the other f word.

just so we're clear, i'm not talking about this f word: f*ck (i think we're all using that one... maybe not out loud nor in the presence of anyone under the age of 18... but hey, one misstep in the dark involving a lego brick and i let it fly...)

i'm talking about this f word: flip (some of you would use the asterisk in this case as well, i just wanted to be clear for those who didn't know what word i was referring to or didn't know (like me) that it was offensive).

the first time i heard the word was in high school. i was one of maybe five filipinos in my class. but, my family socialized (no, really!?) with other filipino families from the city and suburbs and the other teenagers my age used "flip" often and proudly. i remember one of them signed my yearbook "flips rule, class of '89! future class of '93!".

fast forward to 1998... i'd been living in the sf bay area for a few years. my stepbros, who i consider really "hip" and "happening" (they told me all about the black eyed peas in 1998 - B.F. (before fergie), asked me about life in the bay area and could i confirm that "there's plenty of fine pinays there?" i confirmed that life in the bay area was good, that fine pinays were aplenty and awaiting a visit from my stepbros and i even jotted a mental post-it note that filipino young men were now referring to their female counterparts as "pinays".

fast forward again to 2001... the thin man and i moved back to chicago from the bay area (long story). we were greeted at our new apartment by my brother and my stepbrothers. and while we were unloading the truck, i said something like, "so, what's happening? what are all the cool flips doing for fun these days?" my stepbros looked at me like i had killed someone. they quietly explained to me that no one used that word anymore, that it was equivalent to the "n" word or gook or chink and that historically, american soldiers used it as a derogatory slur/acronym in WWII for "f*cking little island people". i'm ashamed to say that i'd never heard that before. so, i stopped using it. curious? check out some of the entries on urbandictionary.com.

then after giving birth to the paloma in 2003, i started to look for t-shirts for her that referred to her filipino heritage. a google search yielded "flip" t-shirts from cafe press and a t-shirt company that calls itself flipside (i ended up buying from archipelago).

finally, in the more recent past and present - this past may/july, a filipino photographer exhibited a group of portraits of filipinos from all walks of life for a project titled "the flipbook project". and just the other day, i heard "flip" again while passing a loud group of filipino teens (possibly college students) downtown.

so, has a new generation of filipinos reclaimed "flip"? are you using the word again? did you ever use it before and then stop? did you never stop using it? what other words (if any) do you use to identify your (filipino) self? fil-am? pinay? pinoy? mestiza? mestizo? filipina? filipino?

lastly, i was just wondering on a related and similarly controversial note - as a filipino, do you consider yourself asian or pacific islander? i know many filipinos who identify themselves as pacific islanders and others who identify as asian. i also know some pacific islanders (specifically samoans) who are really angered with filipinos who identify as pacific islanders (in all honesty, until i did some research and found out that the philippines itself considers itself part of asia, i thought filipinos were pacific islanders).