Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

A. G. Maisey · 4th May 2010, 01:14 AM

Thanks for pulling me up Pak Ganja.

Yes, of course you're right.

I ran through the numbers in my mind as I wrote that post, but I was running on full automatic, and I did not convert my "tigo" to modern spelling of tiga --- which of course we say the same way. I hear "tiga", it triggers the Indonesian response. I hear "tigo" it triggers the Javanese response.

We can blame keyboards that don't allow that little dot over the "a".

Same with "kembang pala". I hear this as Indonesian, simply because everybody I know says "kembang polo" , and when my wife cooks, she doesn't use pala in the bistik, she uses polo. But if I go into Akar Sari I ask for "pala panjang". Why? Because the shop assistants expect me to use Indonesian, because I'm a bule. My wife asks for nutmeg she asks for polo, and they expect it.

Yep, no doubt about it:- too complicated altogether. How is it possible to explain all this to people who haven't been up close and personal to Javanese people and language usage?

And this is the simple stuff.

What about when people start playing words games and turning "keris" into "keferis" & etc & etc.

One more reason why I'm prepared to accept just about any description, as long as I understand it.

4th May 2010, 01:14 AM	#4
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,992	Thanks for pulling me up Pak Ganja. Yes, of course you're right. I ran through the numbers in my mind as I wrote that post, but I was running on full automatic, and I did not convert my "tigo" to modern spelling of tiga --- which of course we say the same way. I hear "tiga", it triggers the Indonesian response. I hear "tigo" it triggers the Javanese response. We can blame keyboards that don't allow that little dot over the "a". Same with "kembang pala". I hear this as Indonesian, simply because everybody I know says "kembang polo" , and when my wife cooks, she doesn't use pala in the bistik, she uses polo. But if I go into Akar Sari I ask for "pala panjang". Why? Because the shop assistants expect me to use Indonesian, because I'm a bule. My wife asks for nutmeg she asks for polo, and they expect it. Yep, no doubt about it:- too complicated altogether. How is it possible to explain all this to people who haven't been up close and personal to Javanese people and language usage? And this is the simple stuff. What about when people start playing words games and turning "keris" into "keferis" & etc & etc. One more reason why I'm prepared to accept just about any description, as long as I understand it.