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October 12, 2009

Kegagalan "Anda" - Pikiran Rakyat

More than fifty years after it was introduced, the word "Anda" has been deemed a failure according to an article in Pikiran Rakyat, a daily newspaper in Bandung, by Ajip Rosidi. The word itself was made up in 1958 and pushed for adoption by senior journalist Rosihan Anwar to provide a single second person pronoun equivalent to "you", in place of all the alternatives such as "saudara", "tuan", "kamu", kau", engkau", and so on.

The fact that Indonesian cultures place social stature mostly on a pedestal unsurprisingly does not help the use of this "status neutral" word. The English culture places less importance on this, thus the use of "you" has become much more commonly used than the alternatives.

While "Anda" has been adopted, it has failed in its original purpose to become the universal "you" as proposed by Anwar. Most people use this word when the other person is a relative stranger or when keeping the other person on the same level as themselves, as opposed to "kamu" which is used mostly by couples as in the Japanese "Anata" to express affection, intimacy, or friendship.

Read more (Pikiran Rakyat - Indonesian)

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Filed under  //   indonesian   language   linguistics   newspaper  
Posted by Aulia Masna 

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September 15, 2009

Twitter Meme: Failed New Peter Pan Names

So the Indonesian band formerly named Peter Pan now calls themselves Feather Band. Without missing a beat, Indonesians on Twitter caught on and came up with #failednewpeterpannames.

Here are some early ones.
Bitter Fans, Butter Brand, Baking Pan, Maxi Pants, Feather Pants, Father’s Ban, Father’s Pants, Meter Ran, Mother Brand, Father Tan, Banter Can, Foster Friend, Foster Can, Vader Pants, Shower Man, Mowing Lawn, Pinter Kan, Bulu Band, Feeder Band, Feter Fan, Writer Ran.

And here are some of the funny ones as retweeted by @tebakangaring:

Luna Pants, Peed Her Pants, "Beat Her, Man," Kangen Band, Twitter Fan, Bear Brand, Panci Peter, Feed Her Pants, Freeze Her Pants, Glitter Pants, Laler Gan, Manis Manja Group, Yes We Can, Pinter Pan, Feeder Trans, Feeder Band, Counter Pain, Peder Man, Wet My Pants, Like a Pre Band, Petir Band, Alay Band, Pulpen, Wendy

Click on this link or the hash tag above to keep up with the latest

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Filed under  //   band   hashtag   indonesian   music   search   twitter  
Posted by Aulia Masna 

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July 26, 2009

Nominees and nominators


When you adopt a foreign word, please don't use it as you please. Nominator is not someone who has been nominated. By the same logic, "Koordinator" would mean someone who is being coordinated.

THINK, PEOPLE, THINK!

 

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Filed under  //   english   indonesian   language  
Posted by Aulia Masna 

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June 27, 2009

Fhotografer?

Spotted in Kompas daily

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Filed under  //   english   indonesian   language   spelling  
Posted by Aulia Masna 

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June 22, 2009

Sigh

How can you use foreign words when you can't even spell words properly in your own language?
 
note: it's not even a kitchen.

Sent from my iPhone

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Filed under  //   indonesian   language   sign   spelling  
Posted by Aulia Masna 

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January 18, 2009

Pretend Review

Spotted in today's Kompas daily, there was a review of Pintu Terlarang or Forbidden Door, a recently premiered Indonesian movie. Or so it seemed.
 
Printed in a different typeface from the rest of the articles, away from the regular entertainment section, and with a clearly defined border, it was quite obvious that it was less of a review and more of an advertisement for the movie.
 
The piece however does not claim to be an actual review as the top of the article actually said "Iklan", or Advertisement.
 
This form of honest fake review seems to be gaining traction in the media. I was informed that at least one movie adopted this approach before.
 
On one hand people get more of an insight into the movie should they choose to read it but as it is an ad, it does not point out any deficiencies the movie may have.
 
My question is, is it a wise decision to market the movie as such? I would argue that if the movie is as good as my colleagues who were part of the audience say it is, it shouldn't need such an ad, rather they should promote it in a different way.
 
Which reminded me, I actually passed on an invitation for the premiere. I'm not much of a horror movie fan. Especially local ones as they have been so disappointing as of late.
 
 
 
Sent from my mobile

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Filed under  //   advertisement   Indonesian   media   movie   review  
Posted by Aulia Masna 

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