Tuesday, September 24, 2019

grammar - Understanding "よりを戻す" and "止めておこう"



I don't think us getting together tonight is such a good idea.


やっぱり今夜、よりを戻すのは止めておこう。




I would like to understand this sentence better, specifically the (idiomatic?) expression, "よりを戻す." I will parse the parts I am not sure of below to see if I grasp it correctly:


"やっぱり" "after all."


"よりを戻す" is an idiom(?) meaning "get back together."


"止めておこう" "Should let pass/should let the matter drop/let's quit"


If these are acceptable, how does "よりを戻す" express "get back together"?


And does the おこう in "止めておこう" derive from 置く?



Answer



As you correctly understood, よりを戻す is an idiom meaning for a broken couple to get back together.


[縒]{よ}る means “to twist threads together to make a thicker string.” [縒]{よ}りを戻す literally means to undo this process and turn a string into several threads apart. This may sound like the opposite of getting back together (certainly it does sound like the opposite to me), but I guess that the analogy here is that “twisting” refers to the conflict between a couple, and removing the twist corresponds to getting back together.


おこう in [止]{や}めておこう is etymologically derived from 置く (to put), but here …ておく means “to do … for now.” In this context, よりを戻すのをやめておく means to avoid getting back together for now.



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