banter

Kazuo Ishiguroの "The Remains of the Day" を読み終わりました。
PROLOGUE - JULY 1956の最後の方に次の文があります。
...for a great many people, the evening is the most enjoyable part of the day. I should cease looking back so much, that I should adopt a more positive outlook and try to make the best of what remains of my day.
小説の題名はここから来ているのですね。
続けて "penultimate paragraph" から引用します。
I naturally assumed at first that they were a group of friends out together for the evening. But as I listened to their exchanges, it became apparent they were strangers who had just happened upon one another here on this spot behind me. Evidently, they had all paused a moment for the lights coming on, and then proceeded to fall into conversation with one another. As I watch them now, they are laughing together merrily. It is curious how people can build such warmth among themselves so swiftly. It is possible these particular persons are simply united by the anticipation of the evening ahead. But, then, I rather fancy it has more to do with this skill of bantering. Listening to them now, I can hear them exchanging one bantering remark after another. It is, I would suppose, the way many people like to proceed. In fact, it is possible my bench companion of a while ago expected me to banter with him – in which case, I suppose I was something of a sorry disappointment. Perhaps it is indeed time I began to look at this whole matter of bantering more enthusiastically. After all, when one thinks about it, it is not such a foolish thing to indulge in – particularly if it is the case that in bantering lies the key to human warmth.
主人公のStevensは昔気質の執事で、昔一緒に働いていた女性（Ms Kenton）に会いに行った旅行中に過去のことを色々と回想するのですが、過去には "dignity" に非常にこだわっていた事や、父親の死や、一緒に働いていた、恐らくほのかな恋心を抱いていた、Ms Kentonが去る際にも仕事最優先の滅私奉公だった人生を反省している様子、しかし、過去を振り返るのを止め、残りの人生をもっと前向きに生きようと決心し、"bantering" に励もうと考えています。
"bantering" で、同時通訳者だった故村松増美氏が「ニュージーランドとオーストラリアは "bantering" できる間柄だ」と言っていたのを思い出しました。（１０年以上前に無くなった前のブログで同じ事を書いた気がする）
"banter" についてはVocabulary.comにあった次の説明を引用します。
Good friends usually banter back and forth easily, like they're trying to keep a step ahead of each other in witty responses. This type of banter is their special language of friendship.
Banter is both a noun and a verb about talking. It comes from unknown origins, but even as a word, it seems to be playful and teasing. You can engage in banter with friends, siblings, parents, and even good-natured strangers. Banter usually ends with everyone feeling better for the talk and verbal play. Joking, joshing, and teasing are all related to banter.

pandemonium

Kazuo Ishiguroの "The Remains of the Day" を読んでいます。
DAY TWO - MORNINGから引用します。
‘I’m proud of you. A good son. I hope I’ve been a good father to you. I suppose I haven’t.’
‘I’m afraid we’re extremely busy now, but we can talk again in the morning.’
My father was still looking at his hands as though he were faintly irritated by them.
‘I’m so glad you’re feeling better now,’ I said again and took my leave.
On descending, I found the kitchen on the brink of pandemonium, and in general, an extremely tense atmosphere amongst all levels of staff. However, I am pleased to recall that by the time dinner was served an hour or so later, nothing but efficiency and professional calm was exhibited on the part of my team.

今はコロナで世界中が "pandemic" の状態ですが、上の引用文にある "pandemonium" は関係あるでしょうか？
・Oxford English Dictionary: Wild and noisy disorder or confusion; uproar.: On the collective level, poison gas created confusion and pandemonium.
・Collins Dictionary: If there is pandemonium in a place, the people there are behaving in a very noisy and uncontrolled way.: There was pandemonium in court as the judge gave his summing up.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a situation in which there is a lot of noise and confusion because people are excited, angry, or frightened: Pandemonium reigned in the hall as the unbelievable election results were read out.

ONLINE ETYMOLOGY
1667, Pandæmonium, in "Paradise Lost" the name of the palace built in the middle of Hell, "the high capital of Satan and all his peers," and the abode of all the demons; coined by John Milton (1608-1674) from Greek pan- "all" (see pan-) + Late Latin daemonium "evil spirit," from Greek daimonion "inferior divine power," from daimōn "lesser god" (see demon).
Transferred sense "place of uproar and disorder" is from 1779; that of "wild, lawless confusion" is from 1865.

