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From 義妹生活 - 1話, 綾瀬 was suspicious about 浅村. She wondered if his family always keep their house clean, their dialogue went like this

「普段からここまで綺麗にしてるの?」

「そりゃあもちろん。塵ひとつ残さず殲滅せよ、ってのが浅村家の家訓なので」

「なんだか物騒な家訓だね」

嘘は言ってない。田舎の祖母あたりが先祖にあたる戦国武将の言葉だと吹聴していた。十中八九嘘だろうなと思いながらもニコニコ聞いてた記憶がある。

I kinda get the general idea of the last line but I'm not sure what nuance 辺り adds after person. Does it imply that 浅村 isn't exactly sure who did 吹聴 and believes it was his 田舎の祖母.

Also, 田舎の祖母 is the one who is doing ニコニコ, right?

1 Answer 1

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This あたり is thus defined (デジタル大辞泉(小学館)):

場所・時・人・事柄・数量などをはっきり示さずに、婉曲に言い表す語。多く、名詞の下に付いて接尾語的に用いる。
㋒たとえば…など。「部長にかみつく―、けっこう気が強い」「山田君―に代わってもらおう」

It means the noun preceding it only gives us one example among many more. Just to give another example where the listing sense is more obvious:

鶴田さん、小鹿さん、螢田さんあたりはかなりカリカリしていたが... (『我が愛しの20世紀全日本プロレス史』)

田舎の祖母あたりが先祖にあたる戦国武将の言葉だと吹聴していた。

Thus means:

Some people (in the family) like (my) grandmother who lived in the countryside used to say that was a saying passed down from an ancestor, (who was) a samurai commander in the Warring States period.

ニコニコ聞いてた talks about the narrator, not 田舎の祖母

十中八九嘘だろうなと思いながらもニコニコ聞いてた記憶がある。
(I) remember thinking it was most likely bragging and not taking it seriously.

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  • Thanks for the answer! I didn't know that this meaning can fit in this context. Regarding the ニコニコ part, I mean the narrator (俺) is not the one who is doing smiling but it was 田舎の祖母.
    – Jimmy Yang
    Commented Mar 5, 2022 at 23:47
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    @JimmyYang I understood that part of your question. I read it as a statement about the narrator. The narrator is saying, "Oh yeah some relatives were saying that was a family heirloom kind of thing that came from an important ancestor. But I didn't take it seriously." That's why I think ニコニコ describes the kind of reaction the narrator had hearing about that.
    – Eddie Kal
    Commented Mar 5, 2022 at 23:52

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