WHY ‘TOKHANG’ IS 2018 WORD OF THE YEAR

A hybrid of two CebuanoBisaya words, “tokhang” has become synonym for ‘turning up dead in the streets.’

“Fake news,” Collins Dictionary 2017 Word of the Year, was “People’s Choice” in the “Sawikaan” audience.

Originally, the name of the police anti-drug campaign, the word is a hybrid of “toktok” (knock) and “hangyo” (ask) to describe peaceful persuasion.

But as the results showed otherwise, it evolved unofficially into “toktok” and “luthang” (or knock and shoot).

At the University of the Philippines Diliman “Sawikaan” of students, academicians and literary critics last Oct. 26, a presentor said the message is simple: “Kapag tinotokhang ang ating mga karapatan kailangang manlalaban. (If our rights are ‘tokhanged,’ we need to fight back).”

The triumph of the word, writer Mark Angeles said, is “for every Filipino who chooses to fight against human rights violations, especially poor Filipinos, in the context of the war on drugs.”