Hey everyone!
I hope you guys are staying hydrated in this heat! 熱中症に気をつけてくださいね！
This week’s word is 乙.
Otsu
- (A little) sassy and witty.
- Oddly. Weirdly.
Otsu
- Second of the Ten Zodiac Signs.
- Anything in the second place.
Yup, you guessed it, I am not going to be talking about any of the meanings listed above. However, I want you to try and guess how it is used before you keep reading.
Hint: Don’t get hung up on the meaning. Just focus on how this one is read.
If your guess was お疲（つか）れ様（さま）(otsukaresama), you are correct!
お疲れ様？ 
For those who don’t know what お疲れ様 means, it is a phrase used to express appreciation for the hard work put in by someone else, and it is used like a greeting in Japan. お疲れ様 is usually used towards people of the same age or people older than you, and ご苦労様（くろうさま）(gokurousama) is used by older people towards someone younger. For example, you would use お疲れ様 when you or the other person is leaving the workplace early or when you arrive at a workplace and there are people already there. There isn’t a phrase like this in English, but it is the equivalent to saying ‘thanks for your hard work today!’ when used in this context. It could also be used when you enter a workplace instead of your normal こんにちは or おはようございます.
But why 乙?
The abbreviation おつ was used even before the internet since it was easier and faster to say, and it sounds less formal, especially when using it towards your friends or peers. However, when websites like ２ちゃんねる came around, people started to use 乙（おつ） instead of おつ since it looks simple and one character less. Over time, using 乙 as お疲れ様 became popular on the internet and was later recognized as an internet slang.
How is it used on the internet? 
To show appreciation of hard work:
This use is the same as how it is used in real life.
配信（はいしん）乙（おつ）っす！(showing appreciation)
- Thank you for streaming tonight!
As a greeting:
This is usually used between friends when texting
乙（おつ）！今夜（こんや）予定（よてい）空（あ）いてる？(Used as a greeting)
- Sup (You worked hard all day), you free tonight? (Usually used between friends when texting)
To show gratitude:
You will see this more when people are showing gratitude towards some sort of content creator.
動画（どうが）アップ乙（おつ）
- Thank you for uploading a video!
To be sarcastic:
When this is used sarcastically, it kind of has the nuance of ‘try harder next time’ or ‘sure’.
自演（じえん）乙（おつ）
- Nice job acting as two people (you ain’t foolin’ no one)
言（い）い訳（わけ）乙（おつ）
- Good excuse! (Good job coming up with that excuse, you must’ve worked so hard to come up with that)
This one does have many different uses, but if you know how to use お疲れ様 properly, this one will be relatively easy to use, but using it sarcastically might take some practice! Just remember that because this is a slang and an abbreviation, you would not want to use this towards anyone that is in a higher position than you are!
Fun-fact: Although 乙 may be more popular on the internet, お疲れサマンサ, a phrase from the 80’s, is making a comeback because a character from a popular manga/anime called 呪術廻戦 （じゅじゅつかいせん） uses this as a catchphrase. The exact origin of this phrase is unknown, but the most popular theory is that the name サマンサ was taken from the show ‘Bewitched’, which was a popular show during the time this phrase was created. If someone says this to you, you can respond with a simple お疲れ様, or you can hit them back with a ‘Bewitched’ reference by simply saying タバサ (Samantha’s daughter on the show).
For example, the interaction would look like this:
友達A：お疲れサマンサ！
友達B：タバサ！
However, I want to let everyone know that just because this phrase is making a comeback does not mean that it is a popular phrase! I have to be honest, and this probably has to do with my age and the age range of the people I interact with, but I have never heard this phrase used in the wild.
まあ、今日はここまでにしておこう。最後まで乙です。
If you missed the previous posts, you can check them out here!