...Bekimon: A fresh take on Pinoy gay lingo [pic]By Karen Flores, abs-cbnNEWS.com MANILA, Philippines - Fair-skinned and well-groomed Bern Josep Persia may be the new face of the gay-speaking community, being the self-proclaimed bekimonpresident in the country. A photographer and a tech support representative, Persia plays different roles (from a call center agent to a newscaster) in a series of videos aboutbekimons, defined as people who are "hard-core users" of gay language -- whether they are homosexuals or not. Most of the terms that bekimons commonly use are alterations of basic Filipino and English words such as workibells (work), kalurkey (kaloka or crazy), teh (ate or sister), anekwaboom (ano or what) and heller (hello). Others are totally unique -- from the popular jowa (spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend) to names of showbiz figures such as Carmi Martin (a term used to refer to karma). The term bekimon (beki is a colloquial word for "gay") took off from the growing popularity of the jejemon subculture, which refers to those who deliberately exaggerate ordinary words by adding or subtracting letters, or by using a mixture of upper-case and lower-case letters, in written communication. On Monday, jejemon was chosen as Salita ng Taon (Word of the Year) in the Sawikaan 2010, an academic conference organized by the Filipinas Institute of Translation Inc. (Read story here.) Pink republic Just like President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, Persia delivered a so-called State...
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