I've come across the following sentence while watching a show :
こんな所で立ち止まったりしない
...which, according to the subtitles, translates as :
[She] won't stop after coming all this way.
I had a rough idea of what this meant without the subtitles, but I'm unclear on how it works grammatically : why is the ーたり suffix used here? Why not simply use something like 立ち止まらない ?
Answer
In addition to the basic usage of giving examples, you can use たり with some "unlikely" thing and emphasize how unexpected or extraordinary it is. It can be translated in many ways.
- 彼、本気だったりして! Maybe he is serious!
(～たりして is a set phrase)- 地図を持っていたりしますか? By any chance, do you have a map?
- 私は彼の友達だったりする。 I happen to be his friend.
- 負けたりするなよ。 Don't you ever lose!
(as compared to 負けるなよ, this sounds less serious, or implies the speaker believes the listener is unlikely to lose)
こんな所で立ち止まったりしない is close to the fourth one above; This たり emphasizes how unexpected 立ち止まる is in the context.
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