"Getting to YES" を読んでいると5年前(1/12/2011)に覚えた "railroaded" が次の様に出てきました。
Who should make the first offer? It would be a mistake to assume that making an offer is always the best way to put a figure on the table. Usually you will want to explore interests, options, and criteria for a while before making an offer. Making an offer too soon can make the other side feel railroaded.
John Grishamの "The Partner" を読んでいます。 "No, but it's one of the few tactical advantages we can spring on those hyenas circling my carcass. We broadside them with this, and we soften up the sentiment a bit. Think of it, Sandy. The FBI torturing a suspect, an American citizen."
"broadside" の意味が分からないので英英辞書で調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A strongly worded critical attack.: broadsides against political correctness: Atkins' public broadsides against ‘regulatory overreach’ have made him a hero in business and conservative circles
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a strong written or spoken attack (on someone): The candidate fired/launched yet another broadside at the president.
意味は分かりましたが、何故この様な意味になったのか気になったので調べました。Merriam-Websterに書かれていた説明の抜粋です。
In the nautical sense, broadside was originally the entire side of a ship above the water - which is where the guns were placed. The further use of broadside to refer to firing of the guns eventually led to the figurative "volley of abuse" sense.
Grishamの "The Partner" を読んでいます。
SHE INSISTED that Lance be allowed to sit through the appointment with her. She needed him, she said. He was quite cute in his tight denim shorts. His muscular legs were hairy and brown. The lawyer was scornful, but then, he'd seen everything.
Trudy was dressed to the nines-tight short skirt, tasteful red blouse, full complement of makeup and jewelry. She crossed her shapely legs to get the lawyer's attention. She patted Lance on the arm as he massaged her knee.
英語には "nine" を使った慣用句が多い様に思います。上に出てきた "dressed to the nines" はどの様な意味になるのでしょうか？
・Oxford English Dictionary: Dressed very elaborately.: But when we see him dressed to the nines, we hardly notice his deficiencies.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to be wearing fashionable or formal clothes for a special occasion: Jackie went out dressed to the nines.
過去に私が取り上げた "nine" を含む慣用句は "the whole nine" と "talk nineteen to the dozen" です。
私が読むJohn Grishamの小説はこれで9冊目です。タイトルは "The Partner" です。また悪徳法律家が出てくるのでしょうね。小説の出だしから気になる表現が出てきました。
They found him living in a shaded brick house on Rua Tiradentes, a wide avenue with trees down the center and barefoot boys dribbling soccer balls along the hot pavement. They found him alone, as best they could tell, though a maid came and went at odd hours during the eight days they hid and watched.
・Oxford English Dictionary: Happening or occurring infrequently and irregularly; occasional.: neither did she want a secret affair, snatching odd moments together
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:
a: not regular, expected, or planned; worked at odd jobs
b: encountered or experienced from time to time; People would call at odd hours during the night.
不特定な時間と言うことですね。
"odd" は前にも （1/12/2011） "odd drink" を取り上げていました。
今日は図書館から借りる本の間に読んでいるZoobiquityに出てきた単語を取り上げます。
During nighttime feeding runs, mountain beavers in the Pacific Northwest snip off bits of ferns and other greens and stack them in small bundles under logs and on rocks. They also hang them over the low branches of trees and shrubs. The beavers later move these piles of wilted greens into special chilled storage chambers near their nests and feed out of these "mini-fridges" all year. The moisture-laden vegetation is quick to mold, so every week or so the beavers have to take stock and replace the stores. You migiht go through your crisper from time to time, too, and throw out the liquefying romaine.
分からない単語は "crisper" です。知っている単語 "crisp" と関係があるのでしょうか？
・Oxford English Dictionary: A compartment at the bottom of a refrigerator for storing fruit and vegetables.: Crisp green stems should be loosely wrapped in paper towel and kept in the crisper.
・Wiktionary:
1.A cooled food storage container, used to cool items that do not require complete refrigeration.
2.The section of a refrigerator used to store fruit and vegetables at a slightly higher temperature than the rest of the refrigerator.
なるほど、野菜をシャキット保てるから "crisper" なのですね。
"Getting to YES" を読んでいたら、先日初めて挑んだテニスの試合を思い出させる箇所がありました。
Separate the people from the problem. Don't attack people personally for using a tactic you consider illegitimate. If they get defensive it may be more difficult for them to give up the tactic, and they may be left with a residue of anger that will fester and interfere with other issues. Question the tactic, not their personal integrity. Rather than saying, "You deliverately put me here facing the sun," attack the problem: "I am finding the sun in my eyes quite distracting. Unless we can solve the problem, I may have to leave early to get some rest. Shall we revise the schedule?" It will be easier to reform the negotiating process than to reform those with whom you are dealing.
