Alay Information
Alay (or 4L4Y, Anak Layangan or Anak Lebay) is a pop culture phenomenon in Indonesia. It is a stereotype describing something “tacky” and “cheesy” (norak or kampungan, 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 and Harajuku from Japan. Although, the former emerged much later and the latter was even admired in the west.
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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). Another suggests that the term originates from "Malay" as alay is unique to Southeast Asian countries.
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.
Characteristics
Music
Many contemporary pop rock 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, punk rock, reggae, 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.
Fashion
Alay fashion 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
Tulisan alay (Indonesian: Alay text) 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.
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:
- tHanKz b’4„„„„„„ (thanks before)
- qMo mANk cLiD wAd cYanK m qHo…………. (Indonesian: Kamu memang sulit buat sayang sama aku; English: It's difficult for you to love me)
- iN meYe heArD„„„„„„, (in my heart)
- wad qw,K4Mouw 1tU B46aikAn BuL4n (Indonesian: buat ku, kamu itu bagaikan bulan; English: for me, you are like a moon)
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]
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 TV airs a show titled MTV Alay as part of their MTV Indonesia programs.
Other Uses
Alay is also a pejorative used for Malaysia and Malaysians and usually written as M4L4YSIA or M4L4YSIAN. "Alay" is also an Indian name used by the Hindu Gujarati community. Some people also consider "Alay" to be a typo-error for the more common Indian name "Ajay", due to the letters "j" and "l" being close to each other on the keyboard.
See also
References
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