One additional note is that カップ as a noun means a mug (not a glass, which is コップ). But as a counter it only means "(measuring) cup" for recipes. Unfortunately a Japanese カップ is different from an American "cup" (200 ml to ~238 ml).

The counter for glasses of drink is 杯（はい）. So to ask for an additional glass of water it would be something like 水をもう一杯おねがいします。

yudantaiteki Wrote:Unfortunately a Japanese カップ is different from an American "cup" (200 ml to ~238 ml).

WHOA. Is that why my roll cake failed? (It may not be. But anyway.)

Thank you for the useful information!

I kept having problems making rice in the rice cooker in the US until I figured that out.

Too much liquid can definitely be a reason why any bread/cake product fails.

yudantaiteki Wrote:But as a counter it only means "(measuring) cup" for recipes. Unfortunately a Japanese カップ is different from an American "cup" (200 ml to ~238 ml).

Ironically, no J-E dictionary seems to have this information. As if the Japanese are the only ones who might get confused about the size of Japanese cups!

Yeah, as I said, I had no idea about this until I tried to figure out why I made perfect rice in Japan for 2 years but then whenever I tried it here it came out soggy. I noticed that the lines in the rice cooker pot didn't match my measuring cups and then discovered the difference.

Of course a lot of Japanese recipes use cc's instead of cups, which eliminates that problem.

Thanks for the info!

what is the grammar in the bolded part of this sentence:

最後まで笑っちゃいけないんだぜ　勝負ってもんは！

does the って have anything to do with という or is ってもん　some kind of casual version of ても　＋ explanatory　の?

trumpet Wrote:what is the grammar in the bolded part of this sentence:

最後まで笑っちゃいけないんだぜ　勝負ってもんは！

does the って have anything to do with という or is ってもん　some kind of casual version of ても　＋ explanatory　の?

I'm pretty sure it's short for というもの

http://www.jgram.org/pages/viewOne.php?tagE=toiumono

yep, i think you're right, thanks!

This is about using the "te" form to say "consequently/therefore".

Of course, by the time I finished typing this I ended up answering my original question...so now I'm looking for some tips about recognizing this grammar and I figured my mistake could be helpful to beginners.

This comes from my Japanese for Everyone textbook (Chapter 8 reading comprehension exercise). This is someone talking about traveling around the world. I've since moved on from this chapter, but this sentence was still driving me crazy so I went back to it.

Here's the sentence:

私も、来年の春休みに、３週間ぐらい、ヨーロッパへ行きたいと思って、アルバイトをはじめました。

It took me a while to remember that the te form can also be used to explain, and I was confused about why they used the past tense here since we are talking about the future. But, I finally realized, (duh!!!) that she's saying "Next year I think I would also like to go to Europe for 3 weeks during spring break, so I began a part-time job (to earn money for the trip)". I originally thought she was saying she was going to go to Europe AND do a part-time job there.

My question is: does anyone have any tips on figuring out when we are using the "te" form for meaning "and" and when we are using it to explain? Obviously it involves context, but is this something that I will just get better at over time? Right now I immediately think "and" when I see the "te" form and it screws me up.

I know the "te" form is used for many things, and it can be confusing.

Note your real mistake was not in interpreting て as "and" ("''I'd like to go to Europe', I thought, and started a part-time job" -> you can deduce that the thought is likely the reason for the action) but in mixing stuff two levels removed from reality (the going to Europe is wrapped in -たい and と思う) with reality.

jishera Wrote:(...)
I know the "te" form is used for many things, and it can be confusing.

I'm not sure I've ever thought of て as being particularly explanatory. I usually think of it as 'completion' (ご飯を食べて映画館に行く), just continuing a sentence (similar to 'and'--as in the sentence you posted here), or as part of an expression that links two verbs together (持っていく). But, in all of those, I think of the primary meaning as 'completion'.

When you use it to explain things, it's more like you're talking about something that happened (i.e., 'was completed') as a context for what you're about to say. It's just incidental that it often gets used in clauses that explain things.

Thanks Tzadeck and Vempele! This makes much more sense now. Looks like I was actually thinking about this way too hard. I think I was immediately biased when I read the sentence because as soon as I saw part-time job I thought of some sort of holiday work program, which screwed me up. And then for some reason I wanted that "te" verb to be present tense even though the one following is in the past. Silly mistake.

Hey guys, need help with some words in this sentence

そう思ったカシムは、マスのすみっこに、こっそりとのりをぬっておきました

Vocab I don't know and can't figure out：
マス
すみっこに
とのり

Thanks!

sparky14 Wrote:Hey guys, need help with some words in this sentence

そう思ったカシムは、マスのすみっこに、こっそりとのりをぬっておきました

Vocab I don't know and can't figure out：
マス
すみっこに
とのり

Thanks!

マス can be a number of things depending on context but since the person in the sentence is applying glue.. I'll assume it's a square on a grid or a box on a form.. something like that.
すみっこ is a corner. And に is just the particle pointing at the corner of the box as the location on which he put the glue.

とのり isn't a word. This is what you're looking at: [こっそり＋と]＋のり

マスのすみっこにこっそりとのりをぬっておきました = sneakily put some glue on the corner of the box.

ignore this comment

Anybody know what お供の若手 means? It's from 陽だまり彼女. Judging from the context it seems to suggest that someone is working on someone else's behalf (ie. an external advertising agency is acting on behalf of an internal marketing department). Googling it gave me very little joy...

A young person accompanying someone.

Does it have any kind of nuance? It seems to be used as if it is commonly used to describe some kind of business relationship... 'Junior partner' perhaps?

I can't figure out nuance without seeing the context.

Sorry, by nuance, I meant a widely-accepted nuance. ie. is it a widely-used set phrase? Does it have a specific meaning in the context of business jargon/slang?　

Here is the original context though (the narrator is describing a meeting between his company - an ad agency - and another - a lingerie manufacturer):

メーカーの広報と交通広告代理店の営業という職種の違いこそあれ、立場は似たようなものなのだろう。いわゆる「お供の若手」というやつだ。

What does the 「うっとーしぃん」 mean in the sentence 「ちょっと　うっとーしぃん　だけどな…　アンタ!!」?

I encountered it in Volume 3 of 『美鳥の日々』 (Midori no Hibi). For context, Sawamura says it when he's being bothered by this overbearing new teacher.

うっとうしい
【形】

annoying
gloomy（場所・天候などが）
lame-o〈俗〉
muggy（気候が）
offending〔【用法】名詞を修飾する〕
sullen

あ、なるほど！　ありがとうございました～！

人[ひと]は 見[み]かけに<b>よらない</b>な。
You can't judge people by their appearance.

Which yoru does the verb to judge come from?