What does тока позже mean?

Question

I was kidding with friends about them sending me something irrealistic. The written answer I got was:

тока позже!))

with "))" being what I think are the Russian emoticons for lol (without eyes - just the smile). позже is after but in lingvo I didn't find something really helpful in order to translate тока, which is presummably the genitive of ток.

Overusing of "))" is very common in Russia. There is even a joke about it: No smiles @ Serious conversation. — LudwigNagasena, Sep 24 '13 at 07:47
My interpretation of that phrase would be close to "yeah right". — Tonyk, Mar 18 '15 at 18:14

score 16 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 09 '13 at 01:47

16

"Тока" is a (usually intentionally) incorrect spelling of "только", imitating its common pronunciation (similar to "чо" = "что"). "Тока позже" thus means "only later" or "just later". The unmatched parentheses are indeed emoticons (I don't think this form is specific to Russia though).

answered Sep 09 '13 at 01:47

fjarri

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)) is much more prevalent in Russian than elsewhere because to type : on Russian keyboard layout you have to use Shift+6, while on English (US) layout it's Shift+;, which is much easier to type with one hand. So many people don't bother and skip the : when typing in Russian. BTW, that's also why you sometimes see Ж)) instead. – Igor Skochinsky Sep 12 '13 at 19:27
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@IgorSkochinsky I've always wondered about that, thanks! Although I very much doubt anyone using an English keyboard would write a : with one hand! – Matt Fletcher Sep 13 '13 at 08:21
I do it all the time :) – Igor Skochinsky Sep 13 '13 at 09:20
@IgorSkochinsky It's not clear what you mean by 'easier to type with one hand'. Both Shift + ; and Shift + 6 require both hands for typing. – UVV Mar 06 '15 at 08:52
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@uvv the ';' key is very close to the right shift, so you can easily type ':' with just the right hand. See e.g. here – Igor Skochinsky Mar 08 '15 at 18:32
@IgorSkochinsky well, I know the layout. I was talking from ten-finger-typing method perspective, which I assume to be correct ;) If you use one, then Shift is always pressed with opposite hand then the typed character. – UVV Mar 08 '15 at 19:26
As for me (I'm russian), ';' in english layout is much closer to the 'most used keys area' than 6. I on't think it has to do something with one-handed typing (I can easily press both Shift+6 and Shift+; with one hand even on full-size pc keyboard). Also, I think ')' is a bit different from ':)'. I'd type ':)' to mark a joke, and ')' to mark that if I was saying this irl, I'd smile, and more parenthesizes means wider smile. – Alissa Mar 12 '15 at 11:45
But there are exceptions. I still right full emoticons, and my American penmate frequently skip it to parenthesis-only. Granted, she uses her phone a lot, and the phones do not have full-featured hardware keyboards :-D – Arioch Jun 07 '17 at 14:31

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 06 '15 at 04:30

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тока = is translating as = just, (right now), for the record guys, I'm russian )) = middle type smile)

answered Mar 06 '15 at 04:30

segurakaa

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 07 '17 at 12:27

тока позже could be like "but/only later"
e.g.
да, тока позжеlike yes, but/only later

examples of right form
http://www.linguee.com/english-russian/search?source=auto&query=%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%BE+%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%B6%D0%B5

What does тока позже mean?

3 Answers3