"eyes to turn into ice cream" ?

[Smidge204]

I coght this in a recent edit:

http://www.baka-tsuki.net/project/index ... ina_Mikuru

“It’s already cold enough outside. If you go out wearing that kind of outfit, you would probably cause the students' eyes to turn into ice cream. [Note: Kyon is using the phrase “Ice-cream for the eyes”, which is similar to “A sight for sore eyes”. The two, however, cannot be substituted in this scenario (Omio - I think I kept the meaning, but left the 'Ice-cream' concept there.)] There’s no need to give them a free show. The water fountain’s just downstairs. I’ll just go down and get it...”

The original text is:

「外は寒いですし、その格好は他《ほか》の生徒には目の毒です。関係者以外に無料で見せるもんじゃありませんよ。水飲み場はすぐ下だから、これからひとっ走り……」

I don't see the word "Ice cream" in there anywhere, plus that just dosen't sound right.

"外は寒いですし、その格好は他《ほか》の生徒には目の毒です" seems to translate to something involving poison (毒). I think this is suggesting that seeing Mikuru out in this cold weather may be painful for the other students (生徒) to witness - "the poison in the pupil's eyes" - and so Kyon is offering to go get the water instead.

Any other opinions?
=Smidge=

[HolyCow]

EDIT: Forget that lousy translation, I misunderstood the whole expression completely. Meh.

Here's the chinese RAW for it:

“外面已经够冷了，你再穿那身装扮出去无异是在荼毒其它学生的眼睛（指用眼睛“吃冰淇淋”）。没必要让闲杂人等免费欣赏。饮水间就在楼下，我跑去就是了……”
听到我这么说……

Now that I look back at it, I would translate it as:

"It's already cold enough outside. Should you step out in that outfit, you'd inevitably poison other students' eyes. There's no need to provide free eye candy for anyone. The water fountain's just downstairs. I'll just go and get it..."

The only thing I can say in my defense is that the chinese RAWs had an additional note (Translator's note?), （指用眼睛“吃冰淇淋”）, which literally translates to 'means eating eye-cream with ones eyes'. This lead me to confuse it with the earlier said poison expression. I apologize for any fuss made on this matter >.<

/me refers to sig

[the_naming_game]

I really have to start reading baka-tsuki's flagship project again. I've been kind of flailing around for something interesting, when it's most likely right under my nose.

Anyway, an important thing to note is that Japanese expressions can be quite hard to interpret logically, though one can say the same for many expressions in many different languages.

from edict:

• 目の毒 [めのどく] /(n) tempting thing/

from alc:

• 目の毒である
  be tempting to one
• ～は目の毒です
  be too much of a temptation to me

In other words, "eating ice cream with one's eyes" doesn't sound too far off. Cold + Mikuru breasts = ?

[Smidge204]

Cold + Mikuru breasts = ?

You should wear safety goggles?

(Sorry...)

Edit:

[21:25] <akiha> I read the topic. Cold and Mikuru are unrelated. correct: "it's too cold to go out in that outfit, besides it's too tempting to other studnets to go out in that outfit"

Considering the source, this sounds like an excellent translation. If there are no objections I shall make the appropriate edit.
=Smidge=

[TheGiftedMonkey]

My eyes! The goggles, they do nothing!

[Setherzam]

Fall out boy! where is fall out boy?!

[quigonkenny]

Cold + Mikuru breasts = ?

You should wear safety goggles?

If ever there was a good way to put your eyes out...

[the_naming_game]

You know, I bet there's a fetish for that somewhere... perversion knows no bounds. Squishing nipples with your eyes, either with or without safety goggles.

Hey, has anyone given this "akiha" any more to do? I mean it's not like native Japanese are coming out of the woodwork here...

[akiha]

Sorry my late reply.

Smidge204, thank you for posting my opinion.

Because I'm not good at writing english, I cannot type english fast. so I think forum better suits to me than irc.
thus, if you talk to me with irc, be patient.

Hey, has anyone given this "akiha" any more to do?

No. so far, this topic is the only one that i've answerd.

I have a few question about English used here.
1.
What does mean "safety goggles" in this topic?
Of cource I understand the dictionary meaning of it.
But I don't understand why it is used.

2.

I mean it's not like native Japanese are coming out of the woodwork here...

What structure does this sentence have?
I know the phrase "come out of the woodwork".
And does it show approval or disapproval?

I want to learn english while enjoying moe contents.
please help me by answering them!
In return, I can solve japanese-related difficulties.

[Setherzam]

....

I'm sorry Akiha but we're not exactly the most serious of folks around here.

