History of term .. A follow up to Coño

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History of the term

The origin of the term "Konyo" or "coño" to refer to the affluent members of Philippine society draws from an earlier (19th century) usage of the word coño to refer to Peninsular Spanish expatriates living in colonies such as the Philippines and Latin America. This, in turn, was a result of the ultra-excessive use of the word ¡Coño! (originally "cunt") as a general, all-purpose swear word and expletive on the part of Peninsular Spaniards beginning sometime in the 1800s and continuing today. Many Latin Americans and educated Filipinos of the late 1800s, while they spoke Spanish, did not always use the same oral expressions as native Spaniards. Aside from not using seseo (therefore pronouncing the z and c in ce, ci as the voiceless dental fricative [θ], instead as [s]), the over-used coño expression set the expatriate Non-Andalusian Spaniards apart from the native-born locals. Coño thus became a term that certain Latin Americans (as well as Filipinos of the late 1800s) used for Spaniards which was in analogous fashion to how New Zealanders and Australians continue to refer to the British (especially the English) as "Pommies".

The usage of coño as the favorite expletive for expatriate Spaniards therefore gave them the label. As these expatriate Spaniards, referred to colloquially as coños, were at the top of society in the Philippines and generally held the highest prestige, the term coño later on found itself being used on the broader insular Spanish and mestizo caste who may not necessarily have been of Spanish descent (some were of French, German, Lebanese, etc. backgrounds).

As time went by, the label's usage broadened further to include most members of the Philippine upper classes, regardless of their ethnic background. Today, rich people who are seen to have a very affluent standard of living and betray overtly Western mannerisms, even if they are of Chinese mestizo or ethnic Filipino descent are sometimes referred to as being coño, most particularly if they speak Konyo English.

The word coño often requires a certain Eurocentric orientation, since the richest members of Philippine Society — namely, the ethnic Chinese Taipan class—do not even qualify for the label due to their non-European orientation. That the word coño originally meant "cunt" and later meant "Spaniard" has surely gone a long way to becoming a word associated with a certain Euro-centric sector of the upper crust of Philippine society shows just how far a word's meaning can change.