Thank you for pointing that out. I would suppose that buying retail is not totally uniquely Filipino – in the same way that being tightly-knit as a family is a trait shared by most Southeast Asian countries and rooting for the underdog is not exclusively Filipino – but we do take the concept of “tingi” to really micro-levels. I think it is roughly correlated to the purchasing power of the people; from what I understand “trial pack” in the United States is exactly that, until perhaps changing economic fortunes would force the people to buy them as a way of life. In the Philippines, and I would suppose in countries whose people subsist on a dollar or so a day, “tingi” is more a way of life.

Let me scout around for what would really capture that concept as accurately as possible, around the country as I speak, and hopefully, around SE Asia early next year.