A Filipino expression for being genuinely happy for someone's good fortune while wishing you had it too — envy without bitterness.
"Sana all" is how Filipinos express a feeling everyone knows but few languages capture this precisely: being genuinely happy for someone while simultaneously wishing you had what they have. It's the verbal equivalent of smiling at a friend's engagement photo while your own heart aches a little. The phrase works as a standalone comment — you see someone's vacation pictures, their new relationship, their good fortune, and you type two words that mean both "I'm happy for you" and "I wish that were me."
The phrase emerged around 2018 in Filipino LGBTQ+ online communities, where it evolved as a more natural-sounding alternative to the full Tagalog "sana lahat." By mixing Tagalog and English — a linguistic practice Filipinos call Taglish — it created something that felt more authentic to how people actually speak online. When the pandemic hit in 2020, "sana all" exploded beyond its playful origins. Filipinos started using it to critique inequality: "sana all may vaccine" (I wish everyone had vaccines). A phrase that began as lighthearted internet slang became a tool for expressing pandemic frustration and political consciousness.
What makes "sana all" culturally significant is its emotional sophistication. It holds contradictions comfortably: joy and envy, sincerity and irony, celebration and critique. This reflects the complex emotional navigation required in a society marked by stark inequality, diaspora connections, and rapid social change. The phrase doesn't just express longing — it acknowledges the unfairness of why some have while others don't.