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keeper marriage

2012年02月17日 | 英語学習
Reader's Digest 1月号の記事 Keep You MARRIAGE HAPPYで昨日話題にした個所のちょと後にも気になる表現がありました。
For instance, a couple go hiking on their first date. They marry, and years later, the wife tells this story: "We got terribly lost that day. It took us hours to find our way back, but we laughed about how neither of us had a good sense of direction. After that, we knew not to plan another hiking trip!" Another wife might tell it a different way: "He lost the map, and it took hours to find our way back. After that, I never wanted to go hiking again." The keeper marriage? The one in which the positive is accentuated an the problems laughed off.
"keeper marriage" って結婚生活を維持できる人の事でしょうか? そうなら "marriage keeper" で良さそうですが。 "keeper marriage" を辞書で調べましが、その組み合わせでの説明は見あたりませんでした。 しかし "keeper" に次ぎの意味がある事が分かりました。
・Macmillan Dictionary: American informal someone or something that you feel has value and should be kept
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: one suitable for or worth keeping: as (1): a fruit or vegetable that keeps well (2): a fish large enough to be legally caught and kept (3): one having genuine or lasting merit (their new album is a keeper)
・Oxford English Dictionary: informal a person or thing that is valuable and to be cherished: this disc is a keeper and one that belongs on every serious DVD collector’s shelf; if he’s a good communicator and a great listener, he’s a keeper.
 "keeper marriage" は辞書のこの意味と関係がある様な気がしましすが、記事での使用例は完全な文になっていないので解釈が難しい。

追記: 2月7日The Japan Times Onlineに掲載の "These are a few of my favorite things about Japan" by DEBITO ARUDOU に上記に引用した辞書が説明している "keeper" の例がありました。
I'm used to crappy Bic ballpoint pens that seize up in the same groove (and inexplicably only in that groove, no matter how many times you retrace), which you then summarily discard like used toothbrushes. But in Japan, writing implements are keepers, combining quality with punctiliousness.
(Ref. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20120207ad.html )
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