a mumble mumble business dinner mumble

MAX DANGERを読み終えましたが、非常に面白い本で、英語の表現も気に入ったフレーズが多くありました。
メモした表現を下記に紹介します。
・The I-went-to-your-damn-party-you-must-come-to-mine approach to the situation.
文章を全てハイフンでつないで形容詞として使うなんて中々面白いと思いました。
・Dressed for battle, Max bade the beatiful Gloria farewell, explaining that he'd be late due to a mumble mumble business dinner mumble.
Maxが若い女性と夜食事を共にする日の朝家を出るときに奥さんのGloriaに帰りが遅くなると言い訳をした状況の描写です。
・Max's interest was unavowed, but suffice to say it was rooted in the "wonder what it's like" syndrome that that frequently visits Westerners new to the Orient.
これはハイフンではなく引用符で囲んだ表現です。
・As a point of interest, plants do not thrive on Kirin Beer.
これは英語の表現ではなく、植物に水の代わりにビールを使うという発想が面白い。もちろん失敗しましたが。
・Mastery of the language formed with age a perversely inverse ratio to accomplishment.
これは実感しているので、残念ながら否定できない真理でしょう。

level-headed

奥さんの誕生日の祝いにMaxが買った腕時計のバンドのサイズは大き過ぎて全く合わず、サイズを調整してもらうことになりましたが、Maxの日本語能力には問題があるようで、奥さんを店に連れて行かずに奥さんの腕のサイズの問題を店員にどうやって分からせるのか、それが問題です。
"How will you know," asked the level-headed Danger daughter, "how big to make the band without Mommy's wrist with you in the store?"
"level-headed" は前に取り上げた "level gaze" (steady and calm http://blog.alc.co.jp/blog/3302827/archive/2011/08/22)と "levelly" (calmly and without excitement http://blog.alc.co.jp/blog/3302827/archive/2008/08/3) から推測すると冷静な頭の持ち主の意味でしょう。　念のために "level-headed" を辞書で確認します。
・Macmillan Dictionary: behaving in a calm and sensible way, even in a difficult situation
・Cambridge Dictionaries Online: calm and able to deal easily with difficult situations
・Vocabulary.com: exercising or showing good judgment
ここでは最後に引用した辞書の意味がDangerの娘さんにピッタリのようです。

pine

以前Maxが食事とダンスを一緒にした銀行員のMiss FujiiとMaxの会社のYoung Foreigner、そして同じくMaxの会社で働く Miss Inoue がいわゆる三角関係になり、Miss FujiiはMaxの会社に怒鳴り込んで来たこともあるのですが、
In a way, the story has a happy ending. The Young Foreigner and the innocent Miss Inoue eventually married, Miss Fuii pined for a week or two, but has since been seen around the Roppongi "in" places with another foreigner whose "spirit" is no doubt "good."
"pined" はふさぎ込んだとの意味でしょうか？
・Macmillan Dictionary: pine or pine away to feel very sad because you cannot be with someone who you love
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to yearn intensely and persistently especially for something unattainable (they still pined for their lost wealth)
・Cambridge Dictionaries Online: to become increasingly thin and weak because of unhappiness, especially after the death of a loved person: Carter died in 1904 after an accident and Leno pined away and died in London six months later.
"pine" に何故こんな意味があるのか不思議に思えたのでOnline Etymologyを見ると：
O.E. pinian "torture, torment, afflict, cause to suffer," from *pine " pain, torture, punishment," possibly ult. from L. poena "punishment, penalty," from Gk. poine (see penal). A Latin word that rode into Germanic (cf. M.Du. pinen, O.H.G. pinon, O.N. pina) with Christianity. Intransitive sense of "to languish, waste away" is first recorded mid-15c. Related: Pined; pining..
とあり、 "pain" と関係があると分かると納得です。

