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1. How many grades are there in public school in the Philippines?
a) 10
b) 11
c) 12
d) 13 (same as the United States, with Kindergarten included)

2. What is the percentage of children (those under the age of 18) enrolled in Philippine universities?
a) 25%
b) 35%
c) 45%
d) 50%

3. What is a resto?
a) upholstery shop
b) rest room
c) greasy spoon diner (restaurant)
d) auto repair shop

4. What is evap?
a) canned milk
b) envelope
c) military exercise
d) explosive device

5. What is surplus?
a) day old
b) overstock
c) second hand
d) bribe

6. What is a load?
a) jeepney passengers
b) stool sample
c) explosive device
d) cell phone time

7. What does pls. mean?
a) "This is an order. You will do it."
b) "Do it if it makes you feel good."
c) "Do it to please me."
d) "It's up to you."

8. What is a siding?
a) side route for ships (there are no trains south of central Luzon)
b) a side dish with a meal
c) roofing material
d) a piece of thin wood

9. What is a borjer?
a) a white person who became a Filipino citizen
b) hamburger
c) province line or city limit
d) drill bit

10. What item is NOT sold at McDonald's in the Philippines that is sold in America? (If you remember the website where the McDo's menu is located, feel free to cheat here!) There are other items missing on the menu. This is the most obvious.
a) milk shake
b) coffee
c) Filet o' Fish sandwich
d) basic hamburger (with ketchup, mustard, pickles, and onions)

No one responded. But here are the answers. I hope you don't peek!

1. A - - There are six grades in grade school which is followed by four grades in high school. High school is merely referred by the year names, freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior, not grade numbers. I think only having ten grades embarrasses some people.

2. D - - Since the average high school graduate is just 15 or 16, college students don't generally become adults until they are in their third year. There is a tremendous dropout rate. And many older students go back and finish college later. That makes it half.

3. C - - Filipinos are notorious for shortening words. Despite using American dictionaries, usually they discard the listed pronunciations and use their own (so restaurant is "RES-tower-ont"). I have come to the realization that these pronunciations aren't wrong... they're Filipino! You see the same thing in Singapore. They use the word "lah" a lot there-lah.

4. E - - Same comment as #3. This is short for evaporated milk, but it can also mean sweetened condensed milk.

5. C - - Surplus stores here are the Filipino version of the Goodwill and Salvation Army (the latter is a much larger church denomination here than it is in the US, but you don't see many bands, if any). I made a couple of guys here wince when I told them I used to get my bread from the Oroweat Surplus Bakery back in California.

6. D - - If someone asks for a load, they want P10-25 so they can call someone on their cell phone.

7. A - - It's the abbreviation for "please." I learned in the Army that the word please should never be used for a command; it's short for "if you please," meaning you give the person to whom you are speaking a choice of doing something or not. Every time I've seen the abbreviation pls. used, it was a direct command, not a request.

8. B - - This is an example of making English more complicated by simplifying it. Growing up in a railroad family, the idea of eating a siding never entered my mind.

9. B - - About half the Filipinos, who have never been out, pronounce words according to the rules of English they learned in grade school. One is that a G that comes before an E or an I sounds like a J. You hear this more often in the off the beaten path areas.

10. D - - Believe it or not, you can't get a simple hamburger. The Burger McDo has some strange sauce on it that is like nothing that exists anywhere except here in the Philippines. You can't get milk, either. In the few McDonald's that offer chocolate drink, the drink mix is put into water, not milk. Shakes are available only at certain times. Coffee is only served 6-10 am.