What does 「やめとこう」mean?


In the game Tingle's Love Balloon Trip, if you ask your friend Lion, who is
very strong, to forcefully open a gutter, he responds:

> こ、 こわしたら まずいだろ ? やめとこうぜ。

The first sentence I take it means, "W-what if I break it?", literally, "It'll
be bad if I break it, right?"

I'm not sure about the second sentence; I guess it either means, "Quit asking
me.", or maybe something like "I won't!" since やめ probably is the stem of 辞める,
but how about the 〜とこう part?




やめとこう is the volitional form of やめとく, which is a very frequently heard
contraction of やめておく (やめる written in kanji would be 止める: to stop (doing
something)).

The て-form of a verb plus おく (originally from 置く: _to put down_ ) is a bit
hard to explain concisely, but usually should be taken as to (not) do
something now, rather than let things run their course. In other words, it's
used when doing something proactively, or at least showing or (asking for) the
intent to be proactive with your decision making.

> こ、 こわしたら まずいだろ ? やめとこうぜ。

Should be read something like this: "D-don't you think we'd get in trouble if
we broke it? Let's forget about it already."




やめとこう is the volitional form of やめとく, which is a very frequently heard
contraction of やめておく (やめる written in kanji would be 止める: to stop (doing
something)).

The て-form of a verb plus おく (originally from 置く: _to put down_ ) is a bit
hard to explain concisely, but usually should be taken as to (not) do
something now, rather than let things run their course. In other words, it's
used when doing something proactively, or at least showing or (asking for) the
intent to be proactive with your decision making.

> こ、 こわしたら まずいだろ ? やめとこうぜ。

Should be read something like this: "D-don't you think we'd get in trouble if
we broke it? Let's forget about it already."

