laconic and MO

Reader's Digest 10月号の単語クイズに "laconic" がありましたが、この "laconic" より、その意味を説明している文中の略語 "MO" が気になりました。
laconic - concise: Laconic yet creative: That was Colin's MO when he sat down to write captions.
略語だとどうしても長年関係してきたコンピュータ用語が頭に浮かんでしまうのですが、上の文にある "MO" は（もうすたれていますが）メディアの一種ではないことは確かです。　"MO" が何の略なのか調べます。
辞書を見たら上の　"MO" は "modus operandi" の略だと直ぐに分かりました。
Wiktionaryで: "modus operandi" の説明を見ます。
(colloquial) A person or thing's normal mode of operation.
(law enforcement) A known criminal's established habits and mode of work when committing specific offences, especially fraud, matched with characteristics of an unsolved crime to narrow down (limit to a specific list) or profile suspects.
従って、"MO" は "mode of operation" の略とも言えるのですが、　"MO" の略として "mode of operation" を載せている辞書は余り無く、: "modus operandi" の説明でのみ "mode of operation" を使っています。
"modus operandi" はそれだけ一般的に使われているラテン語なのでしょう。
From Latin modus operandi, from modus (“manner, method”) and operandi (“of working”)

improvident

"The Story of My Life" からの引用です。
The one I felt and still feel most is lack of time. I used to have time to think, to reflect, my mind and I. We would sit together of an evening and listen to the inner melodies of the spirit, which one hears only in leisure moments when the words of some loved poet touch a deep, sweet chord in the soul that until then had been silent. But in college, there is no time to commune with one's thoughts. One goes to college to learn, it seems, not to think. When one enters the portals of learning, one leaves the dearest pleasures--solitude, books and imagination--outside with the whispering pines. I suppose I ought to find some comfort in the thought that I am laying up treasures for future enjoyment, but I am improvident enough to prefer present joy to hoarding riches against a rainy day.
"improvident" が分からないので辞書を引きます。
・Macmillan Dictionary: not thinking carefully enough about the future, especially by wasting money
・WordNet 3.0: 1. not provident; not providing for the future　2. ill-considered, ill-judged, improvident, shortsighted -- (not given careful consideration; "ill-considered actions often result in disaster"; "an ill-judged attempt'' )
・Examples from V2 Vocabulary Building Dictionary
It is improvident not to set aside part of your income for your retirement. (unwise, short-sighted)
The mother worried about her improvident son, who never seemed to worry about what he would do or how he would provide for himself in the future. (short-sighted, wasteful)
He had to cover the debt of his improvident uncle. (spendthrift)
Unfortunately, my parents were improvident when it came to my college education, so I have to get a scholarship and work two jobs to pay for my tuition. (short-sighted, unwise)
これだけ例文を読めば覚えられるかな、それより自分の事を表すのにピッタリの形容詞だと自覚した方がいいかも。

clarion and excelsior

Reader's Digest 10月号の単語クイズ、Word Powerのテーマをメモするのを忘れましたが、問題自体はいつもの様に難し過ぎましたが、馴染みがあるが意味を気にした事や調べたことのない単語が二つありました。　その単語は "clarion" と "excelsior" で、クイズの答えは次の様でした。
clarion: loud and clear; The pollution expose was a clarion call to recycle.
excelsior: ever upward; Climbing Mount Everest for an exclusive interview, Debbie exclaimed, "Excelsior!" to urge herself on.
"clarion" は音響製品のメーカーかブランド名で昔よく聞いた名前ですが、最近は聞きません。倒産かどこかの会社に吸収されたのでしょう。 "excelsior" は東京では見かけるコーヒー店の名前になっていますね。　"excellent" のフランス語かと思っていました。

penumbra

"The Story of My Life" からの引用です。
I wrote timidly, fearfully, but resolutely, urged on by my teacher, who knew that if I persevered, I should find my mental foothold again and get a grip on my faculties. Up to the time of the "Frost King" episode, I had lived the unconscious life of a little child; now my thoughts were turned inward, and I beheld things invisible. Gradually I emerged from the penumbra of that experience with a mind made clearer by trial and with a truer knowledge of life.
ヘレン・ケラーは難しそうな単語は余り使いませんが、上の文に出てきた "penumbra" は私にとっては難しそうに見える単語なので辞書を引きます。
・American Heritage Dictionary:　
A partial shadow, as in an eclipse, between regions of complete shadow and complete illumination.
An area in which something exists to a lesser or uncertain degree: "The First Amendment has a penumbra where privacy is protected from governmental intrusion"
・Examples from Wordnik:
And a penumbra is a different kettle of fish entirely -- the metaphor was used by Justice Douglas in Griswold v. Connecticut and partakes more of substantive due process than anything else.
It does enter a region of space called the penumbra, in which the Earth partially blocks the Sun.
"penumbra" はケプラーが１６０４年に作った言葉で、pen + umbra = almost + shadow を知ると憶えやすそうです。
Note: Wordnik の例文にある "a different kettle of fish" は以前採り上げた "a fine/pretty kettle of fish" の変形と思います。　Ref. http://blog.alc.co.jp/blog/3302827/archive/2009/9/1 )

