Ah, swear words – the part of every language’s vocabu- lary that children much of a surprise. A 2009 study showed that the average person uses up to 90 (or at least 80) swear words a day. Ah, but of course, things can get quite a bit more dialects. All of these contribute to our ever-expanding arsenal of utterances for cussing people who cut us off on the road or for emphasising just how effing deli- pick up faster than interesting – and extra-heated – when cious a plate of nasi goreng is. Again, this other words, as well as being a not so un- common choice in papers and theses by literature students. This is, of course, not it comes to swearing in Jakarta (or any- where in Indonesia, really). See, Indonesia is home to 700 languages, along with thousands of local is especially prevalent in Jakarta, where you can easily meet groups of people made up of individuals from all over the archipelago.
Perhaps the most common swear words are animal names. “Babi” (pig) and “monyet” (monkey) are obvious favour- ites, but these pale in comparison to “an- jing” (dog) and its minced version “an- jrit”, which is more or less the Indonesian equivalent of the F-word. It can be used to express disgust, anger and surprise, but among close friends and out of earshot of
elders and other figures of authority, the word turns into a harmless interjection. Sometimes the word “kirik” is used, espe- cially in regions where Javanese is more ubiquitous than Indonesian. However, “kirik” actually refers to puppies. Can you imagine what kind of reaction shouting “Stop hogging the armrest, you puppy!” would bring? Perhaps “otak udang” is a bit easier to translate, as it literally means “prawn brain”. Surely we can think of another expletive that ends with “... for brains”, right? Speaking of animal-based swear words, a common mistake is to associ- ate “bajingan” (crook or thief, but more commonly used much like the English swear word referencing the end of one’s digestive tract) with “bajing” (squirrel). It doesn’t help that the words sit next to each other in the official Indonesian dic- tionary. Turns out, “bajingan” is related to a much bigger mammal, as it is the Java- nese word for ox-cart drivers. Now, as the story goes, these ox-carts are often late in picking up passengers, who consequent- ly mutter something along the lines of “Where on earth is the effing bajingan?” Thus was born a new swear word. Body parts are another popular source of curse words. We’ve already men- tioned one particular orifice above. No less beloved are the names of the geni- talia of both genders and their near-in- finite variations. However, Indonesia is probably unique in how otherwise innocuous parts of the body can also be used to cuss. A good example would be “Matamu!” (“Your eyes!”), as well as “Kepalamu!” (“Your head!”) along with the less formal variations of “Pala lu!” and the Javanese “Ndasmu!”. These likely originated from expressions like “Eyes on the road, stupid!” or “Why don’t you use that head of yours?” but were eventually contracted into easy-to-use utterances that are well-suited for a heated exchange. Finally, for a more all-encompassing but similarly hard-to-translate anatomy-re- lated cuss, we have “bangke”, from the Ba- linese word for “cadaver”, which is usually shouted out in frustration à la “F*** it!” (or in annoyance à la “F*** you!”). On a side note, if you’re interested in learning how to swear in Balinese, as well as Sundanese and general Bahasa Indo- nesia, look up Sacha Stevenson’s channel on YouTube. Mostly known for her “How To Act Indonesian” series, she also has a trio of “27 ... Swear Words” videos. Hope- fully, more are coming. Back to swearing in general, matters are further complicated by the simple fact that with more than 700 languages, there are bound to be words that are in- nocent in language A, but mean some- thing completely different in language B, and can be a deadly insult in language C. “Bujur”, for example, means a person’s behind in Sundanese and naturally serves a secondary function as an all-purpose insult. In the tongue of the Karo people from Northern Sumatra, though, “bujur” means thank you. The above example is actually one of the milder ones. Of course, on the flip side, it’s not too much of a stretch to as- sume that most people living in this multi-ethnic region would be more than ready to treat a misplaced “bujur” as an in- nocent mistake. Having said that, the one thing that Indonesia doesn’t really have is profanity – as in blasphemy or “taking the Lord’s name in vain”. True, some of the old folks here might know one or two choice swear words in Dutch that are best left unsaid in the presence of a man of the cloth, and there are several local equivalents of OMG. But, again, there is nothing in con- temporary Indonesian that even comes close to a non-minced version of “gosh darn it”. Not that this is entirely unex- pected, seeing that throughout much of its history, Indonesia has always been a PC nation. Therefore, it should come as no sur- prise that you’ll rarely hear any genu- ine, heartfelt and honest swearing in popular media and entertainment. We only hear some of the more formal (for lack of a better word) curses, such as “jahanam” (blasted), “terkutuk” (curses), and “keparat” (darn), terms that are al- most never heard of in actual exchanges of harsh words. Not that it’s hard to see why; everybody and their mum would be up in arms should real swearing ever pop up on national TV, and straying too far from prim and proper Indonesian is a defi- nite critic-magnet. This is also one of the reasons why there’s such a huge discon- nect between Indonesian entertainment and Indonesian reality. Because, hey, in reality, Indonesians are more than ca- pable of cussing up a storm, and we have the swear words from hundreds of vocabularies to pick fro (By Joezer Mandagi on Jakarta Java Kini Vol 22 No 2 February 2015)
