なんとやら

[letianchen]

松田！DVD上映会だ！5箱用意しておけ！
元浜！腹が減っては何とやら買いだした！

What does nan to yara do here?

My attempt
"Matsuda! Lets have a DVD screening! Prepare 5 boxes of tissues
Motohama! If he we get hungry go buy us something!

 

[Toritoribe]

何とやら is used to tell something in a roundabout way. In that case, it's for rephrasing the last half of a well-know proverb 腹が減っては戦[いくさ]はできぬ "An army marches on its stomach". This is a very common usage of 何とやら, e.g., うわさをすれば何とやら（＝影） or 女心と何とやら（＝秋の空）.

 

[letianchen]

何とやら is used to tell something in a roundabout way. In that case, it's for rephrasing the last half of a well-know proverb 腹が減っては戦[いくさ]はできぬ "An army marches on its stomach". This is a very common usage of 何とやら, e.g., うわさをすれば何とやら（＝影） or 女心と何とやら（＝秋の空）.

What do you mean うわさをすれば何とやら（＝影）?
I looked it up and it said it meant " Speak of the devil"
what does kage(shadow) have anything to do with a rumor?

 

[Toritoribe]

影 doesn't just refer to shadow, but the existence of the object that makes the shadow. Thus, the proverb means "If you talk about someone, they will appear". (Incidentally, the full version is うわさをすれば影が射す.)

 

[letianchen]

thank ya!