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Куда нам еще однa шляпа, и так уже целый склад.

I just heard my girlfriend say this, and I'm not familiar with this particular usage of "куда". What does this sentence mean? Is it meant as a rhetorical question close in meaning to "... никуда не годится" or "К чему ...?"

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    К чему, зачем... What the hell do we need another hat for? We could fill a warehouse with what we already have.
    – user75619
    Commented Dec 13, 2018 at 14:37
  • i believe куда here refers to a place which is already occupied hence the objection, so it is rhetorical because the lack of place is perceived as obvious... another unrelated use of куда is куда + adjective in comparative form in the sense of much/a lot more - куда сильнее, куда известнее etc.
    – Баян Купи-ка
    Commented Dec 13, 2018 at 15:46
  • @БаянКупи-ка Now you mention it, how does "куда + comparative" compare with "гораздо + comparative"?
    – Con-gras-tue-les-chiens
    Commented Dec 13, 2018 at 21:31
  • they're synonymous with куда being less formal, BTW not only with adjectives but with adverbs as well
    – Баян Купи-ка
    Commented Dec 13, 2018 at 21:45
  • куда in the sense of гораздо is used with both synthetic and analytical comparative form and analytical formed not only with более but with менее as well, there's also куда как + adverb which means very + adverb but ironically and is rarely used in speech
    – Баян Купи-ка
    Commented Dec 14, 2018 at 8:01

3 Answers 3

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Куда нам эта шляпа? У нас их целый склад. - Why take this hat, we don't have room for it.

Add "куда + pronoun in Dative + Infinitive" to this row.

Куда тебе бегать, ты и ходишь-то с трудом! - Do you really want to run being unable to walk properly?

And simply

Куда там! - No such luck.

It's pretty colloquial, but quite decent.

But the other version is

На кой чёрт тебе эта шляпа? - Why the hell do you need this hat?

Кой is a shorter version of какой.

"Чёрт" was (and is) a swearing word, that's why it was omitted, and the expression became

На кой мне туда идти? - Why the hell shall I go there?

And later one swearing word was replaced by other swearing words an euphemisms.

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The word "куда" is commonly used to clarify a location or direction ("Куда он это положил?", "Куда мне идти?").
In this case, word "куда" also has a meaning close to explaining the location/direction.
"Куда ... еще" in this context means "where we should go/use/store etc.", but with the connotation of uselessness of some extra action.

For example:

Куда нам еще одна шляпа? - Where should we use/store one more hat (we already have enough hats)
Куда нам еще идти? - Where else should we go (we are already in right place or just too tired to go anywhere else).

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Yes, you are basically right, "Куда нам ... (nominative)" means that you don't really need something. It can be disputed though, so it's not 100% rhetorical, but by saying that you imply that in your opinion the object you are talking about is useless for you.

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