This grammar point can't be used interchangeably with ~みたい／~そう as the context changes slightly.
For instance, if you want to say something looks delicious, you have to use ~そう, not っぽい.
× 美味しっぽい = (It) looks pretty delicious-ish (IE: It comes off like its delicious) × 美味しいみたい = (It) looks delicious (but I'm not sure if it is) ○ 美味しそう = (It) looks delicious
っぽい is used, in most cases, to describe something/someone as something they're not, but come off as they are.
ie, あの男は女っぽい = That guy is effeminate. (That guy doesn't look like a woman, but he acts like one) ボブさんは日本人ぽい = Bob is pretty Japanese-y (Bob doesn't look Japanese, but he acts Japanese)
When going over this point with my tutor, she said that ~みたい and っぽい really can't be used interchangeably. There's a slight contextual difference between the two.
例）
あの男は女っぽいだろうね = That guy is kind of [i]womanly[/i], right
あの男は女みたいだろう = That guy [i]looks like[/i] a woman, right
When using っぽい its more of describing someone/something actions without a definitive... If that's how to explain it. ~みたい is more of stating a definitive, like that guy totally looks like a chick. Basically, if the guy didn't look like a girl but acted like a girl, you wouldn't use ~みたい.
So, essentially, っぽい couldn't be used to write/say something like, スープはおいしっぽい. Because the sentence would awkwardly translate into something as, That soup is pretty deliciously (looking). It'd have to be スープは美味しそう, the soup looks delicious. Nor could you use スープはおいしいみたい to say that the soup looks delicious because that would then translate into something like, the soup looks like it's delicious (but on the other hand maybe not).
I hope I understood that correctly from my tutor. She doesn't speak any English so it may have been lost in translation.
3
13 years ago
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Yeah, I always figured 「っぽい」 was kind of like adding the suffix [-ish] or [-y] to an English noun to form a word that doesn't truly exist.
Well, I talked with one of my coworkers about that and she said that you couldn't simply add っぽい to any noun. Like, for instance, I brought up パソコンぽい as an example and she said that sounded weird, like no one uses it that freely. It's mostly used in situations to describe someone as something, ie あの人は演歌が好きだから日本人ぽいですよ (That person likes enka so they're kind of Japanesey)。
or, something like this (actual role play with my coworkers, lol),
平井堅は外国人みたいな。。。 (Ken Hirai looks like foreigner)
え？そうかも知れないけど日本人です。 (Eh? Perhaps, but he's Japanese.)
平井堅は外国人ぽいやな。。。(Ken Hirai seems pretty foreign (He acts foreign))
え？見えへんわ (Eh? I don't see it)
But if I used,
平井堅は車っぽいです (Ken Hirai is like a car)
Then that's not normal usage. You could but its weird. Maybe perhaps if it was like 自転車は車っぽいです (The bike is like a car), but even then.....
4
13 years ago
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I guess there has to be SOME kind of basis for comparison. Things that are totally dissimilar in every way (like people and cars) can't really be compared using any construction, right?
Lol, I'm trying to think of a situation in English when I would use the phrase "Ken is very car-ish" but am failing miserably :))
Now that you mention it, I do only hear 「っぽい」 being used when describing people, except in situations where you are describing an object that in some way shows some kind of relationship to a particular country or culture. Like if an object is cheaply-made, I've heard people describe it as 「中国っぽい」 (same as I heard often in America, lol); or if it looks particularly Japanese in some way, 「日本っぽい」.
2
13 years ago
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