Abbreviation and meaning of 「よか」?


The sentence is taken from the manga 「イエスタデイとうたって」

The person who utters this sentence told her friend that he loves her a few
days ago. His friend said that she rather wants to be/stay friends. On the
other side the guy who confessed to her has problems with going back to being
"just" friends. In their conversation of what they are going to do now, he
utters this sentence:

> 「友達になるよう努力する **よか** 待ってた方がいーってコト気にすんな」

My assumption was that **「よか」** is an abbreviation of **「よりか」** , though I am
not entirely sure about that. However, if that is so, does this 「か」add some
kind of nuance here or is it just a matter of "style"?




Yes, this よか is a slangy variant of よりか "(rather) than ～", which in turn is a
colloquial version of より. See [this
entry](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%82%88%E3%81%8B-2091085).

[Wikipedia
says](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%A6%96%E9%83%BD%E5%9C%8F%E6%96%B9%E8%A8%80#%E8%A1%A8%E7%8F%BE)
this is originally nothern-Kanto dialect but has been accepted as part of the
language spoken by modern Tokyoites. I personally never use よか regardless of
the formality, but I know a few people who actively use it in casual
situations.




Yes, this よか is a slangy variant of よりか "(rather) than ～", which in turn is a
colloquial version of より. See [this
entry](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%82%88%E3%81%8B-2091085).

[Wikipedia
says](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%A6%96%E9%83%BD%E5%9C%8F%E6%96%B9%E8%A8%80#%E8%A1%A8%E7%8F%BE)
this is originally nothern-Kanto dialect but has been accepted as part of the
language spoken by modern Tokyoites. I personally never use よか regardless of
the formality, but I know a few people who actively use it in casual
situations.

