しろくまカフェ: Week 12 Discussion (Chapter 24)

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Chapter 24

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Start date: May 29th
Previous Chapter: Chapters 21-23
Next chapter: Chapters 25 and 26

Page numbers

b174615ec62c30e5548289f3be860f5e4a748deb

Vocabulary list

You can also check the page numbers for new and old versions here. If you have an old version, chapters 24-28 are in the second volume!

Discussion Rules

  • Please use spoiler tags for major events in the current chapter(s) and any content in future chapters.
  • When asking for help, please mention the chapter and page number. Also mention what version of the book you are reading.
  • Don’t be afraid of asking questions, even if they seem embarrassing at first. All of us are here to learn.
  • To you lurkers out there: Join the conversation, it’s fun! :panda_face:

Participants

Mark your participation status by voting in this poll.

  • I’m reading along
  • I’m still reading the book but I haven’t reached this chapter yet
  • I’m no longer reading this book
  • I’m skipping this book

0 voters

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This chapter (and the rest of them) is in the second volume for those who are reading old edition \o/

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Really liked this chapter a lot. I think Penguin is my favorite character in the manga.

Funny enough, I had basically the same confusion as Panda about 美人の湯. I hadn’t seen the word before, so I just parsed the kanji like “Some sort of hot spring with beautiful women?” When he repeated it a couple of times, I looked it up and found its actual meaning. It was pretty funny when it turned out the exact same misunderstanding happened in the manga.

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Only one person in the current chapter?

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Yeaaah :thinking: Half of the people were still catching up on the last one, even though we can skip chapters, people still don’t really do that. I wonder if the break is needed? :thinking:

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I wanted to make a poll to know a couple of things /o/ Firstly, do we need a break for people to catch up? :thinking:

  • Yes, I would love a break to catch up/give people time
  • No, I’m still reading along, I might jump to the next chapter or just slowly catch up/I’m caught up
  • I don’t know/other

0 voters

And secondly, do we need a break after finishing Shirokuma and before starting Chii?

  • Yes, one week
  • Yew, two weeks or more?
  • No, no break is needed
  • I don’t know/other

0 voters

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Just to make sure, the second volume in the old version is いちご味！ (the pink one with パンダくん on the cover), right?

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Yeah, I think so :3

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I need a break so I can read ahead for the vocabulary sheets… whew

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Welp, I guess we’ve reached the point at which I drop out of the discussion, then…

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Really like this chapter too!
If you could give me an hint on the real meaning of 美人の湯…

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If you put 「美人の湯」 into Jisho, it says:

To make up a fake example, it’s like if you had read about a “Youth Spa” and went expecting to find young adults there, but instead you find old people soaking in mineral-filled spa water that’s supposed to revitalize their aching bones to make them more youthful. And the whole way there, you were going on about the attractive young men/women you’d find there, while your buddies were thinking, “You know it’s a place for old people, right?”

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Aww, that’s a shame:c

Also I’m sorry I wasn’t really participating and just caught up, life is a bit busy now, but I will try to be more active /o/ :yellow_heart:

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Thank you so much!!
I thought about this meaning about 1 second while reading, but totally forgot about it after reading Panda’s thoughts and then only got “beautiful women onsen” meaning in my head.

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New thread is here \o/ boop I’m gonna catch up soon too:3

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I’m still plodding along, just slowly due to a busier schedule lately.

I’m at the bottom of page 155 right now where it’s talking about people expecting penguins to be larger than they appear to be and the use of 立ってる is confusing me a little. In the text bubble proper and in the supplemental text in the center top of the panel, it seems like they’re saying that the penguins appear shorter when standing, but it’s obvious that they mean when sitting; but they’re using the wrong verb. What am I missing here?

Here’s the panel text in case no one has their book handy 18+ days on:
Penguin’s text bubble: クチバシや尾羽の長さも体長に入るから立ってる時よりずっと長くなるんだよね
Supplementary text: コテイペンギンの体長は１００〜１２０cmでも立ってる時は８０cmくらい

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Edit 3: I belive I went down the wrong path on より in this comment, and came pu with something incorrect. I’ll leave it here, but please see my follow up response a couple of posts down as well.

Here’s how I break it down:

「クチバシや尾羽の長さも体長に入る」

“The length of the break and tail feathers are included in the (animal) body length.”

「から」

“Because”

「クチバシや尾羽の長さも体長に入るから…」

“Because the length of the break and tail feathers are included in the (animal) body length, …”

「立ってる時」

“The time of standing” (“When standing”)

「より」

“From” (like another meaning for から)

「立ってる時より…」

“From the time of standing…”

Edit: I think this より can also be translated as “after” rather than “from” here, so another reading would be “after the time of standing”.

Edit 2: The book “All About Particles” (Naoko Chino) mentions, “indicates a cause, reason, or motivation” as another meaning for より (“as a result of”). Maybe that’s more accurate for this usage? “As a result of (when) standing”? If anyone can pinpoint this より, don’t hesitate to clarify!

「ずっと長くなるんだよね」

“It becomes much longer.” (“It will be much longer.”)

「クチバシや尾羽の長さも体長に入るから立ってる時よりずっと長くなるんだよね」

“Because the length of the beak and tail feathers are included in the (animal) body length, at the time (a penguin) stands, it becomes much longer.”

The gist of the conversation (if I’m correct) thus is: “People expect penguins to be taller than they are. This is because the recorded length is from beak to tail feathers. When a penguin stands up, it becomes taller, more closely matching the recorded length. But when it’s not standing up, it’s much shorter than the recorded length, which is why people find penguins to be shorter in person than the expected from reading the recorded length.” (Somehow, my “gist” become quite long.)

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I get the general sentiment, I’m just confused by the verb choice. The use of より makes sense when it’s modifying the action of penguins being measured, but that doesn’t help the other sentence.

コテイペンギンの体長は１００〜１２０cm

Something like, “Emperor penguins are 100-120cm long”

でも立ってる時は８０cmくらい

“but when standing they’re about 80cm.”

This fits in with the rest of the panel just fine, except the penguins are longer when standing, not shorter. There’s no より here, and I don’t see any negation anywhere. Why are they using this verb?

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I think I had my translation going in the wrong direction. After a night’s sleep, I’m considering より as being “than” after all:

“Because the length of the beak and tail feathers are also included in the length, the length is much longer than when standing."

Thus:

「コテイペンギンの体長は１００〜１２０cmでも立ってる時は８０cmくらい」

“The Emperor Penguin’s body is 100~120cm, but when standing it is about 80cm.”

Perhaps?

1 Like