After Jejemon, which became the “Word of the Year”, comes Bekimon, or gay speak.

Bekimon has been around for quite some time. Some of my friends, those who made a living selling pharmaceutical products, insurances and bcbsnc plans, speak it with ease, and I have eventually acquired a few words as well, like “mudra”. But no one has officially “christened” it until now. Classic examples might hit you home: kalerki, junakis, chorva, ma at pa, anda, jowa, chenes, itich, etc. Try checking out Angelica Panganiban and John Lapuz in the movie “Here Comes The Bride” and you’ll get a pretty good bekimon material there.

How it became another language I don’t know, but gays and most women everywhere have been using them. Bekimon came from the words “becky” or “beki”, gay speak for “bakla”. It is used like a secret code among gays living in a homophobic society.

Prof. Jesus Federico Fernandez, former chair of the Department of Linguistics of the University of the Philippines, gave a brief lecture on how “bekimon” is formed in 9 ways: “paglalapi” (adding of suffixes), “pagpapalit ng tunog” (changing of sounds), use of acronyms, “pag-uulit ng salita” (repeating words), “pagkakaltas” (shortening a word or phrase), “katunog” (sameness of sound), “paghihiram” (borrowing from other languages), and “pagbabago ng kahulugan ng salitang hiniram” (changing meanings).

At the time of this writing, an online bekimon translator is already in place. We’re evolving.