ここでは "finding the sun in my eyes" を比喩的に使っていますが、インタネット上に次の文例があるのを見ました。
I like my stylish pair of Oakleys but most shades offer good protection from the sun. I find the sun in my eyes to be a bit annoying and a simple pair fixes that problem.
屋外のテニスでは帽子とサングラスは必需品ですね。
一昨日の昼食が原因と思われる十年振りの激しい食あたりで苦しみました。お陰で体重を減らすことができました。
さて、相手からイエスを導く交渉法の本 "Getting to YES"(by Roger Fisher and William Ury)を読んでいると "Negotiation jujitsu" という章がありました。"jujitsu" は日本語の柔術を連想させますが、果たして著者はその意味で使っているのでしょうか？ 本文を読みます。
As in the Oriental martial arts of judo and jujitsu, avoid pitting your strength against theirs directly; instead, use your skill to step aside and turn their strength to your ends. Rather than resisting their force, channel it into exploring interests, inventing options for mutual gain, and searching for independent standards.
...
But instead of reacting, Turnbull keeps his temper and brings the negotiation back to the merits. This is a good example of negotiation jujitsu.
まさに柔術の意味で使っていますね。一般の英米人がこの "jujitsu" を知っているのだろうかと疑問に感じながら辞書を見ると、ほとんどの辞書に "jujitsu" の項はあり、次のような説明がありました。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A Japanese system of unarmed combat and physical training.: In the martial art of ju-jitsu, the less powerful uses the strength of the aggressor to immobilize them.
・Collins Dictionary: the traditional Japanese system of unarmed self-defence perfected by the samurai.: He also played football, lifted weights, practiced jujitsu and karate.
・Dictionary.com: the use of an opponent's strengths or one's own weaknesses to accomplish one's goals: That was a kind of intellectual jujitsu, the way she handily won the debate.: The town of Vacaville, in a prime example of touristic jujitsu, turned its isolation into an attraction in itself.
"Getting to YES" を読んでいます。
In other ways, people--even those of similar background--are quite different. Some of us are outgoing, others shy; some verbal and logic-chopping, others more physical and emotive; some people are blunt, others more indirect and tactful; some relish conflict, others will do almost anything to avoid it.
"logic-chopping" とは如何にも論旨がめちゃめちゃな人を連想します。
・Collins Dictionary: British pejorative: the use of excessively subtle argument ⇒ This is philosophy as Plato intended, not the dry logic-chopping of academic journals.
・Oxford English Dictionary: [mass noun] The practice of engaging in excessively pedantic argument.: this was logic chopping with a vengeance: His logic chopping proved little more than that it was logical.
とにかくごちゃごちゃと屁理屈をいうことの様です。
"Getting to YES" の "What If They Are More Poweful?" の章から引用します。
Formulate a trip wire. Although your BATNA is the true measure by which you should judge any proposed agreement, you may want another test as well. To give you early warning that the content of a possible agreement is beginning to run the risk of being too unattractive, it is useful to identify one far from perfect agreement that is better than your BATNA. Before accepting any agreement worse than this trip-wire package, you should take a break and reexamine the situation. Like a bottom line, a trip wire can limit the authority of an agent. "Don't sell for less than $258,000, the price I paid plus interest, until you've talked to me."
(Note: BATNA short for Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement)
この本の著者も "trip wire" を "trip-wire" とも書いたり一貫性がありません。多くの辞書は "trip wire" ではなく、一語の "tripwire" としています。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A wire stretched close to the ground, working a trap, explosion, or alarm when disturbed and serving to detect or prevent people or animals entering an area.: There were no guards, no alarms, no more tripwires after those we had evaded.
・Dictionary.com: a wire that activates a trap, camera, or other device when stepped on, tripped on, or otherwise disturbed.: The emotions of Democrats are on a tripwire, ready to react at the slightest provocation.
Reader's Digest 8月号の記事 "COLA CRISIS" からの抜粋です。
Amid stalled or declining sales in Western markets, soft drink leviathans Coca-Cola and Pessi have turned their attention to markets in developing nations with a propensity twards a sweet tooth.
上の文中に出てきた "leviathans" は少なくともここでは大企業を示しているのは明らかです。この言葉はカタカナで何度かこれまでにも見聞きした記憶がありますが、英語のスペルを見たのは初めての気がします。（忘れているだけで初めてではない可能性も高い。）
一応意味を辞書で確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A thing that is very large or powerful, especially a ship.: Over the past 43 years he has worked in the trenches at such corporate leviathans as IBM and Xerox, and in between he has found the time to be an entrepreneur, running 21 companies in 17 industries at one time or another.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: something that is very large and powerful: The factory is a towering leviathan in the middle of the town.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: something or someone that is extremely large and powerful: The US is seen as an economic leviathan.
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