PAUSE FOR THOUGHT

Proof we live in the age of technology: I was helping my six-year-old granddaughter with her reading when my wife brought in a bowl of grapes.
"Here, you eat the grapes," I said to her, "and I'll read to you at the same time, OK?"
"Don't warry, Pop," she replied, snatching the book from my hand.
"Just put it on pause."
(from Reader's Digest Oct. 2013 Life's like that)
コンピュータ、インターネット用語はまだ何とかついていけますが、ツイッターやスマホになると使う気にならないのでさっぱりなので、世の中の動きについていけなるなる日はそう遠くはないでしょうね。

baste

Eranest Hemingwayの短編The Battlerの中に出てきた料理をしている場面です。
Into a skillet he was laying slices of ham. As the skillet grew hot the grease sputtered and Bugs, crouching on long nigger legs over the fire, turned the ham and broke eggs into the skillet, tipping it from side to baste the eggs with the hot fat.
ここの "baste" は料理用語のようで、skilletを傾けて卵を脂で "baste" したとあるので、結局は卵に脂をかけた意味だと思いますが、辞書で確認します。
・Collins Dictionary: to moisten (meat) during cooking with hot fat and the juices produced: Cook under moderate heat, turning regularly and baste with marinade.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to pour hot fat and liquid over meat while it is cooking: Baste the turkey at regular intervals.
西洋料理の基本の一つでしょうね。

sportif

Eranest HemingwayのThe Snows of Kilimanjaro、その他の短編、を読み始めました。今日採り上げる単語はThe Snows of Kilimanjaroに出てきました。
Around the Place there were two kinds; drunkards and the sportifs. The drunkards killed their poverty that way; the sportifs look it out in exercise.
この "sportif" はスポーツ好きの人を指しているようですが辞書で確認します。
・Collins Dictionary: (French)(humorous, literary) sporty:
・Wiktionary:
1.(of a person) Athletic; enjoying and frequently participating in sports.
2.Athletic; of or pertaining to sports.
Noun: sportsperson (especially sportsman)
外来語を使ったのですね。

quid pro quo

今日はHopes Prospects、Noam Chomsky著、の最後の章 1989 and Beyondで使われていた又してもラテン語の表現を覚えたいと思います。
As the Soviet Union collapsed, Gorbachev made an astonishing concession: he permitted a unified Germany to join a hostile military alliance run by the global superpower, though Germany alone had almost destroyed Russia twice in the century. There was a quid pro quo, recently clarified. It had been thought that Bush I and his secretary of state James Baker promised not to expand NATO to the East, but in the first careful study of the original documents, Mark Kramer, apparently seeking to refute charges of U.S. duplicity, in fact shows that it went far beyond what had been assumed. It turns out that Bush-Baker promised that NATO would not even fully extend to East Germany (GDR).
早速 "quid pro quo" を調べます。
・Collins Dictionary: 1.a reciprocal exchange 2.something given in compensation, esp an advantage or object given in exchange for another: It's hard to resist a tax-free payout, but for others the quid pro quo is a reduced pension income.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:something that is given to you or done for you in return for something you have given to or done for someone else: in politics nobody does something for nothing: there's always a quid pro quo involved
またVocabulary.comの説明も見ます。
The Latin phrase quid pro quo means making a certain kind of deal: you do this for me, and I'll do that for you. Ever hear the expression, "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours"-- That describes a quid pro quo: doing a favor you expect to be paid back, instead of doing the favor for its own sake. Politicians are often accused of doing a quid pro quo: someone donated to their campaign and is now getting favors in return. Quid pro quo definitely has a shady feel, but it just means making a deal that trades one thing for another.
なるほど、"quid pro quo" ときたら、政治家や役人を連想すれば良いのですね。
"in politics nobody does something for nothing: there's always a quid pro quo involved
" 猪瀬都知事の弁明が空々しく聞こえるのは誰もがこの事を知っているからでしょう。

prima facie

Hopes Prospects、Noam Chomsky著、のThe Torture Memoの章からの抜粋です。
Bush, of course, went beyond his predecessors in authorizing prima facie violations of international law, and several of his extremist innovations were struck down by the courts. While Obama, like Bush, eloquently affirms our unwavering commitment to international law (and differs from Bush in that he is familiar with it), he seems intent on substantially reinstating the extremist Bush measures.
上に出てきた "prima facie" の "prima" は "prima donna" の "prima" と同じく、英語の "prime/primary" の親戚だと思いますが、 "prima facie" の意味は何でしょうか？
・Collins Dictionary: at first sight; as it seems at first: Sources say that the men believe they have a prima facie case of fraud.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:
1: true, valid, or sufficient at first impression : apparent: the theory … gives a prima facie solution ? R. J. Butler
2: self-evident
3: legally sufficient to establish a fact or a case unless disproved: prima facie evidence
例によってVocabulary.comの説明は丁寧なのでその説明も引用します。
Prima facie literally means “at first sight,” but it can also mean self-evident or obvious. If it’s prima facie, it appears to be true.
You’ve most likely used the expression at first sight, but now you can say it in Latin. Of course, if you’ve been to law school, you probably could have already, as prima facie is used for evidence that is accepted unless proved false. Without prima facie evidence, you probably don't have a case, or it's going to be pretty hard to make one. You can disprove information that’s prima facie, but it won't be easy.
"facie" はラテン語で "form, face" の意味だそうです。

cherry-picking

Noam Chomsky著のHopes Prospectsを読んでいます。
A majority of the public has long favored a national health care system, which should be far less expensive and more effective, comparative evidence indicates (along with many studies). The United States is alone in to relying on such a system, which, quite apart from its impact on those who are left out, introduces numerous wastful inefficiencies (complex billing costs, close surveillances of doctors by insurance company bureaucrats, advertising, profits, the expenses of cherry-picking and denial of treatment on the basis of millions of uninsured and underinsured, etc.)
米国の医療保険制度の話ですが、この "cherry-picking" は比喩の慣用句に違いありません。
・Collins Dictionary: to choose or take the best or most profitable of (a number of things), esp for one's own benefit or gain ⇒ cherry-pick the best routes: You cannot just cherry-pick evidence that suits your case and ignore the rest.
・Dictionary.com:
1.to select with great care: You can cherry-pick your own stereo components.
2. (in retail use) to buy only the sale items and ignore the other merchandise
いいとこ取り、都合の良い事/物を選ぶニュアンスを含んでいるのですね。

