steal someone's thunder

前回に引き続きReader's Digest 6月号の記事 'Gadzooks! The Surprising Sources Of Great Sayings' からの引用です。
When exactly do "the cows come home"? Who was the first person to "steal someone's thunder"?
English is full of colorful of expressions that have lost the connection to their delightful origins. That said, when you learn the checkered past of some of these phrases, you might think twice about using them.

"steal someone's thunder" とは面白い表現ですね。辞書を見ます。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to prevent someone from having success or getting attention, praise, etc., by doing or saying whatever that person was planning to do or say: I didn't mean to steal your thunder, but I just had to tell your mom about your promotion.
・Oxford English Dictionary: Win praise for oneself by preempting someone else's attempt to impress.: They might finally be overcoming the trauma of having him steal their thunder on most issues.
"checkered" は 7/23/2009 に取り上げましたが、人生色々を連想するように覚えています。

running afoul of the third commandment

Reader's Digest 6月号の記事 'Gadzooks! The Surprising Sources Of Great Sayings' からの引用です。
記事の中でタイトルに使われている "Gadzooks" について触れています。"Zounds!" "Egad!" "Cripes!" These silly explamations, called minced oaths, were originally Bible-friendly alternatives to swearing. The idea was that if you shouted "Gadzooks!" instead of "God's hooks!"--a reference to the nails from the Crucifixion--you could stub your toe without running afoul of the third commandment. Other minced oaths: gosh (God") and jeepers ("Jesus"). Christians have been shouting gadzooks since the 1690s.
なるほど "God's hooks!" から来た silly explamationですか。
ところで "afoul of" の意味も分からないので辞書を見ます。
・Farlex Dictionary of Idioms: To be in severe disagreement, trouble, or difficulty with someone or something; to be at odds with someone or something, especially due to disobeying rules or laws. Always look into the laws of any place you visit, or you may end up unwittingly running afoul of the local police.
・The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms: Also, run foul of. Come into conflict with, as in If you keep parking illegally you'll run afoul of the police. This expression originated in the late 1600s, when it was applied to a vessel colliding or becoming entangled with another vessel, but at the same time it was transferred to non-nautical usage. Both senses remain current.

hash out

Reader's Digest 6月号の記事 'Leading The Way Through Alzheimer's' からの引用です。
A woman said she got nervous when her husband almost ran a red light and stopped only because she yelled. Afterward, she confiscated his keys. He got furious. she relented. They were stll hashing it out.

"hashing it out" の意味が分からないので辞書を見ます。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: or hash over : to talk about (something) : discuss (something) ・The detectives hashed out their theories about who committed the murder.
・Farlex Dictionary of Idioms: To talk about something. A noun or pronoun can be used between "hash" and "out." I'm calling mom right now to hash out the details for Thanksgiving dinner.

get a load of that

Miyuki MiyabeのShadow Familyを読んでいます。
"Mr. Tokoroda accorded me special consideration as the 'Mom' in the family. That got to you, didn't it? It infuriated you that you weren't number one anymore."
Ritsuko elbowed Minoru, sitting next to her. "Get a load of that! Has she got a screw loose or what? Talk about deluded."

"Get a load of that" は如何にも口語的な表現ですね。意味・使用例を辞書で調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Used to draw attention to someone or something.: get a load of what we've just done
・Collins Dictionary: pay attention to: Suddenly, he clamped his hand on Brian's leg and exclaimed: `Well, get a load of that, would you?
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: to get a good look at someone or something. Wow! Get a load of that car! Get a load of Mary!

uncalled for

Miyuki MiyabeのShadow Familyを読んでいます。
"It's gone like clockwork. Surprising how readable they are after all. Kids today."
"That's because when all's said and done, they're still kids."
Tokunaga did not answer.
"That was uncalled for. Sorry."
"Forget it. The main thing is, don't let down your guard."
"uncalled for" は植木等の台詞、「お呼びでない！」（古い！）を思い起こさせますが、ちょっとここではニュアンスが違うでしょうね。
・Oxford English Dictionary: (especially of a person's behavior) undesirable and unnecessary.: uncalled-for remarks
・Collins Dictionary: If you describe a remark or criticism as uncalled for, you mean that it should not have been made, because it was unkind or unfair.: I'm sorry. That was uncalled for.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: If a criticism, insult, remark, or action is uncalled-for, it is unfair, rude, or unkind and therefore considered to be unnecessary: There's no reason to make personal comments - that was completely uncalled-for.

