今日取り上げるのは単語と言うより、連語（慣用句？）の "fob off on" で "What Money Can't Buy" に次のように出て来ました。
Suppose your aunt gives you a fruitcake for Chrismas. The fruitcake company sends you an email informing you of the thoughtful gift and giving you the option of accepting delivery, exchanging it for something else, or sending the fruitcake to an unsuspecting person on your gift list.
...
One possible snafu: depending on the retailer's disclosure policy, each recipient on the fruitcake's journey might be able to learn of its itineary. This could be embarrassing. Learning that the fruitcake had been cast aside by several previous recipients and was now being fobbed off on you would likely dampen your gratitude for the gift and dissolve its expressive value.
そう言えば受け取り人が好きなものをカタログから選べるギフトもありますね。それはともかく、 "fob off on" の意味を調べます。
・TheFreeDictionary: to trick or persuade someone to take something Do you think we can fob the children off on Grandma this weekend? This guy fobbed off a fake diamond on me.
・Dictionary.com: to cheat someone by substituting something spurious or inferior; palm off (often followed by on): He tried to fob off an inferior brand on us.
ところで "snafu" は 4/4/2007 に取り上げていますが、当時はまだ余り英英辞書を利用していませんでした。ついでなので今日は "snafu" についてのVocabulary.comの解説を次の引用しておきます。
The original, military meaning of snafu is obscene. However, since you don't actually say the f-word when saying snafu, just about no one is offended by this word these days. Back in the military, a snafu would have been a dangerous situation, but this word is used now for any kind of goof-up. Spilling soup or forgetting your tickets to a baseball game are snafus. Any error, glitch, or screwed-up situation can be called a snafu.
Suppose your aunt gives you a fruitcake for Chrismas. The fruitcake company sends you an email informing you of the thoughtful gift and giving you the option of accepting delivery, exchanging it for something else, or sending the fruitcake to an unsuspecting person on your gift list.
...
One possible snafu: depending on the retailer's disclosure policy, each recipient on the fruitcake's journey might be able to learn of its itineary. This could be embarrassing. Learning that the fruitcake had been cast aside by several previous recipients and was now being fobbed off on you would likely dampen your gratitude for the gift and dissolve its expressive value.
そう言えば受け取り人が好きなものをカタログから選べるギフトもありますね。それはともかく、 "fob off on" の意味を調べます。
・TheFreeDictionary: to trick or persuade someone to take something Do you think we can fob the children off on Grandma this weekend? This guy fobbed off a fake diamond on me.
・Dictionary.com: to cheat someone by substituting something spurious or inferior; palm off (often followed by on): He tried to fob off an inferior brand on us.
ところで "snafu" は 4/4/2007 に取り上げていますが、当時はまだ余り英英辞書を利用していませんでした。ついでなので今日は "snafu" についてのVocabulary.comの解説を次の引用しておきます。
The original, military meaning of snafu is obscene. However, since you don't actually say the f-word when saying snafu, just about no one is offended by this word these days. Back in the military, a snafu would have been a dangerous situation, but this word is used now for any kind of goof-up. Spilling soup or forgetting your tickets to a baseball game are snafus. Any error, glitch, or screwed-up situation can be called a snafu.
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