そんなもん見るな見るなっ。ほしくなっても空しいだけだぞ。


A child is pestering her father about the things in a catalogue that she wants
and the father replies:

> 「そんなもん見るな見るなっ。 ほしくなっても空しいだけだぞ。」  
>  Such is life, don't look, don't look. Even if I don't want to it's nothing
> more than futile (my translation attempt)

Am I correct in thinking that this is the father talking to himself, and
hoping that if he doesn't look at the catalogue the problem will go away, and
then realising that resistance is hopeless? Or, have I got this translation
completely wrong?




「そんなもん」 is the way of saying 「そんなもの」 informally, which means "that kind of
things".

> そんなもん見るな見るなっ。 : Don't...don't look at that kind of things!

「欲しい」 is an i-adjective, its 連用形 is 「欲しく」. 「なって」 is 「なる (成る）」's テ形.

「欲しくなる」means "to become desired (by someone)".

> 欲しくなってもむなしいだけだぞ。 : Even if you want it, it's just futile.




「そんなもん」 is the way of saying 「そんなもの」 informally, which means "that kind of
things".

> そんなもん見るな見るなっ。 : Don't...don't look at that kind of things!

「欲しい」 is an i-adjective, its 連用形 is 「欲しく」. 「なって」 is 「なる (成る）」's テ形.

「欲しくなる」means "to become desired (by someone)".

> 欲しくなってもむなしいだけだぞ。 : Even if you want it, it's just futile.

