Alay
Encyclopedia
is a pop culture phenomenon in Indonesia
. It is a stereotype
describing something “tacky” and “cheesy” ( or , in Indonesian
). 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
and Harajuku
from Japan
. Although, the former emerged much later and the latter was even admired in the west.
. One theory that is widely accepted is that "Alay" is a portmanteau of the term "" (Indonesian
: Kiteflyer), a pejorative describing someone having certain physical attributes from spending most of their time outside and getting sunburnt (e.g. reddened hair and skin).
. 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.
Indonesian musics are considered to be alay music. Either because the artists are the trend setters for alay or their fandom consists of alays. Jazz
, Metal
, reggae
, Hardcore
, Hip Hop
, urban
, religious
and other genres including dangdut
are not considered to be alay. Musicians who fall into any of the genres above usually have a fandom spanning various social strata and enjoy elite celebrity status.
stands out in everyday life as they are donned by a collective of teenagers hanging out in various spots of Indonesian cities. Particularly from the middle-lower income class who are only able to afford cheap but stylish apparels. The most common attributes are tight jeans, boxer, T-shirt beneath a plaid jacket and a cap.
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
.
But at some point, Alay Text can be derived from how hacker suggest how to create strong password, which require more combination of characters, capital character, number and special character. To make the password still meaningful and easy to remember, so they change a with 4(four) and, o with 0 (zero), etc. This improved with mixed language,(using Bahasa and English
in one sentences).
Examples:
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.
airs a show titled MTV Alay as part of their MTV Indonesia
programs.
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. It is a stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
describing something “tacky” and “cheesy” ( or , in Indonesian
Indonesian language
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....
). The Alay culture phenomena spans over a wide array of styles in music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, dress
Dress
A dress is a garment consisting of a skirt with an attached bodice or with a matching bodice giving the effect of a one-piece garment.Dress may also refer to:*Clothing in general*Costume, fancy dress...
, and messaging. It has often been compared to that of the Jejemon
Jejemon
Jejemon is a pop culture phenomenon in the Philippines. According to Urban Dictionary a Jejemon is a person "who has managed to subvert the English language to the point of incomprehensibility." The Philippine Daily Inquirer describes Jejemons as a "new breed of hipster who have developed not only...
phenomenon originating from the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and Harajuku
Harajuku
Harajuku is the common name for the area around Harajuku Station on the Yamanote Line in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo, Japan....
from Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Although, the former emerged much later and the latter was even admired in the west.
Etymology
The word "Alay" has no exact meaning or obvious derivation. Various definitions of alay are offered when one types it on a search engineSearch engine
A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...
. One theory that is widely accepted is that "Alay" is a portmanteau of the term "" (Indonesian
Indonesian language
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....
: Kiteflyer), a pejorative describing someone having certain physical attributes from spending most of their time outside and getting sunburnt (e.g. reddened hair and skin).
Origins
Due to the very low significance of the alay phenomenon in the Indonesian society (considered to be a minor social change), very little documentation of its emergence exists. The term was invented by a teenager Sabda Ahessa, the son of the well-known politician Sys NS. According to alay today, alay originated from the social networking site FriendsterFriendster
Friendster is a social gaming site that is based in Malaysia, KL. The company now operates mainly from the three Asian countries namely in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore....
. As early as 2004, Indonesians, regardless of their social background, decorated their Friendster profile with leet
Leet
Leet , also known as eleet or leetspeak, is an alternative alphabet for the English language that is used primarily on the Internet. It uses various combinations of ASCII characters to replace Latinate letters...
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
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
overpowered Friendster.
Music
Many contemporary pop rockPop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
Indonesian musics are considered to be alay music. Either because the artists are the trend setters for alay or their fandom consists of alays. Jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, Metal
Metal
A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
, reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
, Hardcore
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
, Hip Hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
, urban
Urban contemporary
Urban contemporary is a music radio format. The term was coined by the late New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the mid 1970s. Urban contemporary radio stations feature a playlist made up entirely of hip hop/rap, contemporary R&B, pop, electronica such as dubstep and drum and bass and Caribbean music...
