Alay
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Alay (or 4L4Y, Anak Layangan or Anak Lebay) s a pop culture phenomenon in Indonesia. It is a stereotype describing something “tacky” and “cheesy” (norak or kampungan, only in Indonesian).[1] The Alay culture phenomena spans over a wide array of styles in music, dress, and messaging. It has often been compared to that of the Jejemon phenomenon originating from the Philippines. Although, the former emerged much later and the latter was even admired in the west.
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[edit] Etymology
The word "Alay" has no exact meaning or obvious derivation. Various definitions of alay are offered when one types it on a search engine. One theory that is widely accepted is that "Alay" is a portmanteau of the term "Anak Layangan" (Indonesian: Kiteflyer),[2] a pejorative describing someone having certain physical attributes from spending most of their time outside and getting sunburnt (e.g. reddened hair and skin). Also kite is considered as cheap entertainment to the middle and lower class in modern Indonesia, stereotyping alay as a part of that class.
[edit] Origins
Due to the very low significance of the alay phenomenon in the Indonesian society (considered to be a minor social change),[3] very little documentation of its emergence exists. According to alay today, alay originated from the social networking site Friendster. As early as 2004, Indonesians, regardless of their social background, decorated their Friendster profile with leet texts, glitter banners, and close-up profile pictures. This social networking trend would later on be "condemned" by many towards the end of the decade when Facebook overpowered Friendster. However, the people who have Alay characteristics are tend to use Facebook more than any other social media.
[edit] Characteristics
[edit] Writing Style
Alay text (Indonesian:Tulisan alay ) is a form of the Indonesian language that has undergone "excessive leet transformation". Contrary to the popular belief that it is "destroying" the national language, grammatical standards are met in contrast to the modern Indonesian slang language. Similar to the jejebets, alay texts offer an alternative in compressing words so that they are under the 160 character-limit in text messages, often to the point that they are impossible to read. Rules in capitalization are mostly ignored.
Alay text may have originated from the method of making strong passwords for internet accounts, which requires combinations of small and capital letters, numbers, as well as special characters. Normally, to keep the password meaningful and easy to remember, the password would consist of normal words, where some letters are capitalised or substituted with numbers (e.g. the letter a with 4, the letter o with 0). Soon this becomes a habit in writing text in general, and improved with mixing English and Indonesian in one sentence.
Confusing text that could not be understood properly and probably has no meaning (except for the writer), is also considered as Alay Text too. This type of text usually contains information of the writer's mood and feeling, it's also common for the text to contain the writer's own philosophy on a certain topic such as : love, heart break, and relationship.
Examples:
Alay | Indonesian | English |
---|---|---|
tHanKz b’4„„„„„„ | Terima kasih sebelumnya | Thanks before |
@q 8kNl4h @l4Y 8y454 | Aku Bukanlah Alay Biasa | I'm not an ordinary Alay |
K4m53Up4y | Kamseupay (Kampungan Sekali Uh Payah) | Very cheesy/tacky |
53s5U4+u D3ch .... | Sesuatu deh .... | Really something |
k4m03 1m03t Bu4nGetzzzz d3ch | Kamu imut banget deh | You're so cute |
T1n4 lUpH u 43vEr | Tina mencintaimu selamanya | Tina loves you forever |
M4lm1n9 sM@ 4Qoeh e@ ... | Malam Mingguan Sama Aku ya ... | Spend Saturday night with me, please |
AkKoehhHh cUIntha KhaMmMukH PholePHEl | Aku Cinta kamu Selamanya | I Love You Forever |
d0N1 cint4 t1n4 5ampai m4t1 ... | Doni cinta Tina sampai mati | Doni loves Tina until dead |
!NdR4 lUPhH 5un4rTol c3lLa4LllU, 3Mu4Chhh... :* | Indra cinta Sunartol selalu, muahhh... :* | Indra always loves Sunartol, (kissing emo) |
S!thI3 c!ndTha 84mB@nX 43veR | Siti cinta Bambang Selamanya | Siti loves Bambang forever |
As3P Pr!L3ncer 50 jUTa | Asep freelancer 50 juta | Asep the 50 million freelancer |
Ciyus? Mi Apa | Serius? Demi apa? | Sure? By what? (Really? So What?) |
According to The Jakarta Post, a high school student from East Java initiated the trend and shot to fame after her writings were discussed in forums and blogs not because they were great, but they were in "code". Her approach in writing attracted a lot of attention, with some people reproducing her writing in forums and blogs.[1]
[edit] Alay Dictionary
There is a website dedicated to translate normal Indonesian language into alay language.[4]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
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