How do I translate 「コロッと転がってたりする」 to english?


I've encountered the following sentence in a game:

> 時には後ろを振り返ると案外役に立つ事が **コロッと転がってたりする** もんだ。

First, I'd like to understand why the "to" in コロッと isn't in katakana like the
rest of the word, why the dictionary writes it all in hiragana
(<http://jisho.org/search/korotto>). Maybe I got the wrong word?  
But regardless of that, how do I put that part of the sentence into words? I
seem to have it in my mind, but can't quite say it in english.




This コロッと isn't really describing the quality of the thing itself, I mean, it
is, but much more reflecting the speaker's impression or observation.

In your example, 転がっている alone can fully depict the situation, "it's lying on
the ground". The remainder, コロッと and ～たりする both represent the speaker's mood.

コロッと implies (of course not round or rolling-ness here) something exists there
as casually, unattendedly as a roadside pebble. In other word, it's actually a
rhetoric attributing one's failure to notice to that innocent thing.

たりする is a worth learning colloquial idiom that derives from たり of probability
or exemplification. It means "sometimes could happen/do", "do -- or something"
or "things such like -- happen".




That 「と」 _**must**_ be written in hiragana because it is a particle. You have
_**no**_ choice here.

The 「と」 turns the preceding word 「コロッ」 into an adverb form so that it can
modify the verb phrase 「[転]{ころ}がってたりする」.

「ころっ/コロッ」 is a colloquial and onomatopoeic "word"; therefore, it is not very
important whether you write it in hiragana or katakana. You have a choice
here. Your preference can be fully reflected in its orthography.

My own TL attempt for:

> 「コロッと[転]{ころ}がってたりするもんだ。」

would be:

> "one might find (helpful things/items) lying about (unexpectedly)"
>
> "(to your surprise) you may find (helpful things/items) just scattered about
> "

