ヘトヘト

phonetically pronounced: ”heh toe heh toe” (spelled heto heto), quickly became my favorite word in Japanese.

It's slang for "I'm tired."

This means not just "tired" but destroyed.

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ヘトヘト piqued my interest initially because I enjoy onomatopoeia.

Japan loves their rhyme sounds, too.

Example: もしもし
Sounds like "moo she moo she," spelled moshi moshi.

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One time I made the mistake of not responding with もしもしon the phone.

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Caller: もしもし。 (Greeting on the phone.)

Me: こんにちは (konichiwa: Good afternoon / hello.)

Caller: もしもし (Louder this time to hint repeat me.)

Me: はい？ (Hi: Yes? Because I'll say what I want.)

Caller: もしもし！! (Say it because this is JAPAN!!)

Me: なに？！ (Nani: What, dude?)

Caller: もしもし! ! 😈 (I can do this all day, Foreigner!)

Me: ちくしょーもしもし。(Kusoo: Dang it! Greeting on the phone.)

Then the conversation started.

So as you can see Japan is really into their rules and onomatopoeia usage.

Intrigued with how many different ways I could say "I'm tired," I searched by asking my friends and family. Some of these are slang, and some are direct.

American Sign Language:

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Video Here

Australia:

Buggered

Brazil (Portuguese):

Morto na farofa

Canada:

Bagged

Costa Rica:

Cansado

Colombia:

Estoy molido

Estoy mamado

Estoy que caigo como un bulto de papa

China:

我叹了 and 我三家爱了

(wo tan le / wo san j'ai le)

Ecuador:

Estoy agotado

France:

Fatigué

Germany:

Ich bin müde

Indonesia:

Capek banget

and borrowed from Arabic

lelah hayati

Ireland:

Wrecked or bolloxed

Israel:

Gamur

Italy:

Stanco morto

Sono stanco

Japan:

ヘトヘト

Mexico:

Muy cansado

New Zealand:

Knackered or buggered

Québec:

J'suis fatigué

Peru:

Estoy agotado

Philippines:

Pagod

Russia:

подзаибался на работе (podzaibalsya na rabote: it's a bit dirty and involves profanity. Use your imagination.)

Scotland:

Knackered

Spain:

Estoy sobado / me voy a mimir

South Africa:

Ek is moeg

Thailand:

เหนื่อย (nuei)

Tunisia (Arabic)

Taaban

United States:

Drained (many others)

United Kingdom

Knackered

Vietnam:

Bèo nhèo

Wales:

Knackered

And finally, my favorite language . . .

Yiddish:

Oysgehorevet

Here's a list of countries where English is the primary language. I don't know slang for "I'm tired" in the unhighlighted countries. Do you?

Anguilla	Ireland, Northern	Singapore
Antigua and Barbuda	Ireland, Republic of	Solomon Islands
Australia	Jamaica	South Africa
Bahamas	Kenya	Swaziland
Barbados	Lesotho	Tanzania
Belize	Liberia	Tonga
Bermuda	Malawi	Trinidad and Tobago
Botswana	Malta	Turks and Caicos Islands
British Virgin Islands	Mauritius	Uganda
Cameroon	Montserrat	United Kingdom
Canada (except Quebec)	Namibia	Vanuatu
Cayman Islands	New Zealand	Wales
Dominica	Nigeria	Zambia
England	Papua New Guinea	Zimbabwe
Fiji	St. Kitts and Nevis
Gambia	St. Lucia
Ghana	St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Gibraltar	Scotland
Grenada	Seychelles
Guyana	Sierra Leone

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I'm rather spent, beat, and a bit worn out (different ways to say "tired" in America) after compiling this list of ways to say
ヘトヘト

Thanks for your help:

Ana, Beryl, Brian, Cody, Darlene, David, Dee, Flo, Gadi, Ga Bri Elle, Han, JP, Keiko, Señorita Maria, Mark, Martin, Max, Megan, Mou, Na Na, Raíssa, ランギマコール, Robert B, Rio, Sharon, Stephen, Syarif, and YF.

Flags are from Wikipedia.

What's your favorite word or phrase and how many different ways can you say it in?

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BAM

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E: bam@bamwrites.com