dandelion floss

川端康成の "雪国" を読んでいます。

In front of the cedar grove opposite, dragonflies were bobbing about in countless swarms, like dandelion floss in the wind.

"dandelion floss" 文脈からタンポポの綿毛の種子だと容易に分かりますが、デンタルフロスの "floss" も綿毛から作られていた事があったからでしょうね。　タンポポを意味する "dandelion" も元々ライオンの歯の意味でしたね。

masseuse

題名とはかけ離れた世界の小説、川上未映子の 'Heaven' を読み終えて、早速、川端康成の有名な小説 "雪国" を読み始めました。

Always ready to give himself up to reverie, he could not believe that the mirror were really works of man. They were part of nature, and part of some distant world.
And the room he had only this moment left had become part of that same distant world.
Startled at himself, in need of something to cling to, he stopped a blind masseuse at the top of the hill.
"Could you give me a massage?"

"masseuse" は知らない単語ですが、次の文に "massage" とあるので、マッサージ師を示しているに違いません。発音も難しそうなので辞書を見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: a woman whose job is giving people massages (French)
・Collins Dictionary: a woman who gives massages, esp as a profession: And I couldn't survive the season without my personal masseuse.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a female masseur

発音もスペルも英語と似ていますが、英語的なスペルとは違いますね。

nelson

Mieko Kawakamiの "Heaven" を読んでいます。

虐めはエスカレートし、これが本当に中学生の虐めかと思い、小説でも読むのが嫌になるほどです。

Ninomiya slipped upside the head. My glasses were hanging from one ear; my cheek was burning and a second later I tasted blood.
"Shut up. Nobody asked you to speak. Get his pants."
I kicked, trying to stop them, but the guys locked me in a full nelson and under my belt. I heard the girls laughing.

"nelson" を調べます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: a move in which a wrestler stands behind his/her opponent, puts one or both arms under the opponent’s arm(s) and holds the back of the opponent’s neck. When done with one arm it is called a half nelson, and with both arms a full nelson.
・Collins Dictionary: any wrestling hold in which a wrestler places his or her arm or arms under the opponent's arm or arms from behind and exerts pressure with the palms on the back of the opponent's neck

レスリングの技ですね。

sucker punch

Mieko Kawakamiの "Heaven" を読んでいます。

主人公の少年は学校で虐めを受けているせいで、死や自殺について考えています。

No matter how we live our lives, we all die sooner or later. In which case, living is really just waiting to die. And if that's true, why bother living at all? Why was I even alive? I made myself crazy, tossing and turning, hyperventilating. Then it hit me: dying is just like sleeping. You only know you're sleeping when you wake up the next day, but if morning never comes, you sleep forever. That must be what death is like. When someone dies, they don't even know they're dead. Because they never see it happen, nobody ever really dies. This hit me like a sucker punch.

"sucker punch" の意味を調べます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: to hit somebody when they are not expecting it; to suddenly surprise somebody:
・Collins Dictionary: a quick punch delivered without warning; an unexpected blow: The laugh became a shocked cry as something struck her in the ribs like a sucker punch.

"suckerpunch" のスペルもありました。

・Urban Dictionary: A punch that takes someone by surprise, a punch coming from out of the blue.: When John turned around, Mike floored him with a suckerpunch.

Heaven vs. Paradise

Mieko Kawakamiの "Heaven" を読み始めました。
主人公(男)とクラスメイトの "Kojima（女）"　は夏休みの最初の日に "Kojima"　が "Heaven"　と言う場所に行くことになりました。二人はクラスでの虐めにあっている生徒であり、文通で付き合っていました。

The train recited its script of sounds between the evenly spaced stations. Each time we came to a halt, the conductor called out the name of the stop. When he switched off the mic, it made a ticklish popping sound that made Kojima giggle. The rich green rice fields ran together, and little houses shot up between them. Keeping pace with the train, the sharp light flickering off pointed stalks flew into streaks.
"Hey Kojima," I said. "This paradise we're going to..."
"Kojima glared at me and shook her head.
"Not paradise. It's Heaven."
"Heaven?"
"Yeah. Heaven, with a capital H."
"Heaven," I repeated.
Kojima smiled. "That's right. But I'm not saying any more. You'll see when we get there. Sit tight."

私も "Heaven" と "paradise" の区別は余り意識していませんでした。 目的の駅に着いた後に最初に連れて行かれた場所は美術館でした。この美術館が "Heaven" かとKojimaに尋ねると Kojima は "Heaven is a painting" と応えました。
この際、英語で "Heaven" と "paradise" をどう区別しているのか辞書を見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary:
Heaven: (in some religions) the place believed to be the home of God where good people go when they die, sometimes imagined to be in the sky
paradise:
1.(often Paradise) [uncountable] (in some religions) a perfect place where people are said to go when they die
2.[countable] a place that is extremely beautiful and that seems perfect, like heaven

Vocabulary.com:
Heaven: the abode of God and the angels
heaven is a place that seems absolutely perfect in every way. You can think of it as the lofty heavens up above, or as a place of everlasting bliss.
The places you think of as heaven could also be called "paradise" or "Eden." All of these words are based on a religious idea of heaven as a perfect, blissful existence that's granted to good people after they die. This spiritual heaven is generally depicted as the place where God lives, and is commonly described as being high in the sky. In fact, the original meaning of the Old English heaven, heofon, was "sky."

