When Words Fail, Gigil Doesn't

Far too many times, we find ourselves fumbling over words simply because some emotions are tangled up. Then, there are times, words don't come to us easily and are too visceral to capture cleanly. And oddly enough, it feels like language isn't able to keep up.

No amount of similes, hyphenated inventions, or "you knows" come close to our true expression. It seems like some feelings are out of linguistic reach. Especially, when we have that overwhelming urge to squeeze, hug, or pinch something irresistibly adorable. Could be because your neighbour's dog makes you brain haywire, or your girlfriend's sleepy voice makes you crazy happy.

While English language simply shrugs around this feeling calling it "cute aggression", the Filipinos know the feeling far too well. It is gigil.

Now officially inducted in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), gigil, a five-letter word borrowed from Tagalog language alludes to that "intense feeling caused by anger, eagerness, or the pleasure of seeing someone or something cute or adorable, typically physically manifested by the tight clenching of hands, gritting of the teeth, trembling of the body, or the pinching or squeezing of the person or thing causing this emotion."

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If the news about direwolves revival made you feel intense emotions, it made you gigil! (I mean, they were just too cute) Certainly, an overdue word worth borrowing. The latest borrowing, Gigil (pronounced as gee-ghel) easily rolls off your tongue, sounds polite, and can replace the delightfully unhinged, alphabet-heavy bursts like " shbfibfojdjhbch" as a reaction or even a mimetic exaggeration.

Interestingly, according to the OED, the word, a noun and an adjective, was first cited in 1990 in a Ph.D. dissertation by C.G. Quan, titled "Lang. Play & Rhetorical Struct. in Tagalog Duplo & Balagtasan," explores the linguistic play and rhetorical structures within Tagalog "duplo" (a type of Tagalog verse) and "balagtasan" (a form of Tagalog dramatic poetry).

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It resurfaced again in 2015 and more recently in 2022 as a noun, while as an adjective has been in use since 1998.

Also, remember that viral moment when Pedro Pascal hysterically laughed-cried during a virtual play reading titled I, My Ruination performed in July 202 for the Cape Cod Theatre Project's Benefit. Yeah, that clip which became a full-blown response to anything on the internet that was too emotionally overwhelming — classic gigil bait, guys!

Honestly, the use of gigil doesn’t need to be restricted to something cute. As the definition goes, it can be any emotion that has an overwhelming and intense build up- that is also gigil. So, the next time your heart clenches with affection, know you can express in words, cause when words fail, gigil doesn’t!