The 'Om Telolet Om' meme has a bizarre origin
If you've been seeing what looks like a new-age mantra making the Twitter rounds, you'll be happy to know it's not a call to chill out before the holidays. It's just the latest internet trend.
DJs have been tweeting "Om Telolet Om" over the past few days as random videos recording people shouting the phrase have been on the rise. But the odd trio of words has origins far beyond the turntable. It actually comes from a roadside ritual in Indonesia.
The phrase means "Sir, honk your horn, sir" (more or less) and generally doesn't make much sense outside the context of honking buses in Indonesia. The BBC reported Tuesday that the meme started with young people trying to get buses in Indonesia to honk their horns, which have customized jingles.
But then people started pestering musicians with the honking plea and the phrase took off, with many DJs playing along. The BBC reported nearly 800,000 tweets with the phrase and counting.
The musicians latching onto the trend include DJ Snake, Zedd and many others.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Teen pop star Austin Mahone even made a meme-inspired beat after thousands of fans ambushed him with the phrase. Other artists are also playing around with the horns and phrase.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
But it has spread way beyond the music industry at this point. The internet loves it, so it must be cool, right?
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
