お祈りメール

• 読み: おいのりメール
• ローマ字: oinori mēru
• 漢字の分解: お祈り (prayer, from 祈 = pray) + メール (mail, from English) → prayer email; rejection letter
• 発音: /o.i.no.ɾi meː.ɾɯ/

意味

A rejection email from a company, named after the standard closing phrase that wishes the applicant future success.

お祈りメール gets its name from the formulaic closing line of Japanese rejection emails: 「今後のご活躍をお祈り申し上げます」(We pray for your future success). After receiving enough rejections, the word 'pray' becomes almost triggering for job-hunting students. The term is used with dark humor as students commiserate over their growing collection of お祈りメール. Some students even track how many they've received as a badge of perseverance.

例文

1. 今日もお祈りメール来た、これで何通目だろう。
2. お祈りメールのテンプレもう暗記しちゃったよ。
3. お祈りメールばっかりで心が折れそう。

使い方ガイド

場面: job hunting, friends, social media

トーン: darkly humorous, resigned

正しい言い方

• お祈りメール来ても気にしすぎないで、次行こう。 (Don't let a rejection email get you down — on to the next one.)
• お祈りメールの数だけ強くなれるって信じてる。 (I believe every rejection email makes me stronger.)

避ける言い方

• 内定もらった後に「お祈りメール何通来た？」と聞くのはデリカシーがない (Asking 'how many rejections did you get?' after getting an offer is tactless)

よくある間違い

• Taking お祈りメール too literally — it's a euphemism for rejection, not an actual prayer or well-wishes from the company

起源と歴史

From お祈り (prayer) + メール (email). Named after the stock phrase 「今後のご活躍をお祈り申し上げます」 used in corporate rejection letters. The term spread among job-hunting students in the 2000s-2010s as a darkly humorous way to cope with rejection.

文化的背景

時代: 2000s-2010s, job-hunting culture

世代: University students in 就活 season

社会的背景: Universal among job-seeking students

地域メモ: Used across all of Japan. A uniquely Japanese phenomenon born from the country's formal and euphemistic corporate communication style.