What does "なあ” & "なんて” mean in this sentence. (うん、めずらしいなあ、めぐみのほうがおそいなんて）


Here is the sentence I'm talking about... うん、めずらしいなあ、めぐみのほうがおそいなんて




Both words indicate a "strong sentiment", be it surprise, anger, awestricken,
thankful and what have you. E.g.

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    ここで泊まるなんて思ってもいなかった 
    あいつが首相だなんて許せない
    なんて綺麗な景色なんだ
    なんて面倒見のいい奴なんだろう
    
    ここで泊まるとは思っていなかったなぁ
    あいつが首相だなんて許せないなぁ
    綺麗な景色だなぁ
    面倒見のいい奴だなぁ
    
[/code]

Back to your example, it's inverting the usual ordering and then adds an うん to
create an even stronger effect. E.g. these are all grammatical and mean
essentially the same thing (they get increasingly more dramatic):

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    めぐみのほうがおそいなんてめずらしいなあ
    めずらしいなあ、めぐみのほうがおそいなんて
    うん、めずらしいなぁ、めぐみのほうがおそいなんて
    
[/code]

Here is a similar, but a different example:

[code]

    あぁ、悲しいなぁ、あいつが死んじまったなんて  
    
[/code]

Re: @Yuuichi's point that なんて indicates surprise, there's a lot of truth in
that. One translation would be "I can't believe ...". But IMO its primarily
purpose is to indicate that there is some strong sentiment (for example you
can say あいつが死んじまったなんて after you know very well that the person has died).

