i love the filipino culture of calling people older than us tito, tita, ate, kuya, manong, etc. i mean, as compared to the american culture of just calling people on a first name basis even if the person is your mother-in-law. i like it that we call the friends of our parents tito or tita even if we’re not related to them. for some people, to differentiate the relatives from the not relatives, they call the relatives aunt/auntie or uncle and the not relatives tito or tita. but still for others, they still call people who aren’t their relatives aunt or uncle, like the sons of my dad’s partner. they call my dad uncle and i find it sweet.
and i’m happy for filipinos abroad who haven’t forgotten this culture. i find it amazing when my cousin (who was born in the states) still calls me ate therese and even types ‘hi ate therese’ in her emails or when my nieces and nephews call me tita therese.
but sometimes, this culture goes a little bit overboard. my sister calls me ate and because of this, everyone in my dad’s side of the family got used to calling me ate, even my titos and titas, even my cousin who’s older than me calls me ate. it feels weird but somehow i’ve gotten used to it also.
as for my dad, he calls the siblings of his dad (my lolo) tio, uncle, or auntie. there’s one uncle he calls uncle joe and another one he calls tio abeling. and i always ask him "how come you call lolo joe, uncle joe, and lolo abeling, tio abeling? is it because joe is an american name so you put uncle before it and avelino is not so you put tio before it?"
