Jejemon

Jejemon

The "Jejecap", sporting its trademark rainbow-striped print at the back.
Year of origin	2010
Popular in	Philippines

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 developed not only their own language and written text but also their own subculture and fashion."

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, evident in popular phone models in the early 2000's such as Nokia 5110. 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.

The word Jejemon is a portmanteau of the Japanese animated series, Pokémon, and hehe is an expression of laughter.

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."