no quarter

"HOW MANY MILES TO BABYLON?" の主人公Alecは母親の希望に従い軍隊に入ります。　幼友達のJerryも同じ軍隊に入りますが、階級が違うので（Alecは地主の子、Jerryは下層階級）軍隊でお互いに親しく付き合う事は許されません。Alecは上官のMajor Glendinningに目を付けられます。
He paused and started at me, his eyes becoming thin angry slits in his grey face.
'You are all amatueus. I will make you professionals. For me you must be on thing only. Soldiers. Nothin else matters. I will give no quarter. Understand?'
Majorに "I will give no quarter." と言われていますが、この "quarter" とは何でしょうか？
・Oxford English Dictionary: [mass noun] pity or mercy shown towards an enemy or opponent who is in one's power: the riot squad gave no quarter
・Macmillan Dictionary: [uncountable] literary kind behavior toward someone who you have defeated or someone who is under your authority: give/get no quarter: Any man found breaking the rules would be given absolutely no quarter.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: merciful consideration of an opponent (a team that gave no quarter during the championship game); specifically: the clemency of not killing a defeated enemy
なるほど意味は良く分かりましたが、以前取り上げた動詞の "quarter" (Ref. http://blog.alc.co.jp/blog/3302827/archive/2008/09/28 ) とは違って何故この様な意味があるのか不思議です。この意味の語源を載せている辞書は見つかりませんでしたが、Wiktionaryに出ていた "quarter" の意味と例文が引用した小説及び上記辞書の意味の元になったものと思いますが、どうでしょうか？
(uncountable) Accommodation granted to a defeated opponent: "Sir, they have asked for quarter." "Have they? Well, we will give no quarter."
(quarter: You can refer to the room or rooms provided for a person such as a soldier to live in as that person’s quarters. ...the officers’ quarters.)

Hello

Reader's Digest 1月号の　"@Work all in a day's work" の投稿記事からです。
My 17-year-old niece was looking for a job, so one day, her mother scoured the 'Wanted' ads with her.
"Here's one. A couple looking for someone to watch their two kids and do light housekeeping."
"Hel-looo!" said my niece, rolling her eyes.
"I can't take that job. I don't know anything about lighthouses."
"Hel-looo" は発音が普通の挨拶の "hello" とはちょっと違うので、それに合ったスペルにしたと思いますが、それにしてもこの皮肉っぽい "hello" は初耳なので辞書を見ます。
*Macmillan Dictionary:
・very informal used for saying that you think someone is not being very sensible or is not paying attention to what is happening: Hello! There’s no way anyone will give you a job with that haircut.
・mainly British used for expressing surprise or interest: Hello. What’s that he’s holding?
*Cambridge Advanced Learner's English Dictionary: informal said to someone who has just said or done something stupid, especially something that shows they are not noticing what is happening around them: She asked me if I'd just arrived and I was like 'hello, I've been here for an hour.'
*Wiktionary
・(colloquial) Used sarcastically to imply that the person addressed or referred to has done something the speaker or writer considers to be foolish: You just tried to start your car with your cell phone. Hello?
・An expression of puzzlement or discovery. Hello? What’s going on here?
ネイティブとの会話で相手が突然 "Hello!" と言ったら、きっと自分が何か変なことを言ったか、したのでしょうね。 もっとも上の投稿記事の場合は可笑しいのは１７歳の姪の方ですが。

