Thu, 14 Jan 1999

Crybaby for 'cengeng'

I am writing in response to Ifrad Sukanto's letter of Jan. 13. I presume that his original letter on Gus Dur was in Bahasa Indonesia and translated into English. I also presume that the original Indonesian world for "tearful" was "cengeng". In that case, the more appropriate choice of word would be crybaby.

Tearful conveys that the person is sad or remorseful, thus, it does not convey the gist of the letter's intent.

JULIE MARSABAN

Jakarta