electrocity pylon

Reader's Digest 9月号、本の紹介コーナーで Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscapeについて書かれた文からです。
Infrastructure is divided into 13 chapters, each one of which tackles a key piece of the industrial jigsaw - power plants and grids, communications, roads, trains, bridges and tunnels, planes, ships and (a particularly fascinating chapter) waste disposal. It comes as a relief finally to be able to ask what on earth is actually going on in an electricity pylon, and to be told what really happens to sewage and how mobile phones work.
もともと想像力と推測力に乏しい私なので、また試験中の受験生と違って分からない単語があると直ぐに辞書が引けるので、上の文中で分からない "electricity pylon" の "pylon" を辞書で見ます。
・American Heritage Dictionary:
　A steel tower supporting high-tension wires.
　A tower marking a turning point in a race among aircraft.
　A large structure or group of structures marking an entrance or approach.
　A monumental gateway in the form of a pair of truncated pyramids serving as the entrance to an ancient Egyptian temple.
・Macmillan Dictionary: one of a series of very tall metal structures used for holding the wires that carry electric power high above the ground
・Merriam-Webster's:Examples of PYLON: The bridge is supported by concrete pylons.; a row of electricity pylons
ネイティブなら小学生の低学年でも知っているに違いない "electricity pylon" を知らなかったなんて "landlubber"（Ref. http://blog.alc.co.jp/blog/3302827/archive/2010/11/17 ） も甚だしい。

EAT RIGHT

今日紹介するジョークはちょっと長めです。
One day an old couple died in a car crash. They had been married for sixty year, and they were in excellent health due to the wife's insistence that they exercise and adhere to a healthy diet. In heaven, St. Peter met them at the gate and ushered them to their mansion. It was equipped with a massive kitchen, an elegant master suite, and a Jacuzzi.
"This is wonderful," said the man. "But how much is it going to cost us?"
"Nothing, of course," answered St. Peter. "This is heaven." He then ushered the couple outside and showed them that their house was on the eighteenth fairway of a golf course exactly like that at Augusta.
"You can play as much golf as you like," said St.Peter. "This week it's Augusta. Next week it's Pebble Beach, then St. Andrews--you can check out the schedule in the pro shop."
"Sounds great!" said the man. "But how much are the greens fees?"
"There are no greens fees in heaven. It's free," answered St.Peter.
Next they visited the clubhouse where there was a buffet unlike anything they'd ever seen. It had steamed lobsters, cavier, prime rib, exotic fowl, every kind of vegetable prepared to perfection, fresh-baked breads, mounds of sweet butter, and a dessert table that took their breath away.
"What do we have to pay to eat?" asked the old man.
"Don't you understand?" said St. Peter, exasperated. "This is heaven! The food is free. Everything is free!"
"Okay," replied the man, "but where are the low-cal and low-fat food tables?"
"That's the best part," said St. Peter. "You can eat as much as you like, and you'll never get fat or sick."
The old man went balistic. He threw down his hat, stomped on it, and tore around the room screaming. When St. Peter and the man's wife finally calmed him down enough to speak, he looked at his wife and said, "This is all your fault! If it weren't for your blasted bran muffins, we could have been here ten years ago!"
と言うわけなので、お迎えが近いと感じている方も心配はご無用です。とても素晴らしい所のようです。

chestnut burrs

"The Story of My Life" から引用します。
Sometimes I would go with Mildred and my little cousins to gather persimmons. I did not eat them; but I loved their fragrance and enjoyed hunting for them in the leaves and grass. We also went nutting, and I helped them open the chestnut burrs and break the shells of hickory-nuts and walnuts--the big, sweet walnuts!
"chestnut burrs" は栗のイガあるいはイガ栗を意味していると容易に推測できますが、 "burr" の意味にイガの説明を載せている辞書は余り見かけませんでしたが、下記の辞書には次ぎの説明が載っていました。
・Wiktionary: A bur; a seed pod with sharp features that stick in fur or clothing.
・Macmillan Dictionary: bur or burr the part of some plants that is covered all over with prickles (=small sharp parts) and contains the seed
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: (usually bur):
a) a rough or prickly envelope of a fruit
b) a plant that bears burs
"burr" よりも "bur" の方が使われるようで、 "bur" で引くとほとんどの辞書にイガの意味がありました。
・American Heritage Dictionary:
1) A rough prickly husk or covering surrounding the seeds or fruits of plants such as the chestnut or the burdock.
2) A plant producing such husks or coverings.
・Webster's New World College Dictionary:
1.the rough, prickly seedcase or fruit of certain plants, as the sticktight, cocklebur, etc.
2.a weed or other plant with burs
"burr/bur" には次ぎの興味深い意味もある事が分かりました。
・Cambridge Advanced Learner's English Dictionary: (also bur) a very small round seed container that sticks to clothes and to animals' fur because it is covered in little hooks.
この意味での"burr/bur" は "sticker" とも呼ばれるそうですが、この意味に対応する日本語が浮かびません。