the facts of life

Kazuo Ishiguroの "The Remains of the Day" を読んでいます。
DAY TWO - MORNINGから引用します。
‘I’m sorry to bring up a thing like this, Stevens. I know you must be awfully busy yourself. But I can’t see how on earth to make it go away.’
I waited a moment while Lord Darlington returned his attention to Who’s Who. Then he said, without looking up: ‘You are familiar, I take it, with the facts of life.’
‘Sir?’
The facts of life, Stevens. Birds, bees. You are familiar, aren’t you?’
‘I’m afraid I don’t quite follow you, sir.’
‘Let me put my cards on the table, Stevens. Sir David is a very old friend. And he’s been invaluable in organizing the present conference. Without him, I dare say, we’d not have secured M. Dupont’s agreement to come.’
‘Indeed, sir.’
‘However, Stevens, Sir David has his funny side. You may have noticed it yourself. He’s brought his son, Reginald, with him. To act as secretary. The point is, he’s engaged to be married. Young Reginald, I mean.’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Sir David has been attempting to tell his son the facts of life for the last five years. The young man is now twenty-three.’
‘Indeed, sir.’
‘I’ll get to the point, Stevens. I happen to be the young man’s godfather. Accordingly, Sir David has requested that I convey to young Reginald the facts of life.’

"the facts of life" はその後に "Birds, bees" とあるので見当は付きますが、話す相手は２３歳にもなっている青年ですよ!? "the facts of life" の辞書の説明を見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: Information about sexual functions and practices, especially as given to children.: They were left to play in blissful ignorance until such a time, as they were old enough to understand the sexual facts of life.
・Collins Dictionary: n British English; the details of sexual behaviour and reproduction, esp as told to children:
・Merriam-Webstery: the facts about sex that are told to children: He explained the facts of life to his son.
・Wiktionary: (euphemistic) knowledge of sexual reproduction (almost always used with the)

それにしても、２３歳の青年が近く結婚するので "the facts of life" を話さなくてはと心配するのは、笑っちゃうね。

pep-talk

Kazuo Ishiguroの "The Remains of the Day" を読んでいます。
DAY TWO - MORNINGから引用します。
It was clear then that the staff would not only have to work extremely hard, and be at their most alert, they would also have to be, unusually flexible. In fact, I was for some time of the opinion that this huge challenge ahead of us could not be surmounted without my bringing in additional staff from outside. However, this option, quite aside from the misgivings his lordship was bound to have as regards gossip travelling, entailed my having to rely on unknown quantities just when a mistake could prove most costly. I thus set about preparing for the days ahead as, I imagine, a general might prepare for a battle: I devised with utmost care a special staff plan anticipating all sorts of eventualities; I analysed where our weakest points lay and set about making contingency plans to fall back upon in the event of these points giving way; I even gave the staff a military-style ‘pep-talk’, impressing upon them that, for all their having to work at an exhausting rate, they could feel great pride in discharging their duties over the days that lay ahead. ‘History could well be made under this roof,’ I told them. And they, knowing me to be one not prone to exaggerated statements, well understood that something of an extraordinary nature was impending.

‘pep-talk’は見覚えのある言葉ですが、意味を思い出せません。　辞書を見ます。"pep-talk" の見出しはありませんでしたが "pep talk" ならありました。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A talk intended to make someone feel more courageous or enthusiastic.: After the service, he rose to give the soldiers a pep talk and discuss the next morning's mission.
・Collins Dictionary: A pep talk is a speech which is intended to encourage someone to make more effort or feel more confident.: [informal] Powell spent the day giving pep talks to the troops.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a short speech intended to encourage people to work harder or try to win a game or competition: The boss gave the staff a pep talk this morning in an attempt to boost sales.

take stock

Kazuo Ishiguroの "The Remains of the Day" を読んでいます。

DAY ONE - EVENINGから引用します。
This occurred just after I took a turning and found myself on a road curving around the edge of a hill. I could sense the steep drop to my left, though I could not see it due to the trees and thick foliage that lined the roadside. The feeling swept over me that I had truly left Darlington Hall behind, and I must confess I did feel a slight sense of alarm – a sense aggravated by the feeling that I was perhaps not on the correct road at all, but speeding off in totally the wrong direction into a wilderness. It was only the feeling of a moment, but it caused me to slow down. And even when I had assured myself I was on the right road, I felt compelled to stop the car a moment to take stock, as it were.

"take stock" の表現は既に２度も（7/6/2018と3/15/2011）取り上げていました。
ところで、 "The Remains of the Day" の全文がネットのonlinereadfreenovel.comに掲載されていることを知りました。引用する際に紙の本を読んでタイプする必要がないので助かります。

foot the bill

Kazuo Ishiguroの "The Remains of the Day" を読み始めました。
PROLOGUE - JULY 1956から引用します。
‘You realize, Stevens, I don’t expect you to be locked up here in this house all the time I’m away. Why don’t you take the car and drive off somewhere for a few days? You look like you could make good use of a break.’
Coming out of the blue as it did, I did not quite know how to reply to such a suggestion. I recall thanking him for his consideration, but quite probably I said nothing very definite, for my employer went on:
‘I’m serious, Stevens. I really think you should take a break. I’ll foot the bill for the gas. You fellows, you’re always locked up in these big houses helping out, how do you ever get to see around this beautiful country of yours?’

