About

Om Telolet Om ("sir honk the horn sir" in English) is an Indonesian expression used to ask bus drivers to honk as they pass by on the road, many of which are equipped with novelty musical horns. In December 2016, videos of people yelling "om telolet om" a passing bus drivers began widely circulating online, leading various electronic music artists to tweet the Indonesian expression.

Origin

According to Redditor 1Anto, the practice of yelling "om telolet om" at passing busses began when Indonesian children discovered that some buses in the country were equipped with customized musical horns.^[11]

"What began as a small group of children now has grown as a fad to even bigger numbers of children, all waiting in a row facing passing trucks and buses. Sometimes with a phone to record video in hand, they shout the word or carry a simple cardboard sign scribbled with "Om (lit. uncle, also usually used as informal term for older/middle aged male) telolet (onomatopoeia of horn/klaxon sound, like honk honk) om.", basically meaning "Sir, honk please sir"

Spread

On June 6th, 2016, the Andriawan Pratikto uploaded a video in which a crowd tells "om telolet om" at a bus driver, who proceeds to play a loud musical horn (shown below). Within six months, the video received more than 1.4 million views and 190 comments.

On November 29th, YouTuber JointKopi uploaded a video titled "Om Telolet Om, Lihat Anak," featuring footage of Indonesian children yelling "om telolet om" at passing busses (shown below, left). On December 18th, Facebook^[7] user Dwi Indra Rachma posted several "om telolet om" videos. On December 19th, YouTuber Roy Leonard 1542 posted a remix of JointKopi's video (shown below, right).

On December 20th, the French music producer DJ Snake tweeted the phrase, gathering 35.000 retweets and 18.000 favorites in only one day. That day, electronic music producer Zedd posted the phrase (shown below, right). Other electronic artists posted similar tweets, including Martin Garrix, Bassjackers and Marshmello.^[4][5][6]

Also on December 20th, the artists Firebeatz posted a remix using "om telolet om" video clips (shown below). Meanwhile, Redditor McKeeFTW submitted a post asking about the Indonesian expression to /r/OutOfTheLoop.^[1] The following day, the BBC^[9] and Billboard^[10] published articles about the Indonesian meme.

Search Interest

External References