ビートルズの曲 "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!" に出てきた表現です。
The band begins at ten to six,
When Mr. K. performs his tricks without a sound.
And Mr. H. will demonstrate
Ten summersets he'll undertake on solid ground.
Having been some days in preparation,
A splendid time is guaranteed for all.
And tonight Mr. Kite is topping the bill.
"topping the bill" は何でしょう？ "topping" は一番上、あるいは最初のことのようですが、ここでの "bill" が分かりません。辞書を見ます。
・Macmillan Dictionary: a list of events and performers at a concert, show, etc.: top the bill (=be the most important performer): He'll be topping the bill at the show next month.
これを見て以前 "official bill" を調べたのを思い出しました。その時のブログを読み直すと、辞書の例文に "top the bill" がありました。
昨日久しぶりに片道約12kmのお台場までジョギングで行きました。お台場の浜の海がとても澄んでいてきれいになっているのに驚きました。
さて、物騒な台詞 "Well, I'd rather see you dead, little girl," で始まるビートルズの曲Run For Your Lifeにあった表現を取り上げます。
Well, you know that I'm a wicked guy
And I was born wih a jealous mind.
And I can't spend my whole life trying
Just to make you toe the line.
このフレーズの前後にも次の穏やかではないフレーズがあります。
You'd better run for your life if you can, little girl,
Hide your head in the sand, little girl,
Catch you with another man,
That's the end, little girl.
さて、私の関心はもっぱら "toe the line" の意味です。辞書を見ます。
・Collins Dictionary: to conform to expected standards, attitudes, etc: One day all land will be accessible to everyone, but until then they have to be made to toe the line.
・Vocabulary.com: do what is expected: But in the end, analysts said, Japan has no choice but to toe the line with the United States.
・Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms: to do what you are ordered or expected to do He might not like the rules but he'll toe the line just to avoid trouble. Ministers who refused to toe the Party line were swiftly got rid of.
この歌の場合の "toe the line" は他の男と付き合うなと言う事ですね。
昨日ジョッギンの途中でどこからか金木犀の香りが漂ってきました。季節が変わるのは早いですね。さて今日紹介するジョーク（？）はどうでしょうか？
A teacher decides to end the afternoon with a pop quiz.
"Whoever answers this next question first gets to go home early," she says.
Quick as a flash, a young boy in the back of the class grabs his school backpack and hurls it out an open window.
"Who threw that?" demands the teacher.
"I did," replies the boy. "See you!"
何と頭の良い子でしょう。
Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Trussに以前取り上げた単語 "highfalutin/hifalutin" が次のように出てきました。
Meanwhile others, including Greene's son, argue that the comma was carefully inserted by Greene only to indicate that Sherry was the sole authorized biographer. It is worth pointing out here, by the way, that legal English, with its hifalutin efforts to cover everything, nearly always ends up leaving itself semantically wide open like this, and that if Greene had been allowed to write either "Let Norman Sherry see the stuff and no one else" or, "Don't let other biographers quote from it, but otherwise all are welcome", none of this ridiculous palaver would have transpired.
ビートルズの曲 "When I Get Home" にあった表現です。
When I'm getting home tonight,
I'm gonna hold her tight,
I'm gonna love her till the cows come home.
I bet I'll love her more,
Till I walk out that door -- again.
"till the cows come home" は慣用句として前に見たことがありますが意味を忘れました。辞書を見ます。
・Oxford Dictionaries: For an indefinitely long time: ‘those two could talk till the cows came home’
・Collins Dictionary: for a very long time; effectively for ever: A wonderful case of politics reigning till the cows come home.
牛はそんなにゆっくり牛舎に帰るのですか？
ビートルズの曲 "I'll Get You" にあった表現です。
Well there's gonna be a time,
When I'm gonna change your mind.
So you might as well resign yourself to me,
Oh yeah.
"resign" を見ると直ぐに「辞める」が浮かんで来るのですが、上の個所ではそれでは変です。辞書を見ます。
・Oxford Dictionaries: Accept that something undesirable cannot be avoided: ‘she resigned herself to a lengthy session’
・Macmillan Dictionary: resign yourself (to something): to accept that something unpleasant must happen and that you cannot change it: He has resigned himself to the fact that his marriage is over.
