It means it's all good

Rafael “RJ” Aquino’s Twitter handle may sound odd in a North American setting.

Aquino, who goes by @ayoslang, is of course the budding Filipino Canadian who wants to become a Vancouver city councillor.

In Tagalog, the phrase “ayos lang” means “it’s good” or “it’s fine”.

Aquino explained that he created his Twitter account in 2007 and has had that username since.

“It's actually gained some brand equity and people recognize it's me,” Aquino wrote in an email to the Straight. “I distinctly remember the reason why I chose it because I was in a good mood when I created my account. It was the day before I got married and my first tweet was about how excited I was for the wedding day. My mom asked me how I was doing and to play it cool, I replied, ”˜Ayos lang.’”

He went on: “I haven't experienced any difficulties using a Tagalog phrase and I have had people ask me what it means. My Twitter bio used to read ”˜It means it's all good’....It's phonetically friendly as well to English speakers.”

Aquino also said: “I've never shied away from wearing my Filipino-ness on my sleeve. But I always try keep it tasteful and stay away from tacky expressions of patriotism, nationalism. I suppose my Twitter handle is evidence of that. I even find myself saying ”˜sige’ [sure, okay] or ”˜ayos’ [nice, good] or ”˜tara na’ [let’s go] outwardly to my non-Filipino acquaintances. I don't see it as any different as an Italian speaker saying ”˜bene’ or a Chinese speaker saying ”˜aiya’ or a Spanish speaker saying ”˜vale’. If there was ever a hidden agenda, it's that I'm injecting our culture into the North American mainstream.”