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I'm struggling to understand the meaning of the phrase 「どちらがどうとかいう」 in the
following passage.

> 彼女のことが好き、という昔の気持ちは、多分、ちゃんと残っている。一緒にいる仲間という気持ちは、強く残っている。
>
> でも一瞬だけ。
>
> 「・・・・・・」
>
> 一瞬だけ、頭の中にもう一人の顔もよぎる。
>
> それに自分でも驚く。別に **どちらがどうとかいう**
> んじゃないのだけど。でも、まだそんなことをまるで考えたことがなかったから。自分を好きな女の子がいて、それを自分も好きになって、それでどうするとか、どうなるかとか、そんなことを真剣に考えたりするほど大人じゃなかった自分に、驚く。

If I'm to translate 「どちらがどう」 word by word, it would be - "which is how". So in
a way this whole sentence seems to me something like - "Not that it matters.".

I've also tried to look for more examples -
[1st](http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1443525144),
[2nd](https://twitter.com/iwatacoffee/status/658430710575792128). Which, to me
looks sort of similar to my example. But in the
[3rd](http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q147020374)
example, it seems that the questioner asks more detailed information(or rather
points of attention) about buying or borrowing 成人式の振袖.

Could someone please give me more detailed information about this phrase?
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2015-12-04T20:46:43.473
29663
2015-12-05T01:33:24.630
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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question
grammar translation
Meaning of phrase 「どちらがどうとかいう」
As you've correctly inferred, 「どちらがどう」 in literal terms translates to "which
is how." Then it follows that 「どちらがどうとかいう」 means "to say which is how" ― in
other words (with a bit of a leap?), "to make comparative judgements between
two things/people."

In context, 「別にどちらがどうとかいうんじゃないのだけど。」would suggest that the speaker is not
comparing, or unable to compare, the two love interests of his, or that he
just doesn't know which girl he likes better.

In the 振袖 example, 「どちらがどうとかありますか？」is asking for a comparison between buying
and renting one, the pros and cons of each option, to help the inquirer make
the right choice.
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2015-12-05T01:15:33.447
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2015-12-05T01:15:33.447
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answer
どちらがどう refers to the difference between options, and as an extension, to some
unspecified intention or feeling resulting from the difference. So in your
example text the speaker is saying he has no particular intention or
difference in how he feels about the two girls. It's hard to pinpoint what it
actually means and this is intentional. It's used to avoid appearing to be
direct/crass.

The usage in your "1st example" is very similar. The speaker is essentially
saying "I'm not interested in finding out who was wrong", but doesn't even
want to appear he/she is raising that point, so the expression is used instead
of "どちらが間違っていたか知りたい訳ではないのですが" to avoid using those more specific words.

The usage in your "2nd example" and "3rd example" is more practical. In the
2nd example it simply means "Putting the actual arguments aside, this kind of
analysis is interesting". In the 3rd example it's simply used to mean "are
there any difference?".

A similar expression is "どうこうしようっていうんじゃない", whose literal translation is "I
don't intend to impose some unspecified things onto you", but the expression
has actually the effect (and the intent) of intimidating the listener, because
it implies the speaker has some unspecified power to cause some unspecified
things (harm)!
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2015-12-05T01:33:24.630
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2015-12-05T01:33:24.630
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answer