cut one’s nose off to spite your face
英国のEU離脱は，経済面の影響だけではなく，国民の精神面にも影響するなどの筆者の意見が述べられています。
We voted out. Of course the EU wants Brexit to hurt
The economic complexities of Brexit pale in comparison to the psychological ones, it sometimes seems, and in the response to German vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel’s remarks yesterday on the consequences of Britain’s decision, we have another case in point. Gabriel, a compelling political figure recently notable for giving the finger to a bunch of neo-Nazis, was reflecting on Europe’s likely response to British manoeuvres, and said something that you might imagine would be self-evident to most people: “If we organise Brexit in the wrong way, then we’ll be in deep trouble, so now we need to make sure that we don’t allow Britain to keep the nice things, so to speak, related to Europe while taking no responsibility.”
But the easier our path out of Europe is to navigate, the smaller the disincentives will be to others who may think of following us. And so those punitive actions may sometimes be wise to take all the same. It may be worth cutting your nose off to spite your face if the infection is in danger of spreading to your eyes and ears. None of this is pleasant, but none of it is surprising, either: any right we had to expect special treatment expired, obviously, when we voted to give it up.
今回取り上げる表現は，“cut one’s nose off to spite your face”です。これは，『ジーニアス英和辞典』（大修館書店）によると，「短気を起こして不利なことをする」という意味があります。また，英語の定義を確認してみると，Dictionary.comには，“to create a disadvantage to oneself through one's own spiteful action”とありました。人に対して悪意のあることや意地の悪いことなどの行動も含まれているようです。日本語と英語の定義に大きな違いはないと感じました。(Nao)
