[sumo] Non-Sumo, Non-Political "Shoganai"

[Carl Freire]

At 11:09 AM -0700 7/4/07, Takanomizu wrote:
>Saying that the bombing was "inevitable" or "could not be helped" 
>doesn't seem to convey the meaning as shoganai in this case. It 
>seems it's more like, " too friggin' bad."
>
>Can anyone who's a better linguist than I am, help me out?

Well, having listened to Kyuma's speech repeatedly and the way he 
said it, it absolutely does not sound to me like he meant, "Too 
friggin' bad"--though that could work as a translation for the phrase 
in other circumstances (I picture two people having an angry argument 
for that translation to work).

The traditional translations work best here, in my view, though 
admittedly "it can't be helped" is a little on the stiff side. 
"That's just the way it was" is one alternative that immediately 
comes to mind, though I've become fond of the "it sucks but what can 
you do" suggestion!

FWIW.

Carl
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Carl Freire
cfreire-[AT)-ix.netcom.com
Tokyo, Japan