SEPARATE BEDS means better sleep, which in turn can produce healthier spouses and a happier marriage... Though when I gingerly mentioned this theory to my husband and he agreed with me, I did feel a tiny bit hurt.
Reader's Digest 1月号の記事Get Cookingにあった表現が気になりました。
The good news is that help is at hand. Regardless of whether you're an empty nester, newly solo or cooking for a family, if you want to cook but are baffled about where to start upskilling and expanding your menu, don't worry as we have a nononsense guide on how to get you cooking again.
上に出てきた "empty nester" はどんな人でしょうか？ うつ病か何かでやる気を失った様な人にも思われますが記事の先を読んでいたら説明がありました。
Empty Nesters?
When the kids leave home many people struggle to re-find their love for cooking, now there are fewer mouths to feed.
子供が巣立って家には子供が居なくなり、精神的な張りを失った親のことでした。辞書での意味を確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A parent whose children have grown up and left home.: Then there are folks like these two, who in demographic parlance are baby boomers turned empty nesters.
Wikepediaには "Empty nest syndrome" の説明がありました。
Empty nest syndrome is a feeling of grief and loneliness parents or guardians may feel when their children leave home for the first time, such as to live on their own or to attend a college or university. It is not a clinical condition.
Since a young adult moving out from his or her parents' house is generally a normal and healthy event, the symptoms of empty nest syndrome often go unrecognized. This can result in depression and a loss of purpose for parents, since the departure of their children from "the nest" leads to adjustments in parents' lives. Empty nest syndrome is especially common in full-time mothers.
Fitnessの流行の変遷についての記事Fitness Through the AgesがReader's Digest 1月号にあり、’70sの個所にArnold Schwarzeneggerの若い頃の筋骨隆々とした写真が掲載されていて、その説明に "ripped and toned” とありました。
"ripped and toned”に筋骨隆々の意味があるのは写真から分かりますが、"rip”の私が知っている「裂ける」とか 「破れる」の意味からだと、"ripped”はボロボロになった身体を連想してしまうのですが、 "ripped”で波打つ腹筋が眼に浮かぶのでしょうか？ 辞書で確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Having well-defined or well-developed muscles; muscular: through his slightly-too-tight shirt you could see he was ripped: they’re going to the gym daily to get buff pecs, ripped abs, and tight buns
・Dictionary.com: (informal) denoting or having highly developed muscles, esp abdominal muscles: a ripped torso
Bodybuilding Jargonというサイトがあり、そこでは "ripped”の意味を次のように説明しています。
A condition of extremely low bodyfat with superior muscle separation and vascularity. Variations include sliced, cut, and cross-straited.
"sliced, cut, and cross-straited" とはもっと凄い身体なのでしょうか？
"ripped”は "ripped jeans”の様にボロボロの意味でももちろん使われます。
今日の単語はReader's Digest 1月号の記事Tent Commandmentにあったアウトドアでの必需品の一つです。タイトルに洒落が入っていますね。
Gaffer tape: there's not much that can't be fixed or held firmly in place with some gaffer tape.
"gaffer tape" の "gaffer" は以前やはりReader's Digestの映画関係の単語クイズに出てきたもので、"the chief electrician on a motion-picture or television production" を指していました。そうなると "gaffer tape" は絶縁テープを連想しますが、どうでしょうか？ 辞書を見ます。
・Wiktionary: A sturdy adhesive tape, made of plastic reinforced with cross-linked fibre, often used by lighting electricians.
・Collins Dictionary: (British) strong adhesive tape used in electrical repairs: Her head was wound with gaffer tape round the eyes and mouth.
・The PhotoNotes.org, Dictionary of Film and Digital Photography: Also “gaffer’s tape.” Heavy wide adhesive tape made of thick matt black fabric. Such tape is sold to movie productions (to be used by gaffers - chief lighting technicians - and other crewmembers), theatre companies, photographers, etc. Gaffer tape is very useful for taping up cameras, attaching things together temporarily, etc. Unlike cheap silver duct tape it tends not to leave unpleasant sticky residues when removed. It also tends to be remarkably expensive.
