名目は生活用品の買い出しとでもしておいてくれ

[zuotengdazuo]

Hi. How can I parse とでもして? I think でも means "something like" or "for example". And として means "regard (名目) as (生活用品の買い出し)" here. Am I on the right track?
Thank you.

 

[Majestic]

typically translated as "even" in the sense of;
"you can even say"
"call it anything, you can even call it ~ if you like"
In this case I might treat it a different way to make a more idiomatic English expression

Any reason will do. Call it a day of shopping, if you like

 

[Toritoribe]

How can I parse とでもして? I think でも means "something like" or "for example". And として means "regard (名目) as (生活用品の買い出し)" here. Am I on the right track?

Yes, that's でも as "something like", but your way of parsing is not correct here. It's not でも is inserted in ～として, but in ～としておいてくれ, i.e., an imperative form of ～としておく (～とする + おく).


By the way, you put lines to the left side of the highlighted part, but unlike in Chinese, the lines, marks or dots are usually put the right side of it in Japanese vertical writing.

日本語においては、主に文字の右側に引かれる。

傍線 - Wikipedia

ja.wikipedia.org

 

[zuotengdazuo]

Thank you both.

Any reason will do. Call it a day of shopping, if you like

"call it ..." makes more sense. But my dictionary and grammar book only says とする means "regard ... as...".

 

[Toritoribe]

What do you think about the function of ～としておく here? In other words, for what purpose does the speaker ask for him to make 名目 as 生活用品の買い出し?

 

[zuotengdazuo]

What do you think about the function of ～としておく here? In other words, for what purpose does the speaker ask for him to make 名目 as 生活用品の買い出し?

A pretext (生活用品の買い出し) was improvised by 令音 to "lure out" 十香. This is the function, isn't it?
As it happens, I have referred to another book and found that とする can also mean "decide", as in 一応60点を合格とします。I think this meaning applies to the op example, doesn't it?

 

[bentenmusume]

"call it ..." makes more sense. But my dictionary and grammar book only says とする means "regard ... as...".

Sorry, but it seems to me that you're getting too caught up on literal English definitions again.

"Call" and "regard" basically have the same underlying meaning in this case, yes? They both mean to take something that may or may not be X and to treat it/see it/refer to it as if it were X. You could say that "call" is more active, but it can have a figurative meaning as well, yes? (Idioms like "call a spade a spade", etc.)

"Decide" that something is something can also have a similar overlap in meaning. It seems to be that you're aware of the general nuance of とする, so is it not possible for you to interpret it based on the context without worrying about which specific English word ("call", "regard", "decide") most accurately captures the meaning?

 

[zuotengdazuo]

Thank you, benten-san.

"Decide" that something is something can also have a similar overlap in meaning. It seems to be that you're aware of the general nuance of とする, so is it not possible for you to interpret it based on the context without worrying about which specific English word ("call", "regard", "decide") most accurately captures the meaning?

In my grammar book, there are several entries for the pattern とする and "regard ... as" and "decide" are two different entries. That causes me to think they are two different usages. Judging from the context, I think the literal meaning "decide" is more suitable here. And I also think the とする is the same as にする here. Does it make sense?