75 Comments on One Post

It looks like there is so little information available on "Buwan ng Wika" that students, teachers, and parents go online and look for answers on blogs like mine. My post on "Buwan ng Wika 2008" wasn't even the type that I expected to attract 75 comments, which has never happened to any of my posts in such a short time. I don't think any post of mine has actually gotten that many comments. Even "Buwan ng Wika 2006" merited 17 comments, all of them written two years after the post went up. (For some reason, it's not possible to leave comments on "Buwan ng Wika 2007.") True, some comments are repeated and some are spam, but that still leaves a lot of comments.

So what do they say? It's really just a lot of students asking—or rather, demanding—that I email more information or a talumpati about Buwan ng Wika "ngayon????????." I've never really thought it worth my time to reply to any of them, but if any of them are still waiting for an answer, here it is: I will not do your homework for you. But you may want to take up the offer of one of the commenters:

AKO AY ISANG INSTRUKTOR SA KOLEHIYO NG KOLEHIYO NG EMILIO ZAGUINALDO SA DASMARINAS, CAVITE.
MASASABI KONG BILANG GURO SA FILIPINO SA LOOB NG 5 TAON AY MALAKI ANG PAGPAPAHALAGA KO SA ATING WIKA KUNG KAYA'T AKO'Y NATUTUWA KAPAG AKO AY NAKABABASA NG MGA MENSAHE UKOL SA PAG-ALAM SA ATING WIKA.
KUNG MAYROON AKONG MAITUTULONG MAAARI NYO PO AKONG TXT SA 09216684454.
SAMA-SAMA NATING PAUNLARIN AT IPAGMALAKI SA ATING SIMPLENG PAMAMARAAN ANG ATING WIKA - ANG WIKANG FILIPINO!

And then there's the parent who's doing her kid's homework and asking if I can do it for her:

This is not a comment about what you have written, rather I would like to ask you if you could translate the theme "Wika mo, Wika ng mundo, mahalaga" in six different dialects of the Philippines? It's my kid's homework and we need it today... Thanks a lot

Is it the lack of face-to-face contact that makes most of my commenters think that their requests are reasonable? Would they actually ask such things of a librarian standing in front of them? I hope not.