set my teeth on edge

Miyuki MiyabeのShadow Familyを読んでいます。
"I just thought I'd have a little fun," Minoru growled. He squared his scrawny shoulders, folded his arms, and began jiggling his leg. "She was really into the father-daughter thing, and wrote all this stuff that just set my teeth on edge. So I decided to mess with her."
慣用句と思われる "set my teeth on edge" の意味を調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: (especially of an unpleasantly harsh sound) cause someone to feel intense discomfort or irritation.: a grating that set her teeth on edge
・Cambridge English Dictionary: If something, especially a noise, sets your teeth on edge, it annoys you very much: That DJ's voice really sets my teeth on edge.
・Dictionary.com: Something that one finds intensely irritating may be said to “set one's teeth on edge”: “The mayor's sexist remark set my teeth on edge.”
昔職場の先輩とボストンのアパートで同じ部屋に寝ることになり、夜中に不気味な激しい異様な音で目が覚めました。しばらくその音の原因が分かりませんでしたが、先輩の歯ぎしりの音だと分かりました。歯ぎしりの音を聞いた初めての経験ですが、その後幸い歯ぎしりの音を聞いていません。
"set my teeth on edge" はその歯ぎしりを連想させますね。

cabbage butterfly

Miyuki MiyabeのShadow Familyを読んでいます。
Takegami looked back. Tokunaga had laid his fingers on the bars. "It's a butterfly. A cabbage butterfly."
Wherever it had come from, the butterfly was perched on a bar, its white wings folded.
舞台は日本だし、白い羽とあるので "cabbage butterfly" はモンシロチョウに違いありませんが、一応辞書を見ます。
・Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary: any white or chiefly white butterfly of the family Pieridae, as Pieris rapae, the larvae of which feed on the leaves of cabbages and related plants.
この手の説明は辞書よりWikipediaの方が丁寧なので日本語版のWikipediaのモンシロチョウの項からリンクされている英語版に行くと次の説明があります。
Pieris rapae, the small white, is a small- to medium-sized butterfly species of the whites-and-yellows family Pieridae. It is also known as the small cabbage white and in New Zealand, simply as white butterfly. The names "cabbage butterfly" and "cabbage white" can also refer to the large white. The butterfly can be distinguished by the white color with small black dots on its wings. They are further distinguished by the smaller size and lack of the black band at the tip of their forewings.（以下省略）
"cabbage butterfly" だと日本のモンシロチョウより大きな蝶も含まれる様です。モンシロチョウは "small white" あるいは "small cabbage white" とした方がより正確な様です。

weather eye

Miyuki MiyabeのShadow Familyを読んでいます。
Minoru Kitano did not answer immediately. Having blown off some steam, and protested, and been placated, he was now back to keeping a weather eye on Takegami, watching cautiously to see what moves he might make. Eyes fixed on the tabletop, he answered with a question of his own.
"weather eye" とはどんな目でしょうか？　辞書を見ます。
・Collins Dictionary: an alert or observant gaze: He's keeping a weather eye on the situation.

・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: constant and shrewd watchfulness and alertness
夏は野菜作りで忙しくなるのですが、今年はそれにジム通いが加わり、朝も夜も忙しくなり、ブログを更新する時間が激減しています。

line-up

Miyuki MiyabeのShadow Familyを読んでいます。
Kazumi hung back behind her mother a bit and, ignoring Chikako, spoke to Office Fuchigami. "So where's the line-up going to be?"
"Follow me," came the crisp reply.
上に出てきた "line-up" は何を意味しているのでしょうか？　辞書を見ます。
・Collins Dictionary: At a line-up, a witness to a crime tries to identify the criminal from among a line of people.: He failed to identify Graham from photographs, but later picked him out of a police line-up.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a row of people, including a person who is believed to have committed a crime, who are shown to a witness (= person who saw the crime) to find out if the witness recognizes that person lineup
・Oxford English Dictionary: A group of people including a suspect for a crime assembled for the purpose of having an eyewitness identify the suspect from among them.
なるほど、犯罪小説だとこの様な意味になる単語ですね。

pen pusher

Miyuki MiyabeのShadow Familyを読んでいます。
There were seven squads in the First Criminal Investigation Division of the MPD, each with its own desk chief. Of the seven pen-pusher, Takegami ranked second in age and length of service.
"pen-pusher" は文脈からして、内勤の警察官あるいは事務員と思われますが、辞書で意味を確認します。
・Cambridge English Dictionary: someone who has an office job that is not very interesting or important and involves a lot of paperwork: The ad made the job sound exciting but I'm just a glorified pen pusher.
上記の辞書でも例文は "pen-pusher" ではなく、ハイフンの無い二語の "pencil pusher" でしたし、他の辞書でもほとんど "pencil pusher" 項目を設けています。

・Oxford English Dictionary: A person with a clerical job involving a lot of tedious and repetitive paperwork.: no way he was going to let those pencil pushers from accounting pity him