この毛ぬき、びっくりするぐらい軽いんだけど。— Can you read this sentence and understand what it means?

[TofuguKanae]

この毛ぬき、びっくりするぐらい軽いんだけど。
Can you read this sentence and understand what it means?

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Vocab:

この = This.

毛ぬき = Tweezers.
This word comes from 毛 (LV.3: Hair) + 抜く (LV.25: To Pluck).

びっくりする = To be surprised.

軽い LV.10: Lightweight.

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Let’s break it down!

この毛ぬき

This pair of tweezers

びっくりするくらい軽い

This くらい is describing the level of 軽い-ness (lightness).

“(This pair of tweezers is) so light that I’m surprised”

軽いんだけど

= 軽い + のだ (assertive statement) + けど
Then のだ becomes the casual form んだ.

This けど emphasizes the speaker’s reaction of being impressed by the lightness (not the “but” meaning).
My personal insight about this usage of けど is even though it usually ends a sentence, it could be followed by something like どういうこと！？ meaning “What’s going on?” (but often this part gets omitted.) So the nuance to me feels like “It’s so light…(what the heck is going on?)”

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Answer:

This pair of tweezers is surprisingly light. (Meaning)

このけぬき、びっくりするぐらいかるいんだけど。 (Reading)

Exercise!
Make Japanese sentences using the pattern びっくりするぐらい___ ! I’ll proofread/correct for you.

[deadhippo]

ブラックホールの写真はびっくりするくらいつまらない。

[Leebo]

Discourse, please add a dislike feature

[deadhippo]

Here you are:

[Kumirei]

かなえさんはびっくりするぐらい優しい

[pragmata]

@deadhippo

ブラックホールの写真はびっくりするくらいつまらない。

[Kumirei]

I wouldn’t say it’s boring, but damn the amount attention it’s getting is a bit annoying. It’s everywhere!

[Bunnysaurus]

この文法はびっくりするぐらい面白いんだけど

[Killua69100]

Wouldn’t it be more accurate to translate it as : " This pair of tweezers is light to a surprising extent " ?

[deadhippo]

Case closed.

[Leebo]

Nothing interesting in this picture either

[bati]

このコーヒー、びっくりするぐらい濃いんだけど。I didn’t completely understand the sentence at first. Thanks for the explanation.

[JiltedValkyrie]

ファイナルファンタジーXIVの最終のメガボス、ぴっくりするぐらい簡単だったぜ!

[Saruko]

Thanks for making these exercises; it’s fun! I couldn’t understand the title, but once I opened the thread and saw the picture I got it

In the OP I see some くらい and some ぐらい - which one should we use?

My try:
今夜は、びっくりするぐらい眠いんだけど。風邪をひいてるかな〜

[Leebo]

@Saruko

In the OP I see some くらい and some ぐらい - which one should we use?

There once was a distinction, but it no longer exists in modern Japanese. Some people think ぐらい sounds more colloquial, but that is just how some people feel. It’s generally okay to go with whatever you feel flows.

[Okanekure]

俺の醜いの同僚の赤ちゃん、びっくりするぐらい可愛い。

ちゃんと出来ている？

[Saida]

I understood most of the sentence, only understood 毛ぬき when I saw the picture.

自分の作った食事がびっくりするぐらい美味しいんだけど

[Okanekure]

この毛ぬき、びっくりするぐらい軽いんだけど。— Can you read this sentence and understand what it means?

There once was a distinction, but it no longer exists in modern Japanese. Some people think ぐらい sounds more colloquial, but that is just how some people feel. It’s generally okay to go with whatever you feel flows.

[Saida]

Thanks, saw it when I scrolled through all the responses. Edited my question out

[Dorotheian]

あの子、また負んぶを頼んだと？ びっくりするぐらい重かったでしょう。