Can someone help me understand「どころの話ではない」in this sentence?


I don't think I really get it. Could someone please help me?

> 倍返しどころの話ではないぞ！

Is it something like this: It's not even close to paying in double?

Thanks in advance!




It's hard to explain what どころ means by itself (etymologically it's somehow
related to 所), but it is a kind of particle which marks something totally
different from the reality. See [this dictionary
entry](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%A9%E3%81%93%E3%82%8D-583229). You would
see this in one of the following forms:

>   * Aどころか、Bだ。
>   * Aどころではない。（むしろ/実際は/etc）Bだ。
>   * Aどころの話ではない。（むしろ/実際は/etc）Bだ。
>   * Aどころの騒ぎではない。（むしろ/実際は/etc）Bだ。
>

Aどころか forms a subordinate clause. The others can form a standalone sentence
and means "Far from A", "Saying A is out of the question / severe
understatement / totally wrong", etc.

This どころ(か) is used to strongly negate A in order to emphasize B. Unlike
English "far from being ～", the "reality" part (B) can be either something
more extreme than A or something opposite from A. In other words, A can be
either a severe understatement or just plain wrong. The followings all make
sense:

>   * 「彼女は若いの？」「若いどころじゃないよ、彼女は2歳だ。」 (saying young is not enough...)
>   * 「彼女は若いの？」「若いどころじゃないよ、彼女は100歳だ。」 (far from young ...)
>   * 10万円儲けるどころか、1000万円儲かった。
>   * 10万円儲けるどころか、10万円損をしてしまった。
>

So 倍返しどころの話ではないぞ means 倍返し (="double payback / getting you back double", a
famous phrase used on a recent TV drama) is either not enough at all or
totally wrong. Theoretically, a sentence that can follow would be something
like むしろ10倍返しだ ("tenfold payback") or something like むしろ感謝しなければならない ("we need
to thank them"), depending on the context.

