English Collection

日頃目に付いた覚えたい英単語、慣用句などの表現についてのメモです。

odd drink or two

2025年01月21日 | 英単語
MIDORI Shinyaさんによる山中伸弥先生とのインタビュー記事から引用します。

-- And you drink alcohol too?
I don' mind the odd drink or two. I try to regulate my intake, though.

"odd drink or two" の "odd" は1~2杯程度と言ったところでしょうか。辞書で "odd" の項を見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: approximately or a little more than the number mentioned: How old is she—seventy odd?
・Vocabulary.com: an indefinite quantity more than that specified: “invited 30-odd guests”

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in a nod to the iPod

2025年01月20日 | 英単語

山中伸弥先生の半生記 "Discovering iPS Cells" を読んでいます。They Don't Believe Me! の章から引用します。 iPSの命名についての個所です。

I gave the name "induced pluripotent stem cells" to these new cells with proliferative capability and pluripotency similar to that of ES cells; iPS cells for short. I lowercased the first letter in a nod to the iPod, the portable digital music player that was very popular at the time. I wanted to make it as easy as possible to remember the name, given my bitter experience with other genes that I had discovered and named (NAT1 and ECAT4), but whose names were no longer used.

"in a nod to the iPod" の箇所ですが、"nod" を辞書で見ると次の説明があります。

・Oxford English Dictionary: a (passing) nod to something: something that you do or say to acknowledge the importance or influence of: The house is white, in a passing nod to Greek tradition.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to move the head down and then up again quickly, esp. to show agreement, approval, or greeting: The teacher nodded (his head) in agreement.

山中先生はiPodの愛好者でiPodに敬意を示す意味で "induced pluripotent stem cells" の通称を "iPS" としたのでしょうね。米国滞在中にプリゼンテーションについても勉強したと書かれていたのでその成果を発揮している証拠ですね。
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under the fold

2025年01月16日 | 英単語


昨日取り上げた "the articles appeared under the fold" の意味をChatGPTで確認しました。

The phrase "the articles appeared under the fold" refers to the placement of news articles in a newspaper.

In traditional print newspapers, “above the fold” means the top half of the front page—the part visible when the newspaper is folded in half. Articles in this position are more prominent and likely to be noticed by readers. In contrast, “under the fold” refers to the lower half of the front page, which is only visible once the newspaper is fully opened. Articles placed under the fold are considered less prominent.

In Shinya Yamanaka's context, this means that while he expected his research paper to be featured as a major headline on the front page, it was placed in a less noticeable position below the fold, likely due to the news coverage of the terrorist attacks in London taking precedence.

分かり易い説明ですね。
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the articles appeared under the fold

2025年01月15日 | 英単語
山中伸弥先生の半生記 "Discovering iPS Cells" を読んでいます。 A Shadow Cast by the Fabrication Scandalの章から引用します。

We also needed to prevent the results from leaking out before the paper was published. Our method was so easy that anyone could just copy it once the information leaked. We had previously held weekly seminars in which all members of the lab took turns presenting results in front of other members, but after the results of the iPS cell project came out, we canceled them. Apart from Takahashi, there were only two other people in whom I could confide about iPS cells: Assistant Professor Nakagawa and our postdoc Okita Keisuke. Our paper was published in Cell in August 2006 (reference 6). I was confident that the results would merit front page news, but the articles appeared under the fold because of the terrorist attacks in London.

引用文最後の文中の "merit front page news, but the articles appeared under the fold" の表現の内、前半の "merit front page news" は表紙のページにふさわしいの意味でしょうが後半の "appeared under the fold"
の意味が分かりません。辞書で "fold" を見ると次の説明がありました。

・Oxford English Dictionary: in/not in a position where you see it first, for example in the top/bottom part of a newspaper page or web page: Your ad will be placed above the fold for prominent exposure.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a line or mark where paper, cloth, etc. was or is folded: Make a fold across the centre of the card.

Oxford English Dictionaryの説明に出ている意味、新聞の下段の掲載になったとの解釈で良さそうです。気になるので明日ChatGPTで確認します。
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hoodwink

2025年01月14日 | 英単語
山中伸弥先生の半生記 "Discovering iPS Cells" を読んでいます。My Visionの章から引用します。

In April 2000, the opportunity arrived to promote my laboratory to the new students, and I spoke eloquently about my vision. However, I did not say anything negative such as "it will take decades to realize this vision." I enthusiastically described what a wonderful achievement it would be if we could only pull it off. In the end, three students surprisingly opted to join my laboratory (maybe I hoodwinked them, I don't know): Takahashi Kazutoshi, Tokuzawa Yoshimi, and Kaiho Eiko.

"hoodwink" を辞書で見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: to trick somebody: She had been hoodwinked into buying a worthless necklace.
・Collins Dictionary: If someone hoodwinks you, they trick or deceive you.: Many people are hoodwinked by the so-called beauty industry.
・Vocabulary.com: To hoodwink someone means to trick or mislead them. Beware of fake ATMs that try to hoodwink you into giving over your bank card and your code, only to keep them both and steal all your money.
An excellent, old-fashioned word is hoodwink, and you’ll be happy you know it when you have to read Victorian novels in which characters are repeatedly hoodwinked. It is an Old English compound which meant "to blindfold" 600 years ago but quickly began to be used figuratively. Think about the expression, to pull the wool over someone's eyes, as having the same image and meaning. Has your big sister ever hoodwinked you into doing her chores for her?
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