Hey Joe

Well it has been a long time hasn't it? Sorry to keep you all anxiously awaiting the rivoting posts from Manila. So without further delay, here ya go.

Remember G.I. Joe? According to Wikpedia, it stands for "General Issue Joe". It signified "the universal makeup of the US forces at the time." Well as I am told, the term has stuck around since the World Wars. With the heavy US Armed Forces present here in the Philippines, the term began to be associated with "white-faces" (or westerners which were mostly American at the time). Still to this day foriegn guys in the Philippines get called Joe!

Just the other day, I was walking along and I got many "hey joe"s thrown at me. "Hey Joe, do you want some DVD's?" "Hey Joe, how are you?" "Hey Joe, what are you doing?" "Hey Joe, what's your name?" The term is not meant to be mean or derragatory, it is just something the locals use to talk to foriegners. (or at least that is what I am told). It does get old sometimes because my name is not JOE!!

One day while I was walking along in a more playful mood, I shot back, "Hey Juan, what's up? How you been?" It drew a lot of laughter from the onlookers! I guess being called Joe is just one of those things to accept about this place. At least it is one of the nicer terms that could be used to describe foriegners!!