what does どんだけ？！ mean?

[tetekmakhang]

hey people. lately ive been hearing this phrase a lot: "どんだけ？！" the first time i heard it was in the drama that just finished airing in japan 'proposal daisakusen'. can somebody tell me what it means and give me some examples on how to use it? by the way the people use it, im guessing it means something like "what the hell?", but thats just my guess.

[tetekmakhang]

もしも～し。もう三日ぐらいたったけど、誰も返信してくれなかった。もしかして誰もわからない わけ？

[sanggre_habagat]

どんだけ？！

See this page: http://daelite.wordpress.com/2007/07/02/proposal-daisakusen-operation-love-dondake-special/

It is used when you're impressed with something.

[tetekmakhang]

おう！サンキュー！でも impressed より surprised か appalled at something's stupidity の方が適切かな

[kekepania]

I always thought it was like, "Dondake!" ("oh, that's just plain stupid!") Am I wrong? ^^; Or is that also how you could translate it?

[Datenshi]

Dondake is but a contraction of Doredake (どれだけ) = 'how ~ is that?':

どれ (what) + だけ　(which signifies length or magnitude).

The word itself doesn't have any positive or negative meaning, because it is a purposefully incomplete sentence. I know it's a confusing concept to understand, but because of their traditional preference for non-verbal communication, Japanese love to cut short their sentences in this way.

Therefore, the speaker has to intuit what exactly was abbreviated after the phrase, judging from the context of the conversation and the tone of the speaker.

どれだけ　(馬鹿なの) [voiced in a condescending tone] = how stupid is that?
どれだけ　(すごいの)　[said in an admiring voice] = how amazing is that?

etc.

I hope that helps.

[kekepania]

Thank you Datenshi ^^v

So I was half right, haha ^^;
I've only heard it in an angry voice before : O