Showbiz lingo for nth time

TIGHTWAD – For the nth time, Highspeed dwells on showbiz lingo. Before anything else this reminder: Showbiz lingo is more rhyme than reason. It’s not meant to offend people whose names rhyme with…well, showbiz lingo.

Let’s start with TIGHTWAD…as in “kuripot.”

“Madame Curie” is often used, with “apologies” to the two-time Nobel Prize winner, for medicine and chemistry, “Curie” happens to rhyme with “kuripot.”

Variations are “Nanay Coring,” “Ate Koring,” and “Tita Cory.”

‘THUNDER’ – It rhymes with “tanda.” An award-winning director (and part-time actor) hasn’t forgiven an aspiring director for calling him “Thunder.”

Another “thunder” advised, “Wag ka nang magagalit. Oo ‘thunder’ na tayo pero di pa naman over the hill. Eh, ‘yang wannabe director, bata nga pero waley (as in wala, nada) assignment.” “Thunder Over the Hill.” Isn’t that the title of a Hollywood movie? Definitely, direk “thunder” is no “Laosian Deep” – as in hasbeen, “laos.”

NAUGHTY – The late Justo C. Justo comes to mind, proud Waray who started using showbiz (gay) lingo in the ’70s, via his column in The SUN, “Etchos Lang.” JJ popularized terms with naughty (sexy) connotations: “Dakota Harrison” – “dako” is big in Visaya. Just as “Duty Free Shop” is “diutay” (small). More from JJ: “kumakain ng apoy,” “nagba-ballet sa nagbabagang tingga,” “galing sa cueva vaca” – all loaded double meaning. “Tame” are expressions like: “etchos lang” (not serious), “wanakosey,” “lafang” (food), “balay” (house). How about “beauties” like “bruhitic,” “madrastic,” “kabayotic,” “reglatic,’ “problematic.”