tete-a-tete

先週の土曜日から喉が痛いので変だなと思っていたのですが、熱を測ったら３９度もあったので昨日は一日中寝ていました。今朝は熱が３７度に下がったので多分会社に行っても大丈夫でしょう。
さて今日の英語はNever Let Me Goの主人公達がRuthの "possible" を見に行く旅行での出来事からです。
I'd already turned into the aisle - one with fluffy animals and big boxed jigsaws - before I realised Ruth and Chrissie were standing together at the end of it, having some sort of tete-a-tete
"tete-a-tete" は "tit-for-tat" と語呂が似ていますが、そんな深刻な問題ではないはずです。　単なる二人の会話か、ひそひそ話のようですが、どうでしょうか？
・Vocabulary.com: a private conversation between two people: Why should you spend long hours and whole days tete-a-tete with a stranger?
・Dictionary.com: 1. a private conversation or interview, usually between two people. 2. Also called vis-a-vis. a sofa shaped like an S so two people are able to converse face to face.
・Urban Dictionary: To have a private conversation.: To have a heart-to-heart; Literally means `head to head'; To get together and have a tete-a-tete. Or to sit on the couch with a coffee for a quick tete-a-tete. She leaned forward and confided tete-a-tete that she'd been seeing someone new.
"vis-a-vis" は良く見掛けますね

artist painter

昨日TV中継された高校ラグビー全国大会の決勝はどちらのチームもラグビーらしいきびきびとした動きで良かったですね。今日は全国大学ラグビーの決勝があるのでそれも楽しみにしています。
さて、知人に二人の絵描き（画家と言うべきか）がいます。一人はテニスの練習仲間の男性です。少なくとも本名ではインターネットの検索でその名前の画家らしき人は見あたらなかったので本当に絵を描いているのか疑っていました。しかし暮れに、裸体の女性モデルを描いた葉書大のクロッキーカレンダーを頂いたので、本当に画家なんだと納得した次第です。
もう一人は以前同じ職場で席が隣だった若い女性で、主にイラストを描くのですが、それだけでは収入が安定しないのでバイリンガルの能力を生かしたパートの仕事をしていました。米国人ですが、小学生の頃から高校を出るまで日本にいたので漢字も読み書きでき、和英、英和の翻訳もワープロを使いこなして仕事をしていました。　こんな話題を持ち出したのはこの女性から貰っていた年賀状が毎年とても洒落ていたのを思い出したからです。米国の美術大学を卒業後、日本と米国を行ったり来たりしていますが、昨年の秋に米国に行ってしまったので今年は電子メールで受け取りました。、彼女のWebサイト（幾つも持っている様ですが）にも同じ絵が出ていたので紹介します。
年賀状は次ぎのURLにあります。
http://eimimc.blogspot.com/
しかし正直に言って、紙の葉書に描かれていた絵の方が断然綺麗でした。
ついでに彼女のイラストを紹介しているページも紹介します。 漫画「わたしは働くうつウーマン」とかNHK出版の本などのために描いたイラストが出ています。
http://libbioba.blogspot.com/
そんな関係で、毎週日曜日に紹介しているジョーク、今日は画家が餌食です。

An artist asked the gallery owner if there had been any interest in his paintings on display at that time.
"I have good news and bad news," the owner replied. "The good news is that a gentleman enquired about your work and wondered if it would appreciate in value after your death. When I told him it would, he bought all 15 of your paintings."

"That's wonderful," the artist exclaimed. "What's the bad news?"
"The guy was your doctor..."

at a pelican

Never Let Me Goの主人公達は、RodneyがRuthの "possible"(注：１月４日の記事を参照して下さい) を見つけたという町での場面です。
It was a relief to come out onto the High Street where the noise made our rotten mood less obvious. As we crossed at a pelican to the sunnier side, I could see Rodney and Chrissie conferring about something and I wondered how much of the bad atmosphere had to do with their believing we were holding back on some big Hailsham secret, and how much was just to do with Ruth's having a go at Tommy.
"crossed at a pelican" で、「これ何？」です。　早速辞書を引きます。
・Cambridge Dictionaries Online: a special place in the road in Britain, with a set of lights at the side of the road and a device which people can press to make the red light show and the traffic stop, allowing them to cross
・Collins English Dictionary: a type of road crossing marked by black-and-white stripes or by two rows of metal studs and consisting of a pedestrian-operated traffic-light system: Oh and they've built an extra pelican crossing to make it easier for children. Sun, News of the World (2004)
Word Origin: C20: from pe (destrian) li (ght) con (trolled) crossing, with -con adapted to - can of pelican
なるほど、押しボタンのある歩行者用の横断歩道のことですか。 確かに "pelicon" より "pelican" の方が親しみが湧きますね。

