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Same short story, another sentence I kinda get (maybe), but I'm missing something:

親子関係に見て取れぬでもないその二人は、トーマス井口が店の中に入ってきた途端に揃ってガッと目を剥き、信来の客の容貌をしげしげと観察し出した。極端な度合いの非礼洞察行為と受け取りはしたものの、トーマス井口は意に介さず、真っ直ぐに店内の最奥に位置する勘定台のほうへ歩み寄っていた

If I understand it, it means something on the lines of "Although he interpreted their action as extremely rude, Thomas Iguchi didn't mind and went straight inside the store to where the register were". In this sentences I have two problems:

1) What's the meaning of 洞察? I know it as "discernment, insight", but I can't understand what does it mean in the sentences; I tried looking on Jisho and Weblio, to no avail, in my translation I just ignored it.

2) Why 行為と受け取りはした, with ? I would expect , so I'm missing something. I tried looking here in SE for question about this but I could find any. (I did find this, but I don't think is relevant.)

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  1. I have never seen 洞察 used like this, but judging from the context, this 洞察 seems mean something like "(penetrating) gazing". Normally, 洞察 does not refer to the physical act of observation itself.
  2. 受け取る is one of these "AをBと"-verbs. AをBと受け取る means "to interpret/take A as B", but Aを has been omitted in your sentence. In other words, Aと受け取る means "to take it as A". On the other hand, Aを受け取る just means "to receive/take A" (e.g., お金を受け取る "to receive money").
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    So it's something like "Although he took it as an act of gazing in a rude manner"? (Totally unnatural translation trying to convey both 「洞察」 and 「行為」.)
    – Mauro
    Dec 9, 2019 at 17:21
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    @Mauro Sort of. Or "rude gazing act of an extreme degree"? (I would say the original Japanese text is already a little awkward, but it may be intentional)
    – naruto
    Dec 10, 2019 at 1:47

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