dognap

Reader's　Digest ３・４月合併号の記事 "Operation: Find Avery " からの引用です。

Witherspoon's case of a missing pet turned into something sinister when, 24 hours after the dognapping, her cellphone buzzed. In menacing texts laced with profanity and misspellings, someone claimed to have Avery and sent a video of the pup in a cage. The conversation was punctuated with a threat to kill the dog and a demand for ransom: "Y'all not getting y'all dog back Y'all payng 1200 no funny's!!'

犬の誘拐事件の話ですね。 "dognapping" は "kidnap" からできた単語に違いありません。

・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to steal (a dog) especially to obtain a reward for its return or to sell to a scientific laboratory
・Collins Dictionary: To dognap a dog is to steal it, usually to get money from its owner in exchange for its return.：The two terriers were dognapped from their owner's car.

さすがに猫の誘拐はないだろうと思いながらも念の為に "catnap" を辞書で見ると、ありました！　でも意味は猫の誘拐ではありません。

・Vocabulary.com: A catnap is a brief rest. If you need a break from studying for the big test tomorrow, you might take a quick catnap on the couch.
Cats are famous sleepers, so it's not surprising that catnap was coined at some point during the 1800s. It describes a snooze that's fairly short and definitely doesn't involve climbing under the covers. You can take a catnap almost anywhere: on the bus, in front of the woodstove, or curled up in a comfortable chair like a cat! Use the word as a verb too: "I think I'll catnap for five minutes, right here in the library."

make off with

Reader's　Digest ３・４月合併号の記事 "Operation: Find Avery " からの引用です。

Raquel Witherspoon, 38. was frantically searching for her daughter's Yorkshir terrier, Avery, in June 2022 after making a shocking discovery. Doorbell camera footage showed a young woman with dyed-red hair creep onto her front porch, throw treats to Avery, then make off with the tiny dog.

簡単な単語で構成されている句動詞も意味を推測するのが難しい。上記の文は犬を持ち去ったと推測できますが。"make off with" を辞書で確認します。

・Oxford English Dictionary: to steal something and hurry away with it: Thieves made off with $30 000 worth of computer equipment.
・Collins Dictionary: If you make off with something, you steal it and take it away with you.: Masked robbers broke in and made off with $8,000.
・Farlex Dictionary of Idioms: To escape with someone or something that has been stolen, snatched, etc.: The thieves busted the ATM and made off with the cash inside.

"with" の無い "make off" だと、単に立ち去る場合に使われます。

alley-oop

Toshikazu Kawaguchiの小説 "Before the Coffee Gets Cold Tales from the Cafe" を読んでいます。

Once again, silence filled the cafe. Miki, no doubt relieved that her work was done, started nodding off while holding Nagare’s hand. ‘Oh, of course.’ Nagare realized why Miki had suddenly grown so quiet. He picked her up with an ‘alley-oop’. The cherry blossom petal, released from Miki’s fingers, fluttered to the ground. ‘Spring, huh?’ he muttered.

"alley-oop" は 引用符 '' で囲まれているので特殊な表現でしょうか？

・Oxford English Dictionary: used when somebody does a clever movement with their body or with an object
・Oxford Advanced English Dictionary: used when someone does a difficult or skillful movement with their body or with an object
・Dictionary.com: (used as a shout of encouragement, exhortation, or the like, especially when coordinating efforts to lift a heavy object.)
・Wiktionary: Encouraging or calling attention to a physical performance, especially one involving an upwards lift or leap.: ‘Alley-oop,’ he said, and he lifted her out of her seat as easily as if she were a bag of laundry.
Etymology: Borrowed from French allez-hop!, the cry of a circus acrobat about to leap. From allez (“go! let's go!”), 2nd-person plural or formal indicative form of aller, and hop, onomatopoeic.

原書は日本語なので、多分ここは「よっこらしょ」とでも言ったのでしょうね。

talk the hind legs off a donkey

東野圭吾の小説 "New Comer" を読み始めました。東野圭吾の作品はTVのドラマでもお馴染みです。面白いので楽しみです。

'Take good care of yourself,' Kaga said to Satoko.
'It's great to see your mother looking so well,' Kaga said as they emerged from the shop.
'She can still talk the hind legs off a donkey.'
They walked over to the cafe on the far side of the street.

"talk the hind legs off a donkey" は慣用句でしょうね。辞書を見ます。

・Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary: If you say that someone could talk the hind leg off a donkey, you mean that they talk a lot. You won't be short of conversation with Adrian. He could talk the hind leg off a donkey.
・Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary: (informal, humorous) (usually used with can or could) talk for a long time: He would make a good politician — he could talk the hind legs off a donkey!

