Indo-Lesson 4: Defining "alay", "lebay" and other Indonesian argots

It has been more than two years since I last wrote a post on Indonesian language lessons. Today I'm reviving it. I'll be having it on occassions, so you could expect to read on Indonesian language every once in a while.

What is "alay"?

Today I will discuss four new Indonesian argots that has sprung up for the last eight years in Indonesia. I doubt it that these four words would ever appear in the Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia or any Indonesian-English dictionaries.

For the Indonesian diaspora abroad (who either live among expatriate communities or have naturalised themselves into a citizen of their new country), this could also act as a refresher of what new terms are there in Indonesian.

Before I start, I would like to note that all these four Indonesian words had their birth in Jakarta (mostly among Jakartan youths), before they spread throughout the country through the influence of soap operas or internet.

ja·yus
adj. has the quality of being corny or not funny, usu. refers to a joke

I honestly could not recall when it first sprung, but I remember using the word as early as primary school.

Hence it would be around year 2000-2001.

Example sentence:

Jayus banget sih lo (least formal usage)
Tidak lucu sekali anda (most formal usage)
How corny you are (definition in English)

ja·blay
n. female prostitute

When I was a part of the Indonesian diaspora in Singapore, we spoke Indonesian everyday, but without any influence of new street talks that appeared in Jakarta. I myself came to knew this word after I asked a girl friend I just met when I got back from Singapore in year 2007.

I knew, I should've asked somebody else, that was too bloody naïve of me...haha.

Hence I could recall exactly when this word first appeared: Year 2006.

I don't think that I would need an example sentence for this one (just figure it out yourself), but one thing for sure, this vulgarity is not a euphemism. It carries a softer connotation than its synonym perek, but a harder one than its standard Indonesian term pelacur. For a proper euphemism, it would be PSK or Pekerja Seks Komersial.


le·bay
adj. has the quality of being excessive, usu. refers to a story, personality or personal appearance

This word first sprung around year 2007 or 2008. Can either refer to a drama queen, someone who is constantly jayus, or anyone else who has the habit of taking things to an excessive effect. Usually used in a humourous context.

Example sentence:

Gue enggak pernah ketemu orang selebay lo (least formal usage)
Aku tidak pernah ketemu orang yang terlalu berlebihan seperti kamu (most formal usage)
I've never met anyone as excessive as you are (definition in English)

a·lay
adj. describes the kind language that is too informal that is disdained by even most Indonesians nowadays, usu. refers to written language;
n. a person with shabby appearance and of uneducated impression, mostly refers to male who fits the description

This word first appeared in year 2008.

Now it is a well-known fact that Indonesians use slangs much more than speakers of other languages. For example, there are tons of variants of how Indonesians say "you" in daily basis. While in English it's either "You" or "U" in SMS language; Indonesians can say anda, kamu, lo, elo, lu, elu, mu and each regions also carry a different word while they mix it with the standard Indonesian (such as ngana in Northern Sulawesi or ci in Bali).

So what is defined as an alay language? It usually refers to the daily Indonesian slangs that have deformed into such a way that even most Indonesians themselves could not bear reading.

Back to the word "you", which in the most common occurence is used as kamu. In an acceptable form, it can only be contracted into kmu or km.

But writers of alay language does not care about contraction. They only want to "embellish" their language by carrying it to the excess. From kamu, they deform it into kmoh or kmuh or cmo.

Barely understandable, eh?

Now if that does not seem bad enough to you, wait till it gets combined together with other similarly deformed words within a sentence.

The acceptable slang for sayang would be a contracted one, such as syg or syng.

But an alay never dies. They embellish it into...guess what? Chayank.

Hence because of those alays, there are now "castes" in Indonesian language, with them being on the bottom caste:

ak chayank bgt dech ma kmoh (alay version)
ak syg bgt dh ma km (ordinary SMS usage)
aku sayang banget deh sama kamu (standard everyday usage)
aku sayang sekali padamu (most formal usage)
I really love you (definition in English)

An alay sentence does not even has to be exactly the same sentence like the one above. For an excessively alay usage, it can go as far as the alay creativity goes, sometimes with a mixture between small and large fonts:

aK chAyank bangGetz dech ama kmohh!
ak Synk bgtz dech ma kMuww!
etc. etc. The list goes on...

Pardon me if those examples above may not be totally representative of an alay language, because they are examples that I had invented myself (despite me never having used such a lingo).

They should consider creating an Indonesian alay-ness contest, seeing how far those alays could go in making those so-called creative sentences.

Nowadays there has been a purge regarding an alay language in Facebook and Twitter, with people --young and old alike-- deleting their friends who regularly use alay terminologies when posting their status.

I reserve my comment on this ongoing purge.

For the second definition of alay as a noun, it refers to a person who does not appear well in public and/or does not communicate in a way of an educated urbanite. A slightly politer euphemism than kampungan, but not a good description to use notwithstanding.

