Manila, Philippines

Manila, Philippines Fair-skinned and considerably-groomed Bern Josep Persia may be the new face of the gay-speaking community, be the self-proclaimed bekimon president in the country. A photographer and a tech strengthener representative, Persia plays different roles (from a call center agent to a newscaster) in a series of videos about bekimons, defined as people who ar hard-core users of gay language whether they are homosexuals or not.Most of the call that bekimons commonly use are alterations of basic Filipino and English linguistic process much(prenominal) as workibells (work), kalurkey (kaloka or crazy), teh (ate or sister), anekwaboom (ano or what) and heller (hello). Others are totally unique from the popular jowa (spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend) to names of showbiz figures such as Carmi Martin (a term used to refer to karma).The term bekimon (beki is a colloquial word for gay) took off from the growing popularity of the jejemon subculture, which refers to those who deliberately exaggerate run-of-the-mine words by adding or subtracting letters, or by using a mixture of upper-case and lower-case letters, in written communication. On Monday, jejemon was chosen as Salita ng Taon (Word of the Year) in the Sawikaan 2010, an academic conference organized by the Filipinas Institute of edition Inc.Bekimons may not be as talked-about as jejemons yet, but it cant be denied that the new term is starting to create a buzz in the online community. The Bekimon Facebook page, for one, is slowly gaining fans at more than 2,500, with comments flooding the site each day. On top of these are a number of news articles as well as several discussions about the new subculture in social networks, blogs and online fora. Persias YouTube page, which is base of operations to over 40 bekimon videos, is said to be the 85th most viewed bridle-path under the Comedians category last month.The future of bekimons Gay lingo has been general throughout the Philippines, and was initially used by the homosexual community as a tool to communicate with each other. Jovy Peregrino, director of the University of the Philippines Diliman Sentro ng Wikang Filipino, reportedly denotative support to the growth of the bekimon language. Peregrino stressed, however, that learning about formal languages such as Filipino and English should not be sacrificed. But the unbelief is, will the bekimon subculture last just like the jejemons, or is it merely a fad?For Persia, it doesnt really matter. In the bekimon Facebook page, he stressed that he didnt impinge on the term or upload videos of himself just to be the talk of the town. Rather, he said hes doing this to make sad people happy, relieve stress and facility the homesickness of Filipinos living abroad, particularly the gay-speaking community. Walang mali sa pagiging masaya (Theres nothing wrong with being happy), Persia said. One of his supporters, meanwhile, expressed confidence that the bekimon subculture wil l never die, saying, Everybody has a bekimon side.