The Japan Times Online Aug 4のCulture面の記事に以前（11/18/2011）取り上げた単語 "tagline" が次の様に出てきました。
‘Truth': Ask no questions, hear no lies
‘The truth is out there” is the tagline from sci-fi thriller TV series “The X-Files,” suggesting that perhaps all we had to do was find it and retrieve it like a lost frisbee.
"tagline" はほとんどの辞書で２語の "tag line" で項目を設けています。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A catchphrase or slogan, especially as used in advertising, or the punchline of a joke.: But occasionally a tag line is great, and it makes a difference.
・Collins Dictionary: The tag line of something such as a television commercial or a joke is the phrase that comes at the end and is meant to be amusing or easy to remember.: The tag line was: `Take the worry out of monthly bills with Home Finance.
・Dictionary.com:
1. the last line of a play, story, speech, etc., used to clarify or dramatize a point.
2. a phrase or catchword that becomes identified or associated with a person, group, product, etc., through repetition: Entertainers often develop tag lines, like Ted Lewis's “Is everybody happy?”
Grishamの短編小説集Ford Countyの中のQuiet Havenを読んでいます。
I drive to Tupelo on a day off, show him the color photos of Ms. Harriet naked and bleeding, show him the copies of the attendants notes, both before the tampering and after, and we strike a deal. Dex kicks into high gear, contacts the family of Harriet Markle, and within a week of the incident notifies HVQH that they have a real problem. He won't mention me and my photos and my purloined records until he has to. With such inside information, the case will likely be settled quickly, and I'll be unemployed once again.
老人ホームで働き始めた主人公の若い男は何か悪いことを企んでいる様です。 さて、"purloined" は知らない単語なので辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Steal (something): he must have managed to purloin a copy of the key
・Vocabulary.com: You can use the verb purloin to mean "steal" or "take," especially if it's done in a sneaky way. If you sneak a dollar out of your mom's purse, you purloin it. Kids might purloin apples from a neighbor's tree, and a crooked cashier might purloin cash from her boss's convenience store. Originally, purloin meant "put at a distance" in Middle English. The word comes from the Anglo-French purloigner, "put away."
なるほど、"steal in a sneaky way" ですか。
昨日取り上げたReader's Digest 7月号の記事 Feeding the Olympicsからの続きです。
Most cometitors eat more when they train than when they compete.
....
"Then on the competition day you eat to feel neither too hungry nor too full." Even so, he adds, "Food can have a distinct competitive effect on the day of an event. Marathon runners, for example, can only store so much carbohydrate in their muscles, so they need top-ups during the race.
"top-ups" はマラソン選手がレースの途中で補給しているエネルギーの事ですね。辞書での説明を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: (British) An additional or extra amount or payment that restores something to the level that is required: they will miss out on hundreds of pounds worth of pension top-ups
・Collins Dictionary:
1. an amount added to something in order to raise it to or maintain it at a desired level ⇒ 10 treatments in a row and then a top-up every now and then
2. (British) an amount added to the level of a drink, usually bringing it to the brim of the container ⇒ Anyone ready for a top-up?, ⇒ Can I give you a top-up?
要するに追加ですね。日本人男が好んで相手のビールの注ぎ足しはまさに "top-up" です。
日本の選手が大活躍したリオのオリンピックも終わりました。オリンピックの選手村ではこんな場面があったのでしょうね。
Reader's Digest 7月号の記事 Feeding the Olympicsからの抜粋です。
Whatever the differences in achievement and ability, this communal eating space is a great levelling, with golden girls and also-rans standing side by side in the line for food, or sharing spaces at the same tables.
・Collins Dictionary: a contestant, horse, etc, failing to finish among the first three in a race: Molly, the also-ran, the child who was born to disappoint, had none of these things.
・Wiktionary: A person or animal who competed in a race but did not win.:The transition from comer to also-ran can be quick.
Grishamの短編小説集Ford Countyの中のQuiet Havenを読んでいます。
Because of the popularity of these lawsuits, and the sheer number of vultures circling nursing homes, I have learned that one must move with haste. My lawyer is an old friend named Dexter Ridley, from Tupelo, a man I turn to on occasion. Dex is about fifty, with a couple of wives and lives under his belt, and he made the decision a few years ago that he could not survive in the business by drawing up deeds and filing no-fault divorces.
慣用句らしき "lives under his belt" の意味が分かりません。 "under his belt" を辞書で調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Safely or satisfactorily achieved, experienced, or acquired: I want to get more experience under my belt.: he now has almost a year as president under his belt
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: as an achievement or as part of one's experience: an actor who has several films under his belt: He finally has a full year of experience under his belt.
なるほど、今の私が小さな専門商社でパートとして働いている状況の説明に使えそうです。
I work as a part-timer at a small trading company near Akahabara under my belt.
今はJohn Grishamの短編小説集Ford Countyの中のQuiet Havenを読んでいます。
We ramble about this and that, more gossip about people I'll never meet. I toy with the drink, but I'm afraid not to consume most of it. She's questioned my manhood on several occasions when I tried to slip by without fully enjoying the bourbon.
"Say, Miss Ruby, did you ever know a man by the name of Lyle Spurlock?" I ask during a lull.
