Don’t you find it annoying that when foreigners learn that you’re a Filipino, the first thing they’ll say is, hey I know one Tagalog phrase: putang ina.
Putang ina, as in your mother is a prostitute.
“But it’s just an expression, Mick,” they say. You’re too sensitive, they say.
Putang ina is such a famous Filipino vulgar expression that Google has prepared a flash card from Wictionary, explaining what it literary means, and where the word comes from.
There’s even a music video named after it.
Should really just stop saying putang ina? Yes, and here are my reasons why:
Shaming prostituted women (especially mothers) puts our society backward
We’re so used to it that we say, hey it’s just an expression. But come to think of it, aren’t we supposed to expand discussion the plight of prostituted women in the Philippines?
We have other politically correct profanity words that we could use
Lechugas (lettuce), leche (milk), peste (peste), walang hiya (no shame), tae (shit). Anyone?
Perhaps the folks at the House of Representatives could take a cue from this post, and write a legislation that’s far better than banning people from using dildos. Leche.
Durian Writer 
I think it’s less the meaning and more the sound and rhythm of the phrase. The way you can whiplash from the deep, long vowel in the first syllable (‘puuuuu’) to the crispy stop on the ‘t’ in the second syllable, tapering to an almost whispered close in ‘ina’ – it’s rather gratifying. The nonsensical Cebuano curse ‘putragis’ demonstrates this (coloured further by the chance to roll that ‘r’).
Oh boy thanks for your perspective, Karlo! But still…. putang ina is putang ina…