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![:p](https://i.stack.imgur.com/1HlqV.png)

I'm sure most of you know this phrase, what does it mean? Does it represent
stupidity cutey thing that they do? What makes this phrase so popular?


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tropes
What does the "teehee" expression mean?


I don't think that it is of japanese origin though.

_Teehee_ is just a cute giggle, pretty common internet slang. More on it can
be found at the [Urban
Dictionary](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Teehee&defid=788143),
mainly

> The sound of a giggle. Used by (1) schoolgirls and (2) old geezers
> pretending to be schoolgirls.

and

> Defintion: 1)The act of joyful giggling. 2)A noise made to convey happiness
> 3)Presented to imply innocence


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The head punching and tongue sticking out makes me think the "teehee" is a
translation of てへぺろ ("tehepero"), which has a literal meaning of "teehee
tongue-sticking-out". It actually has a recent history as a word in its own
right: [this blog
post](http://bangin.wordpress.com/2013/12/03/%E3%81%A6%E3%81%B8%E3%81%BA%E3%82%8D-tehepero%E0%B9%91%E2%89%A7%E0%B1%AA%E2%89%A6%E3%81%A6%E3%81%B8%E3%81%BA%E3%82%8D/)
and [this crunchyroll news article](http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-
news/2012/03/03-1/vocab-lesson-strange-yet-cute-tehepero-teaser-website-
appears) have some information about it.

Basically, it's the word that goes with teehee+punching head+tongue sticking
out, and the meaning is primarily focused on definition 3) that Omega posted -
it sweeps under the rug a mistake or ignorance of the speaker with a playful
gesture. A Japanese source for this meaning is [this scan of an article about
tehepero being Japanese neologism of the
year](http://blog.livedoor.jp/seiyumemo/archives/7022095.html), although the
expression is likely related to peko-chan (see [What is the origin of this
facial expression with one's tongue sticking
out?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/2995/)).


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