4

何さ、いやな人たちだね。こんな家に生まれてきたのが運のツキだよ。
What!? I'm an unpleasant person am I? To be born in a house such as this ...

Bit confused by the part in bold. 運 means "luck" and ツキ can also mean "luck". So is this "luck of lucks"? Is it a sarcastic comment "Lucky me, to be born in a house such as this"?

If so, do Japanese people tend to use sarcasm often?

Improve this question
4
  • 3
    The 何さ is an interjection (like "heck!" "damn!"). The subject of 嫌な人たちだ is not the speaker.
    – chocolate ♦
    Dec 14, 2015 at 10:38
  • @choco Is it just the たち making it plural that makes you say the subject is not the speaker or am I missing something else? Now that you mention it, it makes much more sense that she is saying that her parents are unpleasant. I really struggle to follow the topic/subject of the sentences in this book though.
    – user3856370
    Dec 14, 2015 at 14:51
  • 「何よ、嫌な人ね！」「嫌な人！」「ヤな[奴]{やつ}(だな)！」「ひどい人(ね)！」みたいに、単数形になっても、通常、主語は話し手ではないと思います。非難の言葉っぽいです。(unless it's like「俺って嫌な奴だよな。」)
    – chocolate ♦
    Dec 15, 2015 at 7:01
  • @choco My Japanese isn't good enough to read this with certainty, but I think you are telling me that it is because of the words of criticism. However, in the previous sentences the girl is listening to her parents tell here what an awful person she is, which is why I thought " I'm an unpleasant person am I" could be correct. So for me, it's only the plural that makes me doubt this. I was misled by a previous use of たち and decided this must be 'nature' rather than plural.
    – user3856370
    Dec 15, 2015 at 9:40

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
7

運のツキ literally means "to have run out of luck". The ツキ refers to 尽き which means "to come to an end" (source). It means that one's good luck or fortune is over, i.e. no more good things can happen after that. It's like "being doomed".

The sentence's meaning becomes something like "I was already unlucky by being born in this house" or "my fate was already sealed by being born in this house". So no, it's not sarcastic.

(More information about this sentence would be helpful. It looks like it's someone describing the people in his/her household as unpleasant, but if that's the case the translation is not very appropriate)

Improve this answer
1
  • You're right. I messed up the translation. The subject is the girl's family, not herself.
    – user3856370
    Dec 14, 2015 at 14:55

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .