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Son: まずいよ、このクッキー。

Mother: やっぱりまずい？ニンニク味だから。

The above excerpt is part of a dialogue in which a mother gave her son a garlic-flavored cookie because he asked for a cookie. After tasting it he says it tastes bad and the mother says "やっぱりまずい？" I thought やっぱり meant "I knew it" so I thought the mother was trying to say "I knew it would taste bad." What is confusing me is why is "やっぱりまずい？" a question. It sounds like she is saying instead "I knew it would taste bad?" which doesn't make sense.

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  • Related: [Meaning and usage of やっぱり (矢っ張り)](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/43312/33659), ["What does やっぱり mean in [そこまでなんだって、思っちゃうもん……やっぱり"](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/33786/what-does-%e3%82%84%e3%81%a3%e3%81%b1%e3%82%8a-mean-in-%e3%81%9d%e3%81%93%e3%81%be%e3%81%a7%e3%81%aa%e3%82%93%e3%81%a0%e3%81%a3%e3%81%a6-%e6%80%9d%e3%81%a3%e3%81%a1%e3%82%83%e3%81%86%e3%82%82%e3%82%93-%e3%82%84%e3%81%a3%e3%81%b1%e3%82%8a) – Cendolt Oct 18 '19 at 02:02
  • Based on your wording it looks like she did not make the cookies. Is that right? It changes the meaning in English. – By137 Oct 18 '19 at 04:41

1 Answers1

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This やっぱり is being used to express to the son that the mother either had a hunch or the expectation that he wasn't going to like the cookie.

It doesn't really translate well, but if I were to try to capture the same feeling in English I might say:

まずい？ → "Is it bad?"

and

やっぱりまずい？ → "Is it bad? I thought/knew it might/would be."

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