Grappling with the alphabet stew of world insurgencies can have its pitfalls.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discovered as much Friday as she fielded questions about the Moro Islamic Liberation Front during a town hall-style gathering in Manila.

MILF has the same acronym as an obscene phrase that gained currency in recent years. It was used in a Saturday Night Live political sketch last year in which characters playing Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton criticized sexism in the U.S. election campaign.

Questioned repeatedly about peace efforts with the MILF in the southern Philippines, Clinton struggled with how to speak the acronym.

“I’m encouraged by what I hear about the progress in the peace efforts that are going on between the government and MILF,” Clinton said, pronouncing it like a word — the same way as the acronym for the obscene phrase.

Then she switched and adopted the local usage — saying the letters individually.

Clinton said the time seemed ripe for a peace deal with the MILF, which has been fighting the Manila government for nearly 30 years.

She urged both sides to work to clinch an agreement while the timing is right, noting how Middle East peace efforts had been idle for years after her husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, failed to secure a deal between the Israelis and Palestinians in the late 1990s.

“If people are in the mood and willing to make peace,” she said, “do not sleep, do not rest until you finally get there.”

Other tidbits from an hour of fielding questions at the town hall session at a Manila university:

Clinton had a crush on singer Fabian as a girl and headed a Fabian fan club.

Hillary and Bill Clinton try to schedule time for themselves when not occupied with their busy schedules.

“We like to take long walks, we like to go to the movies, we like to go out to dinner, we like to catch up on our sleep,” she said.

And will daughter Chelsea follow her parents into politics?

“I don’t think so,” the secretary of state said. “I think she has really carved out her own life and her own privacy.”

“I think she respects and appreciates the political world but has no plans for being part of it at this time in her life.”

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Photo credit: Reuters/Cheryl Ravelo (Clinton arrives at a Manila university for a televised town hall-style meeting; Clinton fields questions at the session)