Enthusiasts Gather For Indonesia 's 21st International Motor Show (Photo : Getty Images)
Has “Descendants of the Sun” actress Song Hye Kyo offended her Indonesian fans or are her followers in the predominantly Islamic country having fun at the expense of her Instagram account?
On Tuesday, the 35-year-old actress posted an image taken from Studio of photographer Camilla Akrans. Although the photo got more than 176,000 likes, it was flooded with the phrase “om telolet om” by Indonesians. Non-speakers of the Indonesian language asked what does the phrase means but no one explained.
Some of those who posted the phrase did it multiple times which started to irritate some fans of Song Hye Kyo. A number of them requested the Indonesians to stop spamming the actress’ Instagram with “om telolet om.”
Could the fans be telling Song Hye Kyo anything with that strange phrase? The only link that Yibada could find between the actress and Indonesia are online requests from fans for Song Hye Kyo to visit their country and hold a fan meet. “Descendants of the Sun” that initially aired on KBS 2TV in South Korea and iQiyi in China, eventually was provided 33 translations for subtitles, including Indonesian which explains Song Hye Kyo’s fan base in the Southeast Asian country.
According to Redittor Ianto, the phrase “om telolet om” started from vagrant children in Indonesia who live near a bus or truck terminal and noticed the customized horn sound of drivers which they used as their entertainment for lack of resources. Soon more kids gathered and appreciated the sound that to request the driver to honk their horns, all the children did was carry a sign that reads “om telolet om.”’
“Om” means “uncle” or is an informal term for an older male, which in this case referred to the bus driver. “Telolet” is the onomatopoeia, or the imitation of a sound, which in this instance is the bus honk. In other words, the kids are asking the driver “Sir, honk please sir.”
However, as the usage of the phrase became widespread in social media, the term was used for comedic effect or no context at all just because it sounds funny. Soon, Indonesians were using the phrase to spam local forums and official accounts of celebrities, including Song Hye Kho who is apparently their latest target.
On Twitter, DJ Zedd picked up the phrase becoming a meme on Tuesday night and he and other DJs tweeted “om telolet om” which became a viral phenomenon for almost 12 hours non-stop, according to the Jakarta Post. Here is how the bus horns in Indonesia sound like.
