Wanting to confirm the meaning

Jericho Desu · 27 Apr 2015

Hello guys, been a while.
I just wanted to check that I understood what was going on in this sentence a game designer I follow tweeted:
今日ウチの優秀なスタッフたちが面白いシステムを考えてそれを実装してくれたのを俺がドヤ顔で稲葉に説明させてもらった…
Now what threw me off initially was the くれた part of 実装してくれた, which made me think he was saying he got Inaba to let him (game designer) explain that the "優秀なスタッフたち" implemented the interesting system. However, I now believe he is saying that even though the "優秀なスタッフたち" thought of the system, he got Inaba to let him explain who implemented the system (himself), hinting that he basically took all the credit. Would that be correct?

If that is the case, I'm a little confused that even though he uses くれた, he is hinting that he himself implemented the system, that it wasn't done for him/them. Does くれた in this case have a different meaning/nuance?

Any help would be appreciated.

lanthas · 27 Apr 2015

The first interpretation seems like the only valid one to me. As you wrote: the staff thought of and implemented an interesting system, and the designer is so proud of this work they've done for him/the company that he wants the whole world to know about it. "Look at this cool thing that our superb staff have made!"

Not to mention, it wouldn't be very sensible to admit on Twitter that you're taking credit for the work of others.

Jericho Desu · 28 Apr 2015

lanthas said:
The first interpretation seems like the only valid one to me. As you wrote: the staff thought of and implemented an interesting system, and the designer is so proud of this work they've done for him/the company that he wants the whole world to know about it. "Look at this cool thing that our superb staff have made!"

Not to mention, it wouldn't be very sensible to admit on Twitter that you're taking credit for the work of others.

I believe he meant it as a joke, that's the kind of person he is. The replies also alluded to that (e.g "Haha, you get all the credit")

lanthas · 28 Apr 2015

Right... In that case, maybe 稲葉に is not connected to もらった but to 説明する. That is, he gave himself permission (from the staff) to explain their work to 稲葉 (who is presumably their boss), rather than getting the permission from 稲葉 to explain the work (to the Twitter followers).

Jericho Desu · 28 Apr 2015

Ah, yes that would make sense, however it still doesn't explain くれた. I can only think that he is saying it in a way like "the one who implemented it (for the company)" and with the ドヤ顔 was him, but I'm just not sure about the nuance.

lanthas · 28 Apr 2015

The くれる simply expresses that he's grateful for the work that the staff has done (that is, both coming up with the idea and implementing it). After all he got the honor to present it to the boss, even though he maybe didn't even contribute anything to it himself. In that case it's logical to thank those who did the work - be it sincerely or ironically ("bwaha, thanks for the hard work guys, my chances of getting a raise just increased drastically")

Jericho Desu · 28 Apr 2015

Yeah, that makes sense, I was over-thinking it, thank you very much for your help!

Mike Cash · 28 Apr 2015

Jericho Desu said:
Yeah, that makes sense, I was over-thinking it, thank you very much for your help!

The use of the giving/receiving verbs can be a confusing stumbling block for foreign learners of Japanese. We often fail to pick up on clues as to the social relations implied by the choice of verb used. And in speaking ourselves many foreigners neglect to use them where necessary and unintentionally come across sounding rude.

Majestic · 28 Apr 2015

As Lanthas said, the speaker isn't taking the credit for the staff's work. I mean, it just wouldn't be logical or funny or ironic to say in a blog that you made your staff do the work while you took all the credit. I think there is some context missing from the discussion. It sounds to me like Inaba didn't believe the new game system would work, or could be implemented, and was opposed to it. So the staff leader had the supreme pleasure of informing Inaba today that, despite Inaba's doubts or protestations, the staff was indeed able to do the work as proposed.
くらた is the staff leader's way of being humble vis-a-vis the staff.
説明させてもらた is, again, another way of being humble.
If you wanted to be literal about this, you would say the staff "did me the honor/favor of creating and implementing the game system", and the staff "allowed me the favor of reporting this to Inaba" "I took the liberty of informing this to Inaba"
It's infused with a kind of schadenfreude."Inaba said it was impossible, but today I had the pleasure of informing him that not only was it possible, but that my wonderful staff had already done it." (not a literal translation, but, I think, quite close in intent)

Toritoribe · 28 Apr 2015

As in lanthas-san's initial interpretation, the writer just says that he proudly explained Inaba about an interesting system his staff thought of and implemented for him(= the writer) or the company. That sentence doesn't always have a nuance of his taking all the credit. However, he replied "グフフフフ…" to a tweet "全ては神谷さん(= his name)の手柄" after that. Thus, the context shows that he took all the credit and ～させてもらった has a nuance something like "Sorry my staff, but I proudly explained... he he" (probably this is just a joke, as already pointed out, though).

As for やりもらい動詞 or honorifics, it would be easier for understanding the meaning to drop those expressions.
e.g.
今日ウチの優秀なスタッフたちが面白いシステムを考えてそれを実装したのを俺がドヤ顔で稲葉に説明した。

Majestic · 28 Apr 2015

Context is king!

Jericho Desu · 29 Apr 2015

Toritoribe said:
As in lanthas-san's initial interpretation, the writer just says that he proudly explained Inaba about an interesting system his staff thought of and implemented for him(= the writer) or the company. That sentence doesn't always have a nuance of his taking all the credit. However, he replied "グフフフフ…" to a tweet "全ては神谷さん(= his name)の手柄" after that. Thus, the context shows that he took all the credit and ～させてもらった has a nuance something like "Sorry my staff, but I proudly explained... he he" (probably this is just a joke, as already pointed out, though).

As for やりもらい動詞 or honorifics, it would be easier for understanding the meaning to drop those expressions.
e.g.
今日ウチの優秀なスタッフたちが面白いシステムを考えてそれを実装したのを俺がドヤ顔で稲葉に説明した。

Yes, I knew it was a joke based on the tweets afterwards, but I was thinking about what he said incorrectly and kept thinking there was something more going on that I was completely missing.

Thank you all for the clarification, this has been very helpful.

Wanting to confirm the meaning

Jericho Desu

七転八起

lanthas

Jericho Desu

七転八起

lanthas

Jericho Desu

七転八起

lanthas

Jericho Desu

七転八起

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

Majestic

先輩

Toritoribe

松葉解禁

Majestic

先輩

Jericho Desu

七転八起

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