The following is from an interview between me and my friend, Nicole, at Blaze Pizza. Nicole is a Catholic missionary from the Phillipines. We were joined, as well, by another missionary named Carlos. Nicole shared with me a Filipino joke.

Nicole: “Why did the priest stop eating salt?”

Me: “Why?”

Nicole: “Because it was asin. ‘Asin’ means ‘salt’.”

Me: “In– In what language?”

Nicole: “Tagalog.”

Me: “Is that, like, from the Phillipines?”

Nicole: (nods)

Me: “Okay, that’s awesome. And where did you hear that from?”

Nicole: “From my… dad.”

Me: “Okay, did he tell it often, or…?”

Nicole: “Um… it was said among my friends, too.”

Me: “Oh, really? Like, around what age?”

Nicole: “Um… probably middle school…. (Laughs) that’s it.”

I really think this joke took full advantage of the Filipino-English pun potential and struck some serious gold.