singular dream

HUCKLEBERRY FINNにあった表現です。
"How'd you say he got shot?"
"He had a dream," I says, "and it shot him."
"Singular dream," he says.
"Singular dream" とは何でしょう？　"singular" は文法用語としての意味しか知りません。　手っ取り早く辞書を見ます。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: unusual or striking ("Such poise is singular in one so young"); beyond or deviating from the usual or expected ("Singular behavior")
・Dictionary.com:
1.extraordinary; remarkable; exceptional: a singular success.
2.unusual or strange; odd; different: singular behavior.
3.being the only one of its kind; distinctive; unique: a singular example.
そうか、たった一つと言うことはユニークと同じで変わっているとも言えるのですね。
私もたまに夢を見ますが、そう言えば、まともな夢ではなくいつも何か矛盾している様な変な夢、 "singular dream" です。

compunction

English Journal 6月号の英米小説最前線はSamedi the Deafness by Jesse Ballの紹介で、次ぎの文はその中からです。
Around here we have names for people, and for Mephisto, for instance, that, like the names for the weather, change along with the objects behavior. When Mephisto is being bad, or at the very least, daring, acting without compunction in preposterous affairs like the one in which we are now involved, he is called Mephisto.
天気(weather)は晴れの日、雨の日、嵐の日と状況によって名前は変わるので、猫や人の名前も同じ様に状況によって変わっても良いではないかと言う発想です。　ユニークだなと思いましたが、よく考えると芸能人や作家は職業名と本名はたいてい異なっているし、自分も含めほとんどの人はブロッグでは本名ではない "handle"/ "alias"/ "nickname" を使っているのと同じ事ですね。 上の文にあった "compunction" の意味を辞書で調べます。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: a feeling of deep regret (usually for some misdeed)
・Dictionary.com:
1. a feeling of uneasiness or anxiety of the conscience caused by regret for doing wrong or causing pain; contrition; remorse.
2. any uneasiness or hesitation about the rightness of an action.
名前と言うとジュリエットの台詞を思い出します。
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet."
名前を変える、別名を沢山持っているのはやはり詐欺師なのでしょうか？

Indian file

HUCKLEBERRY FINNは百年前の米国南部・西部の話なので「インディアンの・・・」と言う表現が時々出てきます。　その中で特に気になった表現を一つ紹介します。
So he set his ear to the crack and listened, and listened, and listened, and the steps a-scraping around out there all the time; and at last he nudged us, and we slid out, and stooped down, not breathing, and not making the least noise, and slipped stealthy towards the fence in Injun file, and got to it all right, and me and Jim over it; but Tom's britches catched fast on a splinter on the top rail, and then he hear the steps coming, so he had to pull loose, which snapped the splinter and made a noise; and as he dropped in our tracks and started somebody sings out:
"Who's that? Answer, or I'll shoot!"
"Injun" は "Indian" の事です。　では "Indian file" は何の事か辞書を見ます。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: a line of persons or things ranged one behind the other
・Dictionary.com: single file; A line of people, animals, or things standing or moving one behind the other.
・GNU Webster's 1913:
1.a line of people marching one behind another; a single row. Also used adverbially; as, to march Indian file.
2.single file; arrangement of persons in a row following one after another, the usual way among Indians of traversing woods, especially when on the war path.
別の表現だと "single file" になるようですが、 "Indian file" の方が情景が目に浮かびます。

Venn Diagram

Venn Again, Maybe Not
Certain combinations just don't work. Vinegar plus baking soda causes an explosion.
・Dumb Ideas AND Pretty People = POP Culture
・Fool AND Their Money = Super Lotto
・Sugar Free AND Fat Free = Taste Free
・Million Monkeys AND Million Typwriters = The Internet
・Once AND A Thousand Times = Your Mom Told You
・Pool AND River City = Trouble
上のジョークはLast Laugh(RD April, 2010にあったもので、文中のANDは論理積の意味で、ベン図を英語で "Venn diagram" と呼ぶのは忘れていましたが、雑誌にはVenn Diagramの挿絵が付いているので
思い出しました。ベン図は便利ですね。 POP CultureとSuper Lottoは面白いと思いましたが、最後のTroubleは分かりませんでした。米国での事情を知らないからでしょうね。

