fruithead

7月に読み終えて図書館に返したLolita by Vladimir Nabokovには難しい表現が満載でした。分からないままの単語等の幾つかはメモしておいたので、暇な時にChatGPTで調べようと思っていましたがその内の幾つかをチェックしました。

The cop (what shadow of us was he after?) gave the little colleen his best smile and went into a U-turn.
We drove on.
“The fruithead!” remarked Lo. “He should have nabbed you.”
上記引用文の "fruithead" をChatGPTに訊いたところ次の回答がありました。

In the context of the sentence from the novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, the term "fruithead" is likely used as a slang term to describe someone in a derogatory manner. Slang terms can vary in meaning depending on the context and time period, and their meanings may evolve over time.
In this particular context, it seems that "fruithead" is being used by the character Lo to express their disapproval or contempt for the cop's actions. It suggests that the cop made a foolish or misguided decision by not apprehending the person being referred to as "you" in the conversation. The exact meaning and origin of "fruithead" in this specific context may be specific to the novel or the author's usage.

丁寧な回答ですね。

recapitulate

Muhammad Yunusの "Creating a World Without Poverty" を読んでいます。

Another misconception is that developing nations must recapitulate the path of development followed by developed countries decades or even centuries ago. New technologies hold out the potential for leapfrogging steps in the process. It is not necessary for a developing country in Asia, Africa, or Latin America to build a network of land lines to provide telephone service, as was done in Europe and North America in the late nineteenth and early twenties centuries. Instead, those regions can jump directly to wireless cellular telephone service, saving vast amonts of money, years of development time, and precious nonrenewable resources (such as the copper once use in making telophone lines) in the process.

"recapitulate" は次の意味でよく耳/目にします。
・Oxford English Dictionary: to repeat or give a summary of what has already been said, decided, etc.: To recapitulate briefly, the three main points are these…

引用文での使われ方は次の生物学での意味に近いですね。
・Collins Dictionary: (of an animal) to repeat (stages of its evolutionary development) during the embryonic stages of its life
・Wiktionary: (biology, of an organism) To mirror or repeat in analogous form, especially in reference to an individual's development passing through stages corresponding to the species' stages of evolutionary development.: Similarly this concept of unity provided a powerful impetus for embryological studies and the idea that fetal development recapitulates the steps of phylogenetic development.

jerry-rigged

Muhammad Yunusの "Creating a World Without Poverty" を読んでいます。

But this same aspect of government sometimes means that progress is thwarted in favor of the interests of one or more powerful groups. For example, look at the illogical, jerry-rigged, and inefficient health-care system in the United States, which leaves tens of millions of people with no health insurance. Reform of this system has so far been impossible because of powerful insurance and pharmaceutical companies.

"jerry-rigged" で私は直ぐに "bid-rigging" を連想しますが、"jerry-rigged" は8/10/2016に、そして "jury-rig"(1/7/2016)と "jury-rigged"(2009/9/8)も取り上げていました。

Gini coefficient

Muhammad Yunus氏著の本、題名 "Creating a World Without Poverty" が気になり、読むことにしました。

Prologueの冒頭に "Because the microcredit organization I founded, Grameen Bank, has successfully brought financial services to poor women in Bangladesh, i am often invited to speak with groups that are interested in improving the lot of women." とあり、その中に出て来た "microcredit" は以前ニュースで聞いたことを思い出しました。著者のMuhammad Yunus氏はノーベル平和賞を受賞した経済学者とWikipediaに書かれていました。

But all of this progress Gini coefficient has brought with it a worsening of social problems. In their rush to grow, Chinese officials have looked the other way when companies polluted the water and air. And despite the improved lot of many poor, the divide between the haves and have-nots is widening. As measured by technical indicators such as the Gini coefficient, income inequality is worse in China than in India.

早速とりあげる表現、"Gini coefficient" は経済用語の様です。
・Wiktionary: A measure of the inequality of a statistical distribution, ranging from 0 (total equality) to 1 (maximal inequality), used in various disciplines but especially in economics to compare incomes or wealth.

百科事典（Wikipedia）の説明も見ます。　冒頭個所を引用します。
In economics, the Gini coefficient, also known as the Gini index or Gini ratio, is a measure of statistical dispersion intended to represent the income inequality, the wealth inequality, or the consumption inequality within a nation or a social group. It was developed by Italian statistician and sociologist Corrado Gini.

five times removed

Harper Leeの "To Kill a Mockingbird" を読んでいます。

The bass drum went boom with every sentence Mrs. Merriweather uttered. She chanted mournfully about Maycomb County being older than the state, that it was a part of the Mississippi and Alabama Territories, that the first white man to set foot in the virgin forest was the Probate Jedge's great-grand father five times removed, who was never heard of again.

この "five times removed" は前に（8/21/2010）取り上げた "cousin once removed" の意味と関連があると思いますが、辞書で確認します。

・Collins Dictionary: distant by a given number of degrees of descent or kinship: A first cousin once removed is the child of one's first cousin: The grandchildren of one's first cousin are one's first cousins twice removed
・Cambridge English Dictionary: used to refer to a cousin (= a relation) separated from you by one, two, etc. generations (= same family age groups): She's my first cousin once removed.

私はこの手の表現は日本語でも苦手です。 親戚が少ないせいでしょう。
"To Kill a Mockingbird" を読み終えました。　数年に1度しか出会わない素晴らしい小説で、お勧め出来る内容の小説です。

hipped on

Harper Leeの "To Kill a Mockingbird" を読んでいます。
"No, lemme finish--it does, but we're still different somehow. Attcus said one time the reason Aunty's so hipped on the family is because all we've got's background and not a dime to our names."

"hipped" を辞書で調べます。
・Collins Dictionary: US, Informal having a great, often excessive, interest; obsessed:(with on) hipped on movies
・Random House Unabridged Dictionary: greatly interested or preoccupied, almost to an irrational extent; obsessed (usually fol. by on): He's hipped on learning to play the tuba.

初めて見る表現と思いましたが、大分前に（11/4/2010）取り上げていました。

commute

Harper Leeの "To Kill a Mockingbird" を読んでいます。

"If he loses his appeal," I asked one evening, "what'll happen to him?"
"He'll go to the carir," said Atticus, "unless the Governor commutes his sentence. Not time to warry yet, Scout. We've got a good chance."

以前（8/28/2012）にも取り上げましたが、この "commute" は通勤ではないですね。