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I'm reading a manga and am completely stuck on what is being said in the following line of text:

まわる = まる = circle ぐわんぐわん = ぐん?  ほわほわする = ほほする = cheeks

I've attached the page with the text highlighted in red. The scene takes place where the girl is in a circle drinking party. The girl is intoxicated so I'm guessing she's "thinking" drunkenly which means her words are going to be slightly off, but I don't know enough Japanese to figure out what the real words are. I don't know if all the "わ" are part of the actual word or if they're placed in to show slurred speech.

Please correct me if I've misinterpreted the first and last part of the text. enter image description here

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    まわる is the verb 回る, not a drunken variant of まる. Her head's spinning from the alcohol, presumably. The other two things seem like genuine onomatopoietic words to me, but I'm not 100% on that. (But ほわほわする has nothing to do with ほほ "cheeks".)
    – senshin
    Oct 26, 2015 at 21:45
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    They are all actual words. まわる is 回る, to revolve. She feels her surroundings are spinning. ぐわんぐわん is one of the 擬態語, it is often used to describe a sense of vertigo or tinnitus (mix of ぐるんぐるん/ぐるぐる + がんがん). ほわほわ is also a 擬態語. It's like ふわふわ, light, soft, fluffy or flowing.
    – marasai
    Oct 26, 2015 at 21:46
  • @marasai: Your comment makes sense to me. If you can restate it as an answer, I can choose it and close the question. Thanks!
    – Rose
    Oct 26, 2015 at 22:03
  • @senshin What is a "drunken variant" of a word? Extending vowels like あ -> ああ -> わ?
    – macraf
    Oct 26, 2015 at 23:18
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    @macraf Alas, I don't know what drunken people sound like in Japanese (maybe they extend their vowels? I dunno.). I was just addressing OP's hypothesis that «she's "thinking" drunkenly which means her words are going to be slightly off». In English, you'd do something like this to indicate drunken speech: writeworld.org/post/24476282104/writing-drunk-characters.
    – senshin
    Oct 26, 2015 at 23:21

1 Answer 1

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They are all actual words. まわる is 回る, to revolve. She feels her surroundings (or herself) are spinning. It can imply her thoughts go round and round (go back and forth) in her brain. ぐわんぐわん is one of the 擬態語, it is often used to describe a sense of vertigo or tinnitus (mix of ぐるんぐるん/ぐるぐる + がんがん). ほわほわ is also a 擬態語. It's similar to ふわふわ, which is light, soft, fluffy or flowing, but it sometimes implies warm feelings.

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