Writing Dualism: Mental Pressure between 'Stress' and 'Stres'

The variant 'stress' remains popular due to massive exposure to English literature, social media, and academic materials. People tend to maintain the original spelling of the source language because it is perceived as more visually aesthetic or because they are not yet accustomed to Indonesian simplification processes.

This word is adapted from the English 'stress', which originates from the Old French 'estresse', meaning narrowness or oppression. In the Indonesian adaptation process, the double consonant at the end is removed to follow national phonological rules that do not recognize double phonemes at the end of syllables.

In a social context, using the 'stress' spelling is often considered more modern or 'intellectual' by some urban circles. However, in administrative and journalistic contexts, using a single 's' is the standard rule to maintain the consistency of the Indonesian linguistic identity.