Why do Indonesians say “Ya Allah” so casually?

Ya Allah is a common everyday exclamation of surprise in Indonesia, used the way English speakers say “oh my god.” The phrase is Arabic in origin and rooted in Islamic invocation, but in modern Indonesian it slips out of religious and non-religious mouths alike: at a small shock, a funny joke, a near-miss in traffic. The same goes for related Arabic-origin words (alhamdulillah, masya Allah, insya Allah) that have settled into casual Indonesian speech.

This clip is a podcast comedy bit where the host pitches “the world’s shortest podcast.” His co-host’s reaction lands as “Ya Allah, lucu kali ya?” (“Oh God, that’s funny, right?”).