English Language & Usageに由来について次の説明がありました。
The phrase originates in Ireland. Donkeys (or "asses" or "jackasses" as they are called in other parts of the world) do not naturally sit down on their rear ends. In fact, it is an extraordinary achievement to get one to do it. "Talking the hind legs off a donkey" is a literal translation of the Gaelic, which actually means "making a donkey sit down on its rear end". Thus, when a person can talk the hind legs off a donkey, they can talk so much that they could even bore a donkey into sitting down.

tsk-tsked

Toshikazu Kawaguchiの小説 "Before the Coffee Gets Cold Tales from the Cafe" を読んでいます。

 ‘Thank you for waiting, monsieur!’ Miki said in an unexpectedly loud voice as she entered the cafe. Kiyoshi had assumed that only grown-up women could serve the coffee. ‘Is it you, monsieur, who wants to return to the past?’ ‘Miki, please, speak proper Japanese,’ said Nagare, aghast at her attitude. But Miki tsk-tsked him with a wave of her finger. ‘That is not possible, moi is not Japanese,’ she retorted.

"tsk-tsked" はオノマトペが動詞になった表現でしょう。"tsk tsk" の項で説明している辞書が多かった。
 
・Oxford English Dictionary: used in writing to represent the sound you make with your tongue when you think that something is bad: So you were out drinking again last night were you? Tsk tsk!
・Cambridge English Dictionary: used in writing to represent the sound made to show you disapprove of something, or a word said twice in a humorous way to suggest disapproval

日本語で「チェッ」と言うのと似ています。

myelogenous leukaemia

Toshikazu Kawaguchiの小説 "Before the Coffee Gets Cold Tales from the Cafe" を読んでいます。
In the summer, two and a half years ago . . . Kurata had been diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukaemia. He was told he could start treatment and hope to survive, or forgo it and be left with only six months to live. It was the second summer of his relationship with Asami.

"myelogenous leukaemia" の "leukaemia" はたしか白血病だと思いますが、"myelogenous" を調べます。

・Wiktionary: Originating in, or produced by, bone marrow
・Collins Dictionary: a variant form of myeloid: of or relating to the spinal cord or the bone marrow

こう言う病気に罹るのは運なのでしょうね。罹らないように願うのみです。

ham-fisted

Toshikazu Kawaguchiの小説 "Before the Coffee Gets Cold Tales from the Cafe" を読んでいます。

Kiyoshi’s face brightened instantly.
‘I see. Thank you very much.’
‘Happy shopping.’
Kyoko was both surprised and impressed. She never would have guessed that a ham-fisted ageing detective like Kiyoshi would be planning a birthday present for his wife. She was fully committed to supporting him in this endeavour.

"ham-fisted" の説明を辞書で見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: not having much skill when using your hands or when dealing with people: his ham-fisted efforts to assist her
・Collins Dictionary: If you describe someone as ham-fisted, you mean that they are clumsy, especially in the way that they use their hands.: They can all be made in minutes by even the most ham-fisted of cooks.  
・Cambridge English Dictionary: doing things in an awkward or unskilled way when using the hands or dealing with people: The report criticizes the ham-fisted way in which complaints were dealt with.

言葉の由来がWiktionaryに書かれていました。

From ham (“overacting inferior performer; actor of low grade; incompetent pugilist”) +‎ fisted.

cabriole leg

Toshikazu Kawaguchiの小説 "Before the Coffee Gets Cold Tales from the Cafe" を読んでいます。

Gohtaro tilted his head as he looked at the woman’s chair. The seat that would take him back in time was vacant. Tentatively taking one step at a time, he went over, constantly wary that the woman in the dress might suddenly reappear with a diabolical grimace. Inspecting it up close, he saw it was a simple seat with nothing out of the ordinary about it. The chair had elegantly curved cabriole legs, and its seat and back were upholstered with a pale moss-green fabric.

"cabriole legs" を調べます。

・Collins Dictionary: Also called: cabriole le: a type of furniture leg, popular in the first half of the 18th century, in which an upper convex curve descends tapering to a concave curve
・Wiktionary: A type of furniture leg used in certain ornate styles of furniture such as Queen Anne, having a double curve resembling the leg of an animal.: It has been repaired in places, like a lot of period furniture, but it retains its original finish, […] along with splendid cabriole legs with claw-and-ball feet.
・Merriam-Webster: a curved furniture leg ending in an ornamental foot: This Louis XV-style chair features details including a curved wood frame, rounded seat back, and cabriole legs.
・Dictionary.com: Furniture. a curved, tapering leg curving outward at the top and inward farther down so as to end in a round pad, the semblance of an animal's paw, or some other feature: used especially in the first half of the 18th century.

