常時英心:言葉の森から 1.0

約10年間,はてなダイアリーで英語表現の落穂拾いを行ってきました。現在はAmeba Blogに2.0を開設し,継続中です。こちらはしばらくアーカイブとして維持します。

a tough pill to swallow

ダルビッシュ有投手が完全試合にあと一歩だった好投をみせたアストロズ戦を実況したア軍専属アナウンサーのアラン・アシュビー氏が差別的な発言をしたとして批判を浴び、公式に謝罪ともいえない謝罪をしました。

tough pill to swallowは、bitter/hard pill to swallowのことで、「受け入れがたい事実、受け入れるのが辛いこと、信じたくないこと」を意味します。とここまではよかったのですが、問題はその次のラインからです。ノンネイティブへの差別感がにじみ出ている発言です。こんなときに人間は思わず本音をはいてしまうのですね。(UG)

Astros announcer apologizes for Yu Darvish remark

Houston Astros announcer Alan Ashby issued a flimsy apology on Wednesday for making a joke about Yu Darvish's knowledge of English after the Japanese pitcher lost a perfect game the night before.

When Darvish gave up a hit with two outs in the ninth inning, Ashby remarked that such a disappointment would force the pitcher, who speaks to the media through a translator, to learn some new English words, the type of which you can't print in a family newspaper.

Here was his exchange with play-by-play man Geoff Blum:

Blum: "Gosh, that has got to be a tough pill to swallow."
Ashby: "That'll force a guy to learn some of the language here in America."
Blum: "[Laughter] Some of the more inappropriate language. I like it. They probably learn that instantly coming over here. But that was a fantastic performance."

It was a joke and not a particularly good one, certainly not good enough to create all that laughter from the booth. But it's not overtly offensive. It takes two non-controversial statements — English isn't Darvish's first language and giving up a perfect game makes pitchers want to curse — and combines them into a corny one-liner.

Darvish is said to know enough English to converse with teammates, which is impressive considering he's only in his second year in the majors. So if you want to overanalyze Ashby's line, you could make the point that Darvish probably already knows those theoretical curse words. But that's too much backstory for a simple one-liner.

Still, it's 2013 and you can't say anything without offending someone, so Ashby had to apologize. Judging by the tone of his statement, it seems he didn't think one was necessary.

"I'd like to apologize if my comments last night were misinterpreted or construed as insensitive. I have the highest respect for Yu Darvish; he's a great player and his performance last night was outstanding. He showed a great deal of poise in the face of a difficult moment last night, which speaks to the strength of his character."

It's a fitting non-apology apology for a non-story story.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/gameon/2013/04/04/yu-darvish-alan-ashby-apology-perfect-game-japanese/2052357/