Different Ways to Say, “Tired”

Today we are going to talk about different ways to say you are tired. Why tired? Well, it just popped into my head one day when I said, ”I’m pooped!“

That phrase said aloud, got me to thinking about how many different ways we say we are “tired” in English.

I mean, how did pooped become a way to express fatigue or being tired? I don’t know. But I do know that there a lot of different ways to say the same thing.

Let’s begin with “I’m pooped!”

After a long day at work you can come home and say, “Boy, am I pooped!”

In British slang you may say, “I’m knackered!” instead of saying pooped.

Don’t like either one of those? Then try this one, “Wiped out!”

Dave is wiped out after working all night. Poor Dave.

Well you think Dave has it rough Sally is spent from running errands all day! Was she shopping you may ask. She may have been, but in this case spent is not money or buying things.

Spent means tired. Remember, we are learning different ways to say you are tired.

How about beat?

Not like in music or playing a drum. No, no. Not as in a fight or a competition. Nope. If you are beat, that is another way of saying you are tired. Let me put it this way, “Poor Billy is beat from playing three games of baseball! Poor Billy.

You think Billy has it bad? You should meet Dan. Dan is drained, he just ran a marathon. Go Dan.

Another way to say Dan or anyone else is tired is to say, “They are running on empty!”

Think of a gas tank. That is the origin of this idiom. It dates back to the 1960’s when more Americans were buying cars. You would see the gas gauge go down to E for empty but you could still drive for a little bit. You were running on empty, but how it came to be an idiom for tired, I do not know.

Running on empty, led to the idiom running on fumes. If you are running on fumes, you don’t have any gas left in your tank and you are about to use even the fumes. When you run on fumes you are …

You guessed it, TIRED!

Let’s review:

Running on empty

Running on fumes

Spent

Drained

Beat

And pooped all mean the same thing. They all can be used to say you are tired. I am pooped just thinking about it. But wait, is that it? Are there other ways to say one is tired? Yes there are. However that will be for the next podcast. I don’t want to wipe you out!

But before I go let me end with a verse:

If you are running on fumes

Or maybe running on empty

You are tired and

Not as peppy

Maybe you’re spent

Or perhaps drained

Those too mean tired…

How insane!

As if that’s not enough

You can also say pooped

And last but not least