It’s been the talk of the town for the past few days and the chatter is very evident online where people searched for it (It was the most searched keyword in Yahoo! Philippines last week Friday) and discussed it on blogs and social media sites.  So what is a Jejemon?  And why is it suddenly being talked about?

The country editor of Yahoo! Philippines decided to bring this question to the Answers community: “What is a ‘jejemon’ and why the sudden popularity?” Almost 400 of you shared what you know about the Jejemon and it certainly helped enlighten a lot of people about it.

Answers user Demi-LAncer gave the best answer to the question.  He shared that word “jejemon” was most likely derived from two words, “jeje” and “Pokemon”.  “Jeje” came from the onomatopoeia for laugh, “hehehe”, but with the “h” replaced with a “j”.

Community member Momonja defined “jejemon” as someone who purposely changes the spelling of typewritten words by alternating uppercase and lowercase letters, replacing letters with other characters, and by adding more characters to the spelling to create a different looking word but pronounced similarly (but with exaggeration) to the original word.

To better understand this concept, here’s a comparison of a normal text and its jejemon version:

Normal: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

Jejemon: dhUh qW!k vr0uwN phF0uX jumF3d 0v3r t3h L@izey dhouG

Plok explained that the jejemon “language” is in a way similar to l33t-5p34/< (for leet-speak) and LOL-speak, both products of the early days of chatting online (IRC-talk) and text lingo, but different in that the purpose of this is not to abbreviate or shorten words or phrases but simply to create a different (although more complicated) way of spelling words.

This phenomenon has transcended beyond language and evolved to an actual sub-culture.  It has come to describe the local “gangstahs” who dress up in a certain way (ever seen someone wear a “jeje-cap”?) and act differently as well.

So why all the talk about this right now?  Well, we have to thank presidential candidate Gibo Teodoro for this (or at least the person who photo-shopped his image).  Here’s the image that started all the talk:

I hope that clears the “mystery” behind the Jejemons.  Got any other question about the jejemons?  Please leave a comment below and I’ll do my best to get more answers through the Answers community in the next post.

 Photo by HAEROLD PHOTOGRAPHX

Let’s do this YAPpers!  Many thanks to everyone that left a comment and shared their thoughts regarding the possibility of a meet up of the Pinoy community here in Yahoo! Answers!  Because of your feedback, we’re making this a reality.  Let’s have a Pinoy Answers Community Meet Up next month!  Here are the details:

Who: Yahoo! Philippines Answers Users
What: Yahoo! Philippines Answers Community Meet Up!
When: July 18, 2008, 7:30pm
Where: Makati City (specific place to be announced later)

Anyone who wants to attend, just email me the following:

1. Full name:
2. Yahoo! Answers ID:
3. Mobile number:

You can email me at jonasdelosreyes@ymail.com.  Feel free to leave a comment as well if there’s anything else you want to share to me and the community (like venue suggestion maybe, if you’re willing to assist in organizing this, etc.)

Btw, I think YAPpers as a name for Pinoys in Yahoo! Answers is so cool!  Thanks for informing me about it Japs!  And thanks to all the YAPpers!  Hope to see all of you soon!

Photo by lumaxart

Actually, it’s a question that every Pinoy here in Answers should answer.  Is it time for us to have a community meet up or not?  I’m just starting to meet all of you online but I’m sure it will be more exciting if we have an offline event, a meet up of the Pinoy Community in Yahoo! Answers!

Of course, this question raises a string of related questions.  When do we schedule the meet up?  I’m thinking July, but is it too soon or just right?  How about August?  We can have dinner in a restaurant, which leads to the next important question.  Where can we have our meet up?  I’m thinking in a restaurant in Makati City?  If not maybe Ortigas or Quezon City?  Any particular restaurant you have in mind?  Of course, I also want to have a meet up in Cebu (lived there for three years!), and definitely in Davao (can’t forget my Dabawenyo friends, hehehe), definitely in succeeding meet ups.

So share me your thoughts on this as we organize our first Pinoy Answers Community Meet Up.  I’ll make sure to book the place for the event, ensure there’s food and drinks for everyone, prepare an exciting and un-boring program, and bring lots of Yahoo! giveaways to give away!  Hope to see everyone soon!

UPDATE: There’s a big chance I’ll be in the Philippines this July 17 and 18 (a Thursday and a Friday), maybe we can set the Meet Up on the 18th of July, a Friday evening maybe?

Photo by hellochris

Thank you to everyone who gave an answer to the question I posted last Independence Day.  It was a simple and yet profound question that all Pinoys should ask themselves – “what is the one thing that makes you proud to be a Filipino?”  And I’m so happy to say that 118 of you took time to answer it!

