Criticizing: くせに・くせして
Everyone has bad habits, tendencies, or mannerisms. On top of that, everyone in the world loves to complain and ridicule the bad qualities of others – sometimes even themselves. In Japanese, one of the most effective ways of ridiculing others for something is done so by using the word 癖, which literally means “habit” in the negative sense.
i. 爪を噛む癖
The habit of biting one’s nails
ii. 早起きの癖
The habit of waking up early
In this lesson, we will learn how this word is used in the grammar expression くせに, which is seen in cruder contexts asくせして, to mean “even though/in spite of” when used to express annoyance, criticism, anger, etc.
～くせに: Dissatisfaction
As mentioned in the introduction, 癖’s basic meaning is to describe habits, which is almost always meant with a negative impression.
1. 悪い癖を直すには、どうしたらいいのでしょうか。
What should I do to fix a bad habit?
2. この味、癖になりますね！
I’m going to get hooked to this taste!
In Ex. 2, we see how X｛が・は｝癖になる is used to mean ““”to get hooked to X.” Interestingly, 癖 may also refer to kinks and curls in things like hair, rugs, etc. For instance, 癖毛 means “frizzy/unruly hair.”
3. 一定期間は、髪の癖を直す施術が受けられなくなることもあります。
There are also cases of not being able to undergo (cosmetic) treatment to fix hair kinks for a certain period of time.
The pattern ～癖に, usually written out as くせに translates into English as “even though/in spite of,” and it is used to describe the speaker’s annoyance, criticism, anger, complaint, etc. about a situation.
As くせ itself is a noun, it interacts with conjugatable parts of speech by following their 連体形, with noun-predicates also having the option of である being replaced with the particle の.
| Part of Speech | ？＋～くせに | Example |
| Nouns | の・である | 男｛の・である｝くせに Even though (you)’re a man… |
| Adjectives | 連体形 | 古いくせに Even though (it)’s old… |
| Adjectival Nouns | 連体形 | 簡単なくせに Even though it’s easy… |
| Verbs | 連体形 | 買うくせに In spite of buying… |
Grammar Note: Though “Noun ＋ であるくせに” is perfectly grammatical, it is only practically encountered in the written language, with the use of the particle の in place of である being the norm.
3. 彼女って大人のくせに、まだ母親に洗濯してもらってるそうだ。
I hear that she still has her mom do her laundry even though she’s an adult.
4. 健太君は子供のくせに、全然外で遊びたがらないの。
Kenta doesn’t want to play outside at all even though he’s a kid.
5. 田中さんは、日本人のくせに、日本語を話すのが好きじゃないみたいですね。
Mr. Tanaka, despite being Japanese, doesn’t appear to like speaking Japanese, huh.
6. あの人、新卒者のくせに、よく何でも知ってるように喋ったりしますね。
Despite being a new graduate, that person sure often talks like he knows everything, huh.
7. 彼女、コメディアンのくせに、全然面白くないよ。
She isn’t funny at all despite being a comedian.
8. 「男のくせに」や、「女のくせに」などといった言い方はセクハラに当たり得ると言えよう。
One could say that expressions like “even though you’re a man” or “even though you’re a woman” can be treated as forms of sexual harassment.
9. 野生動物のくせに動きが鈍いな。
It’s slow moving despite being a wild animal, huh.
10. ワニのくせに海水もへっちゃらなんだぁ。
Huh, sea water isn’t even a big deal even though it’s an alligator.
11. 中国人のくせに爆買いしないなんておかしい！
It’s so strange that he/she won’t spend like crazy despite being Chinese!
12. 猪原は頭が悪いくせに、人気があって羨ましい！
I’m so jealous that Ihara is popular even though he’s dumb!
13. 本当は元気なくせに怠けやがって！
How dare you slack off when you’re just fine!
14. 自分が馬鹿なくせに人を馬鹿にする人が大嫌いだよ。
I hate people who make others out to be idiots even though they themselves are idiots.
15. 賢いくせに、おかしなことを考えるんだね。
You sure think a lot of crazy stuff for someone who’s wise.
16. 学歴がないくせにプライドだけ高い男、めっちゃ嫌いなの！
I really hate men who only have pride with no education!
17. あんた、戦争の経験もないくせに戦争に憧れを持つんじゃねーぞ。
You don’t yearn for war when you’ve never experienced war!
18. あたしの彼氏ね、知ってるくせに教えてくれないわ。
My boyfriend, you know, knows but he won’t tell me.
19. やったくせに知らんぷりするんじゃないぞ！
Don’t act like you don’t know when you’re the one who did it!
20. それだけの怪我したくせに？
Even though that’s all you’re hurt?
21. 3回も恥ずかしい失敗をしちゃったくせに、今更何が恥ずかしいの？
What are you so embarrassed about now? You’ve already failed three times…
22. 何だ、自分がミスしたくせに･･･
What? Even though you yourself have messed up…
～くせして
In far more coarse and often critical, derogatory contexts, ～くせに can be seen rendered as ～くせして. This variant utilizes the particle して, which shares interchangeability with the reason marking function of に.
23. 俺って、日本人のくせして仏教についてはとんと門外漢だよ。
Even though I’m Japanese, I’m a complete outsider regarding Buddhism.
24. 帰国子女の癖してそんなのも知らないってわけか。
So, you don’t even know stuff like that despite being a kikoku shijo, huh?
Word Note: 帰国子女 refers to children of Japanese expatriates who then return to Japan.
25. 日本人のくせして、日本語の文法がからっきしダメだ。
Even though I’m Japanese, my Japanese grammar is absolutely hopeless.