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The title says it all. I can't find it in any of the standard references.

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  • Colloquial interjections might not have direct translations to other languages. (Whether that's the case for 'ho-hum', I don't know.) I had to look up what 'ho hum' is even used for (it's an expression of weariness, boredom, or disdain, it seems) and I wouldn't even know how to translate that to my native language (German).
    – das-g
    Dec 16, 2018 at 14:07
  • @das-g: Thanks for your feedback. (I notice that in your profile, you use the expression 'back in the days', but the correct formulation is only in the singular, that is, 'back in the day'.)
    – user1581
    Dec 16, 2018 at 15:42
  • re profile: fixed, dankon!
    – das-g
    Dec 16, 2018 at 21:11

1 Answer 1

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PMEG has a list of unofficial interjections which might be helpful. Perhaps this one would be appropriate:

ba, baf = malŝata senzorgeco

However, I think it’s unlikely that this would be widely known and in practice the meaning of the word is probably mostly expressed just in the intonation and the facial expression. With that in mind you could probably get away with just saying “ho hum” and even people who don’t speak English would understand.

If you are in a very international context and want to be very clear perhaps you could just say an actual word to express what you mean such as elrevige or tede.

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  • Or maybe tut-tede, to reproduce the alliteration.
    – user1581
    Dec 17, 2018 at 10:37

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