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LINK: ‘Note Verbale‘, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Section) - 18 November 2007 Issue

As a branch of knowledge particularly in the field of linguistics, semantics has reference to the study of meaning.

Human expression is unique because communication is effectively done in the form of spoken and written words called language. Other living creatures merely rely on non-verbal expressions, gestures or even instincts which of course are also subsumed as other modes of human expression.

Like the human beings that they serve, languages live, die, move from place to place and change with time. Of these languages, English is perhaps the most dominant, extensive and widely-used globally.

This article attempts to look at the context of the English words home, love, politics, and happiness as they reflect or affect rightly or wrongly the Filipino thought.

A line in a popular song says that a “house is not a home”.  True enough because a home goes beyond the physical structure where people are sheltered. A home indicates ties, kinship or some degree of relationship. Thus, it is unacceptable, if not awkward, to say ‘go (to) house early’ in lieu of ‘go home early’. But when what is involved is severance of ties, the expression ‘get out of the home’ is never used. A house is not a home because they represent different polarities especially in the context of the Filipino culture where a family is deemed as an inviolable social institution.

Filipinos love to love. But many times they simply ‘fall in love’, inadvertently forgetting that there is a better option, to ‘grow in love’. Love is supposedly an affair of both the heart and the mind, for one without the other could be annihilating. The pursuit of love could understandably entail some personal sacrifice, burden or pain. For many Filipinos though, these tragedies define the unwarranted measure whether love is pure and true. But love should evoke a beautiful thought and a wonderful feeling. And perhaps the only way to do it is to make love evolve and develop as bits and pieces of cherished moments until it bears the fruit it rightly deserves. Growing in love requires a serious, conscious and mutual effort to make the relationship work. Falling in love accepts unilateral desperation as a matter of fact. No wonder, there seems to be so much bickering and strained relationships nowadays in Philippine society because Filipinos love to fall in love.

Criticisms in public governance are always viewed as “playing politics”.  Many Filipinos and observes view politics as the root cause of the country’s political, social and economic maladies.  But politics is not an evil.  As a concept, the word could either refer to the social relationship of the governed and those in power, or the study of political structures of the state, or the profession devoted to governance and political affairs, or the opinion the public holds with respect to political questions. Thus, politics intends to bridge and harmonize the gap between the government and the people towards the attainment of state goals and principles. Perhaps, the country needs more politics that it has now for public servants or functionaries to serve their constituency well without being insensitive to public opinion.

Some say that Filipinos are among the happiest people in the world despite the crisis and the difficulties that befall them.  In a sense this could be true because “to be happy” is not really dependent on material possessions or physical conditions. Happiness is a state or condition of mind. An individual could be among the poorest of the poor, or the most uneducated, or even terminally ill and still be happy. Happiness only demands acceptance and contentment at the barest level. Happiness should not be mistaken with pleasure normally represented by the usual trappings of life. The latter is temporary while the former is more or less permanent.

The whole point is for individuals to mean exactly what they think and say in what they do for verbal human expression to serve its purpose.