I’m currently reading Osamu Dazai’s novel 人間失格 (にんげんしっかく), or No Longer Human, in the original Japanese, after having read the English version many times. In it, I came across a curious phrase, 「ワザ。ワザ」that is translated in the English version as “You did it on purpose.” The context is, that the main character is faking being clumsy to get a laugh out of his classmates, but one of these classmates seemingly sees through this act and later tells the main character, 「ワザ。ワザ」(“You did it on purpose”).
Curiously, I’m not able to find a proper translation for this phrase online. What does ワザ。ワザ mean exactly, in terms of tone, formality, etc.? ありがとうございます!
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The longer phrase that you have probably heard is わざと、which can be kanji’d but is often in Kana
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%82%8F%E3%81%96%E3%81%A8
My assumption is to make it a play on 技 which means trick
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%8A%80#Japanese
But that might be me overthinking it.
わざわざ is a commonly used adverb. It means “deliberately, expressly, on purpose”.