weal or woe

"HOW MANY MILES TO BABYLON?" の主人公 Alecが母親とのイタリア旅行から帰ってきたところの描写に続き次ぎの文がありました。
'... flesh of my flesh
Bone of my bone thou art, and from thy state
Mine never shall be parted, weal or woe.'
これは誰かの詩を引用した様ですが、それはともかく、私としては慣用句の様な "weal or woe" が気になります。　"woe" の単語は知っていますが "weal" は知りません。　"woe" と同じ意味かあるいはその全く反対の意味でしょう。　"weal or woe" は見出しとしては見つかりませんでしたが、 "weal" の項に次ぎの様な説明がありました。
・American Heritage Dictionary: Prosperity; happiness: in weal and woe.
・Wordnik: It is the high ambition of most women to become wives; and they count not the cost as to whether it will end in weal or woe; but they venture themselves, and their future "for better or worse."
・A Dictionary of Cliches: esp., for weal or woe, for (or in) prosperity and hardship, happiness and grief: C. 19?20, although weal and woe occurs so early as ca. 1000. (The earliest sense of weal is ‘wealth’.)
・Webster's Revised Unabridged, 1913 Edition: A sound, healthy, or prosperous state of a person or thing; prosperity; happiness; welfare: To him linked in weal or woe. --Milton.
幸福な時も不幸な時もと言うことですね。　結婚式の誓いの言葉にありそうです。

septic system

Reader's Digest 12月号のSamoaについての記事からです。
They replaced the wiring, plumbing and septic sytem, added new metal roofs and painted the fales white with blue trim.
(Note: "fale": The classic Samoan dwelling is a round bungalow called a fale.)
"septic sytem" はインフラの一種と推測できますが、"sewage" とは別物の様です。
辞書を見ます。　OneLookで検索すると "septic sytem" を載せているのは辞典だけで、辞書はリストには出てきません。
・Glossary of Water Resource Terms: an on-site system designed to treat and dispose of domestic sewage. A typical septic system consists of a tank that receives waste from a residence or business and a system of drainage lines or a pit for disposal of the liquid effluent that remains after decomposition of the solids by bacteria in the tank.
Wikipediaもリストにあったので見てみると、"septic tank" に転送され次ぎの説明がありました。
A septic tank is a key component of the septic system, a small scale sewage treatment system common in areas with no connection to main sewage pipes provided by local governments or private corporations.
この後も説明は続きますが、長くなるので "septic" を説明している個所だけを引用します。
The term "septic" refers to the anaerobic bacterial environment that develops in the tank and which decomposes or mineralizes the waste discharged into the tank. Septic tanks can be coupled with other on-site wastewater treatment units such as biofilters or aerobic systems involving artificial forced aeration.
"septic sytem" の主要な部分が "septic tank" である事が分かります。
また、多くの辞書にも "septic tank" の説明はありました。
American Heritage Dictionaryの説明を下に引用します。
A sewage-disposal tank in which a continuous flow of waste material is decomposed by anaerobic bacteria.

Flat Tire

"The Drunkard's Walk" by Leonard Mlodinow と言う確率の本を読み始めましたが、その中に面白い話が出ていたので紹介します。
My dad heard this story on the radio.
At Duke University, two students had received A's in chemistry all semister. But on the night before the final exam, they were partying in another state and didn't get back to Duke until it was over. Their excuse to the professor was that they had a flat tire, and they asked if they could take a make-up test.
The professor agreed, wrote out a test, and sent the two to separate rooms to take it. The first question (on one side of the paper) was worth five points. Then they flipped the paper over and found the second question, worth 95 points: "which tire was it?"
What was the probability that both students would say the same thing? My dad and I think it's 1 in 16. Is that right?
中々粋な教授ですが、二人の学生のタイヤのパンクが口実だった場合、追試のタイヤ問題で二人が同じ答えを出す確率は幾つでしょうか？

