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Does anybody have a clue what こまけー might mean? Below are some sentences for context and the phrase as it's used:

まじめでおカタい感じの女子大生は、やたらとわたしを目を敵にしてきた。わたしが何をやっても文句をつけてくる。「しょうゆの向きは、こうじゃなくてこう！」って こまけー んだよ!

Kristine
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1 Answers1

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In Edo-speak (江戸言葉) or rough speak in present Japanese, a sequence of a vowel followed by a high vowel is often contracted to one long vowel. こまけー's original form is [細]{こま}かい 'detailed'. In this case, it is claiming that the other person cares too much about subtle things.

There are other patterns as well:

ai → ee, 　　[高]{たか}い → たけえ
ei → ee, 　　[競]{けい}[馬]{ば} → けえば　　　　(Standard pronunciation; written as けいば)
oi → ee, 　　[面]{おも}[白]{しろ}い → おもしれえ
ui → ii, 　　　[悪]{わる}い → わりい
au → oo, 　　[買]{かう}た → こおた　　　　(Kansai dialect; written as こうた)
eu → oo, 　　でせう → でしょお　　(Standard pronunciation; written as でしょう)
ou → oo, 　　[泥]{どろ}[棒]{ぼう} → どろぼお　　(Standard pronunciation; written as どろぼう)
iu → uu, 　　[言]{い}う → ゆう　　　　　　(Standard pronunciation; written as いう)

All these follow the following phonological rule:

[α high][+ high, β back] → [α high, - low, β back]:

where

+---------------+--------+--------+
|               | - back | + back |
+---------------+--------+--------+
| + high, - low | i      | u      |
| - high, - low | e      | o      |
| - high, + low |        | a      |
+---------------+--------+--------+

Note: As far as I know, this rule was discovered by 窪薗晴夫.

macraf
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    Just to avoid possible confusion, “the person” is not the speaker, and こまけーんだよ means “You care too much.” – Tsuyoshi Ito Nov 17 '11 at 02:23
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    @TsuyoshiIto Thanks. That is what I meant. You made it clear. –  Nov 17 '11 at 02:56
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    You can't add `table`, `tr`, or `td` elements to this website as they aren't in the [allowed tag list](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1777/what-html-tags-are-allowed-on-stack-overflow-server-fault-and-super-user) – cypher Nov 17 '11 at 03:08
  • @Troyen Thanks for fixing the table. Nice alignment. –  Nov 17 '11 at 03:22
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    @sawa I stumbled across [this site](http://www.sensefulsolutions.com/2010/10/format-text-as-table.html) while looking for a workaround and used it to generate the table. Looks like it works well enough. – Troyen Nov 17 '11 at 03:28
  • Wow, cypher's comment already solved my problem, but your answer is super useful beyond my original question! Thank you! – Kristine Nov 17 '11 at 03:49
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    Thanks for laying out the specifics of the underlying rule here so clearly, sawa. (Also, hey, Kubosono is the guy who wrote アクセントの法則! Great book, that.) – Matt Nov 18 '11 at 00:57