TAKOBOTO

after all; eventually; at best
After all, there's nothing permanent.

After all we two are nothing but withered grass: flowerless grass

Since you're going to the post-office anyway won't you please buy some stamps for me?

If you have to go anyway , then you might as well do it quickly.

I know you won't help me. That's the kind of guy you are, after all.

After all (eventually) money you now have will be gone.

there is no such thing as incorrect romaaji.

doppel

どうせ is a word that characterizes the Japanese view of the transient and mutability of life. いろは歌 is a typical example.

bamboo4

The second example is a quote from a old Japanese pop song about a man and his wife whose life would end up as a river boat ferry man.

bamboo4

しぶい歌ですね。My mother knows 船頭小唄.

your name

I think どうせ also can be used as in "anyway", ex 3

dc

もちろん、bamboo４さんはしぶいでしょう！

dc

Thank you, dc!

bamboo4

In example 3, we normally use ついでに, rather than どうせ. 郵便局に行くんだったら、ついでに切手を買ってきて.

bamboo4

someone used the phrase どうせ男 the other day, in a kind of sarcastic way. could this mean "at best, kind of like guys (but not really)" .. ?

testy

or more like, "after all, they are guys (so they would do that kind of thing)"

testy

どうせ男 means an irrsponsible, happy-go-lucky guy, whose view would be どうせ(after all), so that he would just go about his life without really trying.

bamboo4

dc, Roma-ji for どうせ is wrong. It should be doUse.

anon

ah, thats a little problem, as all the comments etc are linked from "doose"... I can change + the examples but will lose the comments for now.

dc

Whether there is such a thing as incorrect romaji is a debate for another forum, but douse is consistent with the romaji used on this particular site so I went ahead and made the change (we can do that now but couldn't before when DC posted his comment).

yookoso

#1090 Put "。" at the end of the sentence.

Nick

In #1090 there should be a "the" thrown in there after "(eventually)" ... but even then its still kind of awkward.

ixtli

Wouldn't #1090 correspond with the English idiom "you can't take it with you"? Regardless, it would probably read better as "Eventually (In the end) the money you have now will (all) be gone".

PorkChop