小説の主人公である執事の 'Stevens' はアメリカ人の雇い主から留守中に休暇旅行でもしなさいと言われました。文脈からすると引用文の "foot the bill" は費用は私が持つからの意味と推測できます。辞書を見ます。
・Merriam-Webster: to pay for something: It's a business lunch, so the company is footing the bill.
・Farlex Dictionary of Idioms: To pay for something.: I hope the production company is footing the bill for all of this air travel.
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: to pay for something; to pay for a bill.: My boss took me out for lunch and the company footed the bill.

World Wide Wordsの "foot the bill" に "foot the bill" の由来が書かれていましたが、長いのでその一部だけを引用します。
To start with, it was a decidedly colloquial usage, but as time passed the associated senses fell out of use and to foot the bill is now a fixed phrase, though still somewhat informal. It often now has the implication of paying for something whose cost is considered large or unreasonable, especially if the person doing so has been forced into paying for the consequences of the actions of somebody else.

Blood Test

コロナの感染はまだ収まっていないとはいえ、日本ではゴールデンウィークもあり、昨日車で通り抜けた銀座と新宿も歩道は混んでいて、平常な生活に近づいている感じです。それに引き換えウクライナは気の毒です。プーチン、ロシアの理不尽な侵攻のために悲惨な状態です。酷いプーチンと思いますが、不思議で、又更に恐ろしい事は、プーチンやウクライナ侵攻に対するロシア国民の支持率が非常に高いことです。でもこの事は、日本人も同様な事を中国やアジアの国で行ったのを忘れてはいけないと思います。天皇陛下万歳と叫んで戦かい、それを支持した日本、その責任をどの様に取り、そして反省したのでしょうか？　戦後に作られた日本国憲法の第一条があることからして疑問を感じます。戦争と憲法、話が硬くなったので、今日の英語は軽い話題にします。
Reader's Digest 3/4月合併号の記事 'LAUGHTER the Best Medicine' からの引用です。
The attorney enters his client's jail cell and announces, "I have some good news and some bad news."
"What's the bad news?" his client asks nervously.
"The bad news is, your blood is all over the crime scene, and the DNA tests prove you did it," says the lawyer.
"What's the good news?
"Your cholesterol is only 130."

episode / cold turkey

Reader's Digest 2月号は発行100年を記念する特集で古い記事から選ばれた内容が多かった。

"Cigarettes were killing me. I had a chronic hacking cough and never clear my throat. When I had a scary heart episode, to calm my self I had a smoke. Crazy, huh? Then my Reader's Digest arrived, with an article that suggested that to quit smoking, you should breath deeply, as if you were taking a draw off a cigarette. It worked! I stopped cold turkey that day. I'm sure it saved my life."

"episode" は出来事などにしか使われないと思っていましたが、上記の例では病気に関係がありますね。辞書を見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: A finite period in which someone is affected by a specified illness.: ‘acute psychotic episodes’
・Collins Dictionary: An episode of an illness is short period in which a person who suffers from it is affected by it particularly badly.: The new drug lessens the severity of pneumonia episodes.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a sudden short period in which someone suffers the effects of a physical or mental illness: I had an episode of severe chest pain.

なるほど、長い期間ではなく短い期間の事柄であることが "episode" の共通の意味なのですね。
引用文の後半に出てきた "cold turkey" は既に取り上げた表現と思いましたが記録がありません。一応こちらの意味も辞書から引用して置きます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: The abrupt and complete cessation of taking a drug to which one is addicted.: Unlike smoking, you can't go cold turkey with food.’
・Collins Dictionary: Cold turkey is the unpleasant physical reaction that people experience when they suddenly stop taking a drug that they have become addicted to.: The quickest way to get her off the drug was to let her go cold turkey.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: the period of extreme suffering that comes immediately after a person has stopped taking a drug on which they depend: Six years ago she went cold turkey on (= stopped completely) a three-pack-a-day smoking habit.

home truth

"catalog" を英英辞書で調べていた時にCambridge English Dictionaryのサイトの画面の右側にWORD OF THE DAYのコーナーがあり、次の様な興味を引く表現が掲載されていました。

"home truth"
a true but unpleasant fact about yourself that another person tells you: He decided it was time to tell her a few home truths.

他の辞書での "home truth" の説明も確認しました。

・Oxford English Dictionary: An unpleasant fact about oneself, especially as pointed out by another person.: ‘what he needed was someone to tell him a few home truths’
・Collins Dictionary: Home truths are unpleasant facts that you learn about yourself, usually from someone else.: [British] We held a team meeting and a few home truths were spelled out.

他人から言われるなんて、一番聞きたくない事ですね。