What is being abbreviated as っちゃあ in 「忙しいっちゃあ忙しいけど…」?


I see the pattern [Adj1]っちゃあ[Adj1]（けど） relatively often, and I know that I've
learned it before... I even know what it means. ...but what is it an
abbreviation of? It is an abbreviation of something, right?

I've thought maybe ～といえば～ or ～というのは～, or something else along those lines, but
1) none of them seem to feel right to me, and 2) there aren't any relevant
results on Google with those, so I assume (perhaps incorrectly?) that they're
incorrect.

So what is っちゃあ?




「(adjective)っちゃあ(same adjective)（だ）けど」＝

「～～って[言]{い}っちゃ（あ）～～（だ）けど」＝

「～～って言ったら～～（だ）けど」

"somewhat ~~", "~~ to a degree", "You could call it ~~, I guess", etc.

「[忙]{いそが}しいっちゃあ忙しいけど」= "I am somewhat busy if not terribly so".

The nuance is that you are not busy enough to want to actively tell everyone
that you are busy. If anything, you are only mildly busy. Hope this explains
why the quotative「って言う」 is used in the expression. You are in effect
"labeling" the degree of your own occupiedness.

You are right. This (the version using っちゃあ) has been a very common colloquial
expression for quite a few years now.

I do not remember hearing or saying it as a kid, but that may be because I was
living in Nagoya back then. Around Tokyo right now, you would hear it many
times everyday.

