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知らんけど shirankedo
...but don't quote me.
What does shirankedo mean?
A Kansai-born escape hatch. Say something with total confidence, then disclaim all responsibility in a single breath.
Example
明日は晴れるらしいよ。知らんけど。
Apparently it'll be sunny tomorrow. Don't quote me though.
Vibe
Who you can say this to, and how it lands.
Friends only Casual. Natural with friends, out of place at work or with strangers.
The story behind shirankedo
Kansai speech has always liked an exit. 知らんけど is the standard Kansai form of 知らないけど, and it does one thing beautifully: it lets you deliver a statement with total authority, then remove your own signature from it half a second later. The confidence and the disclaimer arrive as a set, which is exactly the joke.
For decades it was simply how people talked in Osaka and Kyoto. Then social media carried it nationwide, and by 2022 it was showing up on the year-end buzzword lists, used by people who had never set foot in Kansai. Purists complain that outsiders overuse it. They are probably right. 知らんけど.
Get shirankedo in your pocket
知らんけど is one of 308 words in YABAI, a Japanese culture snack for Android. Every word comes with its meaning, an example sentence, a vibe check and a story like the one above — in 13 languages, read aloud by your device. Paid app: no ads, no sign-up, no subscription.
