Alias, "Boy..."

You'll hear it in the streets of Manila, among kanto boys drinking their beer bottles. In high schools, among barkada of boys teasing one another. In men's locker rooms, amidst sniggering of name-callers. In shady drug lord dens, among whispering policemen for a crime bust to report to media.

And much more popular, in Philippine movies, as part of action film dialogues and comedy film posters, all featuring male leads.

All these are aliases that start with "Boy", like Boy Tondo ("Lumabas ka na diyan, wala ka nang takas!"), Boy Dako ("Padaplis nga sa iyong malaking..."), and Boy Bawang ("Pabili po").

Remember these films? So who played the roles of Boy Ahas,
Boy Recto, Boy Pana, Boy Tigas, and Boy/Kanto?

It has been part of our pop culture and society, to attach this short tagline at the end of a feared, respected, or ridiculed guy's name. Usually used for males, the nickname signifies what the person is known for, like a certain trait, characteristic, physical feature, a previous deed, or recurring action. It's given by their male peers, during kantyawan or jeering sessions, and the men may be branded for life, whether they like the nickname or not.

But what's so unique in Pinoy slang is how these monickers start with an "alyas" (or "also known as"), then followed by "boy" with the unique descriptor after it.

So to hear someone called "Juan Dela Cruz, Alyas Boy Tigas" may make you go run for your life ("tigas" = hard, strong man) or make you curious about his assets ("tigas" = hard, erect thingy).

Now, in Manila's Gay Bar scene.

Given that these macho dancers are all men, name-calling among these young guys won't be that far. The names are usually hush-hushed among them, used as private jokes. But when the monickers start to spread among the bar employees, he's dead! Just listen to the DJ when he introduces some of the guys, as he'll use the ridiculed nickname as part of the spiel. ("Please wel-kem... Boy Vienna Sausage")

Two such monickers got me intrigued. The stories of Boy Torrid and Boy Kant*t

"Ruiz"*, alyas "Boy Torrid": I met Ruiz in the hosto bar "Neighborhood"* last year. He's 21, around 5'6 in height,  moreno, and has a pretty-boy face that usually makes heart throbs out of campus varsity basketball players. Imagine a shorter and darker Wesley Gonzales, but with better nose and less wide lips. A thinner Pinoy-version of Kieran Culkin, if you wish.

Inside this hosto bar with cheap drinks, their typical clientele are usually the "bar girls", or girl hostesses working in other girlie bars. These poke-poker-face girls come there after their work, usually at 3AM wearing short skirts, low tops, and very high shoes. And what they look for is to have a good time with a guy of their choice.

So being one of the better-looking hosto models of the bar, Ruiz was frequently requested by these girls to be tabled with them. Different girls go to the bar every night, and he'd usually be picked first during show-ups.

He might have taken his hosto job seriously, because once seated, he'd do his smooth, suave "the moves" quickly to his customer - smiling with his dimples, holding hands, arms around shoulders, whispering sweet nothings. He'd use his swabe charm to make the girl comfortable with him enough, that after a few hours, their companions would just notice him and his guest doing the lip locking.

Yes. French kissing beside their companions. On the couch. In the open where everyone can see. Every night. With a different girl. And that was why he got to be branded as "Boy Torrid" by his companions.

To be honest, when I heard that this was his so-called monicker, I got disappointed. Not because he was tabling other girls, even if I'd been tabling this guy for weeks. It was because I never experienced some torrid tongue-to-tongue action with him.

Anyway, good riddance. I don't think where he is working now, "Answer for The Emotionally Needy" gay bar, allows such passionate love or saliva-sharing.

"Padua"*, alyas "Boy Kant*t": He was a new all-the-way macho dancer in the gay bar "Home Base."* He's nearing 30, short at around 5'3, brown skin whitened by powder, and unlike Ruiz, doesn't have a pretty face, despite his boy band / Patrick Garcia haircut of the mid-90s.

All-the-way male strippers are among the favorites of gay men to watch for obvious reasons. But only a few of them get tabled, as gay men I noticed would prefer to sit beside a handsome cutie-pie face than an ugly angry dick.

On one night, however, this particular gay customer in his discreet-looking black jacket was mesmerized somehow with Padua. Maybe it was how the new stripper approached gay customers during "area." Unlike the others who would just stand tentatively at the customer's side, Padua would confidently straddle the sitting customer with his erect cockatoo directly in front of the guy. Then grind a little, and whispering while waiting for a tip. That night, the discreet gay fellow might have enjoyed that one-on-one area session too much for him to get a not-so-goodlooking ATW dancer to sit with him.

Or maybe the discreet fellow had another agenda in mind. Because a few hours after, they were spotted by an impersonator at one dark corner in the empty 2nd floor of the gay bar. What were they doing, which lasted for more than half an hour? Talk? Yeah right! It was the reason why Padua got his scandalous nickname. Discreet gay guy in his discreet black jacket was apparently a bottom.

This was not surprising however, if that gay bar had a private VIP room where a customer and his requested dancer could do whatever they please. So even if the dancer might have done something similar, no one else in the bar would really know or care. But to do it out in the open in the room-less "Home Base"? (Plus, where did they wash?)

Mr. Discreet Gay Fellow might have liked the experience too much. He returned to the bar the following night, with the same discreet black jacket, and tabled the same guy. Did anything happen then? Nothing really, or anything too scandalous. Oh, except for another MD coining the monicker for Padua that night, without them knowing that their dirty deed has spread to naughty ears in the bar.

Even the black jacket gay customer was given a nickname. We called him "Pa-Kan."

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Conclusion:

The use of these nicknames has been so ingrained in our male society, that it's used in the lowliest of tabloids, to some showbiz personalities (Mo Twister, alyas Boy Laglag), to commercial products and services (Boy Lechon) and even in the high seats of the government (Erap, alyas Boy Agila, Mar Roxas, alyas Boy Padyak). Try searching in Google and Youtube, and you'll find numerous of these Boy Kamote or Torpe or Kuripot or Tanong or Manhid or Bastos or whatever descriptor that can be thought of, with their own web pages, blogs, pictures or videos. 

Not all nicknames start with "Alyas, Boy", of course. Even the most famous of monickers for macho dancers came from a local 90s film R-rated local film starring Jay Manalo. Remember his name and what he was known for? For sure, some macho dancers in the 90s were called the same if he was known for his horse-sized asset. Despite being in pop culture for almost more than a decade now, the nickname can still be heard being thrown about in gay bars at this time. 

So be curious if the one you're eyeing or tabling is called "Totoy Mola." 

- Blog Article by GB Goer, Alyas "Boy Hayok"

GB Goer
Learn more: Lessons from Gay Bars in Manila
http://machosandhostos.blogspot.com/
email: char.affairs@gmail.com

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Photocredits: old movie posters from http://video48.blogspot.com, http://stevenwilson-forskins.blogspot.com, 
http://masculinked.tumblr.com/post/4085969485/to-zip-or-unzip-that-is-the-question