A hilarious meme where the cartoon character Dexter (of Dexter’s Laboratory) “speaks” in a Filipino accent has been making its rounds on Philippine social media for more than a week and it looks like it has no signs of stopping.
The meme highlights how Filipinos say certain English words. For example, some Pinoys would pronounce “ham and cheese” like this:
“I love your Filipino accent! What you want on your sandwich again?”
Me: pic.twitter.com/YY0ltfSOJ6
— Aly Rose (@ahlyrose) November 11, 2018
Some Filipinos also pronounce the letter “f” as a “p,” which is why it’s common to hear “french fries” said like this:
Even Filipino-American beauty vlogger Patrick Starr joined the bandwagon. He shared this meme yesterday and even Madonna (yes, the Material Girl!) liked it.
We’ll give you a few minutes in case you didn’t immediately understand that last one.
The meme was based on an old episode of the Cartoon Network show titled The Big Cheese. Aired in 1996, the episode showed Dexter trying to study French by listening to a vinyl record overnight.
But there is one problem: the record skipped while Dexter was sleeping, and kept mentioning “omelette du fromage” the entire night.
So when he showed up at school, that was the only phrase he could say. However, the girls, who thought his accent was sexy, fell head over heels for him.
Watch a clip of the episode below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C-hQleMFhY
Cute, right?
The new viral trend is a lighter take on the usually mocked Filpino accent.
In the Philippines, speaking “good English” (ideally in a neutral or global accent) is a prized skill associated with a higher social class or better education.
Accents have also become an unspoken social divider in the country.
Even President Rodrigo Duterte is not spared from insults, like that time a journalist made fun of his pronunciation of “armed struggle.”
As trivial as they are, the spread of the Dexter meme is perhaps a sign that at least some Filipinos have learned that speaking English in a Pinoy accent is fine and should be embraced.
