Konnichiwa y’all.
So, formality in Japanese language is pretty important. What I’m wondering is what the effect is on the average listener if the formality levels are mixed in a strange way.
For example: Genki de katsuyaku nasatte irassharu to no koto, nani yori da zo!
My fumbly translation: I’m humbly thrilled to hear that you are doing well my dear friend, you crazy motherfucker!
I guess in English it would sound either like a joke or split personalities. How does this come off in Japanese (if it’s done at all)?
I don’t do it that extreme, but I always forget my -masu by the end of what I’m saying. So I start off polite (in a store, or more usually, to my vice principal!) and finish with dictionary form. Then look like an idiot when I say -imasu after the sentence.
I’m wondering how this sounds to J natives as well.
The first situation that came to my mind when reading this would be, say if an older guy was talking to a younger or same-age fella about a mutually-respected third person (that would be plausible with the ‘to no koto’; it could be hearsay). Then the first half of his remark would be referring to that third person with keigo (although to keep up with the polite part, I’d expect to hear ‘o-genki’ and ‘go-katsuyaku,’ and 'nasatte irrasharu is 二重敬語 but that usage is common nonetheless), and the second half of his remark is fitting considering the relationship between the two men present.
But in terms of one person saying it directly to another…I dunno man, I can’t quite picture it. To bust ass front-loading all that keigo, then finish off with a in-yer-face, albeit friendly ‘nani yori da zo’ seems like such a shame. YMMV!