probie

Reader's Digestには事件や事故についての定番記事がありますが、下記は8月号に掲載の "A Hero in the Smoke" からの抜粋です。
In its testing, the Fire Department has determined that a firefighter working a fire has on average 17-1/2 minutes of air. An anxious probie is apt to have far less - maybe ten minutes. In training, probies are lectured to regulate their breathing: don't suck your air', don't 'blow through your bottle'.
"probie" は初めて目にする単語ですが、意味は記事を読めば自明で「新米」あるいは「見習い」と推測できますが、一応辞書で確認します。.
・Oxford English Dictionary: A person, especially a firefighter, undergoing probation in a job.; an energetic probie at a firehouse in lower Manhattan: a job that in the end draws no distinction between probie and veteran
・Wiktionary:
1.Someone holding a position on a probationary basis, subject to performance or examination.
2.(firefighting) A neophyte firefighter

記事の後半に "probie" にピッタリの「未熟の」、「経験の浅い」を表す形容詞 "green" が使われていました。
He knew that he remained a green firefighter who had much to learn.

3200 BCE

Reader's Digest 8月号の記事からの引用です。
Magical reasons to visit Ireland
Bru Na Boinne in County Meath is a Neolithic site of henges, standing stones and burial chambers, built about 3200 BCE.
紀元前3200年を表すのに3200 BCと表記するのはご存じの通りですが、3200 BCEの表記は初めて見ます。同じ意味でしょうか？
・Oxford English Dictionary: Before the Common Era (used of dates before the Christian era, especially by non-Christians).
・Vocabulary.com: of the period before the Common Era; preferred by some writers who are not Christians
なるほど、私もキリスト教信者ではないので、これからは "BCE" を使うことにしよう。

decant

Reader's Digest 8月号の記事からの引用です。
Tips for Storing Leftover Paint
A small amount of paint will keep better if you decant it into a jar with a screw-top lid.
この "decant" は動詞ですが、ワインのデカンターを連想させます。辞書で意味を調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Gradually pour (liquid, typically wine or a solution) from one container into another, especially without disturbing the sediment: the wine was decanted about 40 minutes before being served
・Vocabulary.com: The verb decant means "to pour." Kids moving water back and forth between two cups, your dad pouring a bucket of soapy water in the sink, or a wine expert emptying a bottle of wine into a fancy glass container -- all of them are decanting liquids.
When you decant, pronounced "dee-CANT," something by slowly pouring it from one bottle to another, you may feel a little bit like a mad scientist or an alchemist. That image would be appropriate, since early on decant was used by alchemists to describe the process of separating a liquid from a sediment by careful pouring. Today, wine lovers do just that -- decanting wine to avoid any solid bits -- but pouring any liquid can be described as decanting.
ワインのデカンターと関係がありました。これなら直ぐに覚えられます。

roundly

９月２０日にThe Japan Times Onlineに掲載された記事からの抜粋です。
Japan, U.S., South Korea discuss coordinated response to North Korean nuclear test
The United States, Japan and South Korea roundly condemn the recent nuclear test and call for tough new sanctions.
"roundly" は丸いイメージの連想からすると柔らかな、あるいは和やかな気がしますが、上の文脈ではその正反対に違いません。辞書で確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: In a vehement or emphatic manner.: the latest attacks have been roundly condemned by campaigners for peace
・Cambridge English Dictionary: severely: The government is being roundly criticized for its education policy.: The home team was roundly defeated.
やはり厳しい意味がありますね。何故か不思議に感じましたが、次の意味で納得できました。
・American Heritage Dictionary: With full force or vigor; thoroughly: applauded roundly; was roundly criticized.
丸、円の意味する、完全、全力から意味が転じたのでしょうね。

tooth fairy

Reader's Digest 8月号の記事からの引用です。
Dental Parental Dilemma
I was playing tooth fairy when my daughter suddenly woke up. Spotting the money in my hand, she cried out, "I caught you!"
I froze, trying to think of an explanation for why I, rather than the tooth fairy, was depositing a gift under her pillow. I was let off the hook when my daughter interjected, "You put that money back! The tooth fariry left it for me!"
"tooth fariry" についての説明はWikipediaから引用します。
The tooth fairy is a fantasy figure of early childhood. The folklore states that when children lose one of their baby teeth, they should place it underneath their pillow and the tooth fairy will visit while they sleep, replacing the lost tooth with a small payment. The tradition of leaving a tooth under a pillow for the tooth fairy to collect is practiced in various countries in the Anglosphere.

