１月９日に話題にした表現 "fish feathers" の意味が確認できないのは気になるので奥の手を使いました。 Web上の辞書で検索（私の場合はOneLook Dictionary Searchを利用していますが）してもどうしても分からない場合の最後の手段で（知り合いに気軽に訊けるネイティブがいれば良いのですがいないので）Ask the English Teacher(http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/english/) Questions and answers about English usage)にメールを出しました。 そしたら翌日に次ぎの回答が来ました。
You’re right--”fish feathers” means nonsense. The more common expression in English is “horse feathers,” but E.B. White was a very clever writer and liked to come up with new and unusual expressions. Have you read his story “Charlotte’s Web”? It’s a beloved children’s book that adults also enjoy.
I hope you can find some of his essays as well. He was a very clear writer, and a perceptive man.
注： E.B. Whiteは私が読んだジュニアの読み物 "Stuart Little" の作者の事です。
なるほど、普通は ”horsefeathers”（辞書では二語ではなく一語で出ています）が使われるのですね。 一応辞書で ”horsefeathers” を確認しました。
Dictionary.com: 1. (used with a singular or plural verb) something not worth considering.; 2.(interjection) rubbish; nonsense; bunk (used to express contemptuous rejection).
Online Etymology Dictionary: "nonsense," 1928, said to have been coined by U.S. cartoonist Billy De Beck; perhaps a variant of horseshit "nonsense," though the latter is attested only from 1940s
これですっきりしました。
You’re right--”fish feathers” means nonsense. The more common expression in English is “horse feathers,” but E.B. White was a very clever writer and liked to come up with new and unusual expressions. Have you read his story “Charlotte’s Web”? It’s a beloved children’s book that adults also enjoy.
I hope you can find some of his essays as well. He was a very clear writer, and a perceptive man.
注： E.B. Whiteは私が読んだジュニアの読み物 "Stuart Little" の作者の事です。
なるほど、普通は ”horsefeathers”（辞書では二語ではなく一語で出ています）が使われるのですね。 一応辞書で ”horsefeathers” を確認しました。
Dictionary.com: 1. (used with a singular or plural verb) something not worth considering.; 2.(interjection) rubbish; nonsense; bunk (used to express contemptuous rejection).
Online Etymology Dictionary: "nonsense," 1928, said to have been coined by U.S. cartoonist Billy De Beck; perhaps a variant of horseshit "nonsense," though the latter is attested only from 1940s
これですっきりしました。
トータル
