することなんてない

[zuotengdazuo]

Hi. Is the なんて in the underlined part used to replace は? And does the clause きっと一生口にすることなんてないだろうけれど mean "although there is no possibility that he will taste 王水 for all of his life"?
Thank you.

 

[bentenmusume]

Your interpretation is on target, although the presence of だろう makes it sound more like conjecture than your English translation, which sounds 100% certain.

And surely you've seen this emphatic use of なんて before? It could be replaced with は, but it wouldn't be as strong.

 

[johnnyG]

王水

Simple characters, but I had to look that up. Aqua regia? Is that right?

(no, I wouldn't want to drink that!)

 

[bentenmusume]

Probably some fictitious substance made up for this novel, which seems to have many fantasy elements.

 

[zuotengdazuo]

Hi. 王水 is a chemical substance that actually exists. It's a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid. The ratio of the former and the latter is 1:3. It's named "regal water" or "king's water" because it's said to be able to dissolve any metals (though it's not true).
Please see

Aqua regia - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

I assume this is taught in chemistry lessons at junior high school, isn't it?

 

[johnnyG]

Hi. 王水 is a chemical substance that actually exists. It's a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid. The ratio of the former and the latter is 1:3. It's named "regal water" or "king's water" because it's said to be able to dissolve any metals (though it's not true).
Please see

Aqua regia - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

I assume this is taught in chemistry lessons at junior high school, isn't it?

That's the same link that I supplied, above (tho yours is for mobile).

It seems dangerous. What kind of fantasy characters might be drinking it?

 

[Toritoribe]

The character didn't and won't drink 王水. It's just a simile to express how bad the taste of the liquid he drank was. He thought that he must never have an opportunity to try 王水 throughout his life, but the taste of 王水 would be like this.