Tagalog profanity can refer to a wide range of offensive, blasphemous, and taboo words or expressions in the Tagalog language of the Philippines. Due to Filipino culture, expressions which may sound benign when translated back to English can cause great offense; while some expressions English speakers might take great offense to can sound benign to a Tagalog speaker. Filipino, the national language of the Philippines, is the standard register of Tagalog, so as such the terms Filipino profanity and Filipino swear words are sometimes also employed.
In Tagalog, profanity has many names: in a religious or formal context, it is called lapastangang pananalita ("blasphemous/irreverent speech") or pag-alipusta/panlalait ("insult"). The word paghamak is also sometimes used formally and has a sense similar to "affront". Colloquially, the words mura ("swear word") and sumumpâ ("to wish evil [on someone]") are used.
Owing to successive Spanish and American colonial administrations, some Tagalog profanity has its etymological roots in the profanity of European languages. Other concepts, like hiya, are similar to sociological concepts such as face, which are common across East Asia.
Unlike in Western culture, where certain words are never acceptable in all but the most informal contexts, Tagalog profanity is context-sensitive: words which are considered profane or insulting in one context are often acceptable in another.
Putang ina mo
Owing partly to its use in speeches by former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, the phrase putang ina mo (sometimes shortened to tang ina or minced as PI) has received considerable international attention and controversy as to its meaning. Puta is a borrowed word from Spanish, in which language it means "whore". Ina is Tagalog for mother, while mo is the indirect second person singular pronoun. Therefore, if translated word-for-word, the phrase means "your mother is a whore".
However, most Tagalog speakers dispute this simplistic translation, instead alternately rendering the phrase as "son of a bitch" or as a variation of the word "fuck".
According to linguist Ben Zimmer, given the context and how the meaning of puta has shifted in Tagalog, the best translation of Duterte's original "Putang-ina, mumurahin kita diyan sa forum na iyan. Huwag mo akong ganunin." would be "Fuck, I will cuss you out at that forum. Don't do that to me."
Besides being directed at people, putang ina can be just as well directed at inanimate objects: University of the Philippines Los Baños Associate Professor of Communication, Research, and Children's Literature Cheeno Marlo M. Sayuno has documented the use of "tang ina error!" as an expression of exasperation due to PC errors, and "Uy net! Putang ina mo!" as something akin to "Hey, [slow] internet [connection], fuck you!" As in the English fucking, the phrase can also be used as an adjective, as in the case of "putanginang aso" ("fucking dog") or "Diyos ko, putanginang buhay ko!" ("God, fuck my shitty life!")
This non-literal meaning of the phrase putang ina mo has twice been affirmed by the Supreme Court of the Philippines: first in 1969 in its decision to Rosauro Reyes v. The People of the Philippines (G.R. No. L-21528 and No. L-21529), and then in 2006 in its decision to Noel Villanueva v. People of the Philippines and Yolanda Castro (G.R. No. 160351). In Reyes, a certiorari appeal to a criminal defamation and grave threats case, the court acquitted the defendant, ruling that his use of a protest sign reading "Agustin, putang ina mo" did not constitute defamation as
In Villanueva, another slander case involving two local politicians of Concepcion, Tarlac, the court reiterated its interpretation of the phrase, but the other facts of the case precluded acquittal.
Walang hiya
Hiya is a Filipino psychological concept similar to face and modesty in other cultures. Author Mary Isabelle Bresnahan has described it thus: "just as the sensitive makahiya plant protects its inside from direct touch, so too do people hold back in defense of loob [their inner selves]." When translated to English, the words "shame", "embarrassment" and "dishonor" can be employed as a substitute for hiya depending on context.
Like much Tagalog profanity, the phrase "Walang hiya ka!" (You have no shame!) can vary in offense taken from very little to "the ultimate loob-wounding comment" depending on context and the relationship between the speaker and the receiver. According to Gerhard van den Top, allegations of shamelessness are most damaging when the social class of people differ, and the poor may consciously avoid interaction with the rich to prevent even unspoken damage to hiya.