go back to the drawing board
やり直す
解説 Definition
計画がうまくいかず、最初からやり直すこと。白紙に戻して再検討する。
Go back to the drawing board means to start again and make a new plan because the first idea did not work. It is used when a project, solution, or attempt fails and needs to be rethought. The expression is common in work, design, and problem-solving contexts.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
board はここでは単なる「板」ではなく、drawing board「設計図を描く台」までまとめて覚えると定着しやすい表現です。go back to ... で「…へ戻る」なので、失敗した案を最初の設計段階まで戻して練り直す場面が自然に浮かびます。plan failed, so we went back to the drawing board. の型で覚えると使いやすいです。start over に近いですが、こちらは単なるやり直しより「白紙に戻して設計から組み直す」感じが強く、企画・製品案・交渉案でよく出ます。
Imagine an engineer going back to the table where the first design was made. This idiom is not just `try again`; it means returning to the planning stage and making a new plan. It is easy to remember with contexts like products, projects, or negotiations that failed.
例文
The design wasn't working, so we had to go back to the drawing board.
デザインがうまくいかなかったので、最初からやり直さなければならなかった。
After the product failed market testing, the team went back to the drawing board.
製品が市場テストに失敗した後、チームは一からやり直した。
Our first approach didn't work, but that's okay—we'll go back to the drawing board.
最初のアプローチはうまくいかなかったが、大丈夫だ。やり直そう。
go back to the drawing board の類義語・関連語
go back to the drawing board の語源・成り立ち Etymology
英語成句で、draw は古英語 dragan「引く」、board は古英語 bord に由来する。1941年の漫画で広まった表現で、drawing+board は線を引いて設計する台、draft や drag も同根なので、「設計の最初へ戻る」から「やり直す」になった。
This idiom is modern English, and it became widely known after a 1941 cartoon. "Drawing board" referred to the board used by designers and engineers for making plans, while "draw" goes back to Old English roots meaning "pull," also seen in words like "drag" and "draft." Because the board was where planning began, the phrase came to mean starting over from the first design stage.
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