Phenomenon 'Om Telolet Om'
'Om Telolet Om' phenomenon
goes viral
The
phrase has been used close to 790,000 times on Twitter in that period. Indonesian Twitter users have been tweeting about the
“Om Telolet Om” phenomenon almost non-stop for 12 hours. The telolet has become
a national trending topic. The meme appeared on Facebook almost a month ago and
what may seem like just another funny but meaningless local meme garnered
international attention when professional DJs began to pick up on the
Indonesian “telolet” meme with producer/DJ Zedd’s tweet Tuesday night.
The
attraction of the unique bus honk sound is apparently unique and suddenly major
DJs started tweeting about the Om Telolet Om.
Billboard also did their
homework on this
growing “sound” phenomenon and speculated on whether the sound would be
heard in future dance anthems.
So what does Om Telolet Om mean? Where
did it come from?
Back in November, the Indonesian
Facebook sphere buzzed with videos of children and youngsters standing on the
streets of Ngabul, Jepara, Central Java, shouting “om telolet om!” at passing
inter-province buses. The phrase om telolet om literally means “Sir, honk your
horn, sir”, and when bus drivers honk to produce the telolet sound the children
cheer in glee.
The
video was first uploaded by a Facebook user on Nov. 26 and has since garnered
over 1 million views and 44,409 shares on Facebook.
Most Facebook users commented and shared
the video with comments such as, “It doesn’t take much money to be happy, just
wait for the buses and ask them to honk.”
Many hearts were warmed and entertained
watching the happiness of the children when a bus responded to their request.
The “telolet hunter” phenomenon has also
created traffic jams in the Jepara area. In anticipation of further traffic
jams, the Jepara Police have looked into the matter and have called on bus
drivers to not make the telolet sound. However, investigations conducted using
a Soundmeter have proved that the honking sound is within a tolerable range of
112, 9 dB (A), with the maximum being 118 db (A).
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