Kamukamo tickled our funny bones
Ever heard of the Pinoy joke about ‘Kamukamo’? Fluffy has one. When he told me about it I didn’t know if he was joking or he was giving accounts of his childhood memories. We were talking about dogs and how he scorns their big Dalamatian named Max when he suddenly mentioned about his dog named ‘Kamukamo‘.
“May aso ako, Kamukamo.” Translated in English, this would mean “I have a dog named Kamukamo.” But in Tagalog, Kamukamo can be misheard as “kamukha mo” (looks like you). The phrase then would mean “I have a dog who looks like you.”
He must be joking. But then he recalled some neighborhood kids fighting over their pet ‘Kamukamo‘. When a kid asked a younger one about the dog’s name, the latter replied, “Kamukamo”. Definitely, kids would fight over conversations like that but the grown-ups would just laugh them off… just like when having our crazed conversation…
Fluffy: Alam mo may aso ako, Kamukamo.
(You know what, I have a dog named Kamukamo.
~ You know what, you look like our dog.)
Me: Pakialam ko kung Kamukamo ang aso nyo?
(I don’t care if you have a dog named Kamukamo.
~ I don’t care if you look like your dog.)
Fluffy: Hindi nga, sinasabi ko na ang aso namin Kamukamo.
(No, I’m telling you, we have a dog named Kamukamo.
~ No, I’m telling you, you look like our dog.)
Me: Alam ko na Kamukamo ang aso nyo.
(I know that you have a dog named Kamukamo.
~ I know that you look like your dog.)
and so on… There could be questionable grammatical elements when it comes to the translation from Tagalog to English. But the exchange is just funny and hasn’t failed to make us laugh on separate occassions.
Seriously, I wasn’t so happy that he had a dog named ‘Kamukamo’. It’s like having a laughing stock rather than a pet. But he wasn’t the one who ‘baptised’ the dog with the name. The funny thing now is he’s wondering whether it was Mom (his mom) who ‘baptised’ ‘Kamukamo’ or it was somebody else. It is a funny idea that Mom is as cracked as we are.