Describing the use of "some"

Damicci

先輩

4 Nov 2003

2,479

52

• 17 Jun 2006

• #1

For example.

"Hey whats that?"
"This? I don't know. Some toy I guess"

I guess this could be equivalent to some kind of.

"Hey you wanna see a picture of my boyfriend?"
"What? I don't to see a picture of some guy!"

In this case it is used to mean an unknown person.
Was trying to explain the difference to my girlfriend but having a hard time.
TIA ☝

 

Glenn

一切皆苦

8 Jan 2004

7,842

200

• 17 Jun 2006

• #2

I'm guessing the Japanese versions would be どんなおもちゃか for "some toy" and 男の寫眞なんて for "a picture of some guy" in that usage.

The first example is like you said, some kind/sort of thing, and it's used to be ambiguous or indefinite about the thing you're talking about. It has a more emotional and stronger sense than "a" to me.

I think the second example is close to that, except it shows the strong emotion of disgust at the suggestion proposed in the previous statement. So, it's similar to "a," but more emotive. These are my personal impressions. Does that help?

 

Damicci

先輩

4 Nov 2003

2,479

52

• 17 Jun 2006

• Thread starter
• #3

Yes that does help alot. I wasn't exactly sure how to describe the second one. I had an idea (like you said) that describing an item of unknown intent would be "some kind of" statement. As for persons didn't know if "some kind of" would be appropriate as we normally wouldn't say that in english. Thanks

ところで、この漢字「寫眞」の読みはなんですか？ ありがとうございました。

 

Glenn

一切皆苦

8 Jan 2004

7,842

200

• 17 Jun 2006

• #4

はは、「しゃしん」です。日本人は旧字だと言うんですが、香港や台湾ではまだ使われています。ご迷惑をかけて申し訳ございません。

 

Damicci

先輩

4 Nov 2003

2,479

52

• 17 Jun 2006

• Thread starter
• #5

Glenn said:

窶堙坂?堙債、ﾂ「窶堋ｵ窶堙｡窶堋ｵ窶堙ｱﾂ」窶堙??堋ｷﾂ。窶愿ｺ窶怒ﾂ人窶堙坂?ｹﾅ椎ｽﾅ｡窶堋ｾ窶堙?陳ｾ窶堋､窶堙ｱ窶堙??堋ｷ窶堋ｪﾂ、ﾂ債?港窶堙｢窶佚､ﾋ徘窶堙??堙坂?堙懌?堋ｾﾅｽg窶堙ｭ窶堙ｪ窶堙??堋｢窶堙懌?堋ｷﾂ。窶堋ｲ窶禿?ﾋ彷窶堙ｰ窶堋ｩ窶堋ｯ窶堙?申窶堋ｵ窶禿ｳ窶堋ｲ窶堋ｴ窶堋｢窶堙懌?堋ｹ窶堙ｱﾂ。

Click to expand...

窶堋ｻ窶堙ｪ窶堙?ｽv窶堋｢窶堙懌?堋ｵ窶堋ｽ窶堋ｪﾂ、ﾅ?ﾂｿﾅｽﾅ｡窶堙才?｡窶堋､窶堋ｩ窶堙ｧﾂ、窶ｰ'窶堙坂?怒窶懌?凪?｢ﾂｪ窶堋ｩ窶堙ｧ窶堙遺?堋ｩ窶堙≫?堋ｽﾂ。ﾂ 窶堙懌?堋ｽ窶堋?窶堙ｨ窶堋ｪ窶堙??堋､窶堋ｲ窶堋ｴ窶堋｢窶堙懌?堋ｵ窶堋ｽﾂ。

 

Elizabeth

先輩

22 Apr 2003

9,839

135

• 17 Jun 2006

• #6

Glenn said:

I'm guessing the Japanese versions would be 窶堙??堙ｱ窶堙遺?堋ｨ窶堙?窶堋ｿ窶堙｡窶堋ｩ for "some toy" and 窶冕窶堙娯?ｺﾂ催｡ﾃ≫?堙遺?堙ｱ窶堙 for "a picture of some guy" in that usage.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I would say 窶冕窶堙固ｽﾃ環真窶堙遺?堙ｱ窶堙?ﾅ陳ｩ窶堋ｽ窶堋ｭ窶堙遺?堋｢窶堙ｦ) or 窶堋ｻ窶堙ｱ窶堙遺?冕窶堙固ｽﾃ環真 ;
窶堋ｨ窶堙?窶堋ｿ窶堙｡窶堙遺?堙ｱ窶堙 or 窶ｰﾂｽ窶堋ｩ窶堙娯?堋ｨ窶堙?窶堋ｿ窶堙｡ﾂ。:?

I would say normally though "Oh, just Some + noun" means responding neutrally to a question, without devaluing or showing contempt for the thing, just for whatever reason it obviously is something that the other person didn't recognize as such.

 

Glenn

一切皆苦

8 Jan 2004

7,842

200

• 17 Jun 2006

• #7

I think that "just some" also carries a bit of devaluing, though. Probably mostly because of the presence of "just" more than "some" in this case, but still it's more of a devaluing statement than "it's a noun."

 

Last edited: 17 Jun 2006

Damicci

先輩

4 Nov 2003

2,479

52

• 17 Jun 2006

• Thread starter
• #8

Kinda of like "how" you say it. "pfft it's just some toy"

compared to

"hey whats that?"
"oh just some song, hey check out this song!"

 

M

moofs

先輩

27 Mar 2005

78

6

• 17 Jun 2006

• #9

If someone were to say that something is "just some (thing)" then I'd feel that that certain thing is not of any importance or relevance. "Oh, it's just some toy. [Nothing important.]"

"some" as an adj is basically just describing that something is unknown or unspecified.

"What is that?"
"Some toy." (what the toy is is unknown)

"Who is that?"
"Some girl." (not specifying who the girl is or the identity of the girl is not known)

 

Last edited: 18 Jun 2006

Elizabeth

先輩

22 Apr 2003

9,839

135

• 17 Jun 2006

• #10

Glenn said:

I think that "just some" also carries a bit of devaluing, though. Probably mostly because of the presence of "just" more than "some" in this case, but still it's more of a devaluing statement than "it's a noun."

Click to expand...

Yeah, it must have been the exhaustion on top of the slight intoxication last night. Seriously, though, I realized after thinking about it a little how much "just" gets added to "some" in the case of something I see in passing or wasn't really concentrating on that much or even if I was slightly irritated by the question. "Oh, I don't know, (just) some toy I guess" type of thing.

Anyway, that's sort of off the original question and at least either of those is more innocent sounding to me than the disgusting and contemptuous tone of a Oh, I don't know, really, it's..."just a" something or other utterance.