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It's a word in a song called 「スローモーション」 by サカナクション.

Somewhere in the middle part the song goes like this:

行けない つらりつらりと行けない

それはつまりつまりはスローモーション

ふわりふわり漂う 僕はまるで雪のよう

I didn't find lyrics with a kanji of this word in it, so つらり is given in hiragana only. And I can't guess it from the context either. Is it 辛い in a special form, or 面 in a special form? Or maybe an iconic expression like ざらざら、ごろごろ etc.?

Here is the link to the full lyrics (for further understanding, if needed).

3 Answers 3

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The lyrics are pretty straightforward but this portion is a little cryptic.
While I can't be 100%, I can give you my opinion (after all i'm not the writer).

つらり normally means close to ずらり or 全部. So...

行けない つらり[つらり]と行けない

The literal translation is "can't go. Can't go in completely". This is your answer.

Now, the key to truly understanding what it means is in the rest of the lyrics.

"それはつまりつまりはスローモーション"

which means "that is in other words slow motion", indicating つらり to be the opposite of slow motion, or slowly. And the rest of the lyrics indicates frustration of not getting off at the place he was heading (終着駅), and throwing away [something] before it completely accumulated. Whether the actual line means his inability to commit or to not being able to do things that matter to him quickly, it sure sounds like he knows what that means to his future. A sad song.

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    "つらり normally means close to ずらり": There may be such an explanation in a large dictionary, but virtually no one use this word like that. BCCWJ corpus has no relevant results for つらり. つらつら is relatively common and seems to mainly mean not very seriously, easily, etc.
    – naruto
    Oct 30, 2015 at 1:33
  • @naruto You are absolutely right. It's not the most common expression. I myself don't remember when I heard it last time since I can only understand by nuance and have a vague recollection on who used use it. Must have been my late grandma but It's been more than 20 yrs since i talked to her. Now, Corpus probably didnt have it listed because their word list focuses on publication from 1986 to present. One dictionary cites a novel "Ukigumo" published in 1887 by Shimei Futabatei as a source of definitiona and usageu. dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/148521/meaning/m0u/つらり
    – Kentaro
    Oct 30, 2015 at 2:22
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There is an uncommon adverb つらつら(と) which either means:

  • 熟々: thoroughly, carefully. よくよく.
  • 滑々(?): smoothly, fluently, easily, without thinking deeply. すんなり, つるつる, すらすら.

The two definitions seemingly conflict with each other. Actually the former is the "dictionary definition", which confuses some. The latter is the common usage IMO. Hiragana is almost always used for both cases.

The lyrics are hard to logically understand, but I think this つらりつらり is a variation of the latter above. Inserting り in certain adverbs is very common. (すらすら → すらりすらり, ぐるぐる → ぐるりぐるり, きらきら → きらりきらり)

So つらりつらりと行けない should mean something like "I can't go smoothly".

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    I see that the dictionary you linked only has 熟々{つらつら}, but some dictionaries have definitions for 滑々{つらつら} too. In 広辞苑, the latter is defined as 「なめらかなさま。つるつる。」 So I suppose if you find the right dictionary, the latter can be the "dictionary definition" too :-) (But it was only in two of the eight 国語辞典 I checked!)
    – user1478
    Oct 30, 2015 at 2:34
  • @snailboat Thank you! BTW did you find any entry mentioning 連々 or 徒然【つれづれ】 in some way? I noticed many real usages of つらつら are similar to that of 徒然, but I'm not sure if it's a coincidence.
    – naruto
    Oct 30, 2015 at 3:04
  • Thank you for the answer, as a followup question now: why is り added? Is it an aesthetical reason?
    – thz
    Oct 30, 2015 at 5:49
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    @RnBandCrunk The nuance is usually subtle, but there's an obvious reason in this case: to make it rhyme with つまり below it.
    – naruto
    Oct 30, 2015 at 7:33
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If it's ずらり it might be "lined up / in a row" as in one person behind the other or one-by-one. The phrase could be interpreted as:

行けない つらりつらりと行けない I can't go, one-by-one I can't go

それはつまりつまりはスローモーション That is, in other words, slow motion

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