挙げ句 (ageku) - in the end, afterall
--- Notes ---
'after much (verb)-ing'
ageku implies doing something a lot.
'after much to-ing and fro-ing we finally decided to ..'
悩んだ挙句、
'after a lot of worrying, we gave up caring'
and do both seem to be negative
seems to be mostly positive
can be both
勉強したあげくに卒業しました
after much studying, i graduated
(implies a long sigh about the process of studying... even though the
result was positive)
せっかく勉強したので、卒業しました
thanks to all the studying, I passed!
ヤット！卒業しました！
finally! I passed!
勉強した後、卒業しました
after studying, I passed.
注意→ 日本語のnative speakerチェックして下さい！
corrections to note above:
勉強したあげくに卒業しました It's better to add adjectives to
make it natural.
→suggestion : 散々（さんざん） or
色々（いろいろ）_勉強した挙句に卒業しました。
せっかく勉強したので、卒業しました
→suggestion : 折角（せっかく）
折角勉強したので、教師（きょう）の資格（しかく）を取得（しゅとく）して、卒業しました。
Since I studied it all the way, I passed with a teacher's license.
折角勉強したのに、卒業することができませんでした。
勉強した後、卒業しました→勉強した後、合格しました。
after studying, I passed.
Often used with さんざん
According to a native speaker, this grammar adds a negative feeling to the
sentence, so either the first part preceding the 挙句 or the following
part should have a negative feel to reflect that.
In the example:
「散々考えた挙げ句その計画を実行にうつした」
this is equivalent to
「散々悩んだ挙げ句その計画を実行にうつした」
in feeling due to the presence of 挙句.
Similarly in another example
「両親に相談したあげくに、彼と結婚することにした。」
sounds unnatural, because the decision to marry someone is a positive one.
If it was instead
「両親に相談したあげくに、彼と離婚することにした。」
then it would sound more natural because divorce has a negative
connotation.
ageku should return a bad result
--- Examples ---
挙げ句の果てに彼は刑務所行きになった。
In the end he landed up in jail.
4頭の象が酔っ払った挙句の果てに高圧線に襲い掛かって感電死。
Four elephants get drunk and in the end crashed into high-voltage power
lines, electrocuted.
迷ったあげく彼の誘いを断ってしまった。
After much dithering, in the end I turned down his invitation.
散々考えた挙げ句その計画を実行にうつした
After hard thinking , I carried out the plan
両親に相談したあげくに、彼と離婚することにした。
After talking with both (his) parents the end result was that I decided to
divorce him.
彼女はみんなにさんざん迷惑をかけたあげく、あいさつもしないで会社をやめていった。
After she gave people a great deal of trouble, she left the company
without even saying good-bye.
コンピュータを物色して歩いたあげく、デイヴィッドより２００ドル安い値段で手に入れた。
I shopped around for my computer and ended up paying $200 less than David.
私は十分考慮したあげく申し出に応じた。
I accepted the offer after due consideration.
色々勉強したあげく、卒業しました。
Since I had made all the effort of studying, I obtained my teacher's
license and graduated with it.
一杯食べた挙げ句に吐き出した。
After a lot of eating , I threw up.
どの大学に留学しようかと、さんざん悩んだあげく、日本の大学に決めた。
One way or another how much I wanted to studying abroad in an university,
after much being harshly worried about it , I decided to go to a Japanese
university.
さんざん文句を言ったあげくに、出て行ったんです。
After making so many complaints , she just got up and left.
--- Comments ---
挙げ句の果て is an emphatic way of saying 挙げ句 so that it sounds
more like 'at the very end.' Comes from the last stanza in 連句.
(contributor: bamboo4)
JDict examples (contributor: dc)
(n-adv,n-t) Noun-Adverb (a noun that can be used as an adverb) +
Noun-timelike (a noun that can be used where a 'time' reference is
expected).
Noun use 'ageku no hate' - ageku modifies hate
'time-like' use 'ageku kare no sasoi wo kotawatte shimatta.' (ageku
specifies when 'kare no ...') (contributor: Amatuka)
あげくに seems to be used much as あげく、(obviously you can't have
あげくにの though). (contributor: Amatuka)
electrocute : ile'ktrэkju`:t vt usu passive 感電しさせる
(contributor: Miki)
what's the difference between あげく & 後？ (contributor: shrek)
後 is just 'after'
挙（げ）句 implies 'there was the process to reach the result' or
'after all'. (contributor: Miki)
I always thought that あげく is used for negative results. (contributor:
Huess)
It might be that the -process- has negative mood, but the result is not
necessarily bad. See ex5 above.
eg After a lot of hard work, I passed the test.
I added a note to this, pending confirmation. (contributor: dc)
In the second exmaple, 彼と結婚することにした should be
translated as 'I decided to marry him.' If you say,
彼と結婚することとなった, than it is possible to say 'it was
decided that I marry him.'
(contributor: bamboo4)
↑ changed.
And the notes are accurate with ageku and yatto? (contributor: dc)
In notes, they are not natural.
勉強したあげくに卒業しました It's better to add adjectives to
make it natural.
→suggestion : 散々（さんざん） or
色々（いろいろ）_勉強した挙句に卒業しました。
せっかく勉強したので、卒業しました
→suggestion : 折角（せっかく）
折角勉強したので、教師（きょう）の資格（しかく）を取得（しゅとく）して、卒業しました。
Since I studied it all the way, I passed with a teacher's license.
折角勉強したのに、卒業することができませんでした。
勉強した後、卒業しました→勉強した後、合格しました。
after studying, I passed. (contributor: Miki)
you should update your entry with Miki's corrections, she is absolutely
right.
教師（きょうし）
Since I studied it all the way, I passed with a teacher's license ->
I think i understand your Japanese but I am not sure about your English
translation. Which of the two do you mean:
1. Since I studied all the way, I graduated with the help of my teacher's
license
Or
2. Since I studied all the way, I passed my teacher's license exam.
(contributor: ezi)
i quickly copied these suggestions above. if someone can combine/edit the
two notes, i will delete the extra ones. (contributor: dc)
The use of 折角 in せっかく勉強したので is archaic. Nowadays,
people would say 一生懸命 or 頑張って勉強したので. In modern
usage, 折角 is used in negative sense, such as
折角勉強したのに落第した (Though or despite the fact that I
studied hard, I failed to make the grade)
(contributor: bamboo4)
I don't think there is a に at the back of
あげく、 色々勉強したあげく、卒業しました。
(contributor: 誠)
Since I had made all the effort of studying, I obtained my teacher's
license and graduated with it. (contributor: 誠)
In the See Also section, it says that 挙句 is always used in the
negative. However the examples and comments suggests that it can be used in
both the negative and positive.
(contributor: xabre24)
Hi, In this example
色々勉強したあげく、卒業しました。
Since I had made all the effort of studying, I obtained my teacher's
license and graduated with it.
The translation is incorrect... since the Japanese mentions nothing about a
teacher's license. This simply says 'After studying so much, I graduated'
(contributor: マリ)
Hi マリ, 誠's translation left out the
'教師（きょう）の資格（しかく）を取得（しゅとく）して'
part but is implying the same thing as miki's example. (contributor:
h2oaso)
--- View this entry online ---
http://www.jgram.org/pages/viewOne.php?tagE=ageku