Now what do I mean by "a person who does not appear well in public"? It is usually a combination of having a lanky appearance, dressed in shabby or gang clothes and having tattoes piercings like preman or other street vagabonds do.. Or it can also refer to a person whose body is of a sturdy built, yet constantly perspire and have unpleasant body odours.

~~~~~

That's all for today. I hope this post has enlightened you all (who might have come here after typing "define alay" in Google), and if you have any questions, feel free to post it here on the Comments section below.

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Indo-Lesson 3: “Saja” and its implications

Toshihiko here, and this is the 3^rd lesson on the Indonesian language.

Today I’m going to focus on the discourse word “saja” and its usages.

Let's begin.

Saja, while can be loosely translated into “only” in English, it actually carries another meaning that has different implication, as can be seen in the following explanation:

1. Saja as a plural.

In order to imply itself as a plural, the word apa, siapa, di mana, ke mana, and dari mana is followed by the word saja. Take a look at these two examples below:

(a). Kamu tadi pergi dengan siapa?

(b). Kamu tadi pergi dengan siapa saja?

In sentence (a), the questioner asks the question in which the answer can either be a singular or plural: dengan Andy or dengan Andy dan Harry.

In sentence (b) the questioner already presumes beforehand that the questioned went with several people and thus, he is asked to name those people. The expected answer is those people’s names, although it does not rule out the possibility that the questioner’s assumption is wrong.

Therefore, the answer for (b) could be Dengan Harry dan dengan John; Dengan Andy, Harry, dan John; or Hanya dengan Harry. Here are a few examples to show you how the absence of “saja” neutralises the sentence of pluralities:

• (c). 1). Anda akan membeli apa?
• (c). 2). Anda akan membeli apa saja?

• (d). 1). Tadi malam ibu pergi ke mana?
• (d). 2). Tadi malam ibu pergi ke mana saja?

• (e). 1). Dari mana kamu, jam begini baru pulang?
• (e). 2). Dari mana saja kamu, jam begini baru pulang?

2. Saja as an indication of uncertainty.

The question phrases apa saja, siapa saja, di mana saja as stated above are used to indicate uncertainty when they are used in assertive sentences. Thus. The sentence Dia boleh membeli apa saja means that the items one can buy is not limited in variety and number. Take a look at the example below.

(f). Silahkan, ambil apa saja yang Anda inginkan.

(g). Tony bisa bergaul dengan siapa saja.

(h). Ke mana saja orang Jerman itu pergi, anak-anak mengikutinya.

(i). Ambillah berapa saja yang Ibu perlukan.

It is worth noted that berapa saja is not generally used in an interrogative sentence, yet it is commonplace in positive sentences such as example (i) above. As the word order in both positive and interrogative sentences are the same, then the difference lies in the usage of punctuation –with a dot < . > or question mark in written language– and intonation in spoken one.

Take a look at the contrasts shown in these sentences.

• (j). 1). Kami boleh membeli apa saja?

• (j). 2). Kami boleh membeli apa saja.

• (k). 1). Dia diizinkan pergi dengan siapa saja?

• (k). 2). Dia diizinkan pergi dengan siapa saja.

• (l). 1). Orang itu boleh tinggal di mana saja?

• (l). 2). Orang itu boleh tinggal di mana saja.

• (m). 1). Bethel boleh bermain ke mana saja?

• (m). 2). Bethel boleh bermain ke mana saja.

You must always remember that Indonesians speak formal language of EYD Indonesian only in politics, courtrooms, and Indonesian lessons. Therefore, never use the word “saja” in its formal context if you want to familiarise yourself with your Indonesian acquaintances: use “aja” instead.

That’s all for today’s lesson.

If you want to send me any questions regarding Bahasa Indonesia or the confusion you may find regarding the close affinity between Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu, you can always comment on this blog post or on the shoutbox in the sidebars. You may also send me suggestions on what I could discuss on future lessons.

References:

TATA BAHASA BAKU BAHASA INDONESIA (Perum Balai Pustaka—1992:190-191)

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Indo-Lesson 2: “Samurai bekerja”

Toshihiko here, and this is the 2nd lesson on the Indonesian language.

Today I’m going to discourse about the usage of the prefix “ber-” and the word “Samurai”.

Let's begin the lesson.

The prefix ber- can be tricky for most learners of Indonesian if they don’t know how to use it.

Why?

It’s because there is no specific rule regarding how to attach it into a specific verb. One may even call it an irregular prefix, just like the irregular verbs that exist in English.

For example, the word kerja, which means “to work”, turns into bekerja when added with ber-.

Why not berkerja instead of bekerja?

That’s just the way it is.

As you see, the reason that I name ber- as an irregular prefix is due to the fact that the ber- still retains its original form when applied to other words that begin with letter k, such as kawan into berkawan, kenal(an) into berkenalan, or kurang into berkurang.

Another irregular usage is when it is attached to the verb ajar, it becomes belajar, not berajar, while other verbs that begins with letter a still transform the prefix into ber-, such as beralasan, berakhlak, and berarti.

