As someone who commuted the long streets of Taft Avenue back in college, I have first-hand experience with the communication dissonance between students and the countless PUV drivers that traverse the route.
For every “Kuya, magkano po?” was an equal “Onse”, “trese” or “kinse” that left the former scratching their heads in confusion. Blame it on the lack of Spanish classes or parents deciding that counting in English was superior, but many college students simply weren’t prepared for this seemingly “foreign” language that decorated their commutes.
Thankfully, Filipino artist 10 Cent Art created a “pamasahe guide” to help out today’s conyo commuters. The guide translates the most common fares encountered on train and jeepney rides. “Screenshot, save, print, at send mo sa mga di alam”, reads the post which has 15,000 likes and 28,000 shares as of writing.
According to Philstar Life, the artist, Ryan, is a self-confessed “conyo guy” who encountered the same miscommunication problems in his commutes. “As a guy struggling in paying for things, I often have to ask ‘What’s kinse?’ or ‘What’s singkwenta?’ So I made a guide that’s kind of like a kodigo of the word and its corresponding number.”
Ryan hopes the kodigo can spare his fellow conyos from embarrassment and overpayments. “Your service to the conyo community will be in the history books”, wrote one thankful commenter. As former/current conyo speakers ourselves, we couldn’t agree more.
