Supreme Court ruling: ‘Putang ina mo’ doesn’t mean ‘your mother is a whore’ – Rigoberto Tiglao

The world “putang ina or putang ina mo” is a common profanity to express anger in the Philippines and it doesn’t mean its actual translation in English, “your mother is a whore”, and not offensive according to The Philippine Supreme Court ruled in 1969.
It was when Rosaura Reyes was accused of grave threat and oral defamation in 1961 by his Manager, Agustin Hallar, for shouting the said expression at him because of mass termination that included him and other 20 employees.
“Agustin, putang ina mo. Agustin, mawawala ka. Lumabas ka, papatayin kita.” Reyes said.

But in 1992, Reyes appealed to the Supreme Court. Reyes was acquittted on the oral defamation case in 1969, bacause the word “putang ina mo” is just a common expression to express anger and not to slander, but not on the grave threat case. Since then, the Supreme Court made that “putang ina” decision part of jurisprudence by citing it in another case (Villanueva v People, G.R. No. 160351) 2006, with Associate Justice Minitia V. Chico Nazarario as ponente:

“In Reyes v. People [137 Phil. 112, 120 (1969)], we ruled that the expression putang ina mo is a common enough utterance in the dialect that is often employed, not really to slander but rather to express anger or displeasure. In fact, more often, it is just an expletive that punctuates one’s expression of profanity.”

Therefore, when President Rodrigo Duterte said “putang ina”, that earned violent reactions from people, during during the pre-departure pressconference in Manila when asked about former President Obama before his Laos trip. 

Because Duterte did not mean it literally but rather to express his anger as profanity.

On the blog piece that Tricia Zafra wrote, she cited a Spanish curses list prepared by Michael Estrada, such as hijo de puta (son of a bitch), puta madre (bitch mother) and tu puta madre me la chupa (your bitch mother sucks my dick).

“The Latin culture has also been specified by Harbeck as among those that have the mother involved most in a list of offensive language. These cultures tend to be extended-family rather than nuclear-family societies.” Zafra wrote, Citing a 2015 BBC article by James Harbeck (“Mind your Language! Swearing Around the World”)

Like American’s their all-time favorite expletive, a magical word, “fuck” that has lots of meaning to describe pain, pleasure, hate and love, beside its sexual meaning.

Below are its different uses depending on the speaker’s mood or feelings.

Fraud: I got fucked at the used car-lot; Ignorance: Fucked if I know;
Trouble: I guess I am fucked now!
Aggression: Fuck you!
Displeasure: What the fuck is going on here? Difficulty: I can’t understand this fucking job; Incompetence: He is a fuck-off;
Suspicion: What the fuck are you doing?
Enjoyment: I had a fucking good time;
Request: Get the fuck out of here!
Hostility: I am going to knock your fucking head off!
Greeting: How the fuck are you?
Apathy: Who gives a fuck?
Innovation: Get a bigger fucking hammer. Surprise: Fuck! You scared the shit out of me! Anxiety: Today is really fucked.”

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Source:  manilatimes.net