HONEST -- BUT STILL FIRED

昨夜、葛西臨海公園のナイトマラソンで10km走りました。これで三度目の参加ですが、私にとっては今シーズン最初のランで、毎年練習不足のために初めて走った時は一時間を超しましたが、昨日は何とか57分で完走できました。しかし、若い女性にすいすい抜かれるのは歳を感じます。
さて、Reader's Digest July Issueに書かれていた話です。
Winding his way through the office cubicles, my son Mike spotted one of his employees a video game on the computer.
"Why aren't you working?" Mike asked him.
The employee had an excellent excuse: "I didn't see you coming."

jonesing

Zoobiquityを読んでいます。
Pain also causes that the body to produce catecholamines, which over time damage major organs but in the short term give the body a jolt--spiking the blood sugar, dilating the pupils, and increasing the heart rate. So in a way, self-mutilators are self-medicators, kick-starting their bodies' natural and powerful chemical reactions. Some cutters report a trancelike state combined with an overwhelming need to self-mutilate--not unlike an addict jonesing for a drug, a jogger restlessly anticipating her 5K, or a glassy-eyed German shepherd licking his paw.
"jonesing" はZoobiquityの前半にも出てきて既に（4/27/2016）取り上げました。
前回しらべた時に、Oxford English Dictionaryに「Origin 1960s: said to come from Jones Alley, in Manhattan, associated with drug addicts.」と知りましたが、欲しがるという意味では慣用句の "keep up with joneses" と同じではないかと気が付き、こちらの語源を確かめると（The Word Detective）、全然異なる様でした。意味が似たのは偶然なのでしょう。

rifle through

昨日は会社を休んで初めてテニスの試合に出ましたが、結果はさんざんなものでした。
さて、Zoobiquityを読んでいます。
Grooming's powerful calming effect applies as much to solo as to social cleaning rituals. Cats and rabbits may spend up to a third of their waking hours fastidiously licking themselves. Sea lions and seals spend many hours a day rifling through their own fur. Birds roll in dirt, fluff preen, and pick with their beaks. Snakes, lacking napkins or hands with which to wield them, often finish a meal by wiping their faces against the ground.
"rifling through" は文脈からすると、毛づくろいをすることだと思いますが、辞書で確認します。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to search through something quickly and carelessly often in order to take or steal something: He rifled through the papers on his desk.
・Macmillan Dictionary: rifle or rifle through to search quickly through something such as a container or a group of objects in order to find or steal something: She rifled through her closet looking for the dress.
・American Heritage Dictionary: To search (an area or container, for example) thoroughly, especially using the hands with the intent to steal or remove something: rifled the desk, looking for the keys.
寄生虫や汚れを取るために探すと言うことでしょうか？

shrink

Zoobiquityを読んでいます。
Why would she cut herself on purpose--something a doctor would consider doing only with anesthetic and strict protocols? So although she was in my office for a heart consult, I asked her. She answered matter-of-factly, "My shrink says I'm trying to kill myself. But I'm not. If I wanted to die, I would. Cutting just makes me feel better. It relieves me." Her answere jibed with what other cutters say.
上の引用文に出てくる "shrink" は何年か前に覚えた単語ですが、私には幸い厄介になる必要性がない精神科医の意味だったと記憶しています。意味は覚えていましたが、語源が気になったので調べます。
・Vocabulary.com: Shrink is the informal word you can use to talk about a therapist. Talking about your problems with her can hopefully help you shrink them, or make them smaller.
The word shrink is related to the Swedish skrynka meaning "to wrinkle." Think about what happens to a lone forgotten fruit at the bottom of your fridge drawer. After a while, it begins to wrinkle or shrink. Clothes washed in hot water tend to shrink, so be wary of the setting on your washing machine. The use of shrink as referring to therapists started as late as the 1960s -- with the idea of a psychologist being a "head-shrinker."
"head-shrinker" とは何やら眉唾ですね。もう一つのサイト、 Word-Detective(http://www.word-detective.com/030698.html#shrink)から説明も抜粋します。
　 The slang term "shrink," applied to psychiatrists and psychotherapists and psychologists, is a shortened form of "headshrinker," a derogatory comparison of the profession to primitive tribes who ritually dry and shrink the heads of their slain enemies. The term "shrink" dates back at least to the early 1960's, and first showed up in print in Thomas Pynchon's "The Crying of Lot 49" in 1966.
If "headshrinker" seems a bit exotic for an insulting metaphor, it may help to note that magazine cartoons of the 1950's and 1960's were awash in cannibalistic natives, witch doctors and the like, so the imagery of "shrink" is not all that surprising. And if your wife's feelings are a bit hurt by this revelation of the term's origins, just remember the wisdom of my personal psychological counselor, Pogo: Don't take life so serious -- it ain't nohow permanent.
結論としては "headshrinker" の世話にはなりたくありません、ですね。

street cred

Zoobiquityを読んでいると、以前（3/23/2011）に調べた記録はありますが、意味を思い出せない表現（"street cred"）が次の様に出てきました。
Self-injury has gained an unintended endorsement by public figures, I, for one, was shocked by Princess Diana's disclosure to the BBC in 1995 that she cut herself with a lemon peeler and a razor blade. ...
Farrell in telling the world about a self-injuring past; their tools included knives, soda can pop-tops, broken glass, cigarettes, lighters, and their own fingers. Cutting's edgy street cred includes feature appearances in angsty teen films like Thirteen and Girl, Interrpted.
私もPrincess Dianaの伝記を読んだ時にダイアナ妃が自傷行為をしていた事を知り驚きました。