knuckle-duster

Chocolate Factoryに招待された子供の紹介が続きます。この少年はＴＶにかじっきりで、ギャングドラマが大好きです。
I like the gangsters best. They're terrific, those gangsters! Especially when they start pumping each other full of lead, or flashing the old stilettos, or giving each other the one-two-three with their knuckle-dusters!
"knuckle-duster" は知りませんでしたが、こんな言い方は面白いですね。辞書の説明を見ます。
・Collins Dictionary: often plural a metal bar fitted over the knuckles, often with holes for the fingers, for inflicting injury by a blow with the fist: I told him all I'd stand for using in self-defence was a knuckle-duster.
"knuckle-duster" は "brass knuckles" などとも呼ばれるようです。
・Wikipedia: Brass knuckles, also sometimes called knuckles, knucks, brass knucks, or knuckledusters, are weapons used in hand-to-hand combat. Brass knuckles are pieces of metal shaped to fit around the knuckles. Despite their name, they are usually made of steel. Designed to preserve and concentrate a punch's force by directing it toward a harder and smaller contact area, they result in increased tissue disruption, including an increased likelihood of fracturing the victim's bones on impact. The extended and rounded palm grip also spreads across the attacker's palm the counter-force that would otherwise be absorbed primarily by the attacker's fingers, reducing the likelihood of damage to the attacker's fingers.
これで殴られたら痛いだけでは済みませんね。　銃や刀と同じく規制の対象になって当然と思いますが、どうなのでしょうか？　映画やＴＶドラマでしか見た事がないので、日本ではやはり規制されているのでしょう。

come to a sticky end

Charlie and the Chocolate Factoryは、Mr. Wonkaが創った魔法の国のようなチョコレート工場に子供達が見学に行く話です。工場に招待されるのは、その工場で作られた菓子の包みに入っている金の招待状を手に入れた運の良い５人の子供とその保護者達だけです。　金の招待状を手に入れた子供が現れる度にマスコミの話題になり、次ぎの個所は、チューインガムが大好きな少女がその一人で、マスコミとのインタビューをニュースで聴いた、主人公、Charlieの二人のお祖母さんの反応です。
"...'... Oh yes, I'm thrilled to be going to give me enough gum to last me for the rest of my whole life. Whoopee! Hooray!'"
"Beastly girl," said Grandma Josephine.
"Despicable!" said Grandma Georgina. "She'll come to a sticky end one day, chewing all that gum, you see if she doen't."
"come to a sticky end" はチューイングガムからの連想で出てきた表現のようですが、一般的な慣用句なのでしょうか？
・Collins Dictionary: (informal) an unpleasant finish or death (esp in the phrase come to or meet a sticky end): However, I neither think nor believe your girlfriend is going to come to a sticky end.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to die in an unpleasant way: He comes to a sticky end halfway through the movie.
私も残りの寿命はせいぜいあと１０年か２０年かでしょうが、"come to or meet a sticky end" で終わりたくはないですね。

Lobster Tales

A seafood restaurant had a sign in the window that read, "Big Lobster Tales, $5 each."
Amazed at the great value, a man stopped in and asked the waitress, "Five dollars each for lobster tails -- is that correct?"
"Yes," she said. "It's our special just for today."
"Well," he said, "they must be little lobster tails."
"No," she replied, "it's the really big lobster."
"Are you sure they aren't green lobster tails -- and a little bit tough?"
"No," she said, "it's the really big red lobster."
"Big red lobster tails, $5 each?" he said, amazed. "They must be old lobster tails!"
"No, they're definitely today's."
"Today's big red lobster tails -- $5 each?" he repeated, astounded.
"Yes," she insisted.
"Well, here's my five dollars," he said. "I'll take one."
She took the money and led him to a table where she invited him to sit down. She then sat down next to him, put her hand on his shoulder, leaned over close to him, and said, "Once upon a time there was a really big red lobster..."
これはボストンの昔話でしょうか？

中江藤樹

今年の２月の初旬に内村鑑三のRepresentative Men of Japanを読みましたが、４人目に取り上げた中江藤樹の話の中に幾つか共感した個所があったので紹介します。
"You tell me," Toju said, "that when Buddha was born, he pointed one hand heaven-ward and the other earthward, and said, 'I alone of all beings in heaven above and under the heaven, am worthy of honor';--is he not the proudest of men under heaven; and how is it possible that my revered master owns him as his ideal?"

