This paper explores whether and how the epistemologies inherent to language, mother tongue, and languaging hold relevance in local metalinguistic talk in Malaysia. Focus group discussions with ethnic Malay, Chinese, and Indian youth disclose that languaging via Bahasa Rojak is already firmly embedded in local epistemologies for communicating across ethnolinguistic divides and promoting interethnic inclusiveness. An essentialised view of language, however, stays vital to any holistic sociolinguistic inquiry in Malaysia in culturally specific ways that do not conflict with languaging. The paper therefore backs arguments that we ought not to ignore mother tongues in the interests of critical linguistics.