海綿 / わけ / 鳴呼 / 開く / ピアニストのバッハ弾き

eeky

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Hi,


1. ところが、闇の中で誰かがハリーの額の汗を海綿で拭っている。

海綿 has the furigana スポンジ. What is the significance (if any) of writing it this way, as opposed to just writing スポンジ, or just writing 海綿, maybe with the Japanese furigana?


2. 「その程度の怪我って言いたいわけ?」

What is the meaning of 言いたいわけ? I know it is 言いたい + わけ, of course, but I don't really understand what that combination means.


3. 「鳴呼、ハリー・ポッターが、おわかりくださればよいのに!」

a) To me, 鳴呼 seems quite an exotic way of writing ああ; is there any significance to this? This character speaks in elaborately fawning language, so could it be signifying that?

b) Is おわかりくだされば an honorific way of saying わかれば? (i.e, I mean the speaker is being humble and elevating Harry)?


4. 「今度は誰がそれを開いたの!」

a) I understand that 開く can be pronounced あく or ひらく, depending on the object, so if asked to read this sentence in isolation (no context), would a native speaker be uncertain how to pronounce it, or is there a default for unknown cases?

b) In the case of doors, windows, boxes, cupboards, rooms, etc., is it always あく?


5. ピアニストのバッハ弾きが減っているのではないか。

Sorry, I think I may have asked a similar question before, but I do still get confused sometimes with the order of X and Y in XのY. In this case, ピアニスト seems to me to be the head noun, so I do wonder why not バッハ弾きのピアニスト? To me, that seems the logical order.
 
1)
スポンジ basically only refers to artificial fiber sponge, not natural sponge. Also, 海綿 usually means sponge as an animal in the sea, not a dried one. The translator would think 海綿 with furigana スポンジ is most convenient way to represent dried natural sponge.

2)
It's used as a kind of sentence final particle, similar to 言いたいの? or 言いたいってこと?. "Do you mean you want to say その程度の怪我?" with a nuance of anger or complaint.

3) a)
Hmm, 鳴呼 doesn't have such fawning nuance. Probably it's the translator's preference.

b)
Yes.

4) a)
誰がそれを開いたの.

It's transitive, thus, ひらく.

b)
When it's intransitive, both are possible.

5)
That sentence has a nuance that Bach players are decreasing amomg pianists, not just Bach pianists are decreasing.
 
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