Quote:
Originally Posted by covingtoncat73
“... there's the fact of her being a hundred and four years old. I keep saying that's her age, but actually I'm just guessing. We don't really know for sure how old she is, and she claims she doesn't remember, either. When you ask her, she says, "Zuibun nagaku ikasarete itadaite orimasu ne."
.... (footnote) Zuibun nagaku ikasarete itadaite orimasu ne -- "I have been alive for a very long time, haven't I?" Totally impossible to translate, but the nuance is something like: "I have been caused to live by the deep conditions of the universe to which I am humbly and deeply grateful. P. Arai calls it the "gratitude tense," and says the beauty of this grammatical construction is that "there is no finger pointed to a source." She also says, "It is impossible to feel angry when using this tense.”
― Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being
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Hmmm, to me it sounds just like a very polite way to refuse to answer the question. The gratitude form doesn't really mean one is grateful, it's like when you say "Bless you" in English to someone who just sneezed, even if you couldn't care less wether they are about to die from avian flu or it's just a slight allergy.
