In Japanese, nani kore なにこれ means literally "what is this?" However, being an instance of emotive right-dislocation, the phrase isn't used when someone is actually asking "what" this is, it's used to express shock, surprise, or disgust about something, like "what the...?" in English.
More technically, nani, "what, kore, "this," is a dislocation of kore nani これなに, which is a null-marked kore wa nani これはなに, which is a casual variant of kore wa nandesu ka? これはなんですか？ which does actually mean "what is this?" in Japanese.
It's also spelled nani kore 何これ. Variants include nanda kore なんだこれ, nanda yo kore なんだよこれ, nandesu ka kore wa なんですかこれは, nanda korya なんだこりゃ, and so on.
Manga: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - Part 5: Golden Wind, JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken: Ougon no Kaze ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 黄金の風 (Chapter 456, ５プラス１)
- Context: Fugo フーゴ gives Narancia ナランチャ a math question to solve.
- 16 × 55 = 28.
- *stares puzzledly.*
- nani kore......?
何これ･･････？
What is this? - hehehe♡
へへへ♡
*giggle* - atatteru?
当たってる？
[Did I get it right]?- Literally "is it hitting," in the sense of hitting the mark, matching the correct answer.
- Also: the i of te-iru is contracted.
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