I'll answer your questions to the best of my ability...

first question: That is a quote from a popular show The Simpsons. Somehow or another we had gotten to the point of our eyes being poked out by Mikuru's breasts hence the safety goggle joke

Second Question: Coming out of the woodwork here sort of means that they're leaving the woods to meet us. Or they stop hiding themselves.

I hope that helps

[Smidge204]

I have a few question about English used here.
1.
What does mean "safety goggles" in this topic?
Of cource I understand the dictionary meaning of it.
But I don't understand why it is used.

I can't answer this without sounding like a pervert, but that can't be helped...

Nipples tend to get ahrd when it's cold. Mikuru has large breasts. You should wear safety goggles so you don't poke your eye out.

2.

I mean it's not like native Japanese are coming out of the woodwork here...

What structure does this sentence have?
I know the phrase "come out of the woodwork".
And does it show approval or disapproval?

Approval. He is saying you are the first native Japanese person to get involved at Baka-Tsuki that we are aware of, and it would be helpful to have the opinion of a native speaker.

=Smidge=

[akiha]

1.
I see. safety goggle is a joke.

2.
I almost understood.
"I mean it's not like native Japanese are coming out of the woodwork here..." is similar to "I can't believe that native Japanese are coming out of the woodwork here...", isn't it?

Thank you for welcoming me

[the_naming_game]

Here is a break-down of that sentence. I have written it three different ways. They all mean the same thing, but they all have different feels.

"I mean it's not like native Japanese are coming out of the woodwork here..."
1. I mean
2. it's not like
3. native Japanese are coming out of the woodwork here... ["coming out of the woodwork" implies "too many"]

"What I mean to say, is that it is not true that there are many native Japanese on this forum."
1. What I mean to say, is that
2. it is not true that [this is very formal sounding and stuffy]
3. there are many native Japanese on this forum.

"What I mean to say, is that there aren't many native Japanese on this forum." [this sounds normal]

Here are some examples from www.alc.co.jp. Note that the other examples do not have the same meaning.

It's not like someone is losing anything
（人）にとって損はあるまい
It's not like I can help it.
私がどうこうできることじゃない。
It's not like I care.
どうでもいいけどね。
It's not like I have a choice.
私にどうこうできることでもないでしょう。
It's not like the sky is falling.
空が落っこちてくるわけでもないし。◆悲観的になっている人を励ます

Note that the feeling is not always the same as in those example sentences, but the meaning is essentially the same.

Some more examples:

"It's not like I enjoy eating cockroaches. I was locked in that place for a month with nothing else to eat!"

"It's like I wanted to go to this party anyway. Everyone's just sitting around getting drunk. Let's leave."

"It's not like I need this job. I'm rich! I quit!" [here, "quit" = "辞める"]

"It's not like I need this job. But I want to help people, and this is the best way to do it."

"You want to go see a movie?"
"It's not like I have anything better to do. Okay, let's go."

Hopefully I didn't confuse you more with this...

[quigonkenny]

2.

I mean it's not like native Japanese are coming out of the woodwork here...

What structure does this sentence have?
I know the phrase "come out of the woodwork".
And does it show approval or disapproval?

I want to learn english while enjoying moe contents.
please help me by answering them!
In return, I can solve japanese-related difficulties.

While the origin of the phrase is not exactly positive, "coming out of the woodwork" is usually a neutral phrase, that implies that the thing that "comes out of the woodwork" is something whose presence was not certain until it made itself known. It does not show any disapproval or approval by itself. However, in this instance, the context implies the_naming_game is happy that a native Japanese with English talent is making his presence known.

I'm sure you know that the majority of the translators here are either native Chinese speakers or fluent in Chinese, and are working from the Chinese translations. Since you can give assistance relating to the original Japanese source, that's a good thing. There's been a need for people who are not just fluent in Japanese, but are also native Japanese, as someone who is just fluent may not understand everything the author writes. You meet that requirement, and have now made your presence known, so you have "come out of the woodwork."

[akiha]

Thank you for detaild posts.
Everybody is so kind that I'm motivated to google "I mean it's not like" a lot to be confident.

I was wrong. "I mean it's not like" is not equal to "I can't believe".
And I understood the literal meaning of the sentense.
Here is the next step. Let me be persistent...

the_naming_game wrote:

"Hey, has anyone given this "akiha" any more to do? I mean it's not like native Japanese are coming out of the woodwork here..."

I think that in a nutshell, the text means such that because there aren't many native Japanese on this forum, you want me to help the translation project.
Is the meaning correct?