mulch

今日の単語もReader's Digest 9月号のRiver Keeperの記事からです。
These great trees are in trouble, too, Gustavson points out. Pirate loggers illegally cut them down for garden mulch sold by the ton at unwitting chain stores.
昨年は区から市民農園の１画を借りて野菜を作った事もあるのでマルチ、マルチ栽培の意味は知っていましたが、マルチは "multi" から来た言葉と思い込み何故 "multi" と言うのか不思議に思っていましたが特に調べた事はなく上に引用した文を読んで初めて "mulch" と言う綴りを知りました。　一応 "mulch"の説明を辞書で見ます。
・Compact Oxford English Dictionary: material (such as decaying leaves, bark, or compost) spread around or over a plant to enrich or insulate the soil.; regular mulches keep down annual weeds
・American Heritage Dictionary: A protective covering, usually of organic matter such as leaves, straw, or peat, placed around plants to prevent the evaporation of moisture, the freezing of roots, and the growth of weeds.
マルチで黒いビニールシートを使うのは最近の事なのですね。

foraminifera

ヘレン・ケラーの化石の話の続きです。
After I had learned a great many interesting things about the life and habits of the children of the sea--how in the midst of dashing waves the little polyps build the beautiful coral isles of the Pacific, and the foraminifera have made the chalk-hills of many a land--my teacher read me "The Chambered Nautilus," and showed me that the shell-building process of the mollusks is symbolical of the development of the mind.
"foraminifera" は何かの海の生物だと思いますが何でしょうか？
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: organisms that are foraminifers
とあるので "foraminifer" を見ます。
・Wiktionary: Any of several large marine protozoans, of the subphylum Foraminifera, that have a calcareous shell with many holes through which pseudopodia protrude
・Dictionary.com: any chiefly marine protozoan（Ref. http://blog.alc.co.jp/blog/3302827/archive/2007/7/27 ） of the sarcodinian order Foraminifera, typically having a linear, spiral, or concentric shell perforated by small holes or pores through which pseudopodia extend.
日本語で言う有孔虫の事のようです。だいたい分かりましたが、この手の意味は英英辞典よりも百科事典系のWikipediaの説明が詳しいはずなのでそちらも見てみます。
The Foraminifera, ("hole bearers") or forams for short, are a large group of amoeboid protists with reticulating pseudopods, fine strands of cytoplasm that branch and merge to form a dynamic net. They typically produce a test, or shell, which can have either one or multiple chambers, some becoming quite elaborate in structure. These shells are made of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) or agglutinated sediment particles. About 275,000 species are recognized, both living and fossil. They are usually less than 1 mm in size, but some are much larger, and the largest recorded specimen reached 19 cm.
知らない生物用語が沢山でてきますがイメージが若干膨らみます。
話は全く変わりますが、２～３日前のＮＨＫ朝ドラで面白い台詞がありました。
「孫にも衣装、年増に化粧」これは年増の女性の台詞ですが、往年の渥美清のトラさんにはこの手の台詞が沢山ありました。　言葉遊びも中々面白いですね。　ＴＶを見て浮かんだ私の台詞は、「孫にも衣装、ラーメンに胡椒」。　ちょっと語呂が悪い駄作ですね。

silt

Reader's Digest 9月号のRiver Keeperと題された記事からです。
The Atchafalaya runs cleaner and wilder than its big brother, braiding into a thousand bayous and cuts, swirling around countless islands, and passing through the roots of millions of bald cypress trees, willows, and marsh grasses. All that vegetation filters pollution from upstream like a giant feathery fan, while the river itself drops tonnes of silt and sediment along the way, adding miles of new delta to Louisiana.
川が運んで堆積させるものは土砂ですが "silt" はそれに該当するのでしょうか？
・American Heritage Dictionary: A sedimentary material consisting of very fine particles intermediate in size between sand and clay
・Merriam-Webster's: loose sedimentary material with rock particles usually 1/20 millimeter or less in diameter; also : soil containing 80 percent or more of such silt and less than 12 percent of clay
・Cambridge Advanced Learner's English Dictionary: sand or soil which is carried along by flowing water and then dropped, especially at a bend in a river or at a river's opening
粒の大きさを区別する場合は "clay, silt, sand" の順に大きいようです。
語源を見ると：
mid-15c., originally "sediment deposited by seawater," probably from M.L.G. or M.Du. silte, sulte "salt marsh, brine," related to O.E. sealt, O.H.G. sulza "saltwater," Ger. Sulze "brine" (see salt). The verb meaning "to become choked with silt" (of river channels, harbors, etc.) is attested from 1799.
"silt" は "salt" と関係がある事が分かり覚えやすい気がします。