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I seem to recall hearing it being used in an "That's crazy/insane/amazing","WOW" kind of way.

But looking it up, it seems to have more of a negative "That's stupid" kind of connotation to it.

In what context can it be used? Is it really just a negative phrase denoting something stupid/idiotic?

Herb
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Y12K
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1 Answers1

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Crazy in English can have both positive and negative connotations, and バカ (without げた) may have a positive, "awesome" connotation like crazy, depending on the context. However, as far as I know, 馬鹿げた in Japanese is almost always negative.

To use it like an interjection, you have to say "馬鹿げて(い)る!" instead of "馬鹿げた!" because 馬鹿げた is the attributive form.

Another word that sounds like crazy and is used both positively and negatively is ヤバい.

naruto
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  • 「ヤバい」seems like it's used primarily by JK and college girls. lol – Y12K Apr 18 '17 at 07:21
  • Using ヤバい *excessively* may be characteristic to young people, but ヤバい itself is a fairly common slang word which can be safely used by おっさん. – naruto Apr 18 '17 at 08:01