The God Delusion written by Richard Dawkins を読んでいます。
Naturally, any decent person will wince at the ordeal of these unfortunate schoolgirls. I am trying to encourage us to wince, too, at the very idea of labelling them 'Catholic schoolgirls' at all. ('Loyalists', as I pointed out in Chapter 1, is the mealy-mouthed Northern Ireland euphemism for Protestants, just as 'Nationalists' is the euphemism for Catholics. People who do not hesitate to brand children 'Catholics' or 'Protestants' stop short of applying those same religious labels - far more appropriately - to adult terrorists and mobs.)
"mealy-mouthed" は日本語の「奥歯に物が挟まった」を連想させる表現ですが、辞書の説明をみます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Afraid to speak frankly or straightforwardly.: mealy-mouthed excuses: I'm sick of all the mealy-mouthed mutts who want something for nothing.
・Collins Dictionary: If you say that someone is being mealy-mouthed, you are critical of them for being unwilling to speak in a simple or open way because they want to avoid talking directly about something unpleasant.: He repeated that he did not intend to be mealy-mouthed with the country's leaders.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: not brave enough to say what you mean directly and honestly: mealy-mouthed excuses: a mealy-mouthed spokesperson
政治家や官僚の国会での答弁は "mealy-mouthed" の典型ですね。
Naturally, any decent person will wince at the ordeal of these unfortunate schoolgirls. I am trying to encourage us to wince, too, at the very idea of labelling them 'Catholic schoolgirls' at all. ('Loyalists', as I pointed out in Chapter 1, is the mealy-mouthed Northern Ireland euphemism for Protestants, just as 'Nationalists' is the euphemism for Catholics. People who do not hesitate to brand children 'Catholics' or 'Protestants' stop short of applying those same religious labels - far more appropriately - to adult terrorists and mobs.)
"mealy-mouthed" は日本語の「奥歯に物が挟まった」を連想させる表現ですが、辞書の説明をみます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Afraid to speak frankly or straightforwardly.: mealy-mouthed excuses: I'm sick of all the mealy-mouthed mutts who want something for nothing.
・Collins Dictionary: If you say that someone is being mealy-mouthed, you are critical of them for being unwilling to speak in a simple or open way because they want to avoid talking directly about something unpleasant.: He repeated that he did not intend to be mealy-mouthed with the country's leaders.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: not brave enough to say what you mean directly and honestly: mealy-mouthed excuses: a mealy-mouthed spokesperson
政治家や官僚の国会での答弁は "mealy-mouthed" の典型ですね。
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