whopping
歌手のテイラー・スウィフトが、２０１５年６月〜２０１６年６月までに最も稼いだ有名人に輝きました。
Taylor Swift world’s top-paid celebrity
NEW YORK (AFP-Jiji) — At the tender age of 26, Taylor Swift is the world’s highest-paid celebrity, pulling in a whopping $170 million over the past year, Forbes magazine said Monday.
The pop diva’s take from June 2015 to June 2016 is the highest total of her young career, the magazine said, more than doubling her previous record of $80 million last year.
She out-earned other famous musicians including Adele ($80.5 million), Madonna ($76.5 million), Rihanna ($75 million) and Bruce Springsteen ($60.5 million).
The “Shake It Off” singer also outpaced rival Katy Perry, who was last year’s top-earning musician at $135 million, according to Forbes magazine’s annual list of 100 highest-paid celebrities.
Perry dropped to No. 63 on this year’s list, earning a mere $41 million.
Swift’s huge earnings were largely thanks to her “1989 World Tour” during which she smashed the Rolling Stone’s North American record, grossing $200 million on the continent en route to a quarter of a billion worldwide, the magazine said.
Coming in at No. 2 on the list this year was the boy band One Direction, ($110 million), followed by author James Patterson ($95 million).
http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003072873
今回取り上げる表現は、“whopping”です。『ウィズダム英和辞典』(第３版、三省堂)を引いたところ、「途方もない、とてつもなく大きい〈金額・規模など〉」と載っていました。Macmillan Dictionary.comでも“extremely large”と定義されており、他と比べてとにかく規模の大きいものを表現する際に用いられるようです。
動詞形は“whop”で、１「…を打つ、たたく」２「…を打ち負かす」とありました(『ウィズダム英和辞典』)。この第２義から、他を寄せ付けないほどの強さ、規模の大きさという意味で“whopping”の意味が生まれたのではないかと思います。(Blue Sky)
P.S. 過去には“whopper”という名詞形が取り上げられておりました。ご覧ください。
