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I am currently reading the "よつばと！" ("Yotsuba&!") manga, and in the first story
(vol 1 page 13) there is an exchange about going to buy greeting gifts (for
moving into the neighborhood):

> **よつばの父:** 変なもん 持ってくんなよ
>
> **ジャンボ:** 俺はプリンが 好きなんだ
>
> **よつばの父:** いや おまえの 嗜好はいい

An english version translates this exchange as:

> **Yotsuba's Dad:** Don't bring back something weird
>
> **Jumbo:** I like pudding
>
> **Yotsuba's Dad:** Don't base it on your personal preference, neither

But I'm having a bit of trouble understanding the last line:

> いや おまえの 嗜好はいい

From what I can tell, this line appears to say "No (I disagree), your taste is
good", but given the context (and the above translation, which fits with the
apparent context) I would actually expect him to be saying "No, your taste is
_not_ good". Yet the sentence appears to be in the affirmative, not the
negative?

Does the use of いや here somehow implicitly negate the rest of the sentence
(which is something I haven't seen in other cases)? Is this an idiomatic
thing? Implied sarcasm? Or am I just missing something obvious?

Any help would be much appreciated.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-22T21:52:37.020
73183
2019-11-23T02:28:52.607
35230
question
meaning manga negation
"No, your taste is (not) good"
What is being said is this:

> いや おまえの 嗜好はいい  
>  No, your taste is fine (as in, not needed).

You might be confused because you see 嗜好はいい but when we want to express that
someone's taste is good, we'd say 嗜好 **が** いい. Notice that this is a subtle
but important difference.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-22T22:13:38.487
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2019-11-22T22:13:38.487
21684
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answer
いい here does not mean "good", but an abbreviation for どうでもいい (it does not
matter). It causes to get confused because the spelling is the same, but it is
distinguished by the context.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-22T22:18:04.360
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2019-11-22T22:18:04.360
35154
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answer
> 「いや おまえの 嗜好{しこう}は **いい** 」

「いい」 already has the meaning of " **not needed** " all by itself without any
context.

In this context, the negative 「いや」 should also help one understand that 「いい」
would be used for its negative meaning.

See definition 3-㋑ in
[goo辞書](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E3%81%84%E3%81%84/#jn-9174), which
says:

> ㋑十分過{じゅうぶんす}ぎる。 **その必要{ひつよう}がない** 。

This usage of 「いい」 is actually very common, especially in spoken language.

No one has mentioned this so far, but the 「の」 is a big hint here as well. That
is because to say "You have good taste.", we would say:

「お前 **は** 趣味 **が** いい。」

This sentence can **_only_** mean "You have good taste." and we would use
「趣味{しゅみ}」 far more often than than 「嗜好{しこう}」 to say this.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-23T01:21:48.413
73186
2019-11-23T02:28:52.607
2019-11-23T02:28:52.607
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answer