・Vocabulary.com: To resign is to quit or retire from a position. You can also resign yourself to something inevitable, like death ? meaning you just accept that it's going to happen.
When people resign, they're leaving something, like a job or political office. Congressmen resign after a scandal. Coaches resign after a really terrible season. Regular folks simply resign when they're ready to go. In those cases, resign is a nicer way of saying quit. Being resigned is another sense of this word ? it's a type of acceptance. If your team is losing 80-20, you might as well resign yourself to losing. That just means you aren't in denial.
諦めて俺を受け入れろですか？ 口説き文句にしてはちょっと強引な気がしますが。
図書館にビートルズのほぼ全曲を網羅した本があったので借りました。しばらくビートルズの曲からの英語を採り上げます。最初は "Baby You're A Rich Man" の曲からです。
How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?
Tuned to a natural E
ここで引っ掛かりました。 "natural E" って何だろうと。しかしその続きを見て謎は直ぐに解けました。
Happy to be that way.
Now that you've found another key,
What are you going to play?
シャープもフラットも付かないミの音の事ですね。
Japan Times Online Aug.28の記事に覚えたい単語がありました。
Afghan election in crisis as candidate pulls out of audit
Afghanistan’s fraud-hit election teetered on the brink of collapse Wednesday as one of the two candidates boycotted the U.N.-supervised vote audit set up to end a prolonged dispute over the rightful winner.
その単語は "teetered" です。記事全体の意味はこの単語が分からなくてもその後の "on the brink of collapse" でおよそ理解できますが、気になるので調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Move or balance unsteadily; sway back and forth: she teetered after him in her high-heeled sandals teeter on the brink (or edge): Be very close to a difficult or dangerous situation: the country teetered on the brink of civil war
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: waver, vacillate: teetered on the brink of bankruptcy
・Cambridge English Dictionary: If something is teetering on the brink/edge of a bad situation, it is likely that the situation will happen soon: What we are seeing now is a country teetering on the brink of civil war.
"teetered on the brink of" は慣用句と言っても良いようです。
Eats, Shoots & Leavesの英国人著者が１４歳の時にアメリカ人の少女と文通をした経験の話
But for the time being I need to get it off my chest, so here it is. The trouble was, Kerry-Anne was an everyday teenager with no literary pretensions -- and for some reason this made the precocious blue-stocking in me feverishly uncomfortable.
"blue-stocking" ですが "blue" は英語では "blue blood" や "blue chip" など良い意味で使われることが多いので、良家の子女を連想するのですが、どうでしょう？
ハイフンがあるとWikipediaでしか検索に引っ掛りませんでした、"bluestocking" だとほとんどの辞書に載っているので、"bluestocking" の説明を引用します。
・Collins Dictionary: (usually derogatory) a scholarly or intellectual woman: On the instant, she had turned from aggressive bluestocking to wistful orphan.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: an intelligent and well-educated woman who spends most of her time studying and is therefore not approved of by some men
辞書に(usually derogatory)の注があり、"precocious" とも言っているので、著者は自分の事をガリ勉タイプ、良くいって文学少女と言っているのでしょう。
彼岸花とも言われるだけあって曼珠沙華が丁度満開ですね。私のジョッギングコースの葛西臨海公園の彼岸花も満開でしたし、昨日墓参りした勝田台の霊園入口にも咲いていました。こちらの彼岸花は珍しくピンク色でした。
さて日曜日恒例のジョーク紹介です。
A man was on a walking holiday in Ireland.
He became thirsty so decided to ask at a home for something to drink.
The lady of the house invited him in and served him a bowl of soup by the fire.
There was a wee pig running around the kitchen, running up to the visitor and giving him a great deal of attention.
The visitor commented that he had never seen a pig this friendly.
The housewife replied: "Ah, he's not that friendly. That's his bowl you're using."
さて日曜日恒例のジョーク紹介です。
A man was on a walking holiday in Ireland.
He became thirsty so decided to ask at a home for something to drink.
The lady of the house invited him in and served him a bowl of soup by the fire.
There was a wee pig running around the kitchen, running up to the visitor and giving him a great deal of attention.
The visitor commented that he had never seen a pig this friendly.
The housewife replied: "Ah, he's not that friendly. That's his bowl you're using."
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