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I was reading a novel where a girl is talking about her friend who is another girl and someone says uses this phrase : のろけ話

Which I know translates to mean to speak fondly of significant other, but these girls are described as being just good friends in the novel. So I was wondering, can this be used to show extreme closeness/admiration between platonic friends or is it mean to maybe imply that one person likes the other?

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    Just a tip: it's best to include context (quotes, pictures etc.) in the question instead of in a comment somewhere, because you want people to see that before they write their answers. Also, if you do take a picture, make sure it isn't cut off so people can see all the text. (In this case, everything worked out because broccoli was able to write a fine answer anyway, but it's always a good idea to include this in your questions directly.)
    – user1478
    Commented Mar 4, 2020 at 19:59

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Usually not. In that context she is most likely teasing the other that she and her friend is as "lovey-dovey" as the real lovers.

のろける means "to brag about one's lover", but people often use it too when the speaker's inner love toward the lover is unconcealed even though s/he has no such intention. This word is not really for ordinary friends.

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  • . Oh let me elaborate provide context The girl isn't talking in front of her friend. She's talking about her friend to someone else. She's saying things like 'her friend is so cute" or does things in a cute manner. Her friend doesn't show any sides of liking her or act flirty with her. The person hearing said its like she is doing that The thing is, the novel just calls them bestfriends, like it uses the term shinyu, which is what the girl explicitly calls her friend. I myself am unsure as I know media has girls be close/call each other cute and it is not romantic.
    – Zain Alleck
    Commented Mar 4, 2020 at 14:09
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    Oh, this is the image for context: imgur.com/a/kvGsTAn
    – Zain Alleck
    Commented Mar 4, 2020 at 14:19
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    @ZainAlleck okay, please look at the last みたい. It means "as if" that implies she doesn't think it a real のろけ話 either way. I think my main point still unaffected. Whether the use of this word suggests that they're in a romantic relationship or not in your context is still inconclusive from linguistic interpretation.
    – broccoli forest
    Commented Mar 4, 2020 at 18:29
  • Oh, why is it inconclusive?
    – Zain Alleck
    Commented Mar 4, 2020 at 20:34
  • Well, they are literally/expliciticly called good friends/dear friends. A better question I guess would be, is a metaphor like this uncommon to describe close friendship among female friends
    – Zain Alleck
    Commented Mar 4, 2020 at 21:49

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