"Gotcha!"

This contraction reminds me of my neighborhood buddies Alex and Jun. In my high school days, they would visit me, stand near our gate and yell, “Gaja!” Or so I thought as they try hard to mimic my relatives in saying the palate-tasking word Gaddia, which is my actual nickname. It's very similar to Buendia being barked out as Buenja as in, “Manong, pakibaba kami sa Buenja!”

Now, at times, “Gaja” almost sounds like “Gotcha!” I just learned, about two years ago, that Gaddia, in turn, is the Maranao version of the Tausug word Gajah. Funny, the way the following words sound, Gaja or Gotcha almost went back to Gajah. Alex and Jun unwittingly discovered the origin of my nickname. And so they got me.