I need some help with a sentence from this short paragraph, about a guy almost getting punched in the face:

グーだ。ノーモーションで操り出されるグー。これでもかというくらいに見事な握り拳が俺の頬を掠めていった

I don't understand what's going on in the これでもかというくらいに part, can somebody please break it down for me?

(2016-06-08, 4:42 pm)Kuroro Wrote: I need some help with a sentence from this short paragraph, about a guy almost getting punched in the face:

グーだ。ノーモーションで操り出されるグー。これでもかというくらいに見事な握り拳が俺の頬を掠めていった

I don't understand what's going on in the これでもかというくらいに part, can somebody please break it down for me?

Surely you mean　繰り出される not 操り出される?

In any case, これでもか appears to be something of a fixed phrase meaning roughly 'Take that!'　when said to someone or 'I gave it to him' if narrated ...all of course, in the sense of a beating.
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/je/27380/mea...%E3%82%82/
http://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%93%...2%E3%81%8B

So if a fist is 'これでもかというくらいに見事' then that would seem to mean it's a fist so perfectly poised to give someone what-for that it's magnificent (見事).

I wasn't really familiar with the phrase これでもか before, so, perhaps I missed something, but it seems right.

I was wondering if this was a variant on これでもかと言うほど which seems to be enough of a fixed phrase to get dictionary entries ("as if that wasn't enough"), but the 'take that!' meaning looks like a better fit.

(2016-06-08, 6:06 pm)SomeCallMeChris Wrote: Surely you mean　繰り出される not 操り出される?

Yes lol my bad

Anyway thanks for your answers

Quick question, how do I read 市立? Because my dictionary gives しりつ as the standard pronunciation but then adds "いちりつ spoken to avoid confusion with 私立", does it really depend on whether I'm reading or speaking? Seems absurd to me

(2016-06-09, 4:01 pm)Kuroro Wrote: Quick question, how do I read 市立? Because my dictionary gives しりつ as the standard pronunciation but then adds "いちりつ spoken to avoid confusion with 私立", does it really depend on whether I'm reading or speaking? Seems absurd to me

From what I can gather just by checking around, people will use いちりつ particularly when they are trying to avoid confusion with 私立, which can happen very easily in speech. If you are just reading it to yourself or are in a setting where everyone knows what you are talking about, しりつ is what's used.

There are similar issues that can happen with English homophones. We might go out of our way to say "they made an exception for her," so as not to confuse someone into thinking we are saying "they accepted her" (excepted/accepted). I'm sure there's a better example, this was just the first that came to mind.

Thanks Roketzu, I think your parallel was to the point, it's just that the existence of an ambiguous pronunciation seemed weird to me when there's another one available which is unmistakable. Anyway thank you for the help

(2016-06-09, 12:15 am)pm215 Wrote: I was wondering if this was a variant on これでもかと言うほど which seems to be enough of a fixed phrase to get dictionary entries ("as if that wasn't enough"), but the 'take that!' meaning looks like a better fit.

No, I'd have to agree with your original instinct, pm215. これでもかと言うほど/くらい is a set phrase used as an intensifier for adjectives and adverbs and gives off a sense of excess.

I think this internet user describes the use of the expression best:

Quote:「これでもまだ足りないのか！」と言いそうになるほど、という意味です。普通ではない、耐えきれない、またはしつこいほどの量や程度である場合に使います

English: "It's used for situations where the quantity or intensity of something is either abnormal, unbearable, or unrelenting to the point that you almost want to say 'Is this not enough?!'" (Source: Answer No.1)

I think you could translate it along the lines of "it was so ~~ that I just wanted to say, '... Really?'" Any other superlative could take its place though.

"His/her masterfully clenched fist grazed my cheek."

Thank you Sizen

I'm just starting an SF novel (_Harmony_), and some of the characters have names like ミァハ and トァン with nonstandard small-kana combinations. What pronunciations are these indicating ?

Can somebody explain to me how the different readings of 経緯 work?
Here's a sentence in which I just found it:
正直、こんなわけのわからん経緯でお近づきになれるとは思わなかった。

(2016-06-13, 4:25 pm)Kuroro Wrote: Can somebody explain to me how the different readings of 経緯 work?

This chiebukuro question has some plausible looking answers from native speakers.

Thanks pm215

Another question, what does いくつか mean in terms of quantity? Because my dictionary gives few, some and several as definitions so I'm a bit confused

Here's a sentence:
ここまででわかっていることはいくつかある

"some", "a few" and "several" sound about right to me -- they're not particularly far apart in meaning in English. Which one you'd pick in an English translation of any given Japanese sentence probably depends as much on which one sounds most natural as anything else.

