actual site was Masao in Butuan Bay, Agusan del Norte, where the national shrine commemorating the event has already been transferred. The long-running error has been traced to an English translation of Antonio Pigafetta's chronicle of the Magellan expedition, where the prefix "li-" was attached to Mazzaua, Masao's original name.

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Dynamic Duo
Manuel L. Quezon and Sergio Osmena, Sr. were born in the same year (1878), were classmates in high school (San Juan de Letran) and college (University of Santo Tomas), and placed in the Top 10 of the bar examinations of 1903. Both later became provincial fiscals and governors (Tayabas and Cebu).

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Aguinaldo's Ages
Emilio Aguinaldo became capitan municipal of Kawit, Cavite, when he was only 26 years old, headed a revolution two months later, and assumed the presidency of the republic two months short of his 30th birthday. He died at age 95, the oldest for any Philippine president so far.

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Coup Leader
The Philippine coup count is nothing compared to that of Bolivia. Statisticians say this South American country has had 191 coups and counter-coup since it became independent in 1825.

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Rizal as "Doctor"
Jose Rizal's "doctor" title does not refer to a doctorate as most people tend to think. For some reason, he was not able to take the examination that would have qualified him for a doctorate. Rizal did have a licentiate in medicine and so was allowed to practice in the profession.

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Kids & TV
A UP survey reveals that the average Filipino child watches television at least three hours on weekdays and five hours on weekends -- more than the time he spends studying, playing, or interacting with other people.

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Cheers!
Alak, the Pinoy word for liquor, appears to have been derived from the Arabic term arak. It's an old alcoholic drink resembling rum in taste, widely enjoyed in the Middle east and other parts of Asia.

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First "Import"
Not many are aware that a black American fought on the side of Aguinaldo's army during the Fil-American War. He was David Fagan, a six-foot defector who earned the rank of captain in the pinoy forces. An avowed hater of "whites", Fagan learned to speak tagalog rather well, according to accounts, and lived-in with a Filipina. He was described as a fierce warrior and reportedly "salvaged" a number of white Americans captured by Filipino troops. He was hunted down after the defeat of Aguinaldo's army, and believed assassinated.

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Pioneer Paper
The first newspaper in the Philippines was the Del Superior Gobierno, which began publication in August 1811. Edited by the Spanish governor-general himself, it carried only news from abroad as the paper was meant for the Spanish community in the country. Del Superior Gobierno had a life span of only 15 issues.

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Bar Birds
Old-timers say the term 'mga kalapating mababa ang lipad' -- describing nightclub hostesses -- has its roots in Palomar, the famed Tondo red-light district at the term of the century. Palomar is Spanish for "pigeon house".

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Manila, Manila, Manila
Manila is not unique. There are two other Manila's in the world, both towns in the United States (Utah and Arkansas).

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Mr. Shoo Li
Jun "Mr. Shoo Li" Urbano is following in the footsteps of his father, Manuel Conde (born Manuel Urbano), when he created television's Mongolian Barbecue. Also known for his portrayal of Juan Tamad on film, the elder Urbano starred in the epic 1951 movie Genghis Khan, the Pinoy version of the life of the famed Mongolian warrior-king. It was the first Filipino film cited for technical achievement at the Cannes Film Festival. Jun's real name, by the way, is manuel Conde, Jr.

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First Filipino - or Filipina?
Was the first Filipino a man or a woman?
The oldest human relics in the Philippines were discovered in Tabon Cave, Palawan, in 1962. The most important find was a fragment of a rather thick skull with a sloping forehead and wide, heavy bones. The jaws and the back of the head were missing, but subsequent carbon tests and ethic studies led to the general conclusion that the skull belonged to a small, slight human, a "Negritoid" who had lived about 22,000 years ago. Further tests gave the impression that the skullcap belonged to a woman.

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What's the literal meaning of Intsik?
Authorities point to two sources. Some say its simply Chinese for "uncle"; others claim it's from the Malay encik, meaning "an esteemed person".

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How did the Filipinos get their Spanish surnames?
From the Catalogo de Apellidos of Spanish Governor-General Narciso Claveria who in 1849 decreed that all indios (the Spanish term for Filipino natives) must adopt surnames for proper identification and taxation. The catalogue consisted of Spanish names from the telephone directory of Madrid and local names from friar dictionaries of Philippine languages. Exempted from the decree were pre Hispanic royalty (Soliman, Macapagal, Tupas, etc.) and Chinese residents who already had surnames.

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What was the first Philippine komiks magazine?
Halakhak Komiks (1946).

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Where did the words siomai and lumpia come from?
Siomai is from the Chinese sio ("hot") and mi ("wheat flour") or mai ("soft rice").
Lumpia, on the other hand, is from lun ("tough") and pia ("anything made of flour, bread or biscuit").

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