I've sent some pictures to a Japanese friend, and she replied saying カッコいいじゃーん. I don't get either the Hiragana and Katakana mix in that word as the last じゃーん...
Could anybody please get me out of the doubt?
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1or is it just a stealth brag question ;)– ssbCommented Aug 8, 2013 at 12:34
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1See also: japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/728– cypherCommented Aug 8, 2013 at 13:06
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2 Answers
Writing a word in katakana is often used to put emphasis. じゃん is kind of colloquial way of saying "isn't it?", while the long vowel mark in between, once again, puts more emphasis.
I'd translate the sentence the following way:
"He/She/It is sooo cool, isn't he/she/it?"PS. Next time, it'd have been better if you provided more context if you want something translated.
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Likely she started with katakana to give additional emphasis to かっこいい, but halfway released shift key on her keyboard (used to enter katakana mode on some systems) and ended with hiragana. Could've been done on purpose (いい means “good”, informal writing, everything is possible), or just because of (possibly intended) sloppy typing. Or both. Commented Aug 10, 2013 at 20:58
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For your information, かっこいい is a word made out of two different words - 恰好(かっこう), meaning form/appearance and いい meaning good. I believe it also conjugates the same way いい does.– szychyCommented Aug 12, 2013 at 14:44
What is the actual question here? You doubt the meaning of the word or the actual context in which it is said?
Anyway, this is a colloquial way to say "good looking", "stylish" or "cool" with a slight emotional feeling supplied by じゃーん.
Normally the word is written like 格好いい although I've heared somewhere on this site that writing this word in kanji feels more old fashioned.
Actual nuances probably will be cleared by native speakers.
P.S.: Sorry for any mistakes I've probably made due the fact that neither English nor Japanese are my native languages.
