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Is [verb stem] + たかない different than [verb stem] + たくない? What does it mean?

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I believe it was discussed somewhere that it's better not to post manga pages if it can be avoided, due to copyright issues. If you could find a way to include the relevant context in the text of your question it would be an upvote from me ;) – ジョン Apr 16 '12 at 10:41
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@ジョン Well ianal, but just an image like this.. it should be allowed: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use – Pacerier Apr 16 '12 at 11:06
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@Pacerier Good point and in this case probably true, but the nature of this community means that allowing something once sets a precedent of acceptance. Would it still be fair use if there was another question with a different page from the same manga? How about 5 more? I'm also NAL so my concerns could be unfounded. Sorry if that's the case. – ジョン Apr 18 '12 at 7:30

1 Answer

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It's a colloquial, contracted form for ~~たく"は"ない, '(you) wouldn't want to~~'. Just as you say あまくみてはいかん to mean あまくみてはいけない.

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Nitpicking: いかん is not really a contracted form for いけない, but a contracted form for いかぬ, the classical-Japanese equivalent for いけない. – Tsuyoshi Ito Apr 16 '12 at 8:52
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@TsuyoshiIto: On the other hand, when one sees forms like 〜んかった, one begins to wonder... (The historically correct form, apparently, is 〜なんだ.) – Zhen Lin Apr 16 '12 at 9:47
@TsuyoshiIto-san, またやってしまいました・・・　ZhenLin-san, What is '~~んかった'?? – Chocolate Apr 16 '12 at 13:09
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@Zhen Lin: That is a good point. I think that both ～んかった and ～なんだ use different conjugations of negative ぬ from the usual ones in the classical Japanese, but I am not sure. Chocolate: I suppose that Zhen Lin is talking about the form such as せんかった for しなかった and いかんかった for いけなかった, which I think is used in some dialects (but I cannot point out which dialects). – Tsuyoshi Ito Apr 16 '12 at 13:31
@Jesse: I do not know what your comment is supposed to mean. (Not that I would like to argue about it.) – Tsuyoshi Ito Apr 16 '12 at 23:19
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