CultureDiaryEssayEtymologyIdiomJapanese traditionScienceSlangUncorrected

Heto Heto

  • Today I participated in an academic conference.

    へとへと


    Several students that I taught planned to do their poster presentations, and I planned to go the venue as an accompanying person of them.
    今日は学会に参加してきました。

    However, two of them were absent, so I had to do poster presentations on behalf of them.
    学生達がポスター発表をする予定で、私は付き添いのはずでした。

    Since one poster session took one and a half hours, I explained their studies patiently for a total of three hours.
    しかし当日、2名の学生が欠席したため、私が代わりにすることとなりました。

    Now I am a state of “heto heto.”
    1つのセションが1時間半だったので、合計3時間、ひたすら研究の説明をしました。

    “Heto heto” is a term that means an exhausted condition, but the etymology isn’t clear.
    へとへとです。

    A theory insists that “heto heto” comes from the last two characters of “i ro ha ni ho he to,” which is a traditional Japanese poem called “Iroha Uta.”
    「へとへと」という言葉は、疲れ果てた状態を表す言葉ですが、語源ははっきりとはしていません。

    Original sentence