kono kotoba 'Nante', dou iu imi ka

[Stefan]

can someone tell me all the meanings and functions of the word nante. i can't find how its used anywhere(or maybe i didn't look in all the right places) thanks in advanced

[Yudan Taiteki]

Careful with your use of "ka":
dou iu imi ka = "What the hell is the meaning!?"
dou iu imi desu ka = "What is the meaning?"
dou iu imi? = "What is the meaning?" (more informally)

nan te is a colloquial version of "nan to iu", so it can be used anywhere "nan to iu" can be. "nan to iu" means "What is it called", "What is it named", or sometimes "What kind of".

EDIT: Actually, this is not right. Obviously you cannot say "Ano hito wa nan te?" I don't have time to fix this post right now so hopefully someone else can step in and rescue me.

[NocturnalOcean]

Nante often interexchangable with nanka, is used when you want to emphasize something that you find boring, don't like and so forth.

漫画なんて読まないよ(manga nante yomanai yo)

In this example you emphasize manga, and you convey the feeling that you find it boring, or dislike it in some way.
Nante can also substitute など(nado) in some cases.

[Yudan Taiteki]

Oh right, I forgot about that use. After I left I remembered that "nan te" is also colloquial for "nan to" (so you can say "nan te iu?")

[Stefan]

cool, everybody, thanks a lot this really helped me.

[NocturnalOcean]

Yudan Taiteki wrote:
Careful with your use of "ka":
dou iu imi ka = "What the hell is the meaning!?"

Just wanted to mention that in formal written japanese, that is a perfectly fine way to a question, that does not carry the same connotations as if it was used in spoken japanese.