_________________________________________________________________________________ Asian Journal of English Language Studies (AJELS) Volume 8, December 2020 ‘No to halata, astig to astig only’: The emerging bisexual lingo and the (un)marketable identities on PlanetRomeo Aries John G. Enardecido University of the Philippines-Los Baños, Laguna agenardecido@up.edu.ph Abstract This study critically analyzes different linguistic expressions that are ideologically DQG LQGH[LFDOO\ XVHG E\ VHOILGHQWLｿHG ELVH[XDO PHPEHUV RI 3ODQHW5RPHR D JD\ dating website. Using lexico-grammatical analysis and selective self-presentation DV OHQV WKH VWXG\ H[DPLQHV WKH WH[WXDO DUHDV RI  RQOLQH GDWLQJ SURｿOHV RI Filipino bisexual men. Findings indicated an emerging subcultural lingo, which is characterized by word connotations, echoic binomials, and negations. Moreover, the study offers insights into the identity-construction efforts of bisexual men through their language use, which allow them to occupy attractive and marketable identities in the contemporary period. More importantly, it sheds light on how these men’s linguistic constructions of desired and desirable identities also work toward the marginalization and disenfranchisement of other identities. Overall, this study hopes to contribute to the area of sexual identity construction in and through discourse and to contemporary understandings of the ways in which identities are read as either desirable or undesirable by a particular community, and the hierarchies and judgments that such readings entail for members of the community. Keywords: Bisexuality, bisexual lingo, lexico-grammatical analysis, online dating, self-presentation 1. Introduction In the Philippines, words such as astig (tough) or barako (muscular) and expressions such as discreet to discreet or straight-acting for same are often used for self-descriptions and partner SUHIHUHQFHV ZLWKLQ WKH SURｿOHV RI RQOLQH GDWLQJ DSSVZHEVLWHV GHVLJQHG IRU JD\ PHQ DQG PHQ who have sex with other men (MSM). Similarly, words and expressions such as malamya (effeminate) or No to halata (out or obvious gay) and chubby also proliferate in online-dating spaces. According to Miller (2016b), these words and expressions are a frequently occurring IHDWXUH RI RQOLQH OLIH DPRQJ XVHUV RI 060VSHFLｿF GDWLQJ DSSV HJ *ULQGU 3ODQHW5RPHR Hornet, Scruff, and the like). In the context of online search for potential sexual or romantic partners, these linguistic practices are strictly controlled by the demand for discretion and stereotypical or hegemonic masculinity on the one hand, and the refusal of effeminacy on the other. Therefore, this linguistic construction privileges attractive and marketable identities while, at the same time, marginalizes and disenfranchises other identities online.