I came across this phrase today on AJATT in a list of words he says that have no english equivelant. I can't figure out what i means through dictionary searching/googling.

Any help?

I did a quick search on 英辞郎 and came up with this
It's still not very clear, but I maybe it'll help.

My translation: No way, man!

Yeah, none of these are helping too much, really... my Japanese friends suggested "There is no alternative."

Can anyone kind of point of some scenarios in which it would be used? It frustrates me to know of a phrase, but not understand it.

I've seen it, but I'm not sure where. I'll try to remember this in case I stumble upon it again.

~J

Maybe this'll help?

http://eow.alc.co.jp/%E3%81%A9%E3%81%86%...-8/?ref=sa

どうもこうも
neither this nor that; no sense to (with neg.)

- http://kanjifind.com/handyadverb/mac/pag...dverb.html

Google translates it as 'beyond all sense'.

I've also seen it translated as "There's no way" from someone at mangahelpers... and here's from yahoo dic: どうもこうもない I have no alternative [choice]. -- I've seen this 'no choice' translation in several places.

Maybe it's way off the mark, but as I see it:

You try A, and it doesn't work. You try B, and it doesn't work. You try C, and it still doesn't work. Someone asks you what will you try next「で、どうするの？」. You answer that you've tried everything, and you're out of ideas. 「どうもこうもないよ」

There are also variants, according to the question: Someone asks you what are you doing later today; you say you have nothing planned.「今日はこのあとどうするの？」 「どうもこうもないよ。別に予定はない」Someone asks you what do you think about a particular matter; you say you hold no opinion.「どう思う？」「どうもこうもない」.

So summing up; someone asks you a どう question and instead of answering it, you invalidate it. Now, of course, most of the times the question is implicit, so you have to fill the gaps.

Here's a slangy variation as given in the Dirty Japanese book:

どうもこうもねーよ
same old bullshit

Presumably in response to: 最近どうよ？ (Translated as 'What's the word?' in this book.)

How about separating it? Does it get easier to understand?
どう　も　こう　も　ない

I still don't think I understand how to use it, but at least I'll understand the general idea is I hear it. Thanks for the answers. And yeah, IceCream, I completely agree: iSoron, you did a really nice job explaining, whether or not that's the exact meaning or whatever.

mentat, yeah, the literal meaning, I think, becomes much clearer. Now I've just go to see how it's used in conversation (a la iSoron's example).

Ah, the joy of things without direct translation.

最近調子はどうよ？
どうもこうもないよ！

あの子とはどうなった？
どうもこうもないよ！

「どうもこうもない」ってどういう意味？
どうもこうもないよ！ただのexpressionだよ！

masaman Wrote:最近調子はどうよ？
どうもこうもないよ！

あの子とはどうなった？
どうもこうもないよ！

「どうもこうもない」ってどういう意味？
どうもこうもないよ！ただのexpressionだよ！

So what is the person saying when they say どうもこうもないよ? "neither this nor that"?

Reminds me of an English phrase, "A whole bunch of nothing." ("What've you been up to?" "A whole bunch of nothin'").

ruiner Wrote:

masaman Wrote:最近調子はどうよ？
どうもこうもないよ！

あの子とはどうなった？
どうもこうもないよ！

「どうもこうもない」ってどういう意味？
どうもこうもないよ！ただのexpressionだよ！

So what is the person saying when they say どうもこうもないよ? "neither this nor that"?

Reminds me of an English phrase, "A whole bunch of nothing." ("What've you been up to?" "A whole bunch of nothin'").

Kind of similar I guess. And depending on the contexts and how you say it, it can be almost neutral to really negative. Just like when you go "How did it go with that girl ?" to someone, he can go "nothing... I didn't even have a chance to talk to her." or he can be "NOTHING!! I asked her out and she told me to get lost cause she doesn't want to be seen with me in public!!!"

mmm, this one is indeed hard. My head started hurting from thinking too hard.