leg up

The Japan Times Onlin、June 19にあったキャプションです。
Karzai hints key donor Japan's firms may get leg up on minerals
"leg up" は慣用句に違いありません。　新聞記事は本文を読むと分かり易いので記事を読んで見ます。
"Morally, Afghanistan should give access as a priority to those countries that have helped Afghanistan massively in the past few years," he said, noting Japan has been his country's No. 2 aid donor.
"What . . . we have to reciprocate with is this opportunity of mineral resources, that we must return at the goodwill of the Japanese people by giving Japan priority to come and explore and extract," he said.
なるほど、経済復興を支援してくれた国にアフガニスタンの鉱物資源に対する優先的な権利を与えると言う事のようです。 "leg up" の意味を辞書で確認します。
・COED: 1 an act of helping someone to mount a horse or high object. 2 a boost to improve one’s position.
・Dictionary.com: a. a means of help or encouragement; assist; boost: Studying the material with a tutor will give you a leg up on passing the exam. b. advantage; edge.
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: Fig. a kind of help where someone provides a knee or crossed hand as a support for someone to place a foot on to get higher, as in mounting a horse or climbing over something. (*Typically: get ~; have ~; give someone ~.) I gave her a leg up, and soon she was on her horse. Can I give you a leg up? Could I please have a leg up?
なるほど、馬の乗るのを助ける事から出来た表現なのですね。

stand-in

Retirement Refugeと題された年老いたチンパンジーの記事(RD4月号)からです。
That biological closeness has made chimpanzees frequent research stand-ins for humans - and has made such research ethically contentious.
"stand-ins" の原型は "stand-in" と思いますので "stand-in" を辞書で引きます。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: someone who takes the place of another (as when things get dangerous or difficult) ("The star had a stand-in for dangerous scenes")
・Dictionary.com: 1. a substitute for a motion-picture star during the preparation of lighting, cameras, etc., or in dangerous scenes. 2.any substitute.
引用文のチンパンジーの場合、代役、代理ではなく、医薬品や治療の実験動物として、人の代用として使われている事を示していました。

let on

HUCKLEBERRY FINNの話には "let on" が何度も出てきます。　例えば次ぎのシーンです。
"It's all right; I've got it. Take my trunk in your wagon, and let on it's your'n; and you turn back and fool along slow, so as to get to the house about the time you ought to; and I'll go towards town a piece, and take a fresh start, and get there a quarter or a half an hour after you; and you needn't let on to know me at first."
結構難しい単語は知っているのにこう言う簡単な単語を組み合わせた表現は意外と知らないし、普段の生活で英語を使わないので中々覚えられません。　辞書で "let on" を見ます。
・Dictionary.com:
　a.to reveal one's true feelings: She was terrified at the prospect, but didn't let on.
　b.to pretend: They let on that they didn't care about not being invited, but I could tell that they were hurt.
・American Heritage Dictionary:
a. Reveal one's true feelings or a fact, allow something to be known, as in Don't let on that you met her before. This usage is probably a shortening of let it on someone.
b. Pretend, as in He let on that he was very angry, but in fact he didn't care a bit.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:
1 : to make acknowledgment : admit (knows more than he lets on)
2 : to reveal a secret (nobody let on about the surprise party)
3 : pretend (let on to being a stranger)
"let on" には少なくとも三つ "reveal", "admit", "pretend" の意味がありますね。　引用したHUCKLEBERRY FINNの "let on" も最初の方は "pretend" の意味ですが、後の方は "reveal"もしくは "admit" の意味で使っているようです。　この意味での説明は次ぎの辞書の説明がピッタリとおもいます。
・Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms: to allow other people to know about something He wasn't going to let on that there was any crisis in his family. Usage notes: usually said about something you want to be a secret