If you bungle raising your children, I don’t think whatever else you do well matters very much.
ジャクリーン・ケネディ
It is the opium of the people.
Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature.
カール・マルクス
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
シェークスピア
Momoを読んでいます。ついに 'Men in grey' をやっつけMomoの話は終わりに向かいます。
At long last, Beppo shouldered his broom -- he took the rest of the day off, of course -- and the two of them strolled arm in arm through the city to the old amphitheatre, still talking nineteen to the dozen.
"talking nineteen to the dozen" はいつまでも話続けたの意味だと推測できますが、慣用句として辞書に載っているか確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Talk incessantly.: She talks nineteen to the dozen, amusingly, self - deprecatingly, practically, irreverently.
・Dictionary.com: to talk very rapidly or vehemently: Whenever I'm excited I talk nineteen to the dozen.
Momoを読んでいると面白い表現がありました。
The cars drove on, the traffic police blew their whistlers, the pigeons continued circling, and the little dog made a puddle against the lamp-post.
"puddle" の意味としては水たまりや水たまりを歩くことしか知りませんでしたが、"dog made a puddle" は犬が散歩途中で必ず行う動作であることは "against the lamp-post" とあるので容易に推測できます。"puddle" にこの様な意味があることを辞書で確認します。 ・Vocabulary.com: eliminate urine
・Mnemonic Dictionary 2013: eliminate urine, make , make water , micturate , pass water , pee , pee-pee , piddle , piss , relieve oneself , spend a penny , take a leak , urinate , wee , wee-wee
・Collins Dictionary: (physiology) to expel (waste matter) from the body
・Wiktionary: (physiology) To excrete (waste products).
意外にも "puddle" は生理学の学術用語でした。
"husband" に夫以外の意味があるのは覚えていますが、それが何だったかすっかり忘れています。Momoを読んでいると明らかに夫では無い動詞の "husband" が次の様に出て来ました。
Our reserves must be carefully husbanded. After all, we don't know how long they'll have to last us.
早速辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Use (resources) economically; conserve: the need to husband his remaining strength
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to manage prudently and economically: Husband our natural resources so that our children and grandchildren may benefit from them.
この意味の由来が気になったのでOnline Etymology Dictionaryを見ると次の記述がありました。
"manage thriftily," early 15c., from husband (n.) in an obsolete sense of "steward" (mid-15c.).
Our reserves must be carefully husbanded. After all, we don't know how long they'll have to last us.
早速辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Use (resources) economically; conserve: the need to husband his remaining strength
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to manage prudently and economically: Husband our natural resources so that our children and grandchildren may benefit from them.
この意味の由来が気になったのでOnline Etymology Dictionaryを見ると次の記述がありました。
"manage thriftily," early 15c., from husband (n.) in an obsolete sense of "steward" (mid-15c.).
Momoを読んでいます。
What followed was a chase in reverse -- a chase in which countless grey figures were pursued through the city, at a discreet distance behind the last of the stragglers, by a girl with a flower in her hand and a tortoise under her arm.
今日覚えたい単語は上に出てきた "stragglers" です。辞書の説明を読みます。
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a person or animal that is last in a group to do something or the last to get to or leave a place: We watched the last of the stragglers come in, three hours after the first runner.
・Wiktionary:
a.One who straggles, or departs from the direct or proper course, or from the company to which he belongs.
b. One who falls behind the rest.
・Example from Wordnik: We notice one straggler, apparently disoriented from lack of oxygen to the brain, making his way up the slope.
昨日10kmのランを走りましたが、８月の初旬に捻挫をして以来２ヶ月程ジョッギングを休んだのでなんとか完走しましたが、ほとんど "straggler" の状態でした。
An artist asked the gallery owner if there had been any interest in his paintings.
"I've got good news and bad news," owner replied. "The good news is that a man enquired about your work and wondered if it would appreciate in value after your death. When I told him it would, he bought all of your paintings."
"Wow!" the artist exclaimed. "What's the bad news?"
"He was your doctor."
かつて戦後の日本に君臨した有名な米国人が言った次の言葉はよく知られていますね。
Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
では他の職業の人なら何と言うでしょうか？
Old accountants never die; they just lose their balance.
Old lawyers never die: they just lose their appeal.
Old bloggers never die: they just have nothing to brag about.
最後の言葉は自作（駄作？）ですが、あなたなら何と言いますか？
Momoを読んでいると "with bated breath" と言う表現が次の様に出て来ました。
Momo was listening with bated breath.
"bate" も "bated" も見覚えのない単語なので早速辞書を見ます。
・Wiktionary: Eagerly; with great anticipation. We are waiting with bated breath for the release of the new version.
更に調べていると "with bated breath" を "with baited breath" と書く人もいる事が分かりました。例えば、
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: The whole common room listened with baited breath.
しかし、これは間違いだそうです。 Which is it - bated or baited? We have baited hooks and baited traps, but bated - what's that?
Bated doesn't even seem to be a real word, where else do you hear it? Having said that, 'baited breath' makes little sense either. How can breath be baited? With worms?
'Bated' is simply a shortened form of 'abated', meaning 'to bring down, lower or depress'.
'Abated breath' makes perfect sense and that's where the phrase comes from.
なるほど、"abate" なら知っている単語なので納得です。
ブログに取り上げた記録は残っていませんが以前 "bandy around or about" (to spread something, such as someone's good name, around in an unfavorable context; to toss words around in a gossipy fashion. [Bandy means to toss or hit something back and forth.])を覚えたのですが、Momoを読んでいると "bandy words" と言う表現が次のように出て来ました。
'Heavens!' said the voice, with another mirthless laugh. 'You're hardly the person to bandy words with us on the subject of truth and falsehood.
"bandy around" が言い触らすなら "bandy words" には "with us" と相手がいるので、言い争う感じですが、どうでしょう。辞書で確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Argue pointlessly or rudely: Don’t bandy words with me, Sir!
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to argue: I haven't come here to bandy words with you.
当たりですね。
Momoは大人が "men in grey" に時間を奪われていると気づき、子供達を中心に時間を取り戻すためのデモを行い、皆にamphitheaterに集まることを呼びかけましたが、誰も現れません。
Franco was next to leave. 'It's hopeless,' he said. 'We can't count on the grown-ups, we know that now. I never did trust them anyway. As far as I'm concerned, they can stew in their own juice from now on.'
"stew in their own juice" は慣用句に違いありません。意味を調べます。
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: to be left alone to suffer one's anger or disappointment. John has such a terrible temper. When he got mad at us, we just let him go away and stew in his own juice. After John stewed in his own juice for a while, he decided to come back and apologize to us.
・Cambridge Idioms Dictionary: if you leave someone to stew in their own juice, you leave them to worry about something bad that has happened or something stupid they have done She'll calm down - just leave her to stew in her own juices for a bit.
なるほど、"stew in their own juice" ですね。この手は自分で反省できる人間には有効ですが、反省できない人もいるので困ることがあります。
トータル
