dime-a-dozen 復習
みなさんは夜のお仕事に対しどのように思いますか。
Tokyo hostess bars: A little understood part of Japan's nightlife
"But before that, when you're just another dime-a-dozen girl who has just come here based on your looks … they are not going to respect you because you haven't earned their respect."
Dr Ogasawara believes that while the job itself as a hostess is respected by Japanese society, he would not accept his daughter working as one.
He said some hostesses do provide sexual services, and this tarnishes the reputation of the job.
"Very rarely, a small percentage they go to a hotel with customers. It's not common but there is a possibly or tendency," he said.
"So it's not an honourable job … it is not shameful but it is not honourable."
To the outsider, Japan's hostess bars are a confusing mix of tradition blended with heavy drinking and womanising.
Although it looks like an elaborate scam, the allure of a hostess bar is that it provides a mostly harmless fantasy.
Paying for praise and attention gives many Japanese men a chance to feel the excitement they are looking for.
（一部抜粋）
今回取り上げる単語は、dime-a-dozenです。
Oxford Dictionary of English (Second Edition Reserved, Oxford University Press)によると、 “a dime a dozen”で “very common and of no particular value”とのことでした。
『ジーニアス英和辞典』（第五版，大修館）で調べたところ、「ごくありふれて価値のない」と載っておりました。イギリスでは “two [ten] a penny”とも言うそうです。
インターネットのサイトには “There is no record of the origin of the term 'dime a dozen' but scholars agree that the term was coined sometime before 1930, when it first appeared in print. It is believed that it originated sometime during the 1800s, when 'dime' was first used as slang for the number ten and when a 'dime' of every twelve (dozen) hens’ eggs were likely to hatch.”と書かれており、かなり前から使用されているものであることが分かりました。（http://www.gingersoftware.com/content/phrases/dime-a-dozen/#.WB8PgoVOJrQ）
今回の記事では形容詞として使われております。(Gomez)
