"Om Telolet Om", is an Indonesian phrase that means "sir, honk the horn sir". The meme first started in the late 2016 when a YouTube video showing a crowd yelling "om telolet om" at bus drivers who then proceeded to play the bus horn.
In Indonesia, many buses are equipped with musical horns that some children, even adults, can find them amusing. The horns are melodic, playing brief tunes that delight the crowds, and buses don't all play the same tune.
Horn modification has been popular for more than a decade in the country. The trend was started by bus lovers that like to photograph buses. Previously, as a respond, the drivers usually honk the horn or just flash the headlights. But as more people are doing the same thing, drivers improvise by customizing their buses. And to make them louder and clearer, the horns are equipped with multiple loudspeakers, some to even six or eight.
At first, this wasn't well received because the horns became too loud.
The customized horns began attracting a small group of people, and as the fad grown, it is having a bigger audience. People are waiting in a row facing passing buses and also trucks. Many of them put out their mobile phones to record video in hand.
To tell the driver to honk, simple cardboard signs with "om telolet om" scribbled on them were put up.
When it began spreading to social media, the phrase quickly became a meme. Celebrities and music producers began tweeting the phrase. DJs such as Zedd and Firebeatz, for example, started tweeting about the phenomenon, and sampling the bus horn sounds into their music. DJ Marshmello tweeted a picture of an "om telolet om" T-shirt design.
On December, news media like BBC and the record chart Billboard has published articles about the Indonesian meme.
Billboard even looked forward into the trend, predicting that dance music enthusiasts will be hearing much more of the bus horn tunes.
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