とある田園亭

先日鳥取に４０年振りに行き、鳥取砂丘はもちろん、今回はちょっと足を延ばして米子の花回廊にも行きました。
また、とある事情で、鳥取市郊外のイタリアンレストランの「とある田園亭」でピザとパスタを食べましたが、とても美味しかったので紹介します。と言っても、鳥取駅からタクシーで２０分もかかる田園風景の中にあるレストランなので中々行ける所ではありません。タクシーの運転手もレストランのある地名を伝えてもその地名すら知らず、しかしレストランの名前は知っていて、田んぼの中にある店ですねと答え、連れて行ってもらえました。
最初に店の名前を聞いた時に早口で言われたので、「トアル・・・」と後半が聞き取れず、イタリア語からとった名称かと思っていました。ユニークなのは名前だけではなく、店の前は田んぼ、営業日も週に４日程度、料理が出てくるのも時間がかかると言われているので、いつ店じまいしても不思議ではないような気がしますが、開店してもう５年以上経っているそうです。しかし料理を食べて納得しました。こんな田舎の店でも美味しいとわざわざ食べにくる固定客ができるのだなと。私はパスタが特にとても気に入りました。
店の風景とメニューの出ているサイトを見つけたのでその内の二つを下に紹介します。
http://www.citydo.com/prf/totori/guide/sg/465000597.html
http://hisagon.blog3.fc2.com/blog-entry-663.html
日曜日はいつもジョークを紹介するはずがレストランの紹介になってしまいました。蛇足ですがイタリアン料理のジョークを２点紹介します。
Q: Where did the spaghetti go to dance?
A: The meat ball!

Q: Did you hear about the Italian chef that died?
A: He pasta way.
駄作でしたね。ところで、上の店の名前に「アルデンテ」の音が含まれているのに気が付きました？
鳥取に行く機会はもうないかも知れませんが、もう一度「とある田園亭」のパスタを食べたい。それと今回見逃した、ラッキョウ畑の花が満開のところを見たい。

the strong do as they wish

Noam Chomsky著のHopes and Prospectsにはなるほどと納得する説明が多い。
Smith was refferring to the mercantilist system, but his observation generalizes, and in that form stands as one of the very few atuthentic principles of the theory of international relations, alongside another fundamental principles, the maxim of Thucydides that the strong do as they wish, and the weak suffer as they must.
(Excerpts from "Hopes and Prospects" by Noam Chomsky)

mailed fist

英単語には多義語が多く、馴染みのある単語でも、その単語の持つ知らない意味で使われている場合が多々あります。
The approach relies on a variety of means to dismantle resistance to colonial domination, using rumor, slander, and the highest available technology of surveillance and control; enlisting cooperative domestic elites; and the mailed fist, the Philippine constabulary and U.S. forces, when needed.
上の文はNoam Chomsky著のHopes Prospectsの一節ですが、"mailed fist" で引っ掛かりました。誰でも知っている "mailed（"mail" ）" と "fist" ですが、私が知っている意味ではこの "mailed fist" の個所の意味はチンプンカンプンです。まず "mail"を辞書で見ます。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: armor made of metal links or sometimes plates
・Dictionary.com: clad or armed with mail: a mailed knight.
・Oxford English Dictionary: armour made of metal rings or plates joined together flexibly: a coat of mail
なるほど上の "mailed" の意味はこの形容詞形ですね。これなら "mailed fist" で特別な意味がありそうだ。今度は "mailed fist" で辞書を調べます。
the use of physical force to maintain control: the country’s leadership has shown its continued reliance on the mailed fist
・Dictionary.com: 1. superior force, especially military force, when presented as a threat: The country showed its mailed fist in negotiations. 2. brutal or naked power, especially coercive force: the mailed fist hidden in the velvet glove.
納得です。

salient

Noam Chomsky著のHopes Prospectsは現代の歴史書でもあるので中東情勢についてはイスラエルが舞台の話が多い。
The most important of these is the salient extending to the east of the greatly expanded Jerusalem area including the town of Ma'aleh Adumim, whose lands extend virtually to Jericho, effectively bisecting the West Bank.
"salient" に「顕著な」という意味がありますが、上の文の "salient" はちょっと違う意味の様です。
・Collins Dictionary:
a) (esp in fortifications) projecting outwards at an angle of less than 180
b) (geometry) (of an angle) pointing outwards from a polygon and hence less than 180°: Units of the British Army, mostly Scottish, were manning trenches south of the notorious Ypres salient for about 40km.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: projecting beyond a line, surface, or level
・Vocabulary.com: If something stands out in a very obvious way, it can be called salient. It's time to find new friends if the differences between you and your current friends are becoming more and more salient.
Salient, from the Latin verb salire "to leap," was originally used in English to refer to leaping animals such as a frog or deer and may still be used this way. Often, however, it is used in math or geography to mean protruding. A salient angle juts outward rather than inward. Figuratively, it means noticeable or prominent. When giving an argument, make your most salient points at the beginning or the end.
なるほど、突出部なら目立つのも当然ですね。