Poker Face

Ok. So, I'm trying to gather my thoughts. Someone the other day, who shall remain nameless, asked me how many letters there were in my language. If you haven't guessed already I'm Filipino from the Philippine Islands. I was born there and then came to the United States when I was just a wee little thing but I was there long enough to learn two dialects fluently but of course now can no longer speak them, unfortunately. I told him our alphabet is very similar to the English alphabet. As a child in the PI I remember learning my ABCs. (I just learned recently that the modern Philippine alphabet contains 28 letters which includes the basic 26 letters of the basic modern Latin alphabet, the Spanish ñ and the filipino ng) Drum roll please...so he continues to ask why does our language sound like we are saying "ping pong" all the time. I tried so hard to not burst out laughing. I was proud of myself I kept a poker face during the entire conversation. In answer to his question I gave him a quick rundown of our history. As far as I can tell listening to my family speak and other Filipinos speak I've never gotten the impression that our language sounded like "ping pong". Unless of course you count the times when my father would challenge me to a game of ping pong when I was a child. Another ignorant fool in our midst.