FilipInfo Fact #12
Swardspeak, a term coined by Nestor U. Torre in the 70s, is an argot or cant slang often based in Taglish (Tagalog-English), although sometimes on other Philippine languages, and Philippine and Global pop culture, spoken mostly by the queer community in the Philippines before becoming mainstream through media. This language is often compared to Polari, a similar argot language from the queer community that's spoken in the United Kingdom, and popularized several slang terms now found in casual English like "camp" or "butch". Sometimes known colloquially as beki, bekimon, or bekinese, the argot was created by members of the community as an in-group jargon often to differentiate members of the in-group from members from the out-group due to the marginalization that the Filipino queer community experiences within the country. Because of the queer community's reach within the entertainment industry, however, from theater to major blockbuster movies, swardspeak is one of the largest contributors to modern Filipino slang with non-members of the queer community being able to mostly understand someone who speaks it or fully speak in the argot themselves. Because one can create a fully swardspeak sentence with little intelligibility from most Philippine languages unless someone has some knowledge with current pop media or has been exposed to swardspeak at a regular basis, however, there's been an argument that had been made that swardspeak can be considered its own language. Below is an example of different Swardspeak/Beki Words spoken in popular movies that stars popular Filipino transfem nonbinary comedian, tv host, and actor Vice Ganda:
Here's some other videos by other members of the community as well that showcases swardspeak:
There's also many online dictionaries that showcase the use of the argot some of which I will list here:
Bekimon: Language and Slang
BEKINARY - The Bekimon Dictionary
Gay/Beki Language Collections
References:
ABS-CBN Star Cinema. (2021, May 2). Gay Lingo Tutorial by Vice Ganda | Stop, Look, and List It! [video]. Retrieved on June 16, 2026, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ9ghINHqws
Beki Mon. (2011, April 30). Bekimon 101 - The Bekimon Tutorial [video]. Retrived on June 16, 2026, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c6fOIM4xRo
Catacutan, S. (2013). Swardspeak: A Queer Perspective. Retrieved on June 16, 2026, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338677861_Swardspeak_A_Queer_Perspective
Dumaual, M. (2021, July 2). He or she? Either, Vice Ganda says, in viral explanation of gender identity. ABS-CBN News. Retrieved on June 16, 2026, from https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/07/02/21/he-or-she-either-vice-ganda-says-in-viral-explanation-of-gender-identity
feetlow. (2009, July 5). Gay / Beki Lingo Collections. Retrieved on June 16, 2026, from https://hoowanted.wordpress.com/2009/07/05/gay-lingo-collections/
Man, S. (n.d.). Bekimon Language and Slang Meanings. Retrieved on June 16, 2026, from https://www.scribd.com/doc/72789268/Bekimon-Dictionary
Pasia, J. (2011, March 6). BEKINARY - The Bekimon Dictionary. Retrieved on June 16, 2026, from https://www.scribd.com/document/583770506/BEKINARY
"Polari, the secret gay language: 7 words we still use & 6 we should bring back". (n.d.). Out. Retrieved on June 16, 2026, from https://www.out.com/media/polari-secret-gay-language-explained-words-list-definitions
Quimosing-Ocay, A. & Ocampo, D. (2023). Decoding Gay Lingo: A Morpho-Socilinguistic Analysis of Swardspeak Among College Students. Retrieved on June 16, 2026, from https://publisher.unimas.my/ojs/index.php/ILS/article/view/5850
ulols. (2015, August 22). Gay Weather Teaches Bekinese [video]. Retrieved on June 16, 2026, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXIdowIKQMc
"Vice Ganda". (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved on June 16, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_Ganda