なるほど、絶縁テープに限らず、丈夫な粘着テープ類を示すのですね。水漏れなどを防ぐ "silver duct tape" より高級なテープとされていますが、素人としてはダクトテープは少なくとも梱包用のテープより高そうなのでどんなテープを指しているのかピンこない。今度ホームセンターに行った時にどんなテープがあるのか見てこよう。
Gaffer tape: there's not much that can't be fixed or held firmly in place with some gaffer tape.
"gaffer tape" の "gaffer" は以前やはりReader's Digestの映画関係の単語クイズに出てきたもので、"the chief electrician on a motion-picture or television production" を指していました。そうなると "gaffer tape" は絶縁テープを連想しますが、どうでしょうか？ 辞書を見ます。
・Wiktionary: A sturdy adhesive tape, made of plastic reinforced with cross-linked fibre, often used by lighting electricians.
・Collins Dictionary: (British) strong adhesive tape used in electrical repairs: Her head was wound with gaffer tape round the eyes and mouth.
・The PhotoNotes.org, Dictionary of Film and Digital Photography: Also “gaffer’s tape.” Heavy wide adhesive tape made of thick matt black fabric. Such tape is sold to movie productions (to be used by gaffers - chief lighting technicians - and other crewmembers), theatre companies, photographers, etc. Gaffer tape is very useful for taping up cameras, attaching things together temporarily, etc. Unlike cheap silver duct tape it tends not to leave unpleasant sticky residues when removed. It also tends to be remarkably expensive.
なるほど、絶縁テープに限らず、丈夫な粘着テープ類を示すのですね。水漏れなどを防ぐ "silver duct tape" より高級なテープとされていますが、素人としてはダクトテープは少なくとも梱包用のテープより高そうなのでどんなテープを指しているのかピンこない。今度ホームセンターに行った時にどんなテープがあるのか見てこよう。
Reader's Digest １２月号の単語クイズ欄、Word Power、に次の問題がありました。
What is the increasingly popular keyboard character octothorpe better known as?
英数字以外の記号で８に関係のあるものが答えのはずですが、思いつかないので答えを見ると、
答え: #; hash; number sign
となっていました。語源は例によって諸説ありますが、覚え易さの観点から次の二つを引用しておきます。
・American HeritageR Dictionary: Coined in the 1960s by researchers at Bell Telephone Laboratories : OCTO- (probably in reference to the eight endpoints of the lines in the symbol) + -thorpe (perhaps from THORP, in reference to the resemblance of the symbol to a village surrounded by fields, or after James Francis Thorpe, because one of the researchers was an advocate of the restoration of Thorpe's Olympic medals).
・Wikipedia: Used by Bell Labs engineers by 1968. Lauren Asplund says that he and a colleague were the source of octothorp at AT&T engineering in New York in 1964. The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories, 1991, has a long article that is consistent with Doug Kerr's essay, in that it says "octotherp" was the original spelling, and that the word arose in the 1960s among telephone engineers as a joke. The first appearance of "octothorp" in a US patent is in a 1973 filing which also refers to the six-pointed asterisk (?) used on telephone buttons as a "sextile".
# 記号は確かに８つの頂点がありますね。
What is the increasingly popular keyboard character octothorpe better known as?
英数字以外の記号で８に関係のあるものが答えのはずですが、思いつかないので答えを見ると、
答え: #; hash; number sign
となっていました。語源は例によって諸説ありますが、覚え易さの観点から次の二つを引用しておきます。
・American HeritageR Dictionary: Coined in the 1960s by researchers at Bell Telephone Laboratories : OCTO- (probably in reference to the eight endpoints of the lines in the symbol) + -thorpe (perhaps from THORP, in reference to the resemblance of the symbol to a village surrounded by fields, or after James Francis Thorpe, because one of the researchers was an advocate of the restoration of Thorpe's Olympic medals).
