Wit

"People who can't be witty, exert themselves to be devout and passionate." - G. Elliot

...And I wonder what happened to those who are not witty neither are they devout and passionate. Maybe there is something wrong with me that I placed too much value on wit. I don't even know if what I consider witty is the same as the others. I sometimes meet people who tries too hard to be witty and I couldn't help but cringe everytime they made some disparaging remarks disguised as wit that falls flat on its face.

I don't even consider myself witty. I just like witty people. Or like what my friend says, someone with an 'occasional' flash of brilliant wit.

In the Philippines, witty is synonymous with funny and they are not the same at all. Funny is just the ability to be amusing. That's it. Witty is to be amusingly clever. You don't have to be clever to be funny, especially here in our country, where people used to laughed at Tito, Vic and Joey, Rene Requiestas and the likes. Filipinos are easily amused. Someone slips and we laugh. Someone is thrown into an embarrassing situation and we laugh. Someone gets bludgeon by something hard in the head and we laugh.

That kind of humor is not hard to find. I remember someone I just met make some embarrassingly stupid jokes (even the delivery and punch line were forced!) to try to be witty. Or he's just trying to be funny? I guess people have the misconception that women likes 'funny' people. Oh yeah, we like them for a minute. Then, we move on. Witty people make me stay and linger and talk for quite sometime. I make a very good audience for witty people.

But I think this is just me. I can name 4 guys I considered witty among my friends or those that I've known or met. 4 guys! Out of all the guys I've met and I can only name 4. Gah! (And! 3 of those four are my best buddies. Not to be regarded with even the barest hint of romantic inclination whatsoever). The hopelessness of this search is descending upon me. If I continue to search for wit in a partner, spinsterhood is not very far away.

So, who's funny and who's witty? Well it's just me. Others might have a different opinion. But...Joey de Leon is not witty. Neither is Willie. Bayani, I find funny. I don't know if he's bordering on witty but I really think he's funny. (Call me Pinoy!) This doesn't sound good. I can't even name a celebrity who's witty (a Pinoy celebrity who has the capacity to be amusingly clever?!?). Oh well, Frasier is witty in Cheers. Chandler, I like because he seems to be the most aware and also the most clueless of the bunch. I like Billy Crystal in 'When Harry Met Sally'. That movie is full of wit. And 'Love Actually' is a witty representation of love. I like the sexy wit of Sex and the City and the wit behind all of those British shows (i.e. The Kumars, The Office and Absolutely Fabulous). I like British humor. It is not like ours filled with disparaging remarks about people and green jokes and toilet humor. British humor is often dry and sarcastic and most people just don't get it. (Although they say that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit. :D)

One last thing though. I read some blogs of other Pinoys and some are downright witty. That unique combination of being smart and funny. I think the Pinoy's wit is best served in written form. We Pinoys never lacked witty writers. Sadly, our entertainment industry is desperately in need of something 'clever'.

I think I have to revised my opinions on wit. I have to change my requirements a little. Wit is something you have or you don't. Wit is something you value or not at all. I don't think anyone can influence anybody to like wit. Either you like it since you can understand a coherent thought or you don't. A friend told me, that since she met me, she's also been looking for witty people. I don't think so. She's just saying that she's looking for wit, but if she lived most of her life, liking just 'funny' things, her standards of what is witty is incongruous. He he. She'll probably hit me for saying this, but she likes to be kind to people, and she enjoys the company of guys who (based from her stories) don't display a sparkling brilliance of wit. Anyway, I think she's just confused because we talked a lot. She's probably looking for a guy who's kind to her, like she is to others. Or who's funny.

That is what I have to change. I have to stop looking for the Pinoy guy who has a deeply ingrained sense of British humor in his repertoire. I have to gain a deeper appreciation for the Pinoy brand of wit. My kind of wit to be exact. That need to make fun of, laugh at and roll eyes on Pinoy antics and on my life.