矢鱈

yatara
random, excessive, especially common in adverb form, with a ni particle following it

---

Hiro uses this word a lot, and it's one I've never formally learned. he pronounces it with an emphatic glottal stop in the middle: yattara. I suppose this is akin to the difference between yahari and yappari (meaning, I knew it! Of course!), where the glottal stop is used to give the word more oomph.
what I don't understand is what connection the characters have to the meaning, because, at face value, this word would mean something like arrow-cod. obviously metaphoric, or perhaps just atezi, which is when the Japanese assign kanzi to a Japanese word based on the sound alone.
another interesting note: I suspect this is one of those words that, when used correctly, signal true fluency (to a Japanese listener).
When I was studying Japanese, my professor, the author Eleanor Harz Jorden, stressed that there were a few words that, when used correctly, signaled a deeper level of language mastery. among the words that we studied that qualified for that distinction were yappari and naruhodo. I think I will give them both their own entries.