Tong kosong nyaring bunyinya
An empty barrel makes a loud noise = A blowhard, full of hot air. All talk and no action.
A similar expression: air beriak tanda tak dalam (rippled water is shallow).
On the other hand: Air tenang menghanyutkan (calm water carries away). Quiet people are profound.
Bagai api dalam sekam
Fire in the hay = A spoiler.
A walking timebomb.
A rebellious teenager, perhaps. Or a disgruntled employee.
Chapter Three
Body Language
From head to tongue to toe, body parts reveal a lot about how Indonesians feel and think.
Muka (Face)
Setor muka
Deposit face = Show your face. Drop by. Pop in.
“I don’t feel like going to my boss’s party, but if it’s only a short one, I’ll go,” says the party pooper.
Saya malas pergi ke pesta bos saya, tapi kalau hanya setor muka, ayolah.
The expression is popular in Jakarta. Setor usually refers to depositing money in a bank (setor uang di bank).
Carmuk (acronym)
Look for face = To suck up/butter up.
Ambil muka (take face) also refers to the act of seeking someone’s favor.
Buruk muka, cermin dibelah
Ugly face, break the mirror = A bad workman blames his tools.
It’s easier to assign blame than to accept your own faults. Indonesians often just say the first half of the expression, and drop the rest. Buruk muka…
Muka tembok
Wall face. A thick-skinned person, impervious to curses, insults and admonitions.
Another term is muka badak (rhino face).
Kepala batu (stone head) is a stubborn person.
Arang di muka
Charcoal on the face = Shamed. Insulted. Disgraced.
Don’t humiliate others in public, whatever the circumstances. Humiliation tarnishes “face,” or honor, like a smear of charcoal.
Many Indonesians think a daughter who gets pregnant out of wedlock has smeared her family’s face with charcoal.
Jangan coreng mukaku (Don’t smear my face) means: Don’t humiliate me.
Malu means shy or ashamed or embarrassed, and implies a loss of face.
“I am so ashamed. I’ve lost face. Were could I put my face?” whimpers a husband whose wife has embarrassed him in front of his boss.
Saya malu. Saya kehilangan muka. Muka saya mau taruh di mana?
Mupeng (acronym)
MUka PENGen
Wanting face = Horny. Turned on.
Young people use this expression to indicate sexual desire.
Nowadays, mupeng refers to desire for anything, including inanimate objects:
“Look at him and that latest WiFi laptop. He has such a wanting face.”
Lihat dia dan laptop wifi terbaru. Mupeng banget.
Mata (Eyes)
Main mata = Eye playing. Flirting/checking out/winking.
Mata ijo are green eyes, a sign of yearning. Indonesians associate green with greed. The term combines Indonesian (mata; eyes) and Javanese (ijo; green), an example of how ethnic languages mix with the national language.
A more common expression for greed is mata duitan (money eyes). It describes a man or woman who seeks a rich lover or spouse.
Mata gelap (dark eyes) indicate violent anger, or possession by an evil spirit. Mata hati is heart’s eye, or conscience.
Someone who ogles an object of desire, often sexual, is mata keranjang (basket eyes). He shops with his eyes, just as a shopper with a basket peruses market produce. The term suggests that the basket-sized eyes of the beholder can hold lots of people in their gaze.
The expression sounds like mata ke ranjang (from the eyes to the bed), a possible reference to the come-hither look that lures sexual partners into the sack.
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A troll with a voracious appetite in folktales on Java and Bali is Buto Ijo, green giant in Javanese.
Three kinds of buto symbolize the ills of the world: Buto Ijo represents thievery and corruption, Buto Kala (time giant) stands for lust, and Buto Cakil (fanged giant) is a symbol of rage.
Buto Ijo is a villain in a folktale about a girl called Timun Mas (Golden Cucumber). The giant gave a magical cucumber seed to an old couple, telling them it would yield a baby girl if planted. The giant bestowed the gift on the condition that he could eat the girl when she turned 17 years old. The couple planted the seed, and it grew into a big cucumber. Out popped Timun Mas.
When Buto Ijo returned for his prize 17 years later, the couple urged their beautiful girl to flee, and gave her a small bag to assist her escape.
With the giant in pursuit, Timun Mas drew a handful of salt from the bag and flung it, turning hard ground into water. The giant floundered across. Then the teenager tossed chili pepper seeds from the bag, and a thorny bush briefly entangled the giant. Timun Mas hurled some cucumber seeds, and a cucumber field sprouted instantly.
Tired and hungry, the giant sat down to chew on the cucumbers. Soon he gave chase again, and Timun Mas lobbed terasi (shrimp paste) from the bag. The paste turned the ground into quicksand that swallowed up Buto Ijo.
Timun Mas returned to her parents and lived happily.
Each ethnic group in Indonesia has its own set of monsters in its own language, and Buto Ijo goes by different names elsewhere.
Another giant, Buto Kala, overheard the gods talk about amerta, the elixir of immortality. He disguised himself as a god and joined the gods as they sipped the holy water. After Buto Kala tasted the magic water, a god realized he was an impostor and cut off his head. The immortal, empowered head fell in love with the moon goddess, Dewi Ratih. She refused him, and Buto swallowed her in a jealous rage. Ratih escaped through Buto’s severed neck, but the stubborn giant wouldn’t give up, and he chases the goddess to this day. Balinese and Javanese say an eclipse of the moon signals that he has swallowed her, but not for long.
Buto Cakil, a giant with fangs that jut from a protruding lower jaw, makes regular appearances in traditional puppet shows. A typical performance features a battle between a knight and giants led by Buto Cakil. The good knight slaughters Buto Cakil in a triumph of good over evil.
Mata tidur bantal terjaga
Eyes asleep, the pillow awakes = When the cat’s away, the mice will play.
The expression refers to a husband or wife who has an affair while the spouse is off guard. The saying was originally meant for a wife who cheated on her husband, but now it applies to both genders.
Hilang di mata, di hati jangan
Lost in the eyes, don’t lose in the heart.
Hopefully, absence makes the heart