Slang : Lo, Gue, Cowok, Cewek and Bokap, Nyokap

Indonesian slang

How long have you been stay in Indonesia? Have you heard about that word? Lo, Gue, Cowok, cewek, bokap , nyokap? Well, I’ll tell you the meaning behind word cowok, cewek, bokap, nyokap, lo, and gue.

Indonesian Slang

The term ‘slang’ is frequently applied to Colloquial Jakartan Indonesian words which do not occur in Formal Indonesian. However, many such terms are so frequent in the everyday speech of educated Jakartans that they can justly be regarded as the colloquial standard words. Two pairs of words which are perhaps more deserving of being called slang are lo, gue, cowok, cewek and bokap, nyokap. Let’s see what I’ve got for you guys.

Lo and Gue

Well, if you turn on the television in Indonesia, you’ll see people there often use this word ‘lo’ or ‘elu’ and Gue . The words ‘lo’ mean you, and ‘gue’ mean I or saya in the slang way. If someone used this word with some kind of accent when talk, Indonesian people will immediately recognize them as Jakartan. The way jakartan speaking someway become trend or recognize as the way to sound more high style.

Cowok and Cewek

The words cowok ‘male, man; guy; boyfriend’ and cewek ‘female, woman; girl;girlfriend’ are so common in the speech of educated youths that it can be argued the label‘slang’ is not justified. They are, however, highly marked as L variants. They do not occur in the meetings nor frequently in the speech of most older people. Examples:

Kakak saya cowok, adik saya cowok. My older sibling is male, my younger sibling is male.

Gua nggak suka cewek yang obsesif dan posesif. I don’t like obsessive and possessive girls

The word laki-laki,pria ‘man, male’ and perempuan, wanita ‘female, woman’ do not occur at all in most younger conversations as they are for formality.

The words cowok, cewek can also refer to animals. Examples:

Anjing elu cewek apa cowok, sih? Is your dog male or female?

Cowok and cewek can also mean ‘boyfriend’and ‘girlfriend’ respectively. Examples:

Aku belum pengen punya cowok. I don’t want to have a boyfriend yet.

Bokap and Nyokap

The words bokap ‘father’ and nyokap ‘mother’ are used to refer to one’s own or someone else’s parents. They are from Prokem, the argot common among Jakarta’s youth.

They are rare in the speech of older people and do not occur in FI. They are therefore highly informal. Overwhelmingly they are the favoured forms among young people for reference to parents in conversations. Examples:

Gua sama bokap gua enggak akur. My dad and I don’t get along.

These words are not used, as are ibu/bu ‘mother’ and bapak/pak ‘father’, as terms of address or as pronoun substitutes or before personal names. They can occur in combination, as nyokap-bokap or bokap-nyokap, for ‘parents’. Examples:

Dulu tuh nyokap-bokap gua tuh kan mampulah, gitu loh. Well, previously my parents were well-off, you know.

Bokap-nyokap gua tuh nggak pernah nelfon dia. My parents never telephone him.

Like cewek and cowok it can be argued that these words are too common in the speech of educated youths to justify the label ‘slang’, although they would not be used by them in formal settings. 

You got it? Okay. Use it wisely :)