I really had a great time reading all the answers and one thing I noticed which made me realize something, I only asked for one thing that makes us proud to be Pinoys and yet a lot of you gave more than one answer.  It’s not that you didn’t follow instructions, but I believe it’s more because there was really more than just one reason for us to be proud of who we are!  We really should learn to always count our blessings.

Speaking of blessings, I would like to congratulate Sparkspill for getting the best answer (since it was for Independence Day, I decided to be democratic and let everyone vote for it).  I didn’t announce this before but I’m feeling extra generous lately so for giving the best answer, I’m sending Sparkspill some Yahoo! gifts as prize for his answer!  Congrats Sparkspill, make sure you reply to my email and I’ll send the stuff right away.

To everyone else, don’t you worry because this won’t be the last time this happens.  I’ll be giving away prizes every now and then and will keep you informed about it.  Again, thank you so much for all your answers.  So let’s all continue to be active in asking and answering questions posted by our fellow Pinoys.  The successful Independence Day feature only goes to show that the Pinoy community is really growing in number and in activity here in Yahoo! Answers.  Which makes me think, is it time to have a Pinoy community meet up soon?  Hmm, what do you all think?

Photo by jrac2002

Today we celebrate our country’s 110th Independence Day. More than a century has already passed since our forefathers fought against foreign oppression, tyranny and persecution. Blood sweat and tears were shed because they firmly believed in freedom.

Freedom – a word that has so much meaning in our nation’s history and yet sometimes, taken for granted by its people. In spite enjoying independence for the past 110 years we have continued to fight for freedom because we know that freedom will always be under attack. Not necessarily by foreign rule but by corruption, by dictatorship, by crab mentality, or by indifference to uphold what is good and what is right.

Our nation today continues to face various trials and challenges, but this shouldn’t bring us down or divide us. Instead let us start putting our petty differences aside and let us be united toward common goals. And let us all be thankful to God for the many blessings we have received as Filipinos, always bearing in mind we should always be hopeful, always be optimistic and always see the best and brighter side of being Pinoy!

To all my kababayans, Happy Independence Day! Mabuhay and Pilipinas!

Why do I ask? Well, I was checking some Answers statistics this morning and discovered some very interesting figures about Pinoys in the Answers community. The first and probably the best thing about the data is the growth of Pinoys in the Answers community has been phenomenal! It’s true, ithe graph that represented our growth rate was like a challenge to mountaineers, there was no way to go but up. This surely reflects the fact that Yahoo! is the country’s leading Internet company, reaching 85% of all online users in the Philippines.

The other thing about the figures that’s very noteworthy is not all Pinoys in the Philippines access Answers from the Yahoo! Philippines Answers website. This means they still go to the original Answers website which is, well, primarily for US users. Ever since Yahoo! launched Answers in 2005 as a community-driven knowledge market website, its users have grown exponentially and internationally. As the audience became more global, it was only fitting that local versions with a local voice that featured local flavors and local points of view are launched to cater to specific countries. Hence, Yahoo! Philippines Answers was launched in 2006 (along with other local versions around the world). This is a huge development but it seems to have been overlooked by many Pinoys.

Which brings us to the following questions: If you’re a Pinoy at home in the Philippines, where do you usually access Answers? From the Philippines website or the US website? If your answer is the latter, why go there and not the Philippines Answers site? If you’re a Pinoy living abroad, do you access Answers from the Philippines website or the local version where you are based? If your answer is the latter, why go there and not the Philippines Answers site?

Please take time to answer in the comment section below and do help me spread it around the community as well. Your answers will be very valuable in helping us improve Answers and ensuring that we all have a Pinoy-centric, indispensable online experience every time we log on to Yahoo! Answers.

How cliché to say for a first post but it’s the most appropriate thing to say in this case for two reasons. Firstly, it marks the Yahoo! Philippines Answers blog finally going live! Now you can get your regular updates about what’s new, what’s hot and what’s not in Yahoo! Philippines Answers straight from this blog. It used to be just one blog before which covered all versions of Answers in Southeast Asia, but now each country has its own blog.

Secondly, it’s to welcome me on my new job. As some of you may know already, I was recently hired to be Yahoo!’s Community Manager for the Philippines and it’s simply a thrilling experience to represent Yahoo! and be part of the team that makes sure that services like Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers and Flickr continue to empower Pinoys and help us grow a meaningful and responsible Pinoy online community.

You’ll be hearing from me constantly from this blog and occasionally, you’ll be seeing me offline as well in upcoming Yahoo! events across the country so please feel free to leave a post, email me or even chat with me should you have something in mind or just want to say hi. I’ll be here to listen to you to help make your online experience with Yahoo! a continuously enjoyable and meaningful one.

So to everyone, mabuhay!