lend itself to

勤めている会社で取り扱っている計測器の英文カタログ、マニュアルの翻訳を毎日にのようにしていますが、カタログ、マニュアルの内容は全く面白くなく、英語の勉強にもほとんどなりませんが、それでも1年に一つや二つは覚えたい表現や単語が出てきます。次ぎの表現はつい最近読んだ個所にありました。
The rugged enclosure with integrated castors and retractable handle lends itself to easy transportation to and from site.
"lends itself to" は慣用句の様です。意味を辞書で調べます。
・Dictionary.com: Adapt to, be suitable for. For example, The Bible lends itself to numerous interpretations , or This plot of land lends itself to a variety of uses.
・Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms: to be good for a particular use It was surprising how well her book lent itself to being turned into a film.
・Collins English Dictionary: If something lends itself to something else, it is suitable for that thing or can be considered in that way: The novel's complex, imaginative style does not lend itself to translation.
辞書によっては "lends itself to" ではなく、次ぎの辞書のように "lends oneself to" の慣用句として取り上げています。
・WordNetR 3.0: be applicable to; as to an analysis; "This theory lends itself well to our new data"
しかし、意味からして "lends itself to" で使う場合が多いのでしょう。
さあ、今日から仕事始めです。今年も頑張ります。（適当にですが）

twig & penny seemed to drop

Never Let Me Goの一場面です。
'Who was that?' he asked in a bewildered voice.
'You know who it is, Tommy,' I said quickly. It was too risky to kick him, or even to make my voice wink-wink: Chrissie would have picked it up in a flash. So I said it dead straight, with a bit of weariness, like we were all fed up with Tommy forgetting all the time. But this just meant Tommy still didn't twig.
'Someone we knew?'
'Tommy, let's not go through this again,' I said. 'You'll have to have your brains tested.'
At last the
penny seemed to drop, and Tommy shut up.
ここの "twig" の意味が分かりません。 昨日フィギュアスケートの大会で浅田真央選手の滑るのを見たので "twiggy" を思い出しましたが、ここの "twig" は動詞です。　しかし、この後に、上の引用文の最後に "
penny seemed to drop" とあるので、意味は恐らくその表現と同じ意味で「分かる」、「気がつく」ではないかと推測しますが辞書で確認します。まず "twig" の意味は：
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: 1: notice, observe 2: to understand the meaning of : comprehend: He seemed confused until he twigged that something was going on.; I had to explain it to him three times but he finally twigged.
・Cambridge Dictionaries Online: to suddenly realize something: Then he twigged what I meant; She's six months pregnant and he still hasn't twigged.
次に慣用句らしい "penny seemed to drop" の表現を辞書から探し出します。
("the) penny dropped" あるいは "the penny drops" の表現が辞書に載っていました。
・Collins English Dictionary: informal mainly British: the explanation of something was finally realized
・English slang and colloquialisms used in the United Kingdom: the) penny dropped Noun. Used to signify that a person finally understands something. E.g."Thank God for that! The penny's finally dropped and we can all go home now." {Informal}
・Cambridge Dictionaries Online: If the penny drops, you suddenly understand something: She looked confused for a moment, then suddenly the penny dropped.
英国のスラングの様ですが、おそらく英国の自動販売機はコインが中々すんなりとは落ちなかったのでしょう。昔、米国のホテルで飲料自動販売機が故障しているのに遭遇した事が何回もありました。

