# Duling



## Inglip

What is the meaning of 'duling'?

The sentence is from a Bob Ong book:

Hindi nagbitiw kahit sinkong duling.
- (He) Didn't resign despite 5 (crossed eye)

Two dictionaries says it means google/crossed/squinting eyes. Is it some sort of expression? Or some of Bob Ong humor I always seem obvious to? 

Also, is my translation of the sentence correct? The sentence before was introduction the guys boss, then this one. I am assuming the (he) in brackets is implied. 

Thanks.


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## jenny_lo

Inglip said:


> What is the meaning of 'duling'?
> 
> The sentence is from a Bob Ong book:
> 
> Hindi nagbitiw kahit sinkong duling.
> - (He) Didn't resign despite 5 (crossed eye)
> 
> Two dictionaries says it means google/crossed/squinting eyes. Is it some sort of expression? Or some of Bob Ong humor I always seem obvious to?
> 
> Also, is my translation of the sentence correct? The sentence before was introduction the guys boss, then this one. I am assuming the (he) in brackets is implied.
> 
> Thanks.



Hi Inglip,

Can you give me the previous sentences or the paragraph? 

Generally, 'kahit singkong duling' is an idiomatic expression. Meaning, a certain thing won't happen no matter what.

I will translate it in this way:

*Hindi nagbitiw kahit sinkong duling.*
He did not resign at all.
_or_
No matter what, he did not resign.

Bob Ong is one of my favorite Filipino authors


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## niernier

sinkong duling, if I'm not mistaken refers to a 5 centavo coin. Though still in circulation, it's pretty much useless since you can't buy anything with it. Now if we are to examine the coin it has a hole in the middle, and if you are to look at it, you'll get crossed eyes. These are just my speculations though, since it might also refer to a 5 peso coin. But if that's the case then being associated with crossed eyes does not make sense to me, or maybe just for the sake of rhymes. This phrase is quite popular though.

Your sentence translated:

*He didn't drop even a single 5 centavo coin.*


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## 082486

niernier said:


> if I'm not mistaken refers to a 5 centavo coin. Though still in circulation, it's pretty much useless since you can't buy anything with it. Now if we are to examine the coin it has a hole in the middle


I agree with this, coz everytime I hear someone say this phrase, I always think of a five centavo coin with a hole in the middle...

duling = refers to a crossed eye person...
sinkong duling = is an idiomatic expression...and sooo popular... 

Hindi nagbitiw kahit sinkong duling.
Did not give (out) even a single centavo. 
"single centavo" is accepted even without its numeral value which is five.
(in short he's kuripot, I don't know if thrifty is the right term for it)


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## Inglip

So, bitiw means drop, give out, or resign?

It makes sense that it is a coin. The sentence before was calling the characters boss 'kuripot' So I guess he was so thrifty, he wouldn't even give this worthless coin out.

So, it was an example of an expression, and humor that goes over my head haha. My friends tell me to read Bob Ong because it is so funny, but I barely even get a smirk haha.

Thanks


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## DotterKat

You have the meaning right but not the intended imagery. It does mean that the person is very cheap, indeed cheap to the extent that he would not even give up a non-existent 5-centavo coin. The condition of being _duling_ (cross-eyed, strabismus) is meant to evoke the idea that the person is seeing double, one of which is a real object and the other is not. _Hindi nagbitiw kahit* singkong duling*_ then means that the person would hold on to the nickel as well as to the double image of that nickel that does not even exist in reality. Compare this with _squeezing the nickel until the buffalo grunts._


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## niernier

I often hear this phrase but never asked why sinko is called duling.  I am convinced by DK's explanation about the idiom.


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## mataripis

if you toss a coin , a round figure will be seen/observed and as its speed become more slowly, the sides of a coin become visible.that idiomatic expression tell that he/she did not even toss a five centavo coin for us.It is all imaginary a joke and no reality.


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