Japanese with Manga

Not quite a movie buff with ってほどでもない

Grammar Explanation: Not as much as with 〜ほど〜ない

Akane lounges in a beanbag chair and looks up with a smile. In the foreground, only part of Kei's leg is visible.
ふらいんぐうぃっち » Volume 2 » Page 115

Kei’s cousin Akane is at his house, and the two of them have been watching a movie together. The film has just ended.

茜(あかね):
「圭(けい)って映画(えいが)マニアなん？」
“Kei, are you a movie buff?”
圭(けい):
「マニアってほどでもねーけど好(す)きだよ」
“I wouldn't go as far as "buff", but I like them.”

Key Points

1マニアってほどでもねー = “I wouldn’t go as far as ‘buff’”
  • Noun + ってほどじゃない says a label is too strong. って quotes マニア, and ほど with a negative says Kei doesn’t reach that label.
  • ってほど is the casual form of というほど, “to the point of being called”. The full version is マニアというほどでもない.
  • Kei doesn’t deny liking movies. He only rejects マニア as too strong a word for it.
2でもない instead of じゃない
  • ほどじゃない and ほどでもない both work here. も adds “not even”, so ほどでもない sounds a little more offhand: “it’s not even at that level”.
  • Kei sounds casual and a little modest about how much he watches.
3Rough casual ねー for ない
  • ねー (also written ねえ) is a rough, casual way to say ない. Here でもねー stands for でもない.
  • This sound change is common in casual male speech. It isn’t the sentence-ending particle ね.
4Hedging with けど
  • けど means “but”. After a denial, it sets up what the speaker will say. Kei rejects the label first, then admits 好(す)きだよ, “I do like them”.
  • よ gives Akane this as new information about him.
5Akane’s question with って and なん
  • 圭(けい)って is a casual way to bring up a topic, much like 圭(けい)は: “Kei, are you…”
  • なん？ is a casual なの？. It turns 映画(えいが)マニア, “movie buff”, into a yes-or-no question.
  • マニア comes from English “mania”, but in Japanese it means an enthusiast or buff, someone deeply into a hobby.

Vocabulary

(Film)

映画(えいが) is a movie, a story told in moving pictures shown on a screen.

(Enthusiast)

マニア is a person who is deeply into a hobby or field, such as a movie buff or a train enthusiast. It comes from English “mania”.

(Extent)

ほど is the degree or extent of something: “about” or “as much as”. 〜ば〜ほど means “the more…, the more…”.

(Liked)

好(す)き describes something you like or someone you love.

See Also

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