> 馬鹿だからって知らないわけじゃない

I translated this sentence as "It's not like I don't know that I'm stupid,"
while my friend who wrote it translated it as "I'm stupid, but I know that."
So I feel I understand the meaning adequately, but on closer inspection, I am
confused by だからって. Is it two words, だから and って, or one word, or a set phrase?

WJD provides this definition: だからって (exp) even so; all the same; nevertheless;
yes, but ...

So I suppose a better translation would be, "I'm stupid, but it's not like I
don't know it," where だからって is equivalent to "but." However, does it mean more
than "but" here? Is it also acting as a copula? What is the etymology of this
expression and, if it is made up of two words, how do they act upon each
other?
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2012-02-13T22:13:59.553
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2012-02-15T02:28:55.543
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grammar expressions
How does だからって usually work?
Indeed `だ` is the copula. And `から` means 'from'. In many languages, the word
that corresponds to 'from' is often used as 'because'. `って` is contraction of
`といって`, which originally meant 'saying', but has lost that meaning.

> 馬鹿だからって知らないわけじゃない  
>  'It is not the case that I don't know it because (they say) I am stupid.'

And in this construction, `P から` 'because P' introduces a presupposition that
`P` is true. That is why you can also translated it as:

> 'I know it even though (they say) I am stupid.'

Both you and your friend's translations are not correct. If you want to say
something along the translation you give, then it has to be like:

> 馬鹿だということを{知らない/分かっていない}わけじゃない  
>  'It is not the case that I do not know that I am stupid.'
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2012-02-13T22:24:42.140
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The って in からって is the quotative って, and there is a longer version which makes
this clearer, から **と** 言って. These are interchangeable in all cases that I can
think of. For some reason って is used in the short version, and と is common in
the long version.

The below sentence might make it clearer how to understand/parse the phrase:

> 「 **馬鹿だから** 知らないだろう」 **って** 言っても、 **知らないわけじゃない** You might say that I won't
> know because I'm stupid, but it's not the case (that I don't know).

Note the the object of knowing could be any fact, not necessarily the fact
that "I'm stupid"

The phrase means something like "It might be the case that ... , but ... ".

Some other usages:

> 暑{あつ}いからと言って[裸]{はだか}になるな It might be hot, but don't get naked.
>
> お客{きゃく}だからって態度{たいど}が悪{わる}すぎる He might be a guest, but his attitude is still
> too shitty.
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The most idiomatic way to say it in English while avoiding the troublesome
"but" would be

```

    Just because I'm stupid that doesn't mean I don't know.
    
```

In fact I think the whole expression should be taken as `だからって…ない` with the
negation being crucial (though sometimes implied*), and corresponds exactly to
the English expression `"Just because … doesn't mean … "`. It expresses that
"Your assertion that A is a sufficient reason for B is not valid".

If you look at `だからって` as `だから` (because) `と` (so) `いって` (saying), you can
understand it as "saying it is so because". The `ない` then negates that
assertion of causality: "Your saying that B is so because of A is not valid.",
or "Just because of A (which is what you say) is not a valid reason for B.",
which is equivalent to the English expression.

As sawa writes above, even in Japanese the meaning of って as "you say" is
somewhat extraneous. I think it more easily becomes extraneous when expressed
in English.

So your original sentence says that your being stupid is not a sufficient
reason for (one's assumption of) your not knowing [some fact].

```

    A asserts: You are stupid, therefore you don't know that fact.
    B: That's not so. While I am indeed stupid, I do know that fact. 
       Therefore my being stupid does not imply that I do not know the fact. 
    
```

or

```

    Just because I am stupid does not mean I do not know the fact.
    
```

  * In dainichi's example お客だからって態度が悪すぎる I find the negative in the すぎる where "excessive" implies "not appropriate"; "his attitude is too shitty" is the same as "his attitude should _not_ be so shitty". Though I may be reaching here.
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