Hey Joe

[Tukaram (Tim)]

I get called kano a lot more than Joe.  The little kids make kano sound like hello.  There are 5 or 6 syllables: ka-a-n-na-o-o.

At one particular plaza I get called "hey dad" more often than not.  It is a bunch of elementary school kids. I will usually reply with something like 'give mom a hug for me', 'tell mom I said hi'... they all get a laugh out of it.

I introduce myself as Joe.  Joe Gwapo. 

[Dave Hounddriver]

I was walking around Cebu the other day and walked past a guy I know.  I said "Hey Joe, is that you"?  He looked at me kind of strange and I took a closer look and told him I thought he looked like my friend Joseph who is just called Joe but I guess he is not the one.  We had a chuckle about getting called Hey Joe all the time.  It must be a pain when your name really is Joe.

[SNAFU]

1 hour ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

...It must be a pain when your name really is Joe.

Yep, it happens. A good friend of ours actually named Joe took his first visit to the PI with his Fil-Am wife many years ago. Immediately upon his first trike ride with his wife through her old neighborhood near Angeles came the shouts of "Hey Joe"! from the busy sidewalks. Having had no military service and few travels, he turned to his wife and asked her "How the heck do they know my name"? He was dead serious, too. His wife still loves to tell that story to this day, but he's a good sport about it, ha!

[robert k]

Very rural Mindanao I had a carabao look at me and make a noise that I interpreted as EEK! a Kano!

[Mark Berkowitz]

It’s been a couple of years now and I’ve sort of gotten used to all of the ‘Hey Joe’ greetings.

I’m saying sort of getting used to it because there are times when I’m already feeling out of sort for some reason or another when I’ll get hit with the ‘Hey Joe’ by someone usually speeding away on a motor… almost as if they think that the speeding motor has given them a license to piss on me.

Admittedly, I’m a foreigner over here and I’m already used to being treated as such… But getting the ‘Hey Joe’ greeting when I’m already having a bad day really irks me.

I usually yell back with a ‘Hey Juan, Mabuhay.’

How do the rest of you (if you really are a Joe from the US) cope with this?

Plus, if you hail from the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc. and you are not a real American Joe (although all western foreigners tend to be seen as American Joe's), how do you react?

 

MODERATOR'S EDIT:  Merged with existing topic.  Yes I know its hard to search for 3 letter words like Hey and Joe but the topic exists so I merged them 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 16, 2017 by Dave Hounddriver

[virginprune]

8 hours ago, Mark Berkowitz said:

It’s been a couple of years now and I’ve sort of gotten used to all of the ‘Hey Joe’ greetings.

I’m saying sort of getting used to it because there are times when I’m already feeling out of sort for some reason or another when I’ll get hit with the ‘Hey Joe’ by someone usually speeding away on a motor… almost as if they think that the speeding motor has given them a license to piss on me.

Admittedly, I’m a foreigner over here and I’m already used to being treated as such… But getting the ‘Hey Joe’ greeting when I’m already having a bad day really irks me.

I usually yell back with a ‘Hey Juan, Mabuhay.’

How do the rest of you (if you really are a Joe from the US) cope with this?

Plus, if you hail from the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc. and you are not a real American Joe (although all western foreigners tend to be seen as American Joe's), how do you react?

 

MODERATOR'S EDIT:  Merged with existing topic.  Yes I know its hard to search for 3 letter words like Hey and Joe but the topic exists so I merged them 

 

 

 

 

I sometimes get Joe Romano but it would be much more cool if they called out Joey Ramone....

[AlwaysRt]

I heard it one time that I could not determine if it was meant negatively or not. Every other time they usually just want to practice their English and say it to get my attention. My wife even has her brother's 4 year old son calling my 'Hey Joe' half the time (the other half he calls me Uncle)

[Tukaram (Tim)]

13 hours ago, Mark Berkowitz said:

How do the rest of you (if you really are a Joe from the US) cope with this?

For me there is nothing to cope with. "Hey Joe", and "hey kano" are used as "hello".  If it is presented in a friendly way - I take it as such.  If I were not American I might feel differently.  But, since I am, I cannot guess how I would feel. I use it as a greeting myself when meeting a new Joe. 

 

 

Even in Mexico they were friendly... they kept offering me steamed rice cakes... I think...  All the time I would hear "puto Americano", but I never did see any dessert.  Hmm... 

[Mark Berkowitz]

1 hour ago, Tukaram (Tim) said:

For me there is nothing to cope with. "Hey Joe", and "hey kano" are used as "hello".  If it is presented in a friendly way - I take it as such.

That's the key!... when 'Hey Joe' is said by someone with a friendly voice (and face), I'm OK with it. 

However, there have been several times when 'Hey Joe' has been shouted at me in the same tone (and pitch) as 'Hey Mother-F**ker' by someone speeding away into the shadows on a motor.

 

[hk blues]

Like most I guess, if it's said in a friendly way I'm ok with it. I do feel mildly irked that all of us westerners are Americano, though. They know full well that not all of us are American and it just makes them seem so unworldly when they do it.