, religious
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
and other genres including dangdut
Dangdut
Dangdut is a genre of Indonesian popular music that is partly derived from Malay, Arabic, and Hindustani music. It developed in the 1970s among working-class Muslim youth, but beginning in the late 1990s reached a broader following in lower class Indonesians, Malaysia, and the southern...
are not considered to be alay. Musicians who fall into any of the genres above usually have a fandom spanning various social strata and enjoy elite celebrity status.
Fashion
Alay fashionFashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
stands out in everyday life as they are donned by a collective of teenagers hanging out in various spots of Indonesian cities. Particularly from the middle-lower income class who are only able to afford cheap but stylish apparels. The most common attributes are tight jeans, boxer, T-shirt beneath a plaid jacket and a cap.
Messaging
(Indonesian: Alay text) is a form of the Indonesian language that has undergone "excessive leetLeet
Leet , also known as eleet or leetspeak, is an alternative alphabet for the English language that is used primarily on the Internet. It uses various combinations of ASCII characters to replace Latinate letters...
transformation". Contrary to the popular belief that it is "destroying" the national language
Indonesian language
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....
, 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
CamelCase
CamelCase , also known as medial capitals, is the practice of writing compound words or phrases in which the elements are joined without spaces, with each element's initial letter capitalized within the compound and the first letter either upper or lower case—as in "LaBelle", "BackColor",...
.
But at some point, Alay Text can be derived from how hacker suggest how to create strong password, which require more combination of characters, capital character, number and special character. To make the password still meaningful and easy to remember, so they change a with 4(four) and, o with 0 (zero), etc. This improved with mixed language,(using Bahasa and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
in one sentences).
Examples:
| Alay Alay ' is a pop culture phenomenon in Indonesia. It is a stereotype describing something “tacky” and “cheesy” . 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 and... | Indonesian language Indonesian language Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries.... | English language English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... |
|---|---|---|
| tHanKz b’4„„„„„„ | Terima kasih sebelumnya | Thanks before |
| qMo mANk cLiD wAd cYanK m qHo…………. | Kamu memang sulit buat sayang sama aku | It's difficult for you to love me |
| iN meYe heArD„„„„„„, | Di hatiku | In my heart |
| wad qw,K4Mouw 1tU B46aikAn BuL4n | Buat ku, kamu itu bagaikan bulan | For me, you are like a moon |
| C!Nta 4kn l6h 5mpurn4 j!k4 d! 53r+4! d3n9N K5et!@N, k3tlsN, k3jujur@n, Ke63r5maaN, KerNa Cinta T!d4k hRs Memil!l!k! 4twpun Dmiliki Krn Cnt4 tlh Ckup uNtk Dicint4i......... | Cinta akan lebih sempurna jika disertai dengan kesetiaan, ketulusan, kejujuran, kebersamaan, karena cinta tidak harus memiliki atau dimiliki karena cinta cukup untuk dicintai | Love would be perfect if accompanied with loyalty, sincerity, honesty, solidarity, because love does not need to have or have because love enough to be loved |
According to The Jakarta Post
The Jakarta Post
The Jakarta Post is a daily English language newspaper in Indonesia. The paper is owned by PT Bina Media Tenggara, and the head office is in the nation's capital, Jakarta....
, 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.
Demography
Alay is common among the middle to lower income class Indonesians. It is ridiculed by the higher income society and often an object of humor among the most pampered of youths. In education, alay is rare among smart private schools as their tuition fees prevent them being enrolled and they are more likely to be seated in a public school. Ironically, it is not uncommon for alay students to academically outshine high class students. Socialites mixing with Alay is unheard of.In Media
In celebration of the Alay culture, Global TVGlobal TV (Indonesia)
Global TV is an Indonesian private television station based in West Jakarta. It is established in early January 1, 1998 and first went on air on January 1, 2001 with MTV programming....
airs a show titled MTV Alay as part of their MTV Indonesia
MTV Indonesia
MTV Indonesia is the Indonesian branch of a music television station MTV, parts of MTV Asia. It was first shown in ANTeve in the since was launched together with Nickelodeon Indonesia on 1 January 1993 on ANTeve, MTV Indonesia aired MTV Shows from USA such as TRL, Fanatic, Diary; Europe, Asia such...
programs.