Friday, August 18, 2023

The English language has (at least) thirty-two words (or phrases) for “tired"

The idea that the Inuit languages have "fifty words for snow" is assumed to mean that the Inuit need to distinguish types of snow because of the physical environment they live in. If this were true, then the large number of words in English for "tired" would also mean that English speakers are tired in so many ways that they need many words to distinguish types of fatigue: all in, beat, bushed, clapped out, cream-crackered, dead (on your feet), dog-tired, done in, drained, drowsy, enervated, exhausted, fagged, fatigued, flagging, jaded, jiggered, knackered, lethargic, sapped, shagged out, sleepy, sluggish, spent, tired (out), tuckered out, wasted, weary, whacked, wiped out, worn out, zonked. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 18 August 2023)

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