in the quad

Salman Rushdieの小説 "Midnight's Children" を読んでいます。


'Okay,' said Masha Miovie, 'But don't try any smooching.'
Saleem takes the floor with Masha Miovie, swearing not to smooch. Saleem and Masha, doing the Mexican Hat; Masha and Saleem, box-stepping with the best of them! I allow my face to adopt a superior expression; you see, you don't have to be a perfect to get a girl!...The dance ended; and, still on top of my wave of elation, I said, 'Would you care for a stroll, you know, in the quad?'

"quad" は４と関係があると思いますが、"in the quad" では何処になるのでしょうか？ "quad" を辞書で見ると次の説明がありました。

・Oxford English Dictionary: A quadrangle.: students greeted him as he walked through the quad

・Collins Dictionary: A quad is the same as a quadrangle.: His rooms were on the left-hand side of the quad.

・Cambridge English Dictionary: a square or rectangular outside area with buildings on all four sides, often part of the land of a college or university

ヨーロッパの建物によくある中庭ですね。そう言えば形は４角ですね。

shilly-shally

...After the general election, the Central Government continued to shilly-shally about the future of Bombay. The State was to be partitioned: then not to be partitioned; then partition reared its head again.

"shilly-shally" とは何だか愉快な表現ですが、意味を辞書で調べます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: Fail to act resolutely or decisively.: the government shilly-shallied about the matter

・Collins Dictionary: If you say that someone is shilly-shallying, you disapprove of the fact that they are hesitating when they should make a decision.: It's time for Brooke to stop shilly-shallying.
Word origin: [1690–1700; orig. repeated question, shall I? shall I? later altered on the model of its synonym dilly-dally]
"dally" は "10/27/2016" に取り上げていました。

・Cambridge English Dictionary: to spend too much time doing something or making a decision because you do not know what is the right thing to do: Stop shilly-shallying and make a decision now!
なるほど、"shall I? shall I?" が転じて "shilly-shally" となったと分かれば覚えやすいですね。

have other fish to fry

Salman Rushdieの小説 "Midnight's Children" を読んでいます。

Who said, 'What's to be scared of? We're only going half-way for a peek'?...
Wide-eyed, disobedient Indians followed their freckled American chief. ('They killed Dr Narlikar-marchers did,' Hairoil warned us in a shivery voice. Evie spat on his shoes.)
But I, Saleem Sinai, had other fish to fry. 'Evie,' I said with quiet offhandedness, 'how'd you like to see me bicycling?'

"had other fish to fry" は熟語として覚えた、知っている表現ですが、実際の英文で見たのは初めてです。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: concerns or interests to pursue —usually used with other: can't deal with that problem now; we've got other fish to fry right now
・Wiktionary: To have more important things to do.: Your uncle will not return yet; he has other fish to fry; he will be galloping backwards and forwards from Briarfield to Stilbro' all day.

・Collins Dictionary: to have other activities to do, esp more important ones: I didn't pursue it in detail because I'm afraid I had other fish to fry at the time.

fig leaf

The Japan Times Feb.16　のオピニオン記事の次のタイトルが目につきました。
Iran drops the fig leaf of its nuclear fatwa
本文の一部を抜粋します。
As red herrings go, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s “fatwa,” or religious ruling, against nukes has grown funky with age. But that hasn’t stopped officials in Tehran from airing it when convenient, or kept their counterparts in Washington from breathing it in.
タイトルで使われている表現 "fig leaf" はアダムとイブが使っていたイチジクの葉を連想させます。辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A thing designed to conceal a difficulty or embarrassment.: the amendment was just a fig leaf designed to cover the cracks in the party

・Collins Dictionary: People sometimes refer disapprovingly to something which is intended to hide or prevent an embarrassing situation as a fig leaf.: This deal is little more than a fig leaf for the continued destruction of the landscape.

