Shake That Fruit!

The other day, I went to the Ongpin area for a foodie's day out. We had a wonderful paella lunch at the supposed oldest restaurant in Manila, Ambos Mundos, on C. Florentino street and then we walked to Ongpin for goodies (tikoy with peanuts, yum!). While walking, I saw a very cheery sign which said, "Shake DAT Fruit!

Now, the sign was very pretty and very appetizing. It belonged to a fruit stall which made fruit shakes, hence, "shake dat fruit." The store and its goods aside, I'm more concerned with the quality of the English shown here.

I don't know whether it's because of text language or because Filipinos often mistake the "d" sound for the "th" sound, but there are so many instances of "th" words" spelled with "d." How many times will you encounter "dat" instead of "that," "da" or "d" instead of "the" and "dey" instead of "they"? Indeed, these popular text-speak shortcuts worry me because I think they're helping in the degeneration of the English spoken and used here. For one, this problem wreaks havoc on spelling. Also, I think this mistake is adding to pronunciation problems. Since "th" words are often spelled with "d," many Pinoys forget how to properly pronounce the sound (see my previous post on pronouncing "th").

Please, text-speak is fine if you're sending a text message but be aware of the proper way to spell and say words. If you're a Filipino trying to get a job abroad, remember, not all people use text-speak the way we do and some people might not understand you if you pronounce words like "the" with "d."

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I had some computer problems.