Battleship Island (Photo : Twitter/Song Joong-ki)
A day after “Descendants of the Sun” actress Song Hye Kyo’s Instagram account was spammed with the “Om telolet om” memes, it was the turn of actor Song Joong-ki to be hit by the same spam.
After he posted a photo of himself with “Battleship Island” co-stars, the picture got 105,000 likes in one day and 1,649 comments. However, the bulk of the comments were the meme “Om telolet om” posted by his Indonesian fans.
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 and now Song Joong-ki who is apparently their latest target.
Some of his non-Indonesian fans, however, found the repeated posting of “Om telolet om” by the same person not funny. Jalston17, who explained what the phrase means, wrote, “I don't understand how its funny to spam people's account with it. Its so dumb.” Valev1726 agreed and suggested, valev1726@jalston17 Well you're right.. i dont see it funny at all but anyways... instead of saying bored stuff people should write things to (@songjoongkionly) like *I love you* *I hope you're doing well..* or wherever! It is irritating!!
Jalston17 warned sweet_jacksonw that he could be blocked by other Instagram users annoyed by the “Om telolet om” meme. But sweet_jackson replied, “i knw ths annoying,but i think you need"om telolet om.”
In Song Hye Kyo’s account, an Indonesian also got irritated with the spam and asked her countrymen to stop their silliness. Chi_saaaaa wrote, “if you want to look stupid don't spam in account @kyo1122 and orther people. i'm indonesia but don't disgrace the nation itself.”
Leleiisaac thanked dinidinns for explaining what “Om telolet om” means. She wrote that she planned to report those who spam Song Hye Kyo’s account but since they are too many, she just sent the actress “lots of love from the Philippines.”
