What does 「学校が学校」, 「年が年」and such mean exactly?


So I came across this sentence when reading "Kokoro" by Natsume Souseki:

> ...友達は中国のある資産家の息子で金に不自由のない男であったけれども、 **学校が学校なのと年が年なので** 、生活の程度は私とそう変りもしなかった。

And a translation says:

> ...My friend was from a wealthy family in the Central Provinces, and had no
> financial worries. **But being a young student** , his standard of living
> was much the same as my own.

which shows that the pattern "A **が** A" expresses something along the lines
of " _regarding_ A", " _considering_ A". Am I wrong?

I wonder if there are any rules or restrictions in this use, as well as any
possible indications and nuances. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank
your in advance!

The full book: <http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000148/files/773_14560.html>

(I'm not native English speaker and this is my first question here (geez, I'm
nervous!) so, I'm sorry if there're any mistakes or confusions in my
question.)




This question is 40-50% linguistic and 50-60% non-linguistic. Without a proper
understanding of both, it would be impossible to really appreciate this
sentence on any meaningful level.

First, let us look at the linguistic side of the question just because that is
what this place is mostly about.

> 「Noun + が + Same Noun + （である/だ, etc.）」

means:

> "[Noun] being what it is", "[Noun] being the kind of [Noun] that it is",
> etc.

Note that this 「が」 cannot ever be replaced by 「は」 because it is a fixed
expression.

This is a way of emphasizing the unique quality or characteristic of the
object in question **_without explicitly mentioning that quality or
characteristic_** . This is why I call this question "at least 50% non-
linguistic". In this case, you have to know as prior knowledge how expensive
this 「学校」 is. I will come back to this later.

> 「学校が学校なのと年が年なので」

therefore, means:

> "because of the/our school being what it is and his/our age being what it
> is"

**_So, it is implicitly saying that the school was very expensive and his
friend was very young_**.

The school in question is said to be 東京帝国大学{とうきょうていこくだいがく}, which is now
called 東京大学. The period setting is at the end of Meiji Era. Even though it was
a public school, the yearly tuitions at that school were as high as a working
man's salary for several months. This is why the living standard of the
narrator's friend was not very high even though he was from a rather wealthy
family.

> "which shows that "A が A" means something along the lines of "regarding A".
> Am I wrong?"

Sorry but I have no idea how you got that idea. "regarding A" is a little too
weak as a translation.

> I wonder if there are any rules or restrictions in using this pattern, as
> well as any possible indications and nuances.

To use 「A が A」 correctly, one must assume that the listener/reader has a
general idea of what quality about A one is referring to. Otherwise, it just
will not work well as that quality will not be explicitly mentioned (unless
asked about later).

Example:

A:「やっぱりアキラ君{くん}、背{せ}が高{たか}いよね～！」

B:「そう、お父{とう}さんがお父さんだもん。」← That Akira is tall because his father is tall is
implied. B knows that A also knows that Akira's father is tall.

Another:

A:「林{はやし}さん、ボーナス２００万円{まんえん}だって！」

B:「すごいわよね。勤{つと}めてる会社{かいしゃ}が会社だものね。」 ← That Hayashi's company pays well is
implied. B knows already that A also knows well about that characteristic
regarding Hayashi's company.




This question is 40-50% linguistic and 50-60% non-linguistic. Without a proper
understanding of both, it would be impossible to really appreciate this
sentence on any meaningful level.

First, let us look at the linguistic side of the question just because that is
what this place is mostly about.

> 「Noun + が + Same Noun + （である/だ, etc.）」

means:

> "[Noun] being what it is", "[Noun] being the kind of [Noun] that it is",
> etc.

Note that this 「が」 cannot ever be replaced by 「は」 because it is a fixed
expression.

This is a way of emphasizing the unique quality or characteristic of the
object in question **_without explicitly mentioning that quality or
characteristic_** . This is why I call this question "at least 50% non-
linguistic". In this case, you have to know as prior knowledge how expensive
this 「学校」 is. I will come back to this later.

> 「学校が学校なのと年が年なので」

therefore, means:

> "because of the/our school being what it is and his/our age being what it
> is"

**_So, it is implicitly saying that the school was very expensive and his
friend was very young_**.

The school in question is said to be 東京帝国大学{とうきょうていこくだいがく}, which is now
called 東京大学. The period setting is at the end of Meiji Era. Even though it was
a public school, the yearly tuitions at that school were as high as a working
man's salary for several months. This is why the living standard of the
narrator's friend was not very high even though he was from a rather wealthy
family.

> "which shows that "A が A" means something along the lines of "regarding A".
> Am I wrong?"

Sorry but I have no idea how you got that idea. "regarding A" is a little too
weak as a translation.

> I wonder if there are any rules or restrictions in using this pattern, as
> well as any possible indications and nuances.

To use 「A が A」 correctly, one must assume that the listener/reader has a
general idea of what quality about A one is referring to. Otherwise, it just
will not work well as that quality will not be explicitly mentioned (unless
asked about later).

Example:

A:「やっぱりアキラ君{くん}、背{せ}が高{たか}いよね～！」

B:「そう、お父{とう}さんがお父さんだもん。」← That Akira is tall because his father is tall is
implied. B knows that A also knows that Akira's father is tall.

Another:

A:「林{はやし}さん、ボーナス２００万円{まんえん}だって！」

B:「すごいわよね。勤{つと}めてる会社{かいしゃ}が会社だものね。」 ← That Hayashi's company pays well is
implied. B knows already that A also knows well about that characteristic
regarding Hayashi's company.

