Jejemon

The "Jejecap", sporting its trademark rainbow-striped print at the back.

Jejemon (Tagalog pronunciation: [ˈdʒɛdʒɛmon]) is a pop culture phenomenon in the Philippines. According to Urban Dictionary, a Jejemon is a person "who has managed to subvert the English language to the point of incomprehensibility." The Philippine Daily Inquirer describes Jejemons as a "new breed of hipster who have [sic] developed not only their own language and written text but also their own subculture and fashion."

Origins

The origins of short-handed typing was through the short messaging service, in which each text message sent by a cellphone is limited to 160 characters, founded by Carlo Legaspi. As a result, an "SMS language" developed in which words were shortened in order to fit the 160-character limit. However, some jejemons are not really "conserving" characters; instead, they are lengthening their message. On April 14, 2010, on a Pinoy Tumblr, a post about vice presidential candidate Jejomar Binay indicated that he was the Jejemon's preferred vice presidential candidate, complete with a fake poster with him called as "Jejemon Binay." Later the use of word jejemon to refer to such people made rounds in various Filipino internet message boards.

Such short-handed language is not limited to Filipinos: Thais use "5555" to denote "hahahaha," since the number 5 in Thai language is pronounced as "ha."

Demographics

The Jejemons are said to be the new jologs, a term used for Filipinos of the lower income class. The parameters of being classified as a Jejemon are still unclear, and how the different "levels" of "Jejemonism" are reached, although there are named levels such as "mild," "moderate" and "severe" or "terminal."

Language

The sociolect of the Jejemons, called Jejenese, is derived from English, Filipino and their code-switched variant, Taglish. It has its own, albeit unofficial, orthography, known as Jejebet, which uses the Filipino variant of the Roman alphabet, Arabic numerals and other special characters. Words are created by rearranging letters in a word, alternating capitalization, over-usage of the letters H, X or Z. Superfluous as well as the presence of silent letters characterize its spelling convention. It has similarities with Leetspeak, primarily the alphanumeric nature of its writing.

Examples

• Jejemon: "3ow ph0w, mUsZtAh nA?" translated into Filipino as "Hello po, kumusta na?, translated into English as "Hello, how are you?"
• Jejemon: "i wuD LLyK tO knOw moR3 bOut u. crE 2 t3ll mE yur N@me? jejejejeje!" translated into English as "I would like to know more about you, care to tell me your name? Hehehehe!"

• iMiszqcKyuH – means "I miss you"
• eEoWpFhUeEhsxz – means "hi/hello"
• aQ / aQcKuHh – means "me/ako"
• kEo – means "kayo/you(pl.)"
• pfHoE / ph0w – "po (word that makes the sentence polite)"
• uZtaH? – means "kumusta/how are you?"
• lAbqCkyOuHh – means "I love you"
• yuHh – means "you"
• jeJejE – a variation of jAjaJa; conveys sly laughter
• 4arthiclexsz mouh?- means "where's your article?"
• Mha6PfaZsxa Qka nAh!- means "pass it now!"

Perceived usefulness

IT and information security experts have found a certain usefulness of "jejetyping" in the creation of strong passwords for user logins.

Reaction

Several Facebook fan pages were created both in support and against the group. Celebrities such as Charlie Sheen, Rico Blanco, Alessandra de Rossi, Ces Drilon, and Lourd de Veyra have condemned the wholesale ridicule of the subculture. Due to the sudden existence of jejemons, 'Jejebusters' were created, a group of internet grammar vigilantes, typically Filipinos, dedicating their internet lives towards the eradication of jejetyping and jejemon existence.

YouTube videos were also uploaded parodying the Jejemons, connecting them to the 2010 election campaign. Edited television advertisements of Nacionalista Party proclaiming their disdain, and an edited photograph of Gilberto Teodoro with him holding a sign saying that the Jejemons should be "brought back to elementary school" went viral. In 2010, the Filipino GMA Network broadcast the situational comedy JejeMom, headlined by Eugene Domingo.

As part of the pre-school year clean-up of schools for the upcoming 2010–11 school year, the Department of Education (DepEd) strongly discourages students from using Jejemon spelling and grammar, especially in text messaging. Communicating with others using Jejemon "language" is said to cause deterioration of young Filipino students’ language skills.

Decline

From early 2013 onwards, with the rise of smartphones which began to overtake feature phones in terms of sales in the country, the phenomenon seems to have made a gradual decline in mainstream popularity.