sugoi

[jinksys]

someone posted "kono site wa sugoi ne" in the shoutbox.
I know this means, "this site is SUGOI, right?/dont you agree/etc"
but I looked up sugoi in edict and it gave me,

凄い: すごい (adj) terrible; dreadful; terrific; amazing; great; wonderful; to a great extent;

is this site terrible or wonderful?!
lol

[Sunny Pig]

「すごい」usually means the last five meanings that you have stated and is usually written in kana only. I think the only time it is written in kanji is when you want to express its negative meanings. Compare 「凄い」 with 「凄み」.

[jinksys]

thanks!
but if the same word is both a negative and positive adjective...
how do you know what someone means when they say it?
Do you just listen to their tone?

[Spaztick]

Tone, and the context of the sentence, example:

"Man that nasty steak was (insert word here)"

vs

"Man that delecious steak was (insert word here)"

Close to the same thing.

[jinksys]

hmm...neato-burrito.

[clay]

terrible today primarily has a negative conotation, but originally it could be positive as well - Meaning, "full of awe" but not awful B)

[TokyoRoze]

Sugoi= Amazing, wow

[hihlordjp]

It's like that British expression "Wicked!" which is a negative word that can mean something positive, depending on the context of its usage.

[jinksys]

lol, ive never head a british person say that.

[GMK-kaijuu]

Or The Boston way "That is Wicked Awesome"!!

[hihlordjp]

jinksys wrote:
lol, ive never head a british person say that.

Really? British kids like saying it... One example would be Ron from Harry Potter. "Wicked!" is a regular word in his dialogue.

[ShinDig]

Yeah, i use that word all the time over here (UK) it's pretty common another word that's used quite alot over here for saying that something's really cool/wicked is 'Sick' Don't ask

[KRed]

As well as being an adjective meaning terrible, sugoi can also mean terribly and take on an adverbial meaning.

eg Sugoi samui (terribly cold)
Sugoi kawai (terribly cute)
Sugoi atsui (terribly hot)
Sugoi kowai (terribly scary)

[hihlordjp]

Doesn't sugoi become sugoku in those cases?

[KRed]

hihlordjp wrote:
Doesn't sugoi become sugoku in those cases?

It should do but I usually hear people say sugoi + adjective, you can still say sugoku + adjective but I hear sugoi + adjective all the time.

This raises a good question. Is sugoi + adjective gramatically sound or is it a colloquial phrase with gramatic holes ie like "John and me" instead of "John and I". Can anyone shed any light on this?