Bitten by the Keris Bug

[Laowang]

Originally Posted by David

Unfortunately in the case of a word like "pekaka" we are now in a situation where some people still consider this a word for the tajong or "kingfisher" variety of hilt while other consider it a proper term for the peninsula version of Jawa Demam (Northern Jawa Demam). This does create some problems for communication showing the importance of the "sometimes it is essential" part of Alan's above statement.

David, I think we mostly share the same opinion here. I agree that names do matter because we use them as a form of communication, and as a shorthand for the form itself, so we need some consensus so we know what we're actually referring to.

In my view, most people in the contemporary keris collecting community (in my admittedly limited experience) in Malaysia/Singapore refer to the tajong as a tajong. Sometimes the Northern jawa demam is called a pekaka (or perkaka, in Spirit of Wood). Gardner's 1936 book aside, I don't sense much disagreement on this.

Kai Wee/Adni, et al. apparently differ from Spirit of Wood regarding the appropriate name for the anak ayam teleng form, but it's easy enough to avoid the controversy, in my opinion, by simply referring to it as jawa demam, Terengganu variant, until someone manages to settle the disagreement.

Besides, isn't unintentional miscommunication a fundamental part of the human experience?