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。

pound/hit the pavement (the pavement-pounding youth)

The Economistの記事から英語表現を拾います。ここではひとつの表現に絞ります。

赤字のthe pavement-pounding youthに注目します。辞書を瞥見すると、pavement-poundingのかたちでは記載されていません。そこで、pavementの項を見てみます。LDOCE 5ですと、第4義にpound/hit the pavementのかたちで載っております。定義は"to work very hard to get something, especially a job, by going to a lot of different places"とあります。つまり、the pavement-pounding youth of past decadesとは「職を得ようと探しまわった何十年か前の若者達」という意味を捉えることができそうです。

また、pound/ hit the pavementについて、英和辞典を見てみても、若干違う意味合いの印象を受けました(第二版ですので申し訳ないのですが『リーダーズ英和辞典』では「歩き始める、外へ出かける、ストをする」。G4では少し近い「職探しに歩きまわる」)。ちょうどLDOCEに良い例文があったので、意味を保管すると理解が深まります。

He spent the next six months pounding the pavement in search of a job.

前の世代よりもGeneration Yの方が様々な文化的なバックグラウンドを持った人が増えているので、世代別に比較するのは難しいかな、と感じます。イングランドにおける世代による政策に対する受け取り方の差異を学びました。(Othello)

Generation Boris - Politics and the young

A GROUP of 17- and 18-year-olds assembled in their lunch hour at a diverse London school offers a cross-section of political views. Some are more left-wing than others; some are more apathetic. But they are not as different as they seem. When pushed to describe their politics, they agree that the state’s primary role is to protect individual freedom. For them, social and moral causes such as gay rights and sex equality loom larger than things like welfare and health. Asked whether any had joined recent protests against government spending cuts, they respond with raised eyebrows, laughter and effusive denials. One admits to going, “but only for a look.” The pavement-pounding youth of past decades this is not.
(中略)
Predictably, that translates into a tolerance for social and cultural difference. Polls show that the young are more relaxed than others about drugs, sex, alcohol, euthanasia and non-traditional family structures. They dislike immigration, but not as strongly as do their elders. And they are becoming ever more liberal. The BSA has tracked attitudes for three decades. It shows that the young are now far more tolerant of homosexuality, for example, than were previous generations at the same age.