That he clearly made distinctions between man-made Laws (法、nomos) and eternally-existing Truth (道、logos) is shown by the following remarkable saying of his:
"The truth is distinct from the law. Many taking one for the other are greatly mistaken. The law changes with time, even with saints in their land,--much more when transplanted to our land. But the truth is from eternity. Before the name of virtue was, the truth was and prevailed.

But I wish you to note that if the future is so important, the present is still more so, for if a man get astray in this life, it is all too probable that he will be forever lost in the life to come....

keep one's hair

Chocolate Factoryにまた慣用句らしき表現が出て来ました。
...'I simply wouldn't feel comfortable if I didn't have that little wedge of gum to chew on every moment of the day, I really wouldn't. My mother says it's not ladylike and it looks ugly to see a girl's jaws going up and down like mine do all the time, but I don't agree. And who's she to criticize, anyway, because if you ask me, I'd say that her jaws are going up and down almost as much as mine are just from yelling at me every minute of the day.'
"'Now, Viotel,' Mrs. Beauregarde said from a far corner of the room where she was standing on the piano to avoid being trampled by the mob.
"'All right, Mother, keep your hair on!' Miss Beauregarde shouted. 'And now,' she went on, turning to the reporters again,...
"keep your hair on" を辞書で調べます。
・Wiktionary: (idiomatic, UK, colloquial) To stay calm; to be patient.: All right, all right, just keep your hair on, mate.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: said to tell someone to stop being so angry or upset: Keep your hair on! Your car isn't badly damaged!
"keep your hair on" を調べているとEnglish Language & Usageというサイトにこの表現の由来に関する次ぎのような記事がありました。
I have Googled and read something about keep your shirt on was the original expression and came from the days when ordinary man had two shirts and he had to take off his precious shirt before getting in a fight. ( First recorded in the USA in George W. Harris's 1854 book Spirit of the Times: 'I say, you durned ash cats, just keep yer shirts on, will ye?')
Keep your hair on was some sort of humorous development of this, but I still don't get how you are going to lose your hair if you get angry, not that all expressions have to make sense but I find it peculiar. Is it connected with the phrase let your hair down? The phrase comes from the same time period when women had to wear their hair pinned up on the head in public. They were only allowed to let their hair down to hang naturally when alone, either when bathing or at bedtime. The phrase means merely to relax and to go easy.
"keep your hair on" の由来は定かではありませんが、"keep your shirt on" とペアで覚えると良いかも。

revolting

"revolt" という単語は知っていますが、Chocolate Factoryの次ぎの場面に出てきた "revolting" は私の知っている反抗とか暴動とはかなり意味が外れています。
"He eats so many candy bars a day' that it was almost impossible for him not to find one. Eating is his hobby, you know. That's all he's interested in. But still, that's better than being a hooligan and shooting off zip guns and things like that in his spare time, isn't it? And what I always say is, he wouldn't go on eating like he does unless he needed nouishment, would he? It's all vitamins, anyway. What a thrill it will be for him to visit Mr. Wonka's marvelous factory! We're just as proud as can be!"
"What a revolting woman," said Grandma Josephine.
辞書で "revolting" の意味を調べます。
・Macmillan Dictionary: extremely unpleasant: The food looked absolutely revolting.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: extremely offensive: revolting behavior; a revolting odor; The bloody scenes in the movie were positively revolting.
・Vocabulary.com: Something revolting is disgusting or distasteful; it turns your stomach and can offend your senses. Things that are revolting are physically upsetting, like finding hair in your soup or stepping in dog poop. Eating spoiled food is revolting. Also, revolting things can be less physical. Learning that a friend lied to you is revolting. Corruption in government is revolting. Injustice is revolting. Many people find obscenity revolting. If it offends, disgusts, or upsets you, it's revolting.
なるほど、 "revolting" にはこんな酷い意味があるのですね。もしかすると、原形の "revolt" にも私の知っている反抗・暴動（名詞と動詞）以外の意味があるのではと、"revolt" も辞書で見直します。
・Macmillan Dictionary: if someone or something revolts you, they are so unpleasant that you feel slightly sick: He was revolted by the stench of the stockyards.: Just the thought of kissing him revolts me.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to make someone feel unpleasantly shocked or disgusted: We were revolted by the dirt and mess in her house.: It revolts me to know that the world spends so much money on arms when millions are dying of hunger.
この意味は知りませんでした。