It takes quite a while for her to recall all the men she's known, but Lyle eventually does not make the cut. "Afraid not, dear. Why?"
学歴を詐称して（まともな大学を卒業しているのに、高卒と偽り）老人ホームで働き始める若い男の話です。
何だか先ごろ日本の身障者の介護施設で起きた事件を連想しました。
さて、上の引用箇所に出てきた慣用句 "make the cut" の意味を調べます。
・Wiktionary: To succeed at something or meet a requirement; to be chosen out of a field of candidates or possibilities. Out of a pool of twenty applicants, only 3 made the cut.
Etymology: From the sport of golf, in which players are said to make the cut when they match or exceed a certain score, thus avoiding elimination during the final two rounds of a four-round tournament.
ゴルフから来た表現ですか。
Grishamの短編小説集Ford Countyの中のMichael's Roomを読んでいます。
The road ended at a highway, and when they turned south, Stanley saw a marker for State Route 374, an old winding trail that connected Clanton with the smaller town of Karraway. Five minutes later they turned onto a city street, then zigzagged into the southern section of town. Stanley soaked up the familiar sights -- a school to the right, a church to the left, a cheap strip mall owned by a man he'd once defended. Stanley was back in Clanton, back home, and he was almost elated. Confused, but thrilled to be alive and still in one piece.
最後に出てきた慣用句らしき " in one piece" が分からないので辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Unharmed or undamaged, especially after a dangerous experience.: When you meddle with them, you are lucky if you come out all in one piece.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: not damaged: The radio had been stolen, but otherwise we got the car back (all) in one piece.
・Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms: not injured or damaged I'm glad the kids arrived home in one piece from school.
Etymology: based on the idea of an object that is not broken
なるほど、バラバラにされていないと覚えれば良いのですね。
今日はJohn Grishamの短編小説集Ford Countyの中のMichael's Roomを読んでいます。
弁護士のStanleyは誘拐され、小さな家に連れ込まれます。
They walked for another ten minutes, though it seemed like an eternal death march to Stanley. Rounding a curve in the road, he saw lights ahead, a small house in the distance. He picked up his pace slightly as he decided that Cranwell was not about to fire again with someone within earshot.
The house was a small brick split-level a hundred yards off the road, with a gravel drive and neat hedges just below the front windows.
"split-level" はどんな家でしょうか？ 気になったので調べます。
・American Heritage Dictionary: Having the floor levels of adjoining rooms separated by about half a story: a split-level ranch house built in the 1970s.
・Macmillan Dictionary: used for describing a room or house that has parts on different levels beside each other, not above each other: a split-level bedroom
なるほど、ちょっと洒落たデザインの家ではあるけれども階段ががあるので、段差をなくしたバリアフリーの家とは反対の設計思想ですね。
Grishamの短編小説Casinoを読んでいます。
“It's over, buddy,” the manager said, then glanced at two thick security guards who had suddenly materialized behind Sidney, who calmly stuck a pretzel in his mouth and crunched it loudly. He grinned at the manager and the pit bosses and decided to call it a night.
“I want cash,” he said.
“That might be a problem,” the manager said.
They escorted Sidney to the manager's office upstairs, where the entire entourage gathered behind a closed door. No one sat down.
“I demand cash,” Sidney said.
“We'll give you a check,” the manager said again.
“You don't have the cash, do you?” Sidney said, taunting. “This two-bit casino doesn't have the cash and cannot cover its exposure.”
“We have the money,” the manager said without conviction. “And we're happy to write a check.”
ギャンブルにはまると普通は文無しになるのですが、そこは小説、主人公のSidneyはカジノを潰せる程のギャンブラーになりました。
さて、bit は小さい、ちっぽけな意味があるのでこの "two-bit" も同じ様な意味だと思いますが、何故 "two" が付いているのか気になります。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Insignificant, cheap, or worthless: some two-bit town
・Cambridge English Dictionary: worth very little, or not very important: He plays a two-bit Chicago gangster in the play.
中々語源に触れている辞書はありません。しかし、Wiktionaryに次の説明を見つけました。
Etymology: based on the old monetary bit, which was one eighth of an old Spanish dollar (or 12½ cents in more modern usage)
two bits pl (plural only): (US, slang) Twenty-five cents, or a quarter.
納得です。
Grishamの短編小説Casinoを読んでいます。離婚したStellaとSidney、Sidneyは元妻のStellaに未練がありますが、次第にギャンブルにはまっていきます
Of the twenty blackjack tables, only three catered to the high rollers. Their minimum bets were $100 a hand, and these tables generally saw little traffic. Sidney assumed a chair at one, tossed out a bundle of cash, and said, “Five thousand, in $100 chips.” The dealer smiled as he took the cash and spread it across the table.
"high roller" の意味を調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A person who gambles or spends large amounts of money.: Think casino gambling and you think high rollers playing high-stakes games, dropping thousands of dollars a night.
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: a big gambler who risks much money; anyone who takes risks. (Refers to rolling dice.) Rocko is a high roller and isn’t afraid to lose some money.
なるほど "roller" はサイコロを転がす人の意味から来ているのですね。
トータル
