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。

not bat an eye 復習


みなさんは「オタク」の方に対して、どのように思いますか。

Japanese mom’s plan to stop daughter from becoming an anime otaku draws criticism online

Aside from all the food and shelter, I really do have to thank my parents for taking their burgeoning son’s interest in Japanese animation in stride. When teenage Casey said, “Hey guys, I want to go to this anime convention that’s an eight-hour drive away and watch the premiere of Macross Plus,” they said “Sure.” They didn’t bat an eye when the percentage of my wardrobe that was made up of anime T-shirts moved past 50. Once, my dad even credited my quick recovery from a nasty cold to the protective eyes of the Slayers cast watching over me from the poster hung on the wall above my sickbed.

But I realize not everyone is blessed with such accepting parents, as recently observed by Kenji Inoue, writer of the light novels which serve as the basis for the magical high school anime and manga “Baka and Test.” Due to the nature of his profession, Inoue doesn’t necessarily have to commute to an office, and earlier this week he decided to get some work done at a coffee shop.

However, he was distracted by the conversation some of the other customers were having, which he later related through his Twitter account.

“A woman was saying ‘I don’t want my daughter to become an otaku, so I let her watch absolutely no anime!’ When I heard that, I thought to myself ‘That kid has a high probability of becoming an otaku.’ I mean, on top of the latent fun-factor, now she’s adding the appeal of getting away with something you’re not supposed to do.”

(以下省略)

https://www.japantoday.com/smartphone/view/arts-culture/japanese-moms-plan-to-stop-daughter-from-becoming-an-anime-otaku-draws-criticism-online

今回取り上げる表現は、 “not bat an eye”です。

Oxford Dictionary of English (Second Edition Reserved, Oxford University Press)によると、 “show no surprise or concern”とのことでした。 “not bat (or without batting) an eyelid (eye)”と記載されていたため、様々な言い方があるようです。

ジーニアス英和辞典』(第五版,大修館)で調べたところ、「まゆひとつ動かさないで、びくともしない」と載っておりました。 “not blink an eye”とも使用するようです

今回の記事では、「まったく驚きもしなかった」のような意味で使われているかと思います。

過去に取り上げられたブログでは、また少し違ったニュアンスで使われております。そちらもご参照ください。(Gomez) 

not bat an eyelid - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心:言葉の森から