昨日話題にしたPLAYBACKの場面の続きからの引用です。
"Name two of them."
He leaned across the table, but the waiter came up.
"I'll have bourbon and plain water," Goble told him. "Bonded stuff. None of that bar whiskey for me. And don't try to fool me. I'll know. And bottled water. The city water here is terrible."
The waiter just looked at him.
"Bonded stuff" の意味が分かりません。"stuff" は物の意味があるので "Bonded stuff" では辞書の項目にあるはずがないので "bond/bonded" の意味、用例を色々の辞書で見ましたが、中々適当な例は見つかりません。しかし、"bonded" に次の意味があることをやっと見つけました。
・Dictionary.com: Also caled bonded whiskey. a whiskey that has been aged at least four years in a bonded warehouse before bottling.
なるほど、"stuff" は上の引用個所では "bourbon" のことで、"bourbon" は "whiskey" の親戚なので、この説明は参考にできると思います。"bonded bourbon/whiskey" で検索するとWeb上で容易に説明が見つかりました。Wikipediaに丁寧で分かり易い説明がありますが、引用するには長過ぎるので興味のある方は直接そちらのサイトを見てもらうとして、ここではやはりWebで見つけた次の説明を紹介しておきます。
The requirement for "bottled in bond" is that the whiskey must be produced in the same distilling season by the same distiller at the same distillery. Non-bonded whiskey can be from different years as well as from different distillers. Other requirements for bonded whiskies is that they must be a minimum of 4 years in age and be no less than 100 proof.
Distillers originally produced "bottled in bond" whiskies in order to avoid having to pay the excise tax until the whiskey was aged and ready for market.
"Very funny," Goble said, sneering. "And how did you know his name?"
"On account of somebody called him by it. That would be too funny, wouldn't it?"
He sneered. "I told you to stay out of my way. I know who you are now. I looked you up."
I lit a cigarette and blew smoke in his face. "Go fry a stale egg."
"Tough, huh," he sneered. "I've pulled the arms and legs off bigger guys than you."
LとRの発音の区別が苦手は私は "Go fry a stale egg" で "Go fly a kite" を連想してしまいます。 意味も同じようですが、どうでしょうか？ 辞書で確認します。
"stale" は入っていませんが、 "Go fry an egg" の説明があるのを次の辞書で見つけました。
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: Go away and stop bothering me! Go away and stop bothering me. Go fry an egg! Get out of my way! Go fry an egg!
"Go fly a kite" と同じですね。
技術の進歩とくに電子機器や情報通信関連の変遷は驚く程です。公衆電話もほとんど見かけなくなり、ファックスはまだ使われてはいますが、寿命は後数年ではないでしょうか。ファックス（fax）は日本語では当初ファクシミリ（facsimile）と呼ばれる方が多かったと思います。日本語のファクシミリはファックスの意味でしか使われませんが、辞書に最初に書かれている "facsimile" 意味はコピーです。
・Oxford English Dictionary: An exact copy, especially of written or printed material.
・Vocabulary.com: A facsimile is a copy or reproduction of something. Many parents hope their children will be facsimiles of themselves; many children have other plans in mind.
Facsimile comes from two Latin roots: facere, meaning "to make," and simile, meaning "like." Fax machines are so called because they copy and transmit facsimiles of documents, or faxes for short, over phone lines. Grammatically speaking, photocopiers also make facsimiles, but oddly enough those are referred to as copies ? not faxes.
Asiatic Society of Japan２月例会の講演録にコピーの意味での "facsimile" が次の様に出て来ました。 In conclusion, Mr. Naumann showed a facsimile of a very large Buddhist painting in ink, colour and gold, depicting the Womb Mandala, which had been passed to the Freer/Sackler Gallery from his collection about 19 years ago; the Bunkach? had probably allowed it to go overseas because it had gone to a national museum of Asian art.
滞在している部屋のバルコニーに死体があるとMiss Mayfieldに相談された探偵のMarloweは何とか処分しようと考えています。
You could jump off easy enough, but you couldn't possibly fall off accidentally. There were two aluminum patio chaises with padded cushions, two armchairs of the same type. The dividing wall to the left stuck out the way she had told me. I didn't think even a steeplejack could get around the projection without climing tackle. The wall at the other end rose sheer to the edge of what must be one of the penthouse terraces.
"steeplejack" で山岳地帯の崖を自由に駆け回る鹿を連想しましたが、辞書を見たら人間でした。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A person who climbs tall structures such as chimneys and steeples in order to carry out repairs.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a person whose job is to climb high buildings in order to repair, paint, clean them, etc.
先日NHKのニュースで、米国では最近男性の体型として "six-pack" より "Dad Bod" が好まれているようだと伝えているのを耳にしました。早速インターネットで "Dad Bod" を検索すると実際に話題になっている事が分かりました。
USA TodayのCOLLEGE面VOICES FROM CAMPUSから冒頭部分を抜粋します。
It’s the physique that has everyone talking: the ‘dad bod.’
It’s the type of body that, according to Clemson University sophomore Mackenzie Pearson, says “I go to the gym occasionally, but I also drink heavily on the weekends and enjoy eating slices of pizza at a time.” And it’s also apparently what the ladies love.
（http://college.usatoday.com/2015/05/07/viewpoint-the-dad-bod-is-sexist-and-ridiculous/）
これならなんだか安心してビールが飲めますね。
英語の勉強をしている私としては覚えておきたい慣用句がPLAYBACKに出て来ました。
He was a rapid eater even when he talked too much. He pushed his plate away from him, drank some of his coffee and got a toothpick out of his vest.