P.S. 上記は３月１２日に趣味人倶楽部の「不明なエイゴ&ステキなエイゴ」コミュニティに投稿したのですが、その日に東北で地震・津波が発生したせいか誰も読んでくれない様でした。　しかし私はとても興味を覚えた話なので再度ここで紹介しています。

pax

Death of a Salesmanの次に読み始めたのは "HOW MANY MILES TO BABYLON?" と言う小説です。　これを選んだのはやはり２００ページ未満の薄い本だったからです。　江戸川区中央図書館に置いてある英語の本で薄い本はこれで最後の様です。他の英語の本は少なくとも２５０ページ以上ある本ばかりになってしまいました。　そんな事はさておき、 "HOW MANY MILES TO BABYLON?" がどんな話か全く知りませんでしたが、WikipediaによるとWWIの戦前、戦中を背景にした小説で、映画やＴＶ化されたかなり有名は話のようです。Babylonは聖書にもでてくる古代都市である事は私でも知っていますが、WWI時代の小説とはどんな関係があるのでしょうか？
'Say--you're a giant and a hero.'
'You're a damn giant and hero'
'The biggest, greatest giant and hero in the world.'
'The biggest, bloodiest greatest damnedest giant and hellishest hero in the world.'
He laughed.
'And you've the biggest mouth for talking. Will I fill it with grass? Like a hee haw donkey? A wee ass?'
He scrabbled at the grass with one hand.
'Pax.'
'What's that in the name of Jay?'
'Peace. I give in. You win. I'm your hamble slave.'
上に引用したのは主人公のAlexander Moore (Alec)と幼友達のJerry (Jer) Croweとの少年時代の会話です。　引用の最後付近にでてくる主人公Alecが言った "Pax" の意味と使い方に興味が湧きました。　Jerryは "Pax" の意味が分からないので、質問すると、"Peace. I give in." の事だとAlecが説明しています。　そうすると、 "Pax" は私でも知っている "Pax Romana"、"Pax Britannica"、 "Pax Amaricana" の "Pax" と共通点があります。
・Cambridge Advanced Learner's English Dictionary: a period of peace which has been forced on a large area, such as an empire or even the whole world, by the most powerful nation of that time
もちろん、これらの言葉は今や歴史的遺物となってしまいましたが。
"Pax" を "give in" の意味に使われる事も辞書で確認します。
・Collins English Dictionary: school slang ( Brit ) a call signalling an end to hostilities or claiming immunity from the rules of a game: usually accompanied by a crossing of the fingers
作者のJennifer Johnstonはアイルランド生まれでした。

boned

Reader's Digestの連載料理記事
What's Cooking? の１２月号のレシピは "Turducken" でした。
"Turducken"は：
This is a turkey stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken stuffed with dressing.
七面鳥の丸焼きの様な写真が載っていて、材料を見ると：
1.5kg whole chicken, boned
1kg duck, boned
8kg turkey, boned
とあります。 "boned" は骨付きの様な印象を受けますが、 "stuffed" 料理で、しかも説明に： The birds need to be boned for this so you may need to find a good butcher.
と書かれています。 骨付きなら　"good butcher" は不要なので "boned" は印象とは逆の骨抜きの意味の様です。 何故 "boned" が骨なしになるのか不思議な気がします。　辞書で確認します。
・WordNet: 1. having bones as specified ("His lanky long-boned body") 2. having had the bones removed ("A boned (or deboned) fish")
・Dictionary.com:
1. having a particular kind of bone or bony structure (used in combination): beautifully boned; raw-boned; small-boned.
2. having the bones taken out; cooked or served with the bones removed: boned chicken; boned veal.
"boned" には骨有りと骨なしの意味があって、料理に関係すると "boned" が骨なしになるのですね。　"boneless" や "deboned" と言う言葉があるのに "boned" が何故使われるようになったのかは分かりませんでした。
果物の種無しに、種を意味する"pit / pitted" (Ref. http://blog.alc.co.jp/blog/3302827/archive/2008/07/26 & http://blog.alc.co.jp/blog/3302827/archive/2009/12/23 )が使われるのと同じですね。 例： "a pitted olive" (種無しオリーブ)

