way to use さっぱり (sappari) and すっかり (sukkari)


Maybe it's just me, but I keep mixing up As in

> すっかり忘れてた
>
> I've completely forgot

and

> さっぱりわからない
>
> I haven't the faintest idea / I really don't know

are there other expressions to use them?




Note: This is not a direct answer to your request for further usage examples
of the two terms in different verbs. I rather try to explain the nuance with
the help of a diagram and a pair of contrasting examples for each of the verb
you gave.

As you state in the question, both すっかり and さっぱり is about the completeness of
something. The difference is that they deal with different kinds of
completeness:

![すっかり - さっぱり
diagram](https://img.skitch.com/20110626-c9wgm8wnwsmprkkxkaagafnwyq.png)

すっかり is interested in the degree, or progress regarding completeness.

さっぱり's interest, on the other hand, is how completely clean it is of
something.

For example:

> 食事をすっかり忘れてた: I've completely forgotten to eat. (= how much you forgot about
> a single thing)
>
> 日本語をきれいさっぱり忘れた: I've completely forgotten my Japanese. (= all the vocabs,
> syntax are gone from your head)
>
> すっかり分からなくなった: [I thought I knew something, but] Now I'm back to zero.
>
> さっぱり分からない: I don't have a clue.




Note: This is not a direct answer to your request for further usage examples
of the two terms in different verbs. I rather try to explain the nuance with
the help of a diagram and a pair of contrasting examples for each of the verb
you gave.

As you state in the question, both すっかり and さっぱり is about the completeness of
something. The difference is that they deal with different kinds of
completeness:

![すっかり - さっぱり
diagram](https://img.skitch.com/20110626-c9wgm8wnwsmprkkxkaagafnwyq.png)

すっかり is interested in the degree, or progress regarding completeness.

さっぱり's interest, on the other hand, is how completely clean it is of
something.

For example:

> 食事をすっかり忘れてた: I've completely forgotten to eat. (= how much you forgot about
> a single thing)
>
> 日本語をきれいさっぱり忘れた: I've completely forgotten my Japanese. (= all the vocabs,
> syntax are gone from your head)
>
> すっかり分からなくなった: [I thought I knew something, but] Now I'm back to zero.
>
> さっぱり分からない: I don't have a clue.

