英単語のメルマガ、ArcaMaxは平日は毎日一つの単語を取り上げているのですが、日曜日は一つの単語を取り上げるのではなく、発行者のRob Kyffさん（学校の先生だそうです）が複数の英単語を色々な角度からの視点で解説してくれます。１１月１３日は次ぎの文で始まっています。
Two presidents. Two midterm elections. Two words for getting clobbered. In 2006, George W. Bush described the repudiation of his Republican Party as a "thumpin'." This year, Barack Obama said he and the Democrats had suffered a "shellacking."
取り上げられた単語は "thumpin'."（普通の英語は "thumping."） と "shellacking." で、この後の文でこの二つの言葉の由来を説明しているのですが、全部引用すると長いのと "thumping."についてはだいたい知っていることなので省略し、 "shellacking." の説明個所のみ引用します。
Befitting Obama's international background, "shellac" has exotic roots. It's a blend of "shell" and "lac" (a resinous secretion of an insect), from the Hindi "lakh."
When the French first used a purified version of lac to create a varnish with a hard, shell-like finish, they called it "lacque en ecailles" (lac in thin plates). During the early 1700s, the English adopted this term and Anglicized it to "shellac."
The use of "shellac" to mean "beat up," evolved from the similarity between the rapid, repeated brush strokes used to apply shellac and the strokes used to batter a person. Not surprisingly, "shellacked" also came to mean "drunk."
なるほど、 "lac" は "lacquer" と同類なので "shellac" の元の意味はすんなり理解できます。それが "beat up," の意味を持つ様になったのも説明を読むと分かりますが、言葉の意味や用法は時代と共に進歩すると言うか、変わるものなのだとつくづく感心します。一応 "shellac" の辞書の説明も見ておきます。
・Oxford Dictionary: North American informal defeat or beat (someone) decisively: they were shellacked in the 1982 election
・Wiktionary: (informal, US) To inflict a heavy defeat; to drub; to batter. Used primarily in sports and political contexts.
・Urban Dictionary: destroy, dominate in competition, thrash, beat; We were getting shellacked so badly the ump reinstated the slaughter rule; I know my dad is going to shellac me when he sees this report card.
辞書の用例にも選挙での敗北で使われていることが分かりました。
Two presidents. Two midterm elections. Two words for getting clobbered. In 2006, George W. Bush described the repudiation of his Republican Party as a "thumpin'." This year, Barack Obama said he and the Democrats had suffered a "shellacking."
取り上げられた単語は "thumpin'."（普通の英語は "thumping."） と "shellacking." で、この後の文でこの二つの言葉の由来を説明しているのですが、全部引用すると長いのと "thumping."についてはだいたい知っていることなので省略し、 "shellacking." の説明個所のみ引用します。
Befitting Obama's international background, "shellac" has exotic roots. It's a blend of "shell" and "lac" (a resinous secretion of an insect), from the Hindi "lakh."
When the French first used a purified version of lac to create a varnish with a hard, shell-like finish, they called it "lacque en ecailles" (lac in thin plates). During the early 1700s, the English adopted this term and Anglicized it to "shellac."
The use of "shellac" to mean "beat up," evolved from the similarity between the rapid, repeated brush strokes used to apply shellac and the strokes used to batter a person. Not surprisingly, "shellacked" also came to mean "drunk."
なるほど、 "lac" は "lacquer" と同類なので "shellac" の元の意味はすんなり理解できます。それが "beat up," の意味を持つ様になったのも説明を読むと分かりますが、言葉の意味や用法は時代と共に進歩すると言うか、変わるものなのだとつくづく感心します。一応 "shellac" の辞書の説明も見ておきます。
・Oxford Dictionary: North American informal defeat or beat (someone) decisively: they were shellacked in the 1982 election
・Wiktionary: (informal, US) To inflict a heavy defeat; to drub; to batter. Used primarily in sports and political contexts.
・Urban Dictionary: destroy, dominate in competition, thrash, beat; We were getting shellacked so badly the ump reinstated the slaughter rule; I know my dad is going to shellac me when he sees this report card.
辞書の用例にも選挙での敗北で使われていることが分かりました。
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