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I currently playing a game and during the dialog a character says

そんなワケないじゃなイカ!　イカだけに!

What grammar concept is happening with じゃな + noun portion? Is it really just だな + noun?

My best guess in translating is that they are saying

That sort of thing is understandable, it's a squid! Given that it is a squid!

Tylersanzura
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1 Answers1

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This そんなワケないじゃなイカ is "No way!" or "Nonsense!", but said with a pun.

The sentence is the same as そんなワケないじゃないか, which is a double-negative rhetorical question that effectively means the same thing as the single negative そんなワケない. (For this じゃないか, see this.) Here, イカ is in katakana because it's a pun on イカ ("squid"). If you see "だけに" used like this, it indicates the associated sentence is intended to be a pun. See: How do jokes with "だけに" work?

naruto
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  • So is the a more direct translation: そんなわけないじゃない! -> There is no way that's a thing! Right?. Also follow up question, is the イカだけに just a hint that this is a pun or does it also carry the "Seeing as it's a squid" part too – Tylersanzura May 09 '20 at 01:21