"This is a rich town, friend," he said slowly. "I've studied it. I've boned up on it. I've talked to guys about it. They tell me it's one of the few spots left in our fair green country where the dough ain't quite enough. In Esmeralda you got to belong, or you're nothing.
"bone up on" を辞書で調べます。
・Cambridge English Dictionary: informal Study (a subject) intensively, often in preparation for something: she boned up on languages she had learned long ago and went back to New Guinea ・Dave's ESL Cafe: (inseparable): review / study thoroughly for a short time.: "If you're going to travel to Peru, you'd better bone up on your Spanish."
この慣用句の由来は： ・The Phrase Finder: Origin: There are two chief theories as to the origin of this phrase. One is that it derives from the practise of using bones to polish leather. So, to 'bone up' on a subject was to polish or refine one's knowledge. The second theory relates to the Victorian bookseller Henry George Bohn (1796-1884). He produced a large catalogue of books, including many study texts.
この後の説明は長くなるので省略しますが、"bones to polish leather" 説の方が信憑性が高いとしていました。
上の語源についての記述を読んでいたら思い出しました、この表現 "bone up" は昨年（1/8/2014）既に取り上げていました。しかもコツコツと勉強すると覚え方まで考え付いたのに忘れているとは、情けない。
探偵Marloweが尾行しているMiss Mayfieldが男ともめています。
She stood up, jerked a wrap off the back of the chair and faced him.
"Shall I pay the check, Mr. Mitchell--or will you pay it with what you borrowed from me?"
His hand went back for another swing at her face. She didn't move. The guy at the next table did. He came up on his feet in one smooth movement and grabbed Mitchell's wrist.
"Take it easy, Larry. You've got a skinful." His voice was cool, almost amused.
"skinful" は知らない単語なので辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Enough alcoholic drink to make one drunk: he had a skinful on New Year’s Eve:
・Collins Dictionary: (slang) sufficient alcoholic drink to make one drunk (esp in the phrase have a skinful)
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: an amount of alcohol that is enough to make a person drunk: By ten o'clock he'd had a skinful.
自分も昔はよくそんな状態になっていましたが、今ではたまにです。
俗語辞典のUrban Dictionaryに由来が次のように書いてありました。
Derived from wineskin, a canteen-like container made from animal skin that is used to hold wine.
"tool" は日本語にもなっている単語ですが、ChandlerのPLAYBACKに私の知らなかった意味で次の様に使われていました。
Another beige cab with the name Esmeralda Cab Company tooled around the corner and drifted into the red slot. A big bruiser with thick glasses got out and checked on the wall phone, then got back into his cab and pulled a magazine out from behind his rear-view mirror.
早速辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Drive or ride in a casual or leisurely manner: tooling around town in a pink Rolls-Royce
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to drive or ride in a vehicle: We tooled along the highway.
・Vocabulary.com: A tool is also something that you use to perform the duties of a certain profession. The tools of a kindergarten teacher's trade include construction paper, glue sticks, and safety scissors. As a verb, tool can mean to drive aimlessly just for fun, the way you might tool around town in your convertible on a beautiful summer day.
英語は多義語が本当に多いですね。
PLAYBACKの私立探偵Marloweは尾行対象の女性と対面してしまいます。
She stood up suddenly and came near me. "You're in a business that doesn't pay fortunes, aren't you?"
I nodded. We were very close now.
"Then what would it be worth to you to walk out of here and forget you ever saw me?"
"I'd walk out of here for free. As for the rest, I have to make a report."
"How much?" She said it as if she meant it. "I can afford a substantial retainer. That's what you call it, I've heard. A much nicer word than blackmail."
"It doesn't mean the same thing."
"It could. Believe me, it can mean just that--even with some lawyers and doctors. I happen to know."
"Tough break, huh?"
"Far from it, shamus. I'm the luckiest girl in the world. I'm alive."
尾行が相手にバレても話は面白くなりますね。さて、会話表現の "Tough break" の意味を調べます。
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: a bit of bad fortune. I'm sorry to hear about your accident. Tough break. John had a lot of tough breaks when he was a kid, but he's doing okay now.
・The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms: Also, tough luck. A trying or troublesome circumstance, bad luck, as in He got a tough break when he was denied a raise, or Tough luck for the team last night. This idiom uses tough in the sense of "difficult," a usage dating from the early 1600s. The variant is also used as a sarcastic interjection, as in So you didn't make straight A's-tough luck! A slangy variant of this interjection is tough beans, and a ruder version is tough shit.
"Tough break"、言われたくない表現ですが、人生には実際に何度もあるんですよね。
ところで "shamus" は度々でてくるのでもう覚えてしまいました。"A private detective."(Oxford English Dictionary)を指しています。
ChandlerのPLAYBACKを読んでいます。恐らく主人公と思われる私立探偵のMarloweは依頼された尾行を開始しました。
"Yeah, the sun's shining and our friend is no more on the lam than you are. She ate breakfast in the coffee shop which has a glass wall towards the concourse. She sat in the waiting room with a hundred and fifty other people. And she could have stayed on the train out of sight."
"I have all that, thank you. I'll get it to Mr. Umney as soon as possible. You have no firm opinion then?"
"I have one firm opinion. That you're holding out on me."
引用個所の最後に出てきた "hold out on" は知らない慣用句なので辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: informal Refuse to give something, typically information, to (someone).: He's holding out on vital information that we trusted him with.
・Collins Dictionary: (informal) to delay in or keep from telling (a person) some new or important information
探偵小説にはよく出て来そうな表現ですね。覚えなくちゃ。
"on the lam" は "3/11/2011" に取り上げています。
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