・Wikipedia: Used by Bell Labs engineers by 1968. Lauren Asplund says that he and a colleague were the source of octothorp at AT&T engineering in New York in 1964. The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories, 1991, has a long article that is consistent with Doug Kerr's essay, in that it says "octotherp" was the original spelling, and that the word arose in the 1960s among telephone engineers as a joke. The first appearance of "octothorp" in a US patent is in a 1973 filing which also refers to the six-pointed asterisk (?) used on telephone buttons as a "sextile".
# 記号は確かに８つの頂点がありますね。
Reader's Digest 12月号の記事 'The Mirror Man' から引用します。
Stephen arrives on his bicycle, and grins as he walks towards me with hand out-stretched. He's a big, strong man who might pass off as Steven Seagal if he had darker hair and was capable of a sterner mien.
Stephenはこの記事の主人公ですが、Steven Seagalはこの記事では他にはまったく登場しません。そこで有名人だと推測してGoogleで調べたところ日本にも滞在していた事もある日本語も堪能なハリウッドの俳優だと分かりました。映画に疎いので全く知りませんでしたが、娘さんも女優（藤谷文子）だそうです。しかし、私の関心はもっぱら英語で、上の引用文中の "pass off as" の意味ですが、状況からするとStephenがSteven Seagalに似ていると言っているのでしょうか？ 辞書で確認します。
・Collins Dictionary: to be or cause to be accepted or circulated in a false character or identity ⇒ he passed the fake diamonds off as real.
・Macmillan Dictionary: pass someone/something off as something to make people believe that a person or thing is something else: He put on an old blue suit, intending to pass himself off as a businessman.
似ていないと難しいでしょうが、似てるの意味ではなく、なりすますことができるの意味ですね。
補足 "mien" は 11/8/2010 に取り上げました。
Stephen arrives on his bicycle, and grins as he walks towards me with hand out-stretched. He's a big, strong man who might pass off as Steven Seagal if he had darker hair and was capable of a sterner mien.
Stephenはこの記事の主人公ですが、Steven Seagalはこの記事では他にはまったく登場しません。そこで有名人だと推測してGoogleで調べたところ日本にも滞在していた事もある日本語も堪能なハリウッドの俳優だと分かりました。映画に疎いので全く知りませんでしたが、娘さんも女優（藤谷文子）だそうです。しかし、私の関心はもっぱら英語で、上の引用文中の "pass off as" の意味ですが、状況からするとStephenがSteven Seagalに似ていると言っているのでしょうか？ 辞書で確認します。
・Collins Dictionary: to be or cause to be accepted or circulated in a false character or identity ⇒ he passed the fake diamonds off as real.
・Macmillan Dictionary: pass someone/something off as something to make people believe that a person or thing is something else: He put on an old blue suit, intending to pass himself off as a businessman.
似ていないと難しいでしょうが、似てるの意味ではなく、なりすますことができるの意味ですね。
補足 "mien" は 11/8/2010 に取り上げました。
White Fangの新しい飼い主の父親は裁判官で、そのJudge Scottにより判決を下された男が脱獄し、 どうやら事件を起こす様子です。
For once, Jim Hall was right. He was innocent of the crime for which he was sentenced. It was a case, in the parlance of thieves and police, of "railroading." Jim Hall was being "railroaded" to prison for a crime he had not committed. Because of the two prior convictions against him, Judge Scott imposed upon him a sentence of fifty years.
上に出てきた "railroading/railroaded" は前に取り上げている(1/12/2011)単語ですね(politicians railroaded the consumption tax)。再度辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: North American Send (someone) to prison without a fair trial or by means of false evidence.
・Dictionary.com: Informal. to convict (a person) in a hasty manner by means of false charges or insufficient evidence: The prisoner insisted he had been railroaded.
前回とりあげた時は、与党による議会での強行採決などで使われる "railroading/railroaded" でしたが、今回は冤罪に至る裁判での例でした。
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