I understand that せいぜい has implies 'at most' or 'at best' such as:

> 田中：今日、８時に横浜駅ね。仕事遅くならない？  
>  加村：大丈夫だよ。いつも通りに終わるから、 **せいぜい** ７時半までしか残業しないから。

However, in my notes I have my sensei saying that:

> *相手の能力などを低く考えている言い方：
>
> 『だめだろうけど、 **せいぜい** 頑張って。』

I am a little confused by this second usage, is it implying a sense of sarcasm
or hopelessness towards the person being spoken? Along the lines of 'the best
you can do is try'?

If so, could you provide any other examples which illustrate this second
meaning?

Thank you!
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-06-23T13:22:17.297
12214
2013-06-23T13:56:24.423
2013-06-23T13:23:24.540
3109
question
grammar nuances
What sort of tone/nuance does せいぜい have? Can it be sarcastic or condescending?
I don't read any sarcasm in this. If I were to translate the second one into
English I'd say it as "You might fail but please at least try." It's not using
any kind of irony, it's just approaching the matter from a pessimistic point
of view. Failure will probably be the outcome, but the speaker sees some value
in putting forth the effort regardless. The hopelessness that you detect is
captured by the explicit "だめだろうけど" and the meaning implied by telling someone
to "at least" try. It's just too direct to be sarcasm, in my opinion.

As a side note I find it interesting that you could potentially translate せいぜい
as both "at least" and "at most."
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-06-23T13:56:24.423
12215
2013-06-23T13:56:24.423
1797
12214
answer