21 Ridiculous Indonesian Words That You Won’t See Anywhere Else
Can you find equivalents in your language?
Indonesians, despite being a relatively unfussy and relaxed bunch, actually have a whole arsenal of words that describe the very life concepts that we are grappling to express, or even acknowledge, in English. Here is a short list of about twenty-one of them and their corresponding definitions in English.
(1) Mencolek: that silly trick you play when you tap someone’s shoulder and pretend you didn’t do it. Alternatively, it can be used for the wondrous activity of poking someone repeatedly until they are ready to rip your head out.
(2) Pesing: that pungent smell of piss in the toilet people usually try to ignore, but Indonesians happily complain about.
(3) Amis: the smell of raw fish at the market that lingers on your hands long after having touched them.
(4) Cebok: the process in which you clean your anus after excretion using a hose or a bucket of water, preferably used for children who are not old enough to realise how silly this word is.
(5) Salah bantal: that phenomenon when you wake up in the morning with random aches in your neck, back, shoulders, and/or joints. Literally meaning ‘wrong pillow’.
(6) Jayus: a joke so lame and unfunny you can’t help but laugh.
(7) Ngompol: the beautiful art of wetting your bed. Or yourself, we don’t judge.
(8) Kurang ajar: insolent behaviour, or any kind of behaviour you don’t like, really. Literally meaning ‘lack of teaching’.
(9) Ja’im: [derived from jaga image] when you are excessively preoccupied with your looks or reputation.
(10) Pede: [derived from percaya diri, hence PD or pe-de] when you finally believe that you can do something; believing in yourself
(11) Lebay: [derived from berlebihan] when you are melodramatic about life, love, your cat, dog, whatever. This can also be used for people who easily overreact, and is applicable to a whole range of soap operas in different cultures.
(12) Galau: that feeling of listless angst after ending a relationship (usually by getting dumped). Although originally applied to teenage puppy love, this word has recently taken on various meanings. “I broke my favourite cup! Galauuu. My sister ate my cake, galau nih. 8 for my test! Galau.”
(13) Ngaret: [derived from karet, meaning ‘elastic band’] it means ‘to stretch time’ ie. being late. Our culture is apparently so used to being late we even created a word for it. “Sori ya, ngaret 20 menit” [Sorry, gonna stretch time by 20 minutes].
(14) Kepo: also used in Malaysia and Singapore, this means being overly and stupidly curious about the private lives of others.
(15) Mager: [derived from malas gerak] it literally means ‘lazy to move’ . Yes, we are so lazy that we were too lazy to even say ‘lazy to move’, and decided to take the first syllable of both words and make it into one word instead.
(16) Selow: [derived from English ‘slow’] it kind of means ‘relaaaax, no stress, take it easy’.
(17) Woles: ‘Selow’ backwards. Don’t worry, none of us really know why this word was made either. Someone must’ve been really bored one day …
(18) Iseng: A very versatile word, it translates loosely to ‘just feeling like it’. You know that inexplicable feeling of wanting to eat something even though you’re not hungry? Yep, iseng.
(19) Ngemil: The art of eating snacks, usually when you’re not supposed to.
(20) Jomblo: To be single, but because you’re pretty much a loser who keeps lucking out.
(21) Tuagapatmanamjuhpanlanluh: My personal favourite. It was decided one day that counting from one to ten took up too much time (satu, dua, tiga, empat, lima, enam, tujuh, delapan, sembilan, sepuluh), so we all ended up borrowing the final syllable of each word when counting out loud.
There are, of course, many more words in the Indonesian language that explain concepts that are previously unheard of in English. What are some ridiculous words in your language?
