The Pursuit of Happynessの主人公は一応まともな仕事にありついた様です。
While I promised to do that as soon as I could make the arrangements, what had been an insurmountable process of finding my new niche in the working world was all of a sudden a cakewalk. With my sights fixed on the possibilities of making my way in the business world. I quickly landed a job as a sales rep for a medical equipment and supply company called CMS.
"cakewalk" は "a piece of cake" を思い起こさせる表現ですが、語源も知りたい。
・Oxford English Dictionary: An absurdly or surprisingly easy task: 'winning the game won't be a cakewalk’
・Cambridge English Dictionary:something that is very easy to achieve: The Superbowl was a cakewalk for the Forty-Niners.
由来はEtymology.comに次の説明がありました。
probably in reference to the cake given as a prize for the fanciest steps in a procession in a Southern black custom (explained by Thornton, 1912, as, "A walking competition among negroes," in which the prize cake goes to "the couple who put on most style"). Its figurative meaning of "something easy" (1863) is recorded before the literal one (1879). As a verb, from 1909. This may also be the source of the phrase to take the cake (1847).
The Pursuit of Happynessの主人公は大人になりました。
After coming out of the military, where everything had been about discipline, process, order, and structure, I experienced the city that celebrated individuality and nonconformity above all else as if I was actually visiting a foreign country. My favorite stomping grounds became Haight-Ashbury, once the cradle of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll, still jumping with music clubs, restaurants, bookstores, head shops, and a crazy street scene that was colorful and alive.
"head shops" どんな店なのか全く見当がつかないので辞書を見ます。
・Vocabulary.com: a shop specializing in articles of interest to drug users: "he bought some roach clips and hashish pipes at the head shop”
・Wiktionay: A retail outlet specializing in sale of paraphernalia related to consumption of cannabis, other recreational drugs, and New Age herbs, as well as generally selling counterculture art, magazines, music, clothing, and home decor.
何故 "head shops" と呼ばれるのか、ドラッグ自体は売らないのか（裏では販売している？）疑問が残りますが、深追いは止めておきます。
Freddieは主人公の義父ですが、酒癖が悪く、しょっちゅう暴力を振るうので、まだ少年の主人公は殺したいとまで考えるようになります。
Shortly after Baby's warning, a golden opportunity for him to suffer a freak accidental death was given to me when Freddie and I went to move a refrigerator into her house. Barking orders, Freddie told me to go in front and pull the dolly up, while he took the position below, pushing the dolly and the refrigerator up the staris.
"dolly" は人形を思わせる響きがありますが、重い冷蔵庫を動かすのに使用する物の様です。辞書を引きます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A small platform on wheels used for holding heavy objects, typically film or television cameras.; Nearly a quarter of the film's movement - dollies, crane shots - are synthetic.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: a piece of equipment that has wheels and that is used for moving heavy objects: We'll need a dolly to move the refrigerator.
"dolly" が何故この様な意味を持つようになったのか不思議なので調べたところ"Word Detective" に次の説明があったので引用します。
And somewhere along about 1900, somebody decided that a small wheeled platform looked sufficiently like a doll (perhaps only in comparison to larger wagons and trucks) to be called a "dolly." Dollies have been with us ever since, one of their most important modern uses being to allow TV and movie cameras to be easily moved about.
The Pursuit of Happynessを読んでいます。
Between the ages of ten and fourteen, without asking for it. I received intensive on-the-job training for a career as a professional gofer.
"gofer" は "golfer" のスペルを間違えたわけではありません。どんな仕事でしょうか？
・Collins Dictionary: (slang, mainly US & Canadian) an employee or assistant whose duties include menial tasks such as running errands: But you don't tell the gofer anything, you just use him to keep all the nasty stuff away.
・Urban Dictionary: A term for an employee, servant, or slave whose primary responsibility is to fetch items and bring them back to his or her boss, master, or owner. Formed by contraction of the words "go for". As in: "Go for coffee, go for doughnuts, go for whatever we need you damn 'gofer'.": "I sent my gofer for coffee over twenty minutes ago. If he doesn't get back soon, I'm dropping his health care benefits!"
What did one magnet say to the other?
"I find you very attractive."
Every time I looked over at her, hoping for some sign that she had seen me, all I saw was the pain of losing her baby brother and not being able to talk to her children. She kept her gaze down at the earth where they put Uncle Henry's casket.
When it hit me that the woman standing next to my mother was a female prison guard--the only white person at the funeral, dressed in a navy-colored uniform--it came down like a thunderbolt where she had gone.
"it hit me" は会話のテキストに出てきそうな表現です。この手の表現を辞書で調べるのは結構苦労します。案の定 "it hit me" での検索でヒットしたのは次の辞書だけでした。
・Urban Dictionary: At that moment, I finally understood.: After my fish died, it hit me: I had taken his ever-presence for granted.
