First, a little background: “はかせ” and “なの” are the names of the characters; “はかせ” is the singer, a ~10 y’old genius inventor. And “好きなのなの” is repeated constantly throughout the song, but never preceded by “はかせの”.
I’d like to know what’s the purpose of “の” here. Is it its normal use, something along the lines of: “Hakase’s liking of Nano (Nano)”? If it’s not its usual form, what are other examples of this “の”?
It plays around heavily with the character name なの, and this meaning of なの, an emphatic/cute/questioning feminine sentence ending. (for other examples of that… I would have to imagine the characters in Nichijou say なの in that way with some frequency) And also just なの as a fun noise to make.
I’d say it plays around with that to the point of being kind of incomprehensible, at least in trying to translate it! Since なの is all the time filling like three roles and that’s not possible in English. And playful songs don’t really need to be bound by like, rigid grammar.
A translation I found goes with “I Like You Nano Nano” which seems fine.
To me if I was forced to break it down more precisely… it looks like it would be in the ballpark of “my (the professor’s) love, Nano nano” and it’s allllmost “my (the professor’s) beloved Nano, nano!” but I think that would be はかせのすきななのなの, with an extra な in there that doesn’t sound as good. I feel like that meaning blurs in anyway probably though since the repeated なのなのs kind of blast through any other meaning in your head… I could also believe the professor just like, drops her なs sometimes or something. I haven’t read the series in Japanese but what I remember of her character in English makes me think that’s the kind of thing she might do.
And perhaps someone other than me can break down the title more particularly!
So to sum up, check out なの as a sentence ender, otherwise it’s a silly song that says なの a lot and is about liking なの!
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Could be dropping a は instead perhaps? はかせのすきなの(は)なの.
But either way, I agree that it’s just a silly song that doesn’t have to make complete sense.
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That works with the 好きなの!なの! emphasis in the song, and is the grammar thing I was overlooking that could put a の after すきな, thanks!
So Laevateinn can add a nominalizing の onto the pile of meanings…
That would make the title something like “the one I (the professor) like is Nano”
And 好きなの!なのなの! later in the song like, “the one I like!! is Nano, ya know?!”
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Oh, it’s so much clearer now. I actually do know about のは, but Professor dropping the は made me clueless.
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Yeah, as you can see it made me clueless too, so you’re in good company! seanblue’s really the one who cracked it!
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