Reader's Digest 6月号の英単語のクイズ、Word Power、はイギリス英語の特集でした。１５問中私が見た事がある単語は２語だけで、しかもその意味は覚えていなので全くのお手上げでした。しかし、気になったのは問題の単語ではなく、前書きの文にあった表現です。前書きの最後の個所を引用します。
The Queen's English has long been deemed the correct way to speak but these slang terms are common in day-to-day life. Is your Brit-speak up to snuff?
"up to snuff" は慣用句の様ですがどんな意味でしょうか？
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: Fig. as good as is required; meeting the minimum requirements. Sorry, Tom. Your performance isn't up to snuff. You'll have to improve or find another job. My paper wasn't up to scratch, so I got an F.
・Dictionary.com: up to a certain standard; satisfactory: His performance wasn't up to snuff.
この慣用句の由来についてWorld Wide Wordに説明がありましたが、長いので一部だけ抜粋します。
The snuff here is tobacco: nothing to do with the verb meaning to extinguish.
...
The first meaning of up to snuff was somebody who was sharp, not easily fooled. This may have come from the idea of snuff being itself a sharp preparation, but perhaps because it was mainly taken by men of adult years and some affluence (it was expensive) who would be able to appreciate the quality of snuff and distinguish between examples of different value.
...
Whatever its origin, the meaning of the phrase shifted slightly after a while to imply somebody who was efficient and capable; later still it often meant that something was up to standard, or of the required quality.
なるほど納得です。
The Queen's English has long been deemed the correct way to speak but these slang terms are common in day-to-day life. Is your Brit-speak up to snuff?
"up to snuff" は慣用句の様ですがどんな意味でしょうか？
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: Fig. as good as is required; meeting the minimum requirements. Sorry, Tom. Your performance isn't up to snuff. You'll have to improve or find another job. My paper wasn't up to scratch, so I got an F.
・Dictionary.com: up to a certain standard; satisfactory: His performance wasn't up to snuff.
この慣用句の由来についてWorld Wide Wordに説明がありましたが、長いので一部だけ抜粋します。
The snuff here is tobacco: nothing to do with the verb meaning to extinguish.
...
The first meaning of up to snuff was somebody who was sharp, not easily fooled. This may have come from the idea of snuff being itself a sharp preparation, but perhaps because it was mainly taken by men of adult years and some affluence (it was expensive) who would be able to appreciate the quality of snuff and distinguish between examples of different value.
...
Whatever its origin, the meaning of the phrase shifted slightly after a while to imply somebody who was efficient and capable; later still it often meant that something was up to standard, or of the required quality.
なるほど納得です。
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