I am curious to know about the terms Diay and Dong. Are Diay and Dong terms commonly used by any man or woman when referring to each other, or are they only used between two people who have a romantic relationship? In other words, can any woman call any man "Dong", or vise versa, any man call any woman "Diay".
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If you try to get the
If you try to get the attention or speak to a girl younger than or same age as you and whose name you do not know (e.g. in a market stall), you call her Day. If the person is a boy, younger than or same age as you, you call him Dong. Among friends, their use indicates sisterly or brotherly affection. If they are older than you, you call the woman Manang (or Nang for short) which is an address for an older sister and the man, Manong or Manoy (Nong or Noy for short) which is an address for an older brother. You may have to be careful in their use as some people may not be pleased being addressed as older than you; even respectfully. If they are very old, you call the old woman, Lola (Grandma) and the old woman Lola (Grandpa). If they are somewhere in between similar to Aunt and Uncle, back in the 50s, they used Iyo (man) and Iya (woman) which seemed to be derived from the Spanish Tio and Tia, respectively. Nowadays, the Tagalog equivalent is being used: Tito and Tita which are reserved for friends and acquiantances of one's parents as well as ones' real Uncles and Aunts. Those who are older and consider themselves higher in social status or are professionals want to be addressed as Sir or Ma'am, as in English. Kuya is a Tagalog word for an older brother (Manong in Cebuano) which has also gained widespread use among the Cebuano-speaking people. The use of Tagalog words indicates being more cosmopolitan (Tagalog being taught in schools by law, is the language of the highly regarded city of Manila, and also promoted by nationalistic policy and ideological movements). Speaking of regional languages was officially discouraged beginning in the 50s as I can remember which as per my observation has caused the decline in quality literary works including songwriting. Hope this helps.