Latest on Thu, 08:44 am
The art of cubit cubit
Many cultures have their own characteristics. Some nice, some odd and some incomprehensible. And along with these unique characteristics comes an unique vocabulary. As a small kid I marveled about the Inuit and their apparently 100′s of words to describe snow. Just because they have so much of it.
Indonesian culture is no exception. Obviously the Indonesian language hasn’t produced 100′s of words for snow. But there’s a word that doesn’t quite mean cute, adorable or tantalizing. It’s more like the feeling of ‘yeah, I need to pinch those cheeks’, ‘oooh my god, I’m going into a frenzy. So cute as that kid is’. A little like a distant spinster aunt might get, visiting and finding out you’ve produced children without her knowing.
It is allowable to pinch cheeks. Even have the occasional bite in a loved ones arm or hand. Mostly it’s women how say it. But this doens’t mean Indonesian men don’t have these feelings. I don’t know what this says about a culture, but I think it is nice to have culture where you can express this feeling and give it a word of it’s own.
Gemes, that’s the name of this Indonesian feeling.