Possible spelling variation: idiyoto
This is the term used by President Rodrigo Duterte to describe certain Americans in December 2016.
The full quote is in a mix of English and Tagalog: “Ang problema kasi sa puti, itong Amerikanong ulol… every five Americans kasi, every five Americans kasi, ang tatlo diyan idyoto, dalawa lang ang tama ang utak.” (The problem with the white ones, this American lunatic… because every five Americans, three of them are idiots, only two are in their right minds.)
It’s likely a spinoff of the Spanish word idiota, influenced by the English word idiot.
Note that President Duterte’s native language is not Tagalog, but Visayan (Cebuano), a completely distinct Philippine language that still retains a stronger influence of Spanish usage than Tagalog does. Also, that is part of the reason the average Filipino is much more understanding of Du30’s way of using words, unlike the elite Manila-based reporters and their foreign colleagues who have made it their job to twist the meaning of the president’s pronouncements to support the political cause of the opposition Liberal Party known as “yellows.”
The standard Tagalog equivalent of the word idyoto could be bobo or even tanga.
