Jejemon Phenomenon

Jejemon (IPA: ['dʒɛdʒɛmon]) is a pop culture phenomenon in the Philippines. Jejemons are defined by Urban Dictionary as those "who has managed to subvert the English language to the point of incomprehensibility and online lynch squads."

A Jejemon is described as one of a "new breed of hipsters who have developed not only their own language and written text but also their own sub-culture and fashion."

Jejemons also imitate "gangster" like attitudes which make them similar to the English chav, Scottish ned, Irish skanger, Russian gopnik and Australian & New Zealand bogan.

The word "Jejemon" supposedly originated from online users' penchant to type in "hehehe" as "jejeje", either because "jeje" is derived from Spanish, whose speakers denote the interjection as laughter, or because the letters "h" and "j" are beside each other, and that it is appended by "-mon" that came from the Japanese anime Pokémon, with "-mon" meant as "monster," hence "jeje monsters."

The origins of short-handed typing was through the short messaging service, in which each text message is limited to 160 characters. As a result, an "SMS language" developed in which words were shortened in order to fit the 160-character limit.

In the internet, the Jejemon phenomenon started in "early April." On April 14, 2010 at Pinoy Tumblr, a post about vice presidential candidate Jejomar Binay indicating 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 such people made rounds in various Filipino internet message boards.