off-the-wallism

Maxの奥さん、the beautiful Gloria's parentsが日本に遊びに来ることになり、Max家の家族は、彼らをどこに連れて行くかで色々なアイデアが出してます。
"Let's take them to Disneyland," exclaimed the youngest Danger, an opportunist.
"Let's take them to Omote Sando," offered the middle child, a female and born shopper.
"Let's take them camping in Hokkaido," suggested the oldest offspring, a youngster in whom Max was beginning to recognize uncomfortably familiar off-the-wallism.
"Let's plan a cocktail party," added Gloria, "and invite all our new friends."
"off-the-wallism" が分からないので辞書を見ました。 "off-the-wallism" の項はありませんが、"off-the-wall" で次ぎの意味が載っていました。
・American Heritage Dictionary:
1. Very unconventional or unusual: manic, off-the-wall creativity; off-the-wall humor.
2. Exhibiting bizarre behavior; crazy: their off-the-wall friends.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: highly unusual: bizarre: an off-the-wall sense of humor
・Wiktionary:
1. (idiomatic) Wildly unconventional; bizarre; absurd.: What kind of a harebrained, off-the-wall idea is that? : She is a very off-the-wall character.
2. (idiomatic) Greatly inappropriate.: His behaviour today is off-the-wall.
"off-the-wallism" は "ism" を付加して "off-the-wall" を名詞化した表現と理解しますが、ついでにOnline Etymologyの "ism" を見ると、次ぎの説明がありました。
suffix forming nouns of action, state, condition, doctrine, from Fr. -isme or directly from L. -isma, -ismus, from Gk. -isma, from stem of verbs in -izein. Used as an independent word, chiefly disparagingly, from 1670s.
著者のRobert J. Collinsは皮肉屋でもありますが、ユーモアのあふれる氏の文はとても面白いと思います。

corporate fling & big T.

Max DangerはExpats are not all alike.と次ぎの様に言っています。
Yes, of course, some are taller than others, some fatter, some smarter, some happier. Some are raising young families, some are on the final corporate fling before retirement. Some have a healthy attitude about life in the big T., some are being gradually eaten away by rage and frustration. Some read the Weekender, some (unaccountably) do not. Some expats don't even work for IBM.
"corporate fling" は以前に取り上げた "office fling"（Ref. http://blog.alc.co.jp/blog/3302827/archive/2007/12/28 ） を思い出させますが、定年退職前でそれも無いだろうと思い辞書で確認します。
・Macmillan Dictionary: a short time during which you have a lot of fun, especially before you start doing something more serious: This vacation is my final fling before I start college.
・Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary: a short period of time spent doing enjoyable and exciting things: They had time for one last fling before going back to school.
・Cambridge Dictionaries Online: a short period of enjoyment: The students are having a final/last fling before they leave university and start work.
これなら私も経験があります。４年前に最初の会社を定年退職する前に、残っていた有給休暇を消化する休暇を取り、ホノルルマラソンに参加する為にハワイに行き、マラソンの後１週間ほど滞在し、ウィンドウサーフィン、水上ボートやら海中散歩などで遊んで来たことを思い出しました。　あれがまさに、 "the final corporate fling before retirement" だったのですね。
ところで、その後に出てくる "big T." も分かりません。 Big TというブランドのTシャツがある様だが、著者が意味したものかどうかは疑問。　スラング専門の辞書、Urban Dictionaryに次ぎの項目がありましたが、
'T' is the guy in every office that eats all day, rustling away those walkers crisps packets and opening his drawer to the ever-filled stash of cadbury delights. He has a big jelly bean jar that he uses as a tool to attract people over. Otherwise they stay clear for the fear of breathing in his bodily functions
'What's BIG T eating now?' 'Is that a Big T rustle, i can hear' 'Out with the Jelly Beans again? is Big T looking for human contact..'
"healthy attitude" に対しての皮肉とすれば、このスラングの意味で合っていますが、確信はありません。　この "big T." は未解決ファイルに入れる事にします。

untill death do us part

A married couple died in a car accident and went to heaven.
In heaven, the wife sees her husband wih another girl. Says the wife, "Whatever are you doing with that girl?"
Her husband replies, "Our marriage was only 'till death do us part, right?"