(2016-06-14, 4:39 pm)Kuroro Wrote: Another question, what does いくつか mean in terms of quantity? Because my dictionary gives few, some and several as definitions so I'm a bit confused

Here's a sentence:
ここまででわかっていることはいくつかある

I don't see what's confusing since 'a few' and 'several' are synonyms ('few' does emphasize the smallness of the number more, but the actual number is in the same range). It only means 'some' where 'some' is synonymous with 'few' and 'several'. In other words, it's a small number of things, most likely in the 3-5 range but it could be stretched to maybe 2-9 things.

I would take your sentence as meaning 'By now I've come to realize a few things' or the like.

Thank you both What happens is the guy makes a guess, it turns out to be wrong, he is given some additional information, says that sentence and then makes a second guess, which is also completely wrong.
So when I first read it I thought he had actually understood some things, but then since his deduction was wrong again, I went back (instead of thinking the guy had just made another mistake) and thought I had misunderstood the sentence and that it meant he was understanding very little of the situation. So I started to overthink the whole some/few difference. In fact he actually thought he was on the right track and was just deluding himself into believing he had understood the situation.
I hope it makes some sense, anyway I get it now so thanks again

【土砂災害】
土砂災害は山などが崩れて起きる災害です。土砂災害の前には、山などからいつもと違う音がしたり、小さい石が落ちてきたりすることがあります。斜面（＝斜めになっている所）にひびができて割れたり、突然、水が出てきたりすることもあります。

I'm not entirely sure what the last sentence means exactly so I'd like to know what you guys think. Also, what does that できて mean? I have no idea what purpose it serves in this sentence.

(2016-06-15, 9:11 pm)FlameseeK Wrote: 【土砂災害】
土砂災害は山などが崩れて起きる災害です。土砂災害の前には、山などからいつもと違う音がしたり、小さい石が落ちてきたりすることがあります。斜面（＝斜めになっている所）にひびができて割れたり、突然、水が出てきたりすることもあります。

I'm not entirely sure what the last sentence means exactly so I'd like to know what you guys think. Also, what does that できて mean? I have no idea what purpose it serves in this sentence.

「できて」is「出来る」, and here means the same as「発生する」"come into being", so the first part of the sentence means "cracks appear on sloped surfaces". A rough translation of the sentence could be the following:

There are also cases in which cracks may appear on sloped surfaces and break open, or water suddenly comes pouring out.

Having trouble reading a single word in the following (from 読売新聞):

読売新聞 Wrote:男はアフガニスタン出身の両親を持つ米国人で、警察特殊部隊との銃撃戦の末、射殺された。

My question is, do I read 射殺された as いころされた or しゃさつされた? Both seem like valid readings, so I was wondering if one is used over the other.

(2016-06-16, 2:08 pm)sholum Wrote: Having trouble reading a single word in the following (from 読売新聞):

読売新聞 Wrote:男はアフガニスタン出身の両親を持つ米国人で、警察特殊部隊との銃撃戦の末、射殺された。

My question is, do I read 射殺された as いころされた or しゃさつされた?  Both seem like valid readings, so I was wondering if one is used over the other.

I've never heard いころされた, it's always been しゃさつされた in my experience. Maybe if someone is killed with an arrow it would be read as いころされた, but just from hearing this term mostly used in news broadcasts it's always been gun related and read as しゃさつ.

Kenkyuusha concurs: its definition for いころす is "kill sb with an arrow."

I've started playing a visual novel where the protagonist joins a new school. At one point, he needs to sign a form that reads:

県立汐凪第一学園　　学園長　　あて
県立汐凪第一学園校舎への入校を、次のとおり申請します。

What's あて? I supposed it's something to do with 宛? Anyway, I don't know what it means, probably only seen 宛 in compounds.
What does とおり mean here?

Thanks.

(2016-06-16, 10:39 pm)FlameseeK Wrote: I've started playing a visual novel where the protagonist joins a new school. At one point, he needs to sign a form that reads:

県立汐凪第一学園　　学園長　　あて
県立汐凪第一学園校舎への入校を、次のとおり申請します。

What's あて? I supposed it's something to do with 宛? Anyway, I don't know what it means, probably only seen 宛 in compounds.
What does とおり mean here?

Thanks.

It seems quite likely that that あて is in fact 宛, because it is often used as a suffix after a noun that indicates a particular person to mean 'To:' that person. So in this case, 学園長宛, 'To the principal (headmaster, whatever)'.

Guys, just to make sure, does nobody get the とおり in the sentence below?

県立汐凪第一学園　　学園長　　あて
県立汐凪第一学園校舎への入校を、次のとおり申請します。

Aside from that, I have a new question. Today I decided to go over the lyrics of 未来への咆哮 and couldn't understand part of the first chorus. At one point it says:

熱くなれ　大きく咲け　天に捧げし命よ

I don't quite understand this 捧げし. What's the purpose of this し right after the verb? Also, Is this 捧ぐ or 捧げる?

EDIT: There's actually another part that's kind of hard to make sense of - the 重ね合えない現実 below:

背中合わせの世界　重ね合えない現実

PS: Check out this song if you've never heard it before. It rocks!