get a load on

Stanley has followed Willy in and sets a chair for him. Stanley starts off but Happy stops him.
Happy: Stanley!
Stanley stands by, waiting for an order.
Biff (going to Willy with guilt, as to an invalid): Sit down, Pop. You want a drink?
Willy: Sure, I don’t mind.
Biff: Let’s get a load on.
Willy: You look worried.
"get a load on" も口語的な表現です。難しい単語は知らないものが沢山ありますが、この様な簡単な単語を組み合わせた口語表現も、主に本を読んで英語を勉強している私としては、同じように知らない表現がいっぱいあって困るのです。　しかたがないので辞書を見ます。
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: Sl. to be intoxicated. Fred has a load on and is finished drinking for the evening. You have a load on every time I see you at a party.
・Dictionary.com: Slang . a sufficient amount of liquor drunk to cause intoxication: He's got a load on tonight.
・Urban Dictionary: To get really drunk/hammered/slammed.; It was indeed a good night to get a load on.
"Let’s get a load on" は "Let's drink." と同じ意味ですね。
Death of a Salesmanを読み終わりました。時代背景があるのでしょうが、陰気で悲しい話なので、私は映画や劇で見たいとは思いません。

street cred

今日覚えたい表現はRD Dec., 2010の4 Ways of Looking at a Chairと題された記事からです。
Bally seeks out aluminium graveyards to collect old street signs, then hauls the material to a hangar-sized studio in Providence, Rhode Island, where he makes his "transit chairs". Discarded bike tubes act as leg supports and champagne corks as feet. Making art with street cred is tough, Bally asserts: "Gold is easy to make sexy. Signs are true challange to transform."
"old street signs" やら何やらガラクタの様なものから "art" を製作している様なので、"street cred" はガラクタかとも思えますが、どうやら違う様なので辞書で調べます。
・Macmillan Dictionary: respect or admiration among young fashionable people, especially in a city
・American Heritage Dictionary: Acceptability or popularity, especially among young people in urban areas
・Cambridge Advanced Learner's English Dictionary: a quality that makes you likely to be accepted by ordinary young people who live in towns and cities because you have the same fashions, styles, interests, culture or opinions; Many celebrities develop a working class accent to increase their street-credibility; That jacket won't do much for your street-cred. It looks awful!
なるほど "street-credibility" から来た言葉ですか。

no soap

Death of a Salesmanも終わりに近くなって来ました。
Happy: Why? What happened?
Biff (breathlessly): I did a terrible thing today, Hap. It’s been the strangest day I ever went through. I’m all numb, I swearHappy: You mean he wouldn’t see you?
Biff: Well, I waited six hours for him, see? All day. Kept sending my name in. Even tried to date his secretary so she’d get me to him, but no soap.
Happy: Because you’re not showin’ the old confidence, Biff. He remembered you, didn’t he?
"no soap" はいかにも会話的な表現で、多分意味は単なる "no" と余り変わらないと思いますが、どうしてこんな表現が出来たのか疑問に思います。
・Dictionary.com: Informal . no go: He wanted me to vote for him, but I told him no soap.
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: Inf. no. I can't do it. No soap. No soap, I don't lend anyone money.
・Collins English Dictionary: US and Canadian slang not possible or successful
Death of a Salesmanでの意味は最後に引用した辞書の意味が一番近いようです。さてこの表現の由来ですがWorld Wide Wordsに次ぎの説明がありました。
The word soap has had several slang meanings down the years. In the middle nineteenth century in the USA it was used to mean money, though we don’t know why. It’s first recorded about 1860, but by then was probably well established. So somebody who said “No soap!” meant something like “No, I haven’t any money” or “No, I won’t give you a loan”. The modern sense -- nothing doing, not a hope, no chance -- is a generalisation. Americans have kept no soap but have forgotten the sense of soap that it sprang from.
"no soap" には "千載"一遇のチャンスもないようです。　お粗末でした！

P.S. 上記を書き終えた時点で気がつきました。"no soap" は３月１日に "no dice"（Ref.
http://blog.alc.co.jp/blog/3302827/198638 ） を取り上げた時に、American Heritage
Dictionaryの説明に同義語として取り上げられていた事を。