あたり at the end of a clause


Dear fellow lovers of the Japanese language, please bear with my possibly
foolish question.

I've come across this sentence in a visual novel (Fate/Stay Night):
が、人の噂など当てにならないのが常だ。こんな勝負を持ち出すあたり、男嫌いというより、単に今まで興味がなかっただけかもしれない。

I'm not sure as to what exactly "あたり" means in this context. Is it the usual
meaning as a noun (success / vicinity), or something else? Can it be replaced
with something like のは without the sentence losing much of its original
meaning?

Thank you for your patience.




> "Is it the usual meaning as a noun (success / vicinity), or something else?"

You are thinking of another word 「[当]{あ}たり」 as you mention "success".
"Vicinity", however, is strongly related to the word in question.

This one is 「[辺]{あた}り」. 「当たり」 and 「辺り」 are pronounced differently as well --
pitch accent-wise, that is.

This usage of 「～～～あたり」(It is more than O.K. to write it in kana.) may not be
easy for the learner. It is a somewhat **_euphemistic_** way of giving an
example and making a comment about it.

The structure is **「(an example) + あたり + (speaker's comment or opinion)」**.

> "Can it be replaced with something like のは without the sentence losing much
> of its original meaning?"

Good insight! That is exactly what I meant by "euphemistic".

If you said something like "～～が～～するのは～～だ", it could at times sound too
straightforward and/or judgemental. By using 「あたり」, you can _soften_ things a
little without changing the meaning.

「こんな勝負を持ち出すあたり、～～～」 means:

"Her proposing a match like that, for instance, (makes me wonder ~~~~)"