kerthud-tinkle

MAX DANGERのThe Bad Dayの章に変わったスペルの単語が出て来ました。
The swooshing sound of wires being dragged through the branches of surrounding trees, accompanied by popping and sparking as the wires snapped, preceded the kerthud-tinkle of the pole cleaving the empty taxi.
この "kerthud" は辞書に載っていませんが、以前「赤毛のアン」に出てきた "kerwollops"（Ref. http://blog.alc.co.jp/blog/3302827/archive/2009/11/5 ) と同じ形式の単語なので、意味は直ぐに分かりました。
"ker" は特に "onomatopoeia" に付く接頭辞で、 "onomatopoeia" を強調しています。
一応確認の為に "ker" を辞書で見ます。
・Infoplease Dictionary: an unstressed syllable prefixed to onomatopoeic and other expressive words, usually forming adverbs or interjections: kerflop; kerplunk; ker-splosh.
・Wordnik: An unstressed introductory syllable, perhaps better written ka- or ke-, used in some dialectal words, without meaning in itself but. serving to introduce an emphatic stress, as in kerslap, kerchunk, kerplunk, kerwhack, etc. It probably originated in the involuntary utterance which often precedes a sudden physical effort, as in striking with an ax or hammer or paving-rammer.
"ker" + "onomatopoeia"の単語は漫画に頻出しそうですね。

wean

何年も前に覚えた単語ですが、その後実際にその単語を見聞きした事がなかったのですが、Sept. 14のThe Japan Times Onlineの記事で使われていたので取り上げます。
METI aims to wean nation off nuclear power: Edano The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will take the initiative in promoting renewable energy so Japan will be less dependent on nuclear power, new chief Yukio Edano says.
"wean" の意味は "to make a baby stop taking its mother’s milk and start to eat solid food" (Macmillan Dictionary) ですが、この記事のように比喩的に人や動物以外にも使えるのですね。甘い汁はいつまでも飲めるものではないのです。

on the bender

昨日は台風の影響で帰宅するのに大変でした。
さて、Max Danger、Let's Healthyの章でMaxは温泉旅行に誘われました（by his band of corporate samurai）。
Most importantly, Max's invitation demonstrated that he was beginning to be accepted by the group. He would be leaving the realm of rigid hierarchical levels in the office, and entering the opposite world of absolute and complete equality of Japanese men on the bender.
最後に出てきた "on the bender" が分からないので辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: informal a wild drinking spree: he went off on a self-destructive bender
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: spree (hungover after a weekend bender): He went on a bender and was drunk all weekend.
・Macmillan Dictionary: go on a bender (informal): to drink a very large amount of alcohol in a short time
最近は会社旅行は流行らなくなった様ですが、昔は会社旅行で酔っ払う人が多かったですね。
"on the bender" とまでは行きませんが、実は昨日は台風のせいで４時頃から会社で酒盛りがあったのです。変わった会社ですよね。

Genovese Syndrome

MAX DANGERのThe Rules and the Dead Australianの章で、街中で突然倒れたオーストラリア人を、通りかかったMAXが介抱しますが、残念ながらオーストラリア人は心臓麻痺でなくなります。
People have heart attacks anywhere, anytime. The reactions of those in the vicinity of an emergency run the gamut from indifference to total altruism. For every Kitty Genovese story in New York, there are countless other stories of strangers risking life and limb for their fellow man.
これは英語の問題ではありませんが、 "Kitty Genovese story in New York" は米国人が知っている（少なくとも当時の）事件の主人公の様です。気になるのでWikipediaで調べてみました。
Murder of Kitty Genoveseと言う項目がありました。　記事をざっと眺めただけですが、事件は１９６４年にニューヨークのクイーンズの駐車場で女性が刺され、多くの人が事件を目撃していたにも関わらず警察に連絡しなかったので、その被害者、"Kitty Genovese" は結局亡くなったと The New York Times article: "Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police" は報道し、事実は若干報道通りではなかった様ですが、その後、"Kitty Genovese"/ "Genovese syndrome" で事故/事件に対する傍観者の行動を示すようになった様だ。
Nonetheless, it prompted investigation into the social psychological phenomenon that has become known as the bystander effect (or "Genovese syndrome") and especially diffusion of responsibility.
この事件はかなり古いので多分米国人でも若い人は知らないのではと思います。