しかし、たいていの辞書にもこの意味は "hit" の説明にありました。
・Macmillan Dictionary: if an idea or the truth hits you, you suddenly realize it: It suddenly hit her that she would never see him again.
・Collins Dictionary: to become suddenly apparent to (a person) ⇒ the reason for his behaviour hit me and made the whole episode clear
The Pursuit of Happynessを読み始めましたが、著者（ゴーストライターを使っているので主人公と言う方が適切か）は、貧乏なだけではなく、実の父親を知らず、継父は酒乱で、DVで警察沙汰は日常茶飯事という、想像しがたい程ひどい環境で育っていきます。それでも母親が大好きな主人公は色々な思い出を持っています。
Sy made and sold an array of incredible-tasting food, including the best sausage I ever ate in my life, and also offered an eclectic selection of home and personal items. Whenever Momma called for "Chrissy Paul..." it was her vocal signal that she was going to ask me to run an errand for her to pick something up at Sy's, anything from a can of Sweet Garrett, the snuff she loved to dip, or Day's Work, a popular brand of chewing tobacco, to some obsecure personal item that I'd never heard of before.
"eclectic selection" の "eclectic" は何度か見た事のある単語ですが、意味が思い浮かびません。仕方がないので辞書を引きます。
・Macmillan Dictionary: an eclectic group of people, things, or ideas is interesting or unusual because it consists of many different types: an eclectic mix/collection/variety: The song displays an eclectic mix of influences.
・Collins Dictionary: 1,(in art, philosophy, etc) selecting what seems best from various styles, doctrines, ideas, methods, etc 2.composed of elements drawn from a variety of sources, styles, etc: But it's really an eclectic collection of mini-games with a clear Japanese flavour.
・Vocabulary.com: She listens to hip-hop, Gregorian chant, and folk music from the '60s. He's been seen wearing a handmade tuxedo jacket over a thrift-store flannel shirt. They both have eclectic tastes.
The English word eclectic first appeared in the seventeenth century to describe philosophers who did not belong to a particular school of thought, but instead assembled their doctrines by picking and choosing from a variety of philosophical systems. Today, the word can refer to any assemblage of varied parts. You can have an eclectic group of friends (friends from diverse groups), eclectic taste in furniture (a mixture of 18th-century French chairs, Andy Warhol paintings, and Persian rugs), or enjoy eclectic cuisine (fusion cooking that uses ingredients from different national cuisines).
私が採り上げてブログに掲載している英単語も "eclectic selection of English expressions" と言えそうです。
今日からThe Pursuit of Happynessを読みます。Wikipediaによると映画にもなった実在のChris Gardnerの話で、事業に失敗し、一時は子連れのホームレスにもなった著者が再び事業に成功して企業のCEOになったメモワールです。この本、あるいは著者の良いところは、この本にはゴーストライターがいる事を明記し、紹介していることです。 ところで英語の科目が得意（だった）方は、題名のHappynessのスペルが間違っているのに気が付いたと思います。実際にこの小説の表紙は、この "y" の箇所の字体を他の字体とは変えてあり、スペルの苦手な米国人でも気が付く様に印刷されています。理由は息子が通っていたデイケア施設の外の壁に小説のタイトルとなったThe Pursuit of Happynessがこの誤ったスペルで書かれていたからだそうです。
Japan Times Online July 18にタイトルが "Responsibility for reactor restarts a hot potato" と書かれた記事がありました。タイトルに続くサブキャプションは： Regulators, politicians and bureaucrats bob and weave as the public asks one question: Who will take responsibility for the decision to authorize reactor restarts?
となっていました。タイトルで使われた表現 "hot potato" は手に取った茹でられたばかりのジャガイモが熱いので持っていられずに誰かに渡す状況が目に浮かびます。この推測で合っていると思いますが、一応辞書で確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A controversial issue or situation that is awkward or unpleasant to deal with: 'dog registration has become a political hot potato’
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: a controversial question or issue that involves unpleasant or dangerous consequences for anyone dealing with it: He tried to avoid taking a strong stand on political hot potatoes like abortion.
なんと言ってもVocabulary.comの説明が一番丁寧です。
A controversial subject that no one wants to talk about is one kind of hot potato. A hot potato is an issue that makes everyone feel uncomfortable.
The phrase hot potato comes up a lot in politics. For example, a reporter might explain that a candidate won't speak about a controversial topic because it's "a political hot potato," or an issue that people disagree strongly about. Hot potato comes from the idea of passing a literal hot baked potato from one person to another ? no one wants to be left holding it for very long, because it will burn their fingers.
Never trust a mathematician with a graph. They're plotting something.
グラフには説得力がありますからね。
トータル