Believe me, as Indonesians rarely use any affixes in their conversations, the only way to learn the right way of using EYD (Ejaan Yang Disempurnakan – formal Indonesian) is by writing a lot.

Write, write, and write.

The more you write, the more encouraged you become to open your kamus. You may even want to consider blogging in Bahasa Indonesia once in a while. Indcoup has set up a good example in some of his posts, so does Gene Netto (now that’s 100% Indonesian!).

Samurai, as we all know, is a Japanese-derived term that is used to name Japanese warriors who were members of the feudal military aristocracy, the Japanese equivalent for the English term “Knight”.

Nowadays there no longer exists any Samurai anywhere in the world except —of course— in Indonesia.

In Bahasa Indonesia, the term Samurai is commonly used to name all kinds of swords in general. I can assume that its usage is so widely accepted that even Indonesian linguists accept it as a formal term.

It is funny to see how could the derivation went so far you know, as I’ve traced back the etymology to the root of the Japanese word Samurai into:

“saburau”, which means “to serve”

Thus, the word “Samurai” originally means “a servant”, a definition that’s indeed far-fetched from the Indonesian definition of “a sword”!

That’s all for today’s lesson.

If you want to send me any questions regarding Bahasa Indonesia or the confusion you may find regarding the close affinity between Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu, you can always comment on this blog post or on the shoutbox in the sidebars. You may also send me suggestions on what I could discuss on future lessons.

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Indo-Lesson 1: Let’s ride the busway [sic]

Hi everyone, it’s Toshihiko here and today I’m experimenting on giving lessons on the Indonesian language. Starting from today onwards, I’ll be giving Bahasa Indonesia lessons specifically written for foreigners, expats, and other Indonesian learners both inside and outside the country on a weekly basis every Monday.

Let's begin the lesson.

Firstly, let’s take a look at this little confabulation:

“Kita ke sana naik apa nih?”

(What transport are we gonna take there?)

“Naik busway lah! Masa’ mau naik bajay..”

(Of course we ride the Busway [sic]! How can we take bajaj..?)

Menaiki, according to my Indonesian-English dictionary, can be defined as:

1. climb on to sth, e.g. Anak itu menaiki pohon (The child climbed trees)
2. ride sth, e.g. Mobil yang dinaikinya (The car that he rode)

It is a common habit for Indonesians to strap off all the affixes to make a word colloquial.

Thus, the precise English counterpart for “I’m brushing my teeth” would be “Aku lagi gosok gigi”, not “Aku sedang menggosok gigi”.

I’ll discuss the interchangeability of the words sedang and lagi at some other time.

In the meanwhile, I’ll focus on the usage of the word “Busway”.

For some of us who frequent Jakarta or live in Jakarta, we are often amused when Indonesians say that they are going to “naik Busway”, which literally means “riding a Busway”.

What does the word “Busway” should specifically refer to?

The red lane, of course.

For those of you who don’t know which red lane I’m talking about, it is the special lane painted on the street which gives privilege only for the Transjakarta bus to ride through.

Sooner or later, we know that the “Busway” they’re talking about is the air-conditioned Transjakarta bus service whose interconnectivity resembles the metro system in our respective countries.

We all know that the proper phrase should be “naik Transjakarta”, not “naik Busway”.

But not a single Indonesian seems to be aware that they’re misusing the term.

Well, I’m an exception, lols.

Everytime I heard any of my relatives or friends say that they “naik Busway”, there is always this annoyed feeling in me. But after a while, I learned to accept the term as it is: an Indonesian slang that has gone unchecked.

So instead of asking Indonesians to fit in their English-derived Indonesian to meet our English standard, the more correct approach should be us who fit in our Indonesian to meet their standards.

That's all for today, folks.

I’ve traversed thru Blog-Indonesia and Technorati networks to find any blogs that focus on giving Indonesian lessons to no avail. However, there’s the possibility that I wasn’t careful enough in looking for it, so please give me the link if you find any, OK? I’d like to contact the blogger(s) so we can cross-refer our lessons and improvise our lessons together.

For some of you Malay speakers, I know very well how confusing it is to find the exact Indonesian equivalent for the Malay term that you have in mind due to the close affinity between the two languages. I also have some command in Malay language, so don’t hesitate in asking me any inquiries about Indonesian or Malay language that you may have.

One thing to be noted though, I no longer accept any e-mails from anyone I don’t know in my Gmail account due to the increasing number of spam mails I’ve been receiving lately. So unless you are an old school friend (such as BòóN) or a fellow blogger whom I’m acquainted by name (like Jakartass and Diny), don’t ever bother sending me e-mails because I’ve filtered all e-mails from people I don’t know as junk mails.

I have switched on the anonymous-commenting option so that you could send in questions you may have about Indonesian language. Any suggestions or feedbacks on how to improve the lessons in terms of format or the likes would gladly be taken into consideration.

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