have something up one's sleeve

ALCOM WorldにPaperback Clubがあり、余り活発なクラブではありませんが、つい最近、Charlie and the Chocolate FactoryとKafka on the Shoreを読んだ感想が投稿されていました。後者は６００ページ以上もある長編なので敬遠して、前者の児童書を読むことにしました。　児童書でも結構知らない単語、表現が出てくることは経験がありますが、Charlie and the Chocolate Factory（以降はChocolate Factoryと書きます）には余り見掛けない単語は出てきませんが、知らない慣用句はちらちらと見掛けます。
It is, my dear, it is. And to all the kings and presidints of the world as well. But it isn't only candy bars that he makes. Oh, dear me, no! He has some really fantastic inventions up his sleeve, Mr. Willy Wonka has! Did you know that he's invented a way of making chocolate ice cream so that it stays cold for hours and hours without being in the icebox?
"has some really fantastic inventions up his sleeve"、この個所は、袖の中に隠して用意していると解釈しても、意味は通じますが、慣用句のようなので辞書で調べてみます。
・Random House Dictionary: to have a secret plan, scheme, opinion, or the like: I could tell by her sly look that she had something up her sleeve.
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: Fig. to have a secret or surprise plan or solution (to a problem). (Alludes to cheating at cards by having a card hidden in one's sleeve.) I've got something up my sleeve, and it should solve all your problems. I'll tell you what it is after I'm elected. The manager has an ace up her sleeve. She'll surprise us with it later.
トランプでインチキをするところから出てきた表現ですね。

blustery

春は突風がよく吹きます。　先日の突風でせっかく植えたばかりのトマトとキュウリの苗が傷んでしまいました。この春の突風を表すのにピッタリの単語を見かけました。
For our March meeting, the conference room at Shibuya Kyoiku Gakuen was full to bursting, and that on a day when the blustery March winds threatened to close down railway lines and keep people at home.
"blustery" を辞書で引きます。
・Cambridge English Dictionary: with strong winds: a blustery day: blustery weather
・Vocabulary.com: blowing in violent and abrupt bursts: “a cold blustery day”: The setting was appropriately apocalyptic, morning sun yielding to heavy cloud cover and a blustery wind.
・Wiktionary: Blowing in loud and abrupt bursts; "blustering (or blusterous) winds of Patagonia"; "a cold blustery day"; "a gusty storm with strong sudden rushes of wind"
辞書を見ると "bluster" が動詞・名詞としてあることが分かりました。 Vocabulary.comに次ぎの説明があります。
If you tell the captain of the basketball team that you're going to beat him at a game of hoops even though you've never played, you're speaking with a lot of bluster or false confidence and bravado.
Bluster can also mean a strong wind. On a blustery day, you'll see trees blowing and people holding onto their hats. When someone full of bluster is talking about how they can do something that you think they can't, they're blowing a lot of hot air in your direction. And coincidently, another name for that type of person is a blowhard.
この "bluster" は北朝鮮の若いリーダーを思い起こさせます。

addle-pated

My Fair Ladyから取り上げる最後の表現です。
What a fool I was! What a dominated fool!
To think you were the earth and sky.
What a fool I was! What an addle-pated fool!
"addle-pated" が分かりません。 "fool" を形容しているので、良い意味ではなさそうです。　辞書を見ます。
始めに "addle" を辞書で引きます。
・Collins Dictionary: in combination indicating a confused or muddled state ⇒ addle-brained, addle-pated
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: 1: of an egg : rotten 2: confused: My brain grew more and more addle as I made my way through the tax instructions.
・Vocabulary.com: Addle is a Middle English word coming from the Old English adela, meaning “liquid filth.” It’s related to the German adel, meaning “mire or puddle.” In the thirteenth century, addle was used to refer to rotten eggs. Now it's used to describe a confused mind. When someone's mind becomes addled ? whether it's from age or love or illness ? it’s like the brain is rotten.
次に "pated" の意味を調べます。
・Wiktionary: Having a pate; -- used only in composition; as, long-pated; shallow-pated, twitterpated.
・Dictionary.com: -pated: a combining form of pate: addlepated.
それでは、"pate" を調べると、
・Collins Dictionary: the head, esp with reference to baldness or (in facetious use) intelligence
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: 1: head 2: the crown of the head 3: chiefly disparaging: brain: plopped a cap on his bald pate

white hair

One day, a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink.
She suddenly noticed that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast to her dark hair.
The little girl looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, "Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?"
Her mother replied, "Well, every time you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white."
The little girl thought about this explanation for a while and then asked, "Mommy, then why are ALL of grandma's hairs are white?"
私の白髪も増えてきましたが、私も自分の子供のできが悪いからかな？