おかしい vs. 変 (な）

[Maxful]

Hi masaegu san, could you kindly explain to me what's the difference between おかしい (strange, funny) vs. 変 (な）(strange, funny).

Personally, I use the former when describing something "funny" and the latter for "strange". Is there alot of differences between the two words?

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by Maxful

Hi masaegu san, could you kindly explain to me what's the difference between おかしい (strange, funny) vs. 変 (な）(strange, funny).

Personally, I use the former when describing something "funny" and the latter for "strange". Is there alot of differences between the two words?

You sure ask questions of all levels, which I'm not sure is such a good sign.

おかしい:
If you really use this regularly, as you said, to mean "funny", you would sound like an upper-class person from decades ago. Most of us don't use it to mean "plain funny" in this age. It's meaning is rather "comical". The plain funny is おもしろい.

The overlapping meaning between the two is "weird", "strange", etc.

Finally, we never use 変な to mean おもしろい. Your definition "funny" is only applicable when 変な gets translated into English in phrases like 変なぼうし=funny-looking hat.

[Maxful]

But I thought おもしろい stands for interesting? Put it this way, what should I say in Japanese if I want to say "Scooby-doo is funny (comical way)" and "That person over there is strange"?

Can I say:

”Scooby-dooはおかしいだ。”
”Scooby-dooは変だ。”

”あの人はおかしいだ。”
"あの人は変だ。”

[MMM]

Originally Posted by Maxful

But I thought おもしろい stands for interesting? Put it this way, what should I say in Japanese if I want to say "Scooby-doo is funny (comical way)" and "That person over there is strange"?

Can I say:

”Scooby-dooはおかしいだ。”
”Scooby-dooは変だ。”

”あの人はおかしいだ。”
"あの人は変だ。”

I would use おもしろい to describe Scooby-Doo. It can mean "funny" as well as "interesting".

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by Maxful

But I thought おもしろい stands for interesting?

I must keep asking: Don't you have a good dictionary?
おもしろい means both "funny" and "interesting".

Put it this way, what should I say in Japanese if I want to say "Scooby-doo is funny (comical way)" and "That person over there is strange"?

Can I say:

”Scooby-dooはおかしいだ。” Drop that だ. You never say おかしいだ、赤いだ、小さいだ、etc. Where did you learn that? As I stated above, you can say this but are you an upper-class person from many decades ago?

Just say スクービードゥーはおもしろい if you want to speak like us.

”Scooby-dooは変だ。” This means "Scooby-doo is weird."

”あの人はおかしいだ。” Again, why だ? Without that だ, this sentence means "The guy is crazy."

"あの人は変だ。” Finally, a good sentence.

[Maxful]

Thanks for the help , masaegu san and MMM san.

I wrote "だ" because I thought that "だ" is equivalent to "です". Thanks for telling me that it was incorrectly to add "だ".

By the way, I didn't know that ”あの人はおかしい" means "The person is crazy". Always thought that it means either "That person is funny" or "That person is strange/weird", so it was a surprise to know that it means "Crazy" as well.

I watched a movie lately and there was this guy in the movie who hates his wife's brother and told her wife that "Jimmyはおかしい" then I thought he either said "Jimmy is strange" or "Jimmy is funny". Now I am pretty convinced that he is actually calling Jimmy crazy.

[Maxful]

Originally Posted by masaegu

Finally, we never use 変な to mean おもしろい. Your definition "funny" is only applicable when 変な gets translated into English in phrases like 変なぼうし=funny-looking hat.

By the way, when referring to "funny-looking hat", is it possible to say "おもしろいぼうし"? I doubt so.

Also, if "変なぼうし" = funny-looking hat then what should I say for "strange/weird looking hat"?

One more thing, does "変な人" stand for "strange/weird person"?

Sorry for the questions. I just wanna be sure.

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by Maxful

By the way, when referring to "funny-looking hat", is it possible to say "おもしろいぼうし"? I doubt so.

Also, does "変な人" stand for "strange/weird person"?

There is a fairly big connotational difference.

おもしろいぼうし is a funny-looking hat that the speaker likes and wouldn't probably mind wearing himself.

変なぼうし is a funny-looking hat that the speaker probably wouldn't want to wear himself.
_____

変な人 is anyone that you think is strange/weird/unusual/unconventional, etc.

[Maxful]

How about "strange/weird looking hat"? What should I say?

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by Maxful

How about "strange/weird looking hat"? What should I say?

Most naturally, 変なぼうし or 変わったぼうし.