camp

Never Let Me Goの主人公達は誰かのクローンという設定で、文中に名詞としての "possible/possibles" が出てきます。
There were some who thought it stupid to be concerned about possibles at all. Our models were an irrelevance, a technical necessity for bringing us into the world, nothing more than that. It was up to each of us to make of our lives what we could. This was the camp Ruth always claimed to side with, and I probably did too.
上の "possibles" の意味はこの文の少し前にでてくる次ぎの文で説明されています。
That's why, when you were out there yourself - in the towns, shopping centres, transport cafes - you kept an eye our for 'possibles' - the people who might have been the models for you and your friends.
さて、前者の引用文に出てきた "camp" の意味が私の語彙にはないので辞書を見ます。
・Macmillan Dictionary: a group of people within a larger group who have the same ideas or support the same person: People in the Brown camp (=who support Brown) deny this rumor.
・Cambridge Dictionaries Online: a group of people who share an opinion, especially a political one: The pro-abortion camp are fighting to decriminalize abortion.; The party is divided into two distinct camps over the legislation.
・Oxford English Dictionary: the supporters of a particular party or doctrine regarded collectively: both the liberal and conservative camps were annoyed by his high-handed manner
同じ釜の飯を食べる人間は同じ考えの集まりということですね。

blase way

冬は私の好きなラグビーの季節なのでTVの中継を見逃さないようにしています。千葉TVでは高校生の全国大会も中継しているのを知り何試合か録画していますが、見る時間が無いのでまだレコーダーの中に入ったままです。昨日はもちろん大学の準決勝の二戦を見ました。どちらの試合も一方的だったので余り面白くありませんでした。
さて、Never Let Me Goの主人公達は１８歳になるとHailshamを出て、Cottagesに移りました。次ぎの文のveteranはCottagesに数年先に入った人間を指しています。
Every now and again, you'd come across a porn mag at the Cottages, thrown behind a sofa or amidst a pile of old newspapers. They were what you'd call 'soft' porn, though we didn't know about such distinctions then. We'd never come across anything like that before and didn't know what to think. The veterans usually laughed when one showed up and flicked through it quickly in a blase way before throwing it aside, so we did the same.
"blase way" が分からないので辞書を見ます。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: 1: apathetic to pleasure or excitement as a result of excessive indulgence or enjoyment : world-weary 2: sophisticated, worldly-wise 3: unconcerned: People get blase about their hometown.
・Vocabulary.com: 1. nonchalantly unconcerned 2. uninterested because of frequent exposure or indulgence 3. very sophisticated especially because of surfeit; versed in the ways of the world: The adjective blase, describes someone who is bored with the pleasures of life because of frequent indulgence or exposure. When asked what she thought of the award ceremony, the actress yawned and replied, "It was blase. It was just like the last 15 award ceremonies I've been too.
小説の原文には、また多くの辞書にも "blase" のスペルの "e" の上には発音記号（アクサンテギュ）がついているので元はフランス語からの外来語と分かります。発音も英語の "blaze" とは異なります。　カタカナでかけばブラゼイですが、下記のURLで実際の音を確認できます。
http://www.merriam-webster.com/audio.php?file=blase001&word=blase&text=%5Cbl%C3%A4-%3CSPAN%20class%3Dunicode%3E%CB%88%3C%2FSPAN%3Ez%C4%81%5C

bonhomie

休みで会社に行かなくなったので英語の本を読む暇がなくなりましたが、ブログに取り上げる単語は一週間分程度の貯金があるので当分は去年本を読んで用意した単語を取り上げます。
さて、Never Let Me Goの物語は主に語り手のKathy、親友 Ruth（女性）、Tommy（男性）の三人の周辺の話が中心になっていて次ぎの文の "he" はTommyの事です。
So now, to prove he was happy, here he was, trying to sparkle with <B>bonhomie</B>.
文末に出てきた "<B>bonhomie</B>" の頭の "bon" で始まる単語は "bondage" 位しか知りませんが、仏語の　"bon appetit" とか "bon voyage" などは英語でも良く使われることは知っています。 仏語由来だとすれば  "<B>bonhomie</B>" も何か良いことを意味していると推測できますが、どうでしょうか？
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: good-natured easy friendliness: the <B>bonhomie</B> of strangers singing together around a campfire
・Vocabulary.com: a disposition to be friendly and approachable (easy to talk to): Carey was widely described as cold and difficult to work with, lacking the calculated <B>bonhomie</B> found in many politicians.
・Online Etymology: "good nature," 1803, from Fr., from bonhomme "good man," from bon "good" (see bon) + homme "man," from L. homo
なるほど、後半の部分は "homo" から来ているのですか。

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!
And a happy birthday to me. Now I am 65 years old. Unbelivable that I get so old.
I usually post a joke on Sunday but since today is the first day of 2012 I post a quotation which suits a new year's day.

New Year's Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. (Mark Twain)