off-base
7月から始動したApple社の新サービスであるApple Musicに関する記事から取り上げます。
Review: Apple Music has everything, perhaps too much
Apple’s new music service is a valiant effort to catch up in the emerging business of offering unlimited music on demand for a monthly price. It does so while acknowledging the legacy of iTunes, the world’s most popular store for buying individual songs to own.
But Apple Music feels like an attempt to take on every competitive app from Pandora to Spotify to YouTube and advance the idea of online radio at the same time.
As a result, Apple Music feels crowded with features and buttons — unusual for a company known for promoting simplicity and ease of use. And as much as Apple Music tries to suit my personal tastes, I find many of its recommendations off-base.
Apple Music is several services in one.
今回取り上げるのは、“off-base”という表現です。LDOCEで調べてみると、“American English informal to be completely wrong”という定義が載っていました。さらに『ジーニアス英和辞典G4 大修館書店』には、「｟米略式｠見当違いをして、不意をつかれて」とありました。野球の用語で“caught off base”で「けん制で刺される、けん制アウト」といったりするように、「塁から離れて」という意味に語源があるようです。(ninetails)
