I know and im certain that most of you would have this initial question of what my heading means. To answer that, ngaa haw are words derived from my native dialect Ilonggo that plainly means “why?” Unfortunately I still could not find the perfect English match of ti mo. But to let everybody understand, it is simply an expression that is usually expressed to answer the question, why or ngaa haw? Most of the time, ti mo is being used when you are not sure of what to respond or when you do not know the answer at all. And sometimes, it is strangely used when you wouldn’t want a follow-up question because you just don’t want to answer anymore.
“Why is the sky blue? Without thinking, to us Illongos, it is best answered with “Ti mo”!
To some, it sounds cool. To others, it’s absurd. To me, it’s an art. But the bottom line is it did not aptly answer the question.
Everyday we face countless ngaa haws and I believe those questions should be answered appropriately.
This blog certainly would not give you a ti mo answer. This blog will answer explicitly every critical ngaa haw that I will face in my day-to-day life.
