Did I mention that we saw an eclipse the other day?
Didn’t even know it was going to happen – my brother just happened to look up and notice while he was out from under the hut-bar, taking photos of the sky and stuff.
It was awesome.
Separately, I learned a Tagalog term today: Askal.
Think the British “ask”, combined with “Jal” from the Spanish “Jalisco” (a rather silent English H sound).
My mom asked a lady what the kind of dog was that we kept seeing everywhere around the Cebu area.
We are somewhat convinced that they are all just the same dog in disguise… at the furthest stretch, they could be all just related to one another… very, very closely, and with minimal cross-breeding, though they are definitely mutts.
Anyway, my mom asked the lady what kind of dog it was and the lady replied with, “Askal.”
I then learned how to say it, and asked about the word.
She explained that “as” comes from “aso,” which means “dog,” and that “kal” comes from “kalye,” (pronounced much like the Spanish calle, if you only pronounce it with one l, and change the second to an i), which means street.
“So, it’s ‘street dog’,” I say.
Yes.
We then proceeded to laugh heartily that the Cebuano dog is not a specific breed, but really just a street dog. π
(You might not doke this entertaining, but we certainly did, and I still do.) π
So, yeah… lots of askal around here.
Post-a-day 2019