Paradise: In some religions, paradise is considered the ultimate destination, but in general, it's any place that is ideal and free from worry. Eden, Shangri-la, or even the corner nail salon — each might represent paradise to someone.
Paradise comes from the Greek paradeisos meaning "park, paradise, Garden of Eden." The Garden of Eden was a paradise free from all worries until Eve ate the apple that broke the dream. Often when you see advertisements for tourism in the Caribbean, a sense of paradise is evoked by the beautiful images and carefree descriptions.

頭が大文字の "Heaven" は神が住むところで "Paradise" はイブがリンゴをかじる前のエデンの園なのですね。　しかし、同義語としても扱われることも多いのが分かって安心しました。

a shot in the foot

The Japan Times Dec.19の記事です。

Are Europe’s Russia sanctions a shot in the foot?
If the European Union is enduring severe economic pain while Russia’s Ukraine war proceeds apace, sanctions become tantamount to self-flagellation.

"a shot in the foot" はロシアに対する制裁は自分の足を鉄砲で打つことになるの意味のようですが、辞書で確認します。

・Collins Dictionary: If you shoot yourself in the foot, something you say or do causes you harm.: If I was to insult the contestants I would be shooting myself in the foot.
・Farlex Dictionary of Idioms: To damage or impede one's own plans, progress, or actions through foolish actions or words.: I think we shot ourselves in the foot by firing her, because she knew more about the project than anyone else.
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: to cause oneself difficulty; to be the author of one's own misfortune.: I am a master at shooting myself in the foot. Again, he shot himself in the foot by saying too much to the press.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to do or say something that causes problems for you: I think you might be shooting yourself in the foot if you don't take his offer

確かにロシアに対する制裁はどの国でも経済的な反動があるでしょうが、ここは皆で協力して我慢すべきだと思います。

gaslighting

The Japan Times Dec.16にこんな記事がありました。

Merriam-Webster’s word of the year is ‘gaslighting,’ and don't try to tell us there isn't a Japanese equivalent
Merriam-Webster saw a huge spike in people looking up the word “gaslighting” in 2022, and Japan is also no stranger to the concept.

実際に Merriam-Webster Dictionaryには 'Gaslighting,' plus 'sentient,' 'omicron,' 'queen consort,' and other top lookups of 2022とあり、“gaslighting” の項に次の説明があります。

psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one's emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator

Gaslighting can be a very effective tool for the abuser to control an individual. It's done slowly so the victim writes off the event as a one off or oddity and doesn't realize they are being controlled and manipulated.

“gaslighting” の検索が多くなった背景としてMerriam-Websterはこう書いてあります。
In this age of misinformation—of “fake news,” conspiracy theories, Twitter trolls, and deepfakes—gaslighting has emerged as a word for our time.

meme

昨日の問題 "meme" の正解はBで、例文は My sister and I text each other memes from The Office almost daily.

"meme" は既に３回（3/23/2012/7/5/2018/5/14/2019）取り上げていますが、今回の正解と同じ様な意味は7/5/2018で取り上げたのに近いですね。
以前取り上げなかった辞書での説明を以下に引用します。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: an amusing or interesting item (such as a captioned picture or video) or genre of items that is spread widely online especially through social media: the band encouraged fans to make memes to advertise the U.S. release of their EP …
・American Herritage Dictionary: An image or short video clip, often accompanied by a humorous saying or popular catchphrase, that is transmitted virally, especially on social media.

meme

Reader's Digest 11月号の単語クイズ 'WORD POWER' から取り上げる3問目です。

meme (n.)

A. personal blog
B. humorous graphic
C. notification bell

質問は上記A.B.Cの3択です。
昨日の問題 "troll" の正解はCで、例文は After being harassed by trolls, the singer deleted her instagram account.

・Oxford English Dictionary: a message to a discussion group on the internet that somebody deliberately sends to make other people angry; a person who sends a message like this
・Collins Dictionary: If you troll someone, you deliberately try to upset them or start an argument with them, especially by posting offensive or unkind things on the internet.: Instead of picking fights on the street they are at home, trolling people on the internet.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a message that someone leaves on the internet that is intended to annoy people: A well-constructed troll will provoke irate or confused responses from flamers and newbies.

troll

Reader's Digest 11月号の単語クイズ 'WORD POWER' から取り上げる2問目です。

troll (n.)

A. professional hacker
B. hardware defect
C. online bully

質問は上記A.B.Cの3択です。正解は翌日明かします。
昨日の問題 "dox" の正解はCで、例文は The judge was doxxed by angry activists who published her home address online.
辞書を見ると、 "doxx" とも綴られるとありました。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to publicly identify or publish private information about (someone) especially as a form of punishment or revenge
・Wiktionary: To publish personal information (of an individual) on the Internet.: In that frame of mind, the worst thing that can happen will always be online. Being doxxed or ridiculed, for example, outweighs the offline risks of wasted time, poor health, or arrest.