O. Henryの短編 "The Enchanted Profile" の最後個所です。
"By jingo!" said he. "Isn't Ida's head a dead ringer for the lady's head on the silver dollar?"
"By jingo!" は感嘆詞的な意味（ Informal. (an exclamation used to emphasize the truth or importance of a foregoing statement, or to express astonishment, approval, etc.): I know you can do it, by jingo!）なので余り気になりませんが、"dead ringer" は興味を引く表現です。 辞書を見ます。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: a person who is almost identical to another
・Dictionary.com: a person or thing that closely resembles another; ringer: That old car is a dead ringer for the one we used to own.
人にも物にも使えるのですね。 語源も気になるので調べてみました。
Excerpt from The Word Detective:
First found in about 1890, "ringer" was originally horse-racing slang for a horse with a proven track record that was surreptitiously substituted for a less qualified, untested horse. "Ringer" is now used as slang for anything that has been tampered with or unfairly altered. The "dead" in "dead ringer" is simply an intensifier, meaning "absolutely," and since a "ringer" must resemble the thing it replaces, "dead ringer" has come to mean something indistinguishable from another thing or person.
"By jingo!" said he. "Isn't Ida's head a dead ringer for the lady's head on the silver dollar?"
"By jingo!" は感嘆詞的な意味（ Informal. (an exclamation used to emphasize the truth or importance of a foregoing statement, or to express astonishment, approval, etc.): I know you can do it, by jingo!）なので余り気になりませんが、"dead ringer" は興味を引く表現です。 辞書を見ます。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: a person who is almost identical to another
・Dictionary.com: a person or thing that closely resembles another; ringer: That old car is a dead ringer for the one we used to own.
人にも物にも使えるのですね。 語源も気になるので調べてみました。
Excerpt from The Word Detective:
First found in about 1890, "ringer" was originally horse-racing slang for a horse with a proven track record that was surreptitiously substituted for a less qualified, untested horse. "Ringer" is now used as slang for anything that has been tampered with or unfairly altered. The "dead" in "dead ringer" is simply an intensifier, meaning "absolutely," and since a "ringer" must resemble the thing it replaces, "dead ringer" has come to mean something indistinguishable from another thing or person.
トータル