我が家にはありませんが、こんな椅子を見たことはあります。

fly-half

Toshikazu Kawaguchiの小説 "Before the Coffee Gets Cold Tales from the Cafe" を読んでいます。

By chance, they entered the same university and became teammates. Gohtaro was a fullback while Shuichi was a fly-half. The fly-half, identified by the number 10 on his back, is the star player in rugby. He is like the fourth player in the batting order or a pitcher in baseball, or the striker in football. Shuichi was amazing as a fly-half, and he earned the nickname Shuichi the Seer because his plays during matches were like miracles – players even remarked that it was as if he could see into the future.

若い頃、三十代の前半までラグビーをしていたし、今でも見るスポーツではラグビーが一番と思っている私ですが、ラグビーの十番は少なくとも日本ではスタンドオフと言い、"fly-half" は聞いた事がありません。辞書を見ます。

・Wiktionary: (rugby) A rugby player who is normally the first receiver of the ball from the scrum half after a scrum; a half-back.
Synonyms: outside half, stand-off half, stand-off, out-half, first five-eighth

Wikipediaにポジション名についての説明がありました。

Names of positions
The various positions have changed names over time, and many are known by different names in different countries. Players in the flanker positions were originally known as "wing forwards", while in the backs, "centre three-quarter" and "wing three-quarter" were used to describe the outside centre and wing respectively (although the terms are still sometimes used in the Northern Hemisphere) The names used by World Rugby tend to reflect Northern Hemisphere usage although fly-half is still often known as "outside-half" or "stand-off" in Britain, and "outhalf" in Ireland. In New Zealand, the scrum-half is still referred to as the "half-back", the fly-half is referred to as the "first five-eighth", the inside centre is called the "second five-eighth" and the outside centre is simply known as "centre". In America and Canada the number 8 is known as "8-man".

なるほど、しかし日本では、"fly-half" は使われていないですね。ちなみに私は、"scrum-half" でした。

camp way / moi

Toshikazu Kawaguchiの小説 "Before the Coffee Gets Cold Tales from the Cafe" を読み始めました。

‘Hey, hey! Whose sandwiches did you say were yucky?’ It was Nagare, the cafe’s owner and Miki’s father. Miki’s mother Kei was no longer with them. She had a weak heart and passed away after giving birth to Miki six years ago. ‘Oops-a-daisy, well, darlings, I think moi will go now,’ said Miki in her camp way. She bowed her head to Kyoko and scampered off to the back room. ‘Moi . . . ?’ Kyoko looked at Nagare as if to ask, Where did she learn that? Nagare shrugged. ‘Beats me.’ Giving a sideways glance at Kyoko and Nagare, Yohsuke started poking at Kyoko’s upper arm.

"camp way" の "camp" は日本語にもなっているキャンプとは全く関係がなさそうです。 "moi" も聞いたことの無い単語ですが、それを聞いたKyokoの反応、‘Moi . . . ?’に疑問符が付いていることから、余り使われる言葉ではないようです。まず "camp" から調べます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: If you describe someone's behaviour, performance, or style of dress as camp, you mean that it is exaggerated and amusing, often in a way that is thought to be typical of some gay men.: James turns in a delightfully camp performance.
・Merriam-Webster: a style or mode of personal or creative expression that is absurdly exaggerated and often fuses elements of high and popular culture: a movie that celebrates camp
・American Heritage Dictionary:
n.: Deliberate affectation or exaggeration of style, especially of popular or outdated style, for ironic or humorous effect: "Camp is popularity plus vulgarity plus innocence" (Indra Jahalani).
adj.: 1. Showing or characterized by camp: played up the silliness of their roles for camp effect.
2. Given to or characterized by exaggerated, effeminate mannerisms.
なかなか解釈の難しい日本語では何と言うのか分からない表現ですね。
さて、"moi" の方は、

・Oxford English Dictionary: me: ‘Did you eat all the biscuits?’ ‘Who? Moi?’
・Cambridge English Dictionary: used instead of "me", to express false surprise about something that you have been accused of: Extravagant, moi?
・Wiktionary: (humorous or sarcastic, often used questioningly to express mock surprise) Me.: Don't you be so cheeky. — Cheeky? Moi?

フランス語由来の表現でした。