・Cambridge English Dictionary: something that hides something else, especially something that is dishonest or embarrassing: The spokesperson said the information campaign was a fig leaf to hide the most regressive tax in history.
なるほど、分かり易い比喩表現ですね。

frogmarch

Salman Rushdieの小説 "Midnight's Children" を読んでいます。

And, and: here is India's first swimmer of the English Channel, Mr Pushpa Roy, arriving at the gate of the Breach Candy Pools. Saffron bathing-cap on his head, green trunks wrapped in flag-hued towel, this Pushpa has declared war on the white-only policy of the baths. He holds a cake of Mysore sandalwood soap; draws himself up; marches through the gate...whereupon hired Pathans seize him, Indians save Europeans from an Indian mutiny as usual, and out he goes, struggling valiantly, frogmarched into Warden Road and flung into the dust.

カエルの歩きを連想させますが、人が "frogmarch" するとはどういう動きか？　辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Force (someone) to walk forward by holding and pinning their arms from behind.: the cop frogmarched him down the steep stairs

・Collins Dictionary: a method of carrying a resisting person in which each limb is held by one person and the victim is carried horizontally and face downwards: We should be able to frogmarch her on to a plane.

・Cambridge English Dictionary: to force someone who is unwilling to move forward by holding the person's arms behind their back and then pushing them forward: He was frogmarched off by two police officers.

なるほど、分かってしまえば "frogmarch" から連想できますね。

flypaper

Salman Rushdieの "Midnight's Children" を読んでいます。

When the Bombay edition of the Times of India, searching for a catchy human-interest angle to the forthcoming Independence celebrtions, announced that it would award a prize to any Bombay mother who could arrange to give birth to a child at the precise instant of the birth of the new nation, Amina Sinai, who had just awoken from a mysterious dream of flypaper, became glued to newsprint.

"flypaper" の意味を辞書で調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Sticky, poison-treated strips of paper that are hung indoors to catch and kill flies.: there was flypaper dangling from the lamp

・Collins Dictionary: paper with a sticky and poisonous coating, usually hung from the ceiling to trap flies: Flypaper loses its effectiveness over time when it dries up or becomes covered with dust, and it should be replaced regularly.

・Cambridge English Dictionary: a long strip of sticky paper that you hang in a room to catch flies: In fact, they said that they could not get rid of him—he was stuck to them like a fly to flypaper.

分かりましたが、若い人は見たことがないでしょうね。私も最後に見たのは多分５０年位前でしょうね。

code-mixed words

Salman Rushdieの小説 "Midnight's Children" を読んでいます。難しいので英英辞書だけでは分からないことが多く、インターネットで色々調べている中で 'Analysis of Code-Mixing in Midnight’s Children and The God of Small Things' と題されたレポート（PDF：http://lib.unipune.ac.in:8080/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/9496/09_chapter3.pdf?sequence=9&isAllowed=y）を見つけました。そのレポーには 'The use of code-mixing is one of the important linguistic features of the novel and of Rushdie’s fictional art.' と書かれていて、 "Midnight's Children" で使われている230もの "code-mixed words" のリストがありました。
"code-mixed words/code-mixing" の説明を英英辞書で見ます。"code-mixed words" は "code-switching" とも称されるようです。

・Oxford English Dictionary: The practice of alternating between two or more languages or varieties of language in conversation.: the conversational code-switching of the German American bilingual community

・Wiktionary: The phenomenon of alternating between two or more languages or language varieties.: As with many bilingual families, it was normal to observe frequent code-switching at our dinner table.


"code-mixed words" だけでも２３０も出てくるのでは "Midnight's Children" が読み難い訳だ。

janum

Salman Rushdieの小説 "Midnight's Children" が難しい理由の一つに辞書にない単語が頻出することがあります。例えば前回引用した文章を再度下記に示します。

'... And look at the stains on the carpet, janum; for two months we must live like those Britishers? You've looked in the bathrooms? No water near the pot. I never believed, but it's true, my God, they wipe their bottoms with paper only!...'

"janum" は辞書には載っていません。色々調べた結果 Rushdie氏は "code-mixed words" を多用する事が分かり、"janum" は "code-mixed words" の内のAddress Termsの一つだと分かりました。
In the present context, the writer has used this address term for a local landlord.
Code-Mixed Word- janum (dear or darling)
Etymology- The Urdu word janum comes from Persian language which means my soul or my life.

"code-mixed words" については次回更に調べたことを書きます。