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I recently came across the phrase はいてなかったり which has me stumped.

For context, a character utters the phrase after dismissing the possibility of something:

Character: Oh, those guys? Yeah, they're pretty weird, but I don't think they're criminals. はいてなかったり...

EDIT: Below is the original sentence in Japanese. I decided to paraphrase a bit because it was talking about love-related stuff that I felt might add more confusion to the issue.

Character: いろいろ奇怪な行動が多いから... 恋とは無縁なのかなぁと... はいてなかったり...

A fellow translator translated it as I just don't see it... but I can't figure out how they got there.

I can't find the phrase in any online dictionary, but it seems to be a fairly common phrase online (e.g. はいたりはいてなかったり, スカートはいてなかったり～). I can't figure out the meaning of those examples either.

Could it be a form of はい which is being negated, as in something not there?

Floating Sunfish
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    Character: Oh, those guys? Yeah, they're pretty weird, but I don't think they're criminals. ← Why are you giving us that part in English? That does not help. –  Jul 24 '19 at 13:54
  • Yeah this needs more (Japanese) context. – Darius Jahandarie Jul 24 '19 at 14:02
  • @l'électeur Sorry about that. The original was talking about love-related stuff which I felt might add more confusion to the issue, so I paraphrased it. Edited the question to include the original Japanese phrase. :) – Floating Sunfish Jul 24 '19 at 14:02
  • Thank you for the context but it still doesn't seem to make sense. I think there are only two words that can be spelled はく: "wear" (bottoms) and "vomit". Did you see any scenes related to these actions before the passage? – broccoli forest Jul 24 '19 at 15:13
  • The only thing that came to mind for me was using と吐いてなかったり as a way of saying と言わなかったり/と言ってなかったり, though it seems very unusual. – Darius Jahandarie Jul 24 '19 at 15:17
  • @broccoliforest and DariusJahandarie My apologies, I didn't see your replies in time. I'll be sure to add full context to my questions next time. You can refer to my comments in the accepted answer below for more info. Many thanks for replying! – Floating Sunfish Jul 25 '19 at 01:25
  • @DariusJahandarie My apologies to you too. Many thanks for replying! – Floating Sunfish Jul 25 '19 at 01:55

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This is a very, very context dependent question. Not just a matter of a few sentences, but over volumes of the comic. I have never read it myself, but the みつどもえ fansite contained enough circumstantial evidence to answer. My confidence that this is where is came from is that the lines いろいろ奇怪な行動が多いから... 恋とは無縁なのかなぁと... are on this page. (This would have been a LOT easier if you would have just told us where it came from. (-_-;)

はいてなかったり is referring to not wearing underwear as a case-in-point example of the "strange things they do" that makes the speaker think the persons she is talking about (most likely 佐藤が好きでしょうがない隊) are far from having a romantic relationship.

Apparently 緒方愛梨, who is a member of the 佐藤が好きでしょうがない隊 and the only one who goes commando, thinks wearing underwear will hinder having a romantic relationship. はいてない。パンツを恋敵と認め決別して以来(*53)、一貫してノーパンスタイルを貫いている。

Since ノーパン is a recurring theme throughout the series and the speaker is talking about the "strange behavior" of the group 緒方 is in, it is obvious to the reader that she is talking about not wearing underwear.

By137
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  • Hmm, that is indeed a very in-depth way of looking at it! I never even considered that! By the way, I chose not to include where this line came from because I seem to remember there being a site rule not to make this site a translation service (though I can't seem find the link anymore for some reason). I thought that by focusing more on the sentence itself, it would make the question more valid on the site. In any case, I think this answer really nailed it and I will take care to include such information in the future. Many thanks! – Floating Sunfish Jul 25 '19 at 00:32
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    @FloatingSunfish The link is this. It says quite the opposite, "context is vitally important any time you are veering close to a 'translation question'". A hardcore otaku can probably guess this can be a reference to ノーパン even without context, because it's established as a genre of fanart. Still, they can only guess. – naruto Jul 25 '19 at 00:58
  • @naruto I see, I'll be sure to add more context next time then. :) I felt that if I began with "This phrase came from so-and-so manga" my question would immediately get dismissed as a translation question, but after reading the link it seems to be a case-to-case basis, yes? – Floating Sunfish Jul 25 '19 at 01:15
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    @FloatingSunfish People cast close votes to questions that do not show any research effort or translation attempt. But the source of the sentence is almost always important. People often ask questions about a made-up word without even knowing it's a made-up word... (see this and this for example) Generally, questions should be self-contained, and it's not a good idea to make others search for the context. – naruto Jul 25 '19 at 01:24
  • @naruto I see, I'll be sure to add as much relevant context as I can next time then. Many thanks! :) – Floating Sunfish Jul 25 '19 at 01:27