(or ''4L4Y'', ', ''Anak Jablay'' or ', ) is an Indonesian

pop culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ...

phenomenon.Kasali, Rhenald. 2011. ''Cracking Zone''. Jakarta: Gramedia. Hal. 71. It is a

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for exampl ...

describing something "tacky" (') and/or "cheesy" ('). The Alay culture phenomena spans a wide array of styles in

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

, dress, and

messaging A message is a discrete unit of communication intended by the source for consumption by some recipient or group of recipients. A message may be delivered by various means, including courier, telegraphy, carrier pigeon and electronic bus. ...

. It has often been compared to that of the Jejemon phenomenon originating from the Philippines, and

Harajuku is a district in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Harajuku is the common name given to a geographic area spreading from Harajuku Station to Omotesando, corresponding on official maps of Shibuya ward as Jingūmae 1 chōme to 4 chōme. In popular refere ...

from Japan. Although, the former emerged much later and the latter was even admired in the West.The Jakarta Post
/ref>

Etymology

The word "Alay" or "Alayen" or "Sharon Alay" has no exact meaning or obvious derivation. Various definitions of alay are offered. One theory that is widely accepted is that "Alay" comes from the term "" ( Indonesian: Kiteflyer), a pejorative describing someone having certain attributes from spending most of their time outside and getting sunburnt (e.g. reddened hair and skin). Kites are also considered as cheap entertainment to the middle and lower class in modern Indonesia, stereotyping alay as a part of that class.

Characteristics

Writing style

' (Indonesian: Tulisan alay) is a form of the Indonesian language that has undergone "excessive

leet Leet (or "1337"), also known as eleet or leetspeak, is a system of modified spellings used primarily on the Internet. It often uses character replacements in ways that play on the similarity of their glyphs via reflection or other resemblance ...

transformation". Contrary to the popular belief that it is "destroying" the

national language A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a nation. There is little consistency in the use of this term. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the te ...

, grammatical standards are met in contrast to the modern

Indonesian slang Indonesian slang ( id, bahasa gaul, bew, basa gaul), or informal Indonesian language ( id, bahasa informal, bahasa sehari-hari) is a term that subsumes various vernacular and non-standard styles of expression used throughout Indonesia that are n ...

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 Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile devices, desktops/ laptops, or another type of compatible compu ...

, 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 capitalized 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 English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

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. This type of text usually contains information of the writer's mood and feelings, it is also common for the text to contain the writer's own philosophy on certain topics such as love, heart break, and relationships. According to ''

The Jakarta Post ''The Jakarta Post'' is a daily English-language newspaper in Indonesia. The paper is owned by PT Niskala Media Tenggara and based in the nation's capital, Jakarta. ''The Jakarta Post'' started as a collaboration between four Indonesian med ...

'', 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 writings in forums and blogs.

References

{{Internet Dialects Counterculture Internet slang Indonesian culture Indonesian words and phrases

Etymology

Characteristics

Writing style

See also

References