Filipinos Wanting To Get Into Foreigers Personal Business

[Jollygoodfellow]

I think its more like what we call small talk. We all ask questions more when in conversation with someone we don't know well as it breaks the ice so to speak. How else do we get to know the other person? 

[Americano]

Its more than just small talk. A lot of Filipinos want to know all kinds of personal information which is none of their business. Personal means its personal not to be shared with everyone. Many Filipinos have asked my wife how much is his retirement? how much money to you have saved in a bank? when are you going to have a baby? how often do you have sex? Does he have a big d...k?  The answer to all of these questions and many more is, none of your business. That would be my answer but I never answer any personal questions. My wife answers their questions by turning all personal questions into some kind of joke so they never get the answers they are looking for. A lot of Filipinos are very nosy people.

Edited August 7, 2014 by Americano

[Medic Mike]

 

I get it all the time.  comments about my weight, questions about why I don't dye my hair, how much do I make, why have I not married my girlfriend yet (I have now)... all kinds of stuff they just would ask a stranger in the US.  

 

I don't speak enough Ilongo to know if they ask each other these questions - but I just can't imagine they do.    :tiphat:

 

That is the one I get all the time. "why you have no girlfriend?"....lol

[Methersgate]

That is the one I get all the time. "why you have no girlfriend?"....lol

 

"OK - no problem Sir - you don't like my sister - I get you my brother!" 

[Americano]

 

That is the one I get all the time. "why you have no girlfriend?"....lol

 

"OK - no problem Sir - you don't like my sister - I get you my brother!" 

 

 

Bad Bad Bad go to your room.

[Paul_QLD]

Of the Filipinos I have met and talked to in depth they haven't really asked me any more questions about me that I haven't asked or enquired about with any of my friends, colleagues, acquaintances at some time over the years.

And if I meet someone from a different culture, I ask a hell of a lot more questions than what I ask my friends as it helps me to better understand them. Guess that's what the Filipino's are doing when they ask me ...

 

How does one really know if the answer they are hearing is correct anyway? I know a lot of my friends lie about their wages all the time. Some saying the earn more than they actually do to sound big and some understate their wealth as they don't want to be known for this! 

[Thomas]

Sometimes Filipinos you don't know well or at all may unashamedly ask probing personal questions. Is it simple curiosity? Peso fishing? Is this normal activity between Filipinos who only just met?

As in villages in our home countries too, many like gossiping, with the difference there they ask the neighbours instead of you straight  :mocking:

 

I suppouse NOT peso fishing normaly, because they ask about sex life and such too. 

Just smile ans say "Secret, secret", they all know what that means.

Or - when they ask about sexlife -  "I don't want to brag..."    :lol:

[Old55]

I've not been asked about our sex life but often how much money I make. I answer "I don't know, my wife handles that" smiles and nods most the time.

[sonjack2847]

If they ask about my sexlife I just say look at my wife she is always smiling. Perhaps she has a boyfriend I don`t know about! Philippinos are nosy and some questions border on being very rude.

[davewe]

There's two questions here: are Filipinos nosy or curious about personal details - the answer is a big yes; the next question is what to do about it.

 

However, I want to re-frame the discussion a bit. I am old enough to have lived in the tail end of an era in the U.S. when the culture was far more communal and people knew about everyone's business. Everyone sat on the stoop and gabbed and everyone knew everything. Who you were screwing? Everyone knew. What your job was (and probably what you made)? Everyone knew. Who was having marital problems? Everyone knew. The list could go on and on.

 

Today we live in a culture where we are a bit isolated and know nothing about each other. I've lived in my home 8 years and would be hard pressed to tell you the names of more than a few of my neighbors, let alone what they do, how much they make, etc.

 

I suspect that one of the things that many of us like about the Philippines is the communal culture we no longer have in the West. But there is good and bad to that; most everyone's friendly and wants to know your name; but they are also keenly interested in everything else about you.

 

We were in my wife's hometown of Alcoy in April at a local hotel. My wife left for the day (she must have asked me 50 times whether it would be OK) to help prepare for a party. I went into the restaurant alone at lunchtime. The waitress looked at me surprised and asked "where is your wife?" Now yes, in the U.S. this would be considered intrusive and personal; even rude. I looked sad and said, "She left me," then smiled and said "joke." The exact same thing happened at dinner.

 

I absolutely think it's my right to keep my personal affairs personal if I feel like it. But I don't feel offended when someone wants to know more about me.