At least in American spelling, why are people from the Philippines called Filipinos with an F?

Flynn_17

In Tagalog, as well as in both forms of Bahasa, the country is called "Pilipinas", and so the Tagalog word for their people is the "Filipino". It's a language anomale, something similar to what happens in Welsh, and I suppose it's one of the few areas where English simply doesn't factor into it. Apr 04 06, 6:02 AM

Baloo55th

Rather than Tagalog, it's Spanish that's to blame. When the Philippines was a Spanish colony, they called it the 'Islas Filipinas'. The Americans changed it to the English Philippine Islands or Philippines, but the Spanish term for one of the people from there stuck. Tagalog doesn't have an f except in borrowed words (similarly with j in Welsh), so the name became Pilipinas when the independent nation really got going and adopted the formerly regional Tagalog as a national language. However, there are plans (and have been since 1973) to create a new national language based on most of the major languages spoken there. This sort of thing doesn't normally work, so the name chosen for the new language will probably get transferred to Tagalog. Guess what it is? Filipino. Apr 04 06, 8:44 AM

Create a Free FunTrivia ID to add to, request more/new answers, or edit this entry

Why is a spelling bee so called? Why was John F. Kennedy also called Jack? Why do Filipinos frequently confuse the gender of their pronouns when speaking English? Why are white people sometimes called honkies, especially by black people?

1 From Intelligent People (mainly American) Famous and inspiring quotes by famous and inspiring people. Who Said It? Difficult 10 Q doodlebop100 Sep 09 07 840 plays 2 At Least It's an Ethos - 'The Big Lebowski' For those who love the Dude and all he stands for! Big Lebowski, The . Average 20 Q MajorKong May 11 01 7326 plays 3 People called Jack.... Lots of people and characters are called Jack, this quiz is about a few of them. First Names Average 10 Q bridget3 Oct 12 00 1236 plays