That's Bear Not Beer!

Yet another surprising revelation in the Philippines. During our Cebuano language lesson this morning I heard our language teacher say the word beer, as in the drink (which is an English term that has crossed into Cebuano). That caught my attention because she pronounced it like we would pronounce "bear" (as in grizzly bear) in the states. I asked her to repeat it. Again it came out as "bear" to me.

So I asked her, "Do all Filipinos pronounce beer like 'bear'?" She replied that they do. I then asked her, "So when we call our dog Bear, everyone here thinks that we named our dog after an alcoholic beverage?"

"Yes!" she said.

Well, that ought to make our Christian witness a little colorful, to say the least!