"Slam Dunks and No-Brainers" の中の一文ですが、アニメShrekの一節を引用したようです。
"Donkey, two things, OK?" Shrek says to his annoying sidekick. "Shut. Up." Peals of laughter from three-year-olds.
"sidekick" の意味ですが、今日は普通の辞書ではなくThe Word Detectiveに書かれていた説明が面白いのでそれを引用します。
A "sidekick," of course, is a close companion or friend, especially one who functions as an assistant. Most of us in the U.S. probably first encountered the term in TV westerns, where every hero had an ever-present sidekick. Even The Lone Ranger didn't seem to like to spend much time actually being "lone," and never went far without his sidekick Tonto.
"sidekick" の語源はオーヘンリーの小説で "side-kicker" として使われた事が最初と書いた辞書もありますが（dictionary.com/Online Etymology Dictionary）The Word Detectiveは語源についても次ぎのように説明しています。
The origin of "sidekick," however, seems to have been about as far from the Good Guys in White Hats as one could imagine. "Sidekick" first appeared in the slang of the criminal underworld about 1906, and originally meant a close confederate or accomplice in crime.
There is some uncertainty about how "sidekick" came to mean "partner or assistant" in criminal parlance, but the specialized slang of pickpockets may supply some clues. To a pickpocket, a "kick" is a pair of trousers, and, more specifically, the trouser pockets. "Kick" in this "pocket" sense first appeared in the mid-1800s, and to this day "kick" is used as slang for a roll of bills or other stash of cash.
The side pockets of a man's trousers have long been known, logically enough, as the "side-kicks," and it seems plausible that this term eventually came to be applied to a criminal confederate who was as close to the speaker as the pockets in his pants.
中々納得できる説明ですね。 でも語源と言うのは諸説あるのが普通で次ぎの新説（珍説？）も悪くないと思います。
Since language grows metaphorically out of the human condition I would like to offer some intuitions on sidekick. Sidekick was the term used for a close horse riding companion; close enough to kick the side of the other horse, sometimes causing the horse to vault. Sidekick moved into vaudeville where a lead stage actor "kicked" a companion actor for comic relief.
The jump into or from other forms of entertainment / literature seems to originate from a deeper human relationship that predates "pockets and trousers." Could Eve (out of Adam's side) have been the first sidekick and what a "kick" she gave to Adam!
"Donkey, two things, OK?" Shrek says to his annoying sidekick. "Shut. Up." Peals of laughter from three-year-olds.
"sidekick" の意味ですが、今日は普通の辞書ではなくThe Word Detectiveに書かれていた説明が面白いのでそれを引用します。
A "sidekick," of course, is a close companion or friend, especially one who functions as an assistant. Most of us in the U.S. probably first encountered the term in TV westerns, where every hero had an ever-present sidekick. Even The Lone Ranger didn't seem to like to spend much time actually being "lone," and never went far without his sidekick Tonto.
"sidekick" の語源はオーヘンリーの小説で "side-kicker" として使われた事が最初と書いた辞書もありますが（dictionary.com/Online Etymology Dictionary）The Word Detectiveは語源についても次ぎのように説明しています。
The origin of "sidekick," however, seems to have been about as far from the Good Guys in White Hats as one could imagine. "Sidekick" first appeared in the slang of the criminal underworld about 1906, and originally meant a close confederate or accomplice in crime.
There is some uncertainty about how "sidekick" came to mean "partner or assistant" in criminal parlance, but the specialized slang of pickpockets may supply some clues. To a pickpocket, a "kick" is a pair of trousers, and, more specifically, the trouser pockets. "Kick" in this "pocket" sense first appeared in the mid-1800s, and to this day "kick" is used as slang for a roll of bills or other stash of cash.
The side pockets of a man's trousers have long been known, logically enough, as the "side-kicks," and it seems plausible that this term eventually came to be applied to a criminal confederate who was as close to the speaker as the pockets in his pants.
中々納得できる説明ですね。 でも語源と言うのは諸説あるのが普通で次ぎの新説（珍説？）も悪くないと思います。
Since language grows metaphorically out of the human condition I would like to offer some intuitions on sidekick. Sidekick was the term used for a close horse riding companion; close enough to kick the side of the other horse, sometimes causing the horse to vault. Sidekick moved into vaudeville where a lead stage actor "kicked" a companion actor for comic relief.
The jump into or from other forms of entertainment / literature seems to originate from a deeper human relationship that predates "pockets and trousers." Could Eve (out of Adam's side) have been the first sidekick and what a "kick" she gave to Adam!
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