steampunk

'Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google'を読んでいると三十数年前の仕事を思い出させる単語が次の個所に出てきました。

Early television was strictly analog. A horizontally scanning electron beam was deflected up or down by a magnetic field created by an ever-changing voltage. Gray wanted to convert the analog voltage into a digital number (a series of coded pulses). Engineers of the time had the rather steampunk notion of shooting the electron beam through a mask with holes representing binary numbers. Different parts of the mask, corresponding to different degrees of deflection, had different patterns of holes.
当時商社の駐在員としてシカゴで働いていましたが、日本のメーカーのＴＶの部品とＩＣ用のセラミックパッケージを米国のメーカーに販売していました。そのＴＶの部品は今では死語になってきたブラウン管に使われる、鉄板に特殊な形状をした穴のある、シャドウマスクと呼ばれるものでした。それが上記の引用文では単に "mask" となっている物です。
さて、今日取り上げたいのは "steampunk" なる聞き慣れない単語です。辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A style of design and fashion that combines historical elements with anachronistic technological features inspired by science fiction.: The essence of steampunk is homage to vintage fashion with a modern, sassy twist.

・Dictionary.com: a subgenre of science fiction and fantasy featuring advanced machines and other technology based on steam power of the 19th century and taking place in a recognizable historical period or a fantasy world.

"steampunk" と呼ばれるＳＦがあるのですね。
WORD SPYに書かれていた記事からの抜粋です。
Steampunk often imagines what the past would have been like if the future hadn’t happened so quickly. It imagines, in other words, what engineers and inventors might have come up with if they’d had another, say, one hundred years to tinker with mechanical and steam-powered machines. (Some examples: a steam-powered flamethrower; a spaceship made of steel and wood.) In other cases, steampunk envisions a historical world that has modern elements. For example, in The Difference Engine, Gibson and coauthor Bruce Sterling imagine a late 19th century world in which Charles Babbage was able to build his “difference engine” — the first computer — and so the computer and communications revolution occurred one hundred years earlier than it did.

go out on a limb

'Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google'からの引用です。

1. Go to floor N and drop the first egg.
How do I know the algorithm begins this way? Well, I'm not going out on much of a limb. An algorithim is a list of idotproof instructions, starting with instrution 1. It tells you to drop an egg, naturally, because that's the modus operandi here.
"going out on much of a limb" の個所の意味がよく分からないので辞書で調べます。
・Wikitionary: To take a risk.: He doesn't want to go out on a limb, but he really should give it a try.

・Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary: If you go out on a limb, you do something or say something that is different from what most people do or say and is therefore risky. He does not want to go out on a limb and try something completely new. There's nothing wrong with politicians going out on a limb sometimes and risking their reputation.

"go out on a limb" の語源についてはPhrase Finderに次の説明がありました。（抜粋）
The limb being talked about here is the branch of a tree and 'out on a limb' is an allusion to climbing trees and going just a bit further than is comfortable.
調べている内に思い出しました。5/26/2015 に "out on a limb" を既に調べた事を。

technically correct but completely useless

'Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google'からの引用です。

With apologies to the folks in Redmond, I'll end on another Microsoft joke because it makes the point well (a point that applies everywhere, not just at Microsoft): A helicopter was flying around above Seattle when a malfunction disabled all of its electronic navigation and communications equipment. The clouds were so thick that the pilot couldn't tell where he was. Finally, the pilot saw a tall building, flew toward it, circled, and held up a handwritten sign that said WHERE AM I? in large letter. People in the tall building quickly responded to the aircraft, drawing their own large sign: YOU ARE IN A HELICOPTER. The pilot smiled, looked at his map, determined the route to Sea-Tac Airport, and landed safely. After they were on the ground, the copilot asked the pilot how he had done. "I knew it had to be the Microsoft building," he said, "because they gave me a technically correct but completely useless answer."
"technically correct but completely useless" の答えや対応にとまどう経験は確かにありますね。

auricular muscle

今日も筋肉についての話題です。
Reader's Digest 6月号の記事 'Your True Stories in 100 Words' から引用します。
You might be able to wiggle your ears. Thirty millon years ago, the three auricular muscles of the outer ear helped our evolutionary ancestors pivot their ears the way cats do. This movement doesn't serve much purpose to modern humans--other than as a party trick. Scientists aren't sure why, but only about 10 to 20 percent of us are able to engage those muscles to wiggle our ears.
私も耳を動かせますが、この記事によると動かせない人の方が多いのですね。
"auricular muscles" が耳を動かす筋肉なので、"auricular" は耳に関係する意味を持つ言葉の様ですが、辞書で確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Relating to the ear or hearing.: the Catholic doctrine of the necessity of private auricular confession

・Collins Dictionary: of, relating to, or received by the sense or organs of hearing; aural: Ear drops are administered in an auricular administration.

"aural" と関係があるのですね。

charley horse

Reader's Digest 6月号の記事 'Your Amazing BODY' から引用します。
You get a charley horse. "Charley horse" is a nice nickname for a nasty muscle cramp, commonly in your calf. One study found that the nerves inside the muscle can fire up to 150 electrical charges per second during a cramp, which is what forces the muscle to squeeze so tightly. The potential causes include dehydration, over-exertion, and certain medications, such as diuretics.
文中に "charley horse" の意味の説明がありますが、この表現は４年前（8/17/2015）にも取り上げていました。