[I am studying the Indonesian language, for those of you who don't speak Indonesian.]
In 1972, President Suharto announced certain orthographical changes to the language. One of these was to proscribe usage such as hati2. Now in Bahasa, which doesn't have plurals as English speakers know them, doubling the word is use to indicate a plural, a comparative, or to add emphasis. So hati-hati would mean "be very careful!", and could be written hati-squared.
I rather like the use of exponents to add emphasis - and would be tempted, before 1972, to use higher powers. Hati3 in especially dangerous situations, for example.
No comments:
Post a Comment