Describing the use of "some"

[Damicci]

For example.

"Hey whats that?"
"This? I don't know. Some toy I guess"

I guess this could be equivalent to some kind of.

"Hey you wanna see a picture of my boyfriend?"
"What? I don't to see a picture of some guy!"

In this case it is used to mean an unknown person.
Was trying to explain the difference to my girlfriend but having a hard time.
TIA

[Glenn]

I'm guessing the Japanese versions would be どんなおもちゃか for "some toy" and 男の寫眞なんて for "a picture of some guy" in that usage.

The first example is like you said, some kind/sort of thing, and it's used to be ambiguous or indefinite about the thing you're talking about. It has a more emotional and stronger sense than "a(n)" to me.

I think the second example is close to that, except it shows the strong emotion of disgust at the suggestion proposed in the previous statement. So, it's similar to "a(n)," but more emotive. These are my personal impressions. Does that help?

[Damicci]

Yes that does help alot. I wasn't exactly sure how to describe the second one. I had an idea (like you said) that describing an item of unknown intent would be "some kind of" statement. As for persons didn't know if "some kind of" would be appropriate as we normally wouldn't say that in english. Thanks

ところで、この漢字「寫眞」の読みはなんですか？　ありがとうございました。

[Glenn]

はは、「しゃしん」です。日本人は旧字だと言うんですが、香港や台湾ではまだ使われています。ご迷惑をかけ て申し訳ございません。

[Damicci]

Originally Posted by Glenn

はは、「しゃしん」です。日本人は旧字だと言うんです が、香港や台湾ではまだ使われています。ご迷惑をかけ て申し訳ございません。

それと思いましたが、漢字は違うから、俺は本当分から なかった。　またありがとうございました。

[Elizabeth]

Originally Posted by Glenn

I'm guessing the Japanese versions would be どんなおもちゃか for "some toy" and 男の寫眞なんて for "a picture of some guy" in that usage.

Yeah, I would say 男の写真なんて(見たくないよ) or そんな男の写真 ;
おもちゃなんて or 何かのおもちゃ。

I would say normally though "Oh, just Some + noun" means responding neutrally to a question, without devaluing or showing contempt for the thing, just for whatever reason it obviously is something that the other person didn't recognize as such.

[Glenn]

I think that "just some" also carries a bit of devaluing, though. Probably mostly because of the presence of "just" more than "some" in this case, but still it's more of a devaluing statement than "it's a noun."

[Damicci]

Kinda of like "how" you say it. "pfft it's just some toy"

compared to

"hey whats that?"
"oh just some song, hey check out this song!"

[moofs]

If someone were to say that something is "just some (thing)" then I'd feel that that certain thing is not of any importance or relevance. "Oh, it's just some toy. [Nothing important.]"

"some" as an adj is basically just describing that something is unknown or unspecified.

"What is that?"
"Some toy." (what the toy is is unknown)

"Who is that?"
"Some girl." (not specifying who the girl is or the identity of the girl is not known)

[Elizabeth]

Originally Posted by Glenn

I think that "just some" also carries a bit of devaluing, though. Probably mostly because of the presence of "just" more than "some" in this case, but still it's more of a devaluing statement than "it's a noun."

Yeah, it must have been the exhaustion on top of the slight intoxication last night. Seriously, though, I realized after thinking about it a little how much "just" gets added to "some" in the case of something I see in passing or wasn't really concentrating on that much or even if I was slightly irritated by the question. "Oh, I don't know, (just) some toy I guess" type of thing.

Anyway, that's sort of off the original question and at least either of those is more innocent sounding to me than the disgusting and contemptuous tone of a Oh, I don't know, really, it's..."just a" something or other utterance.