blood in the water
Brexit is set to cause a loss of UK influence on a par with the 1970s, requiring a national assessment of how the UK’s future standing can be recovered once Brexit is complete, Sir John Sawers, the former head of MI6, has warned.
Speaking to the foreign affairs select committee, Sawers said: “We can see the trend of the coming years and we do not want to go through a repeat of the 1970s where the UK went progressively downhill compared to our national partners. We will need to turn it around. I am not sure how we are going to do it.” …
Another former UK ambassador to the UN, Lord Hannay, said some had spotted the UK’s decline in influence like a shark spots blood in the water. He added: “The trepidation index, when people mind if they trample on our toes, has gone down.” He said it was vital campaigns to win elections such at the one for the ICJ were begun as long as a year before the poll started, adding that efforts by the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, to win the poll had come too late. (Skip the rest)
今回取り上げる表現は、blood in the water です。
意味を調べたところ、紙辞書・電子辞書ともにこの表現が載っていなかったので、インターネットで調べると、Wikitinary に “Referring to the emergence of predators such as sharks (and possible feeding frenzy) when blood is spilled in the water.” “In a competitive situation, the exhibition of apparent weakness or vulnerability by one party, especially when this leads to a feeling of vulnerability or greater pressure to perform on the part of the weak party, and/or enhanced expectation of victory by the other(s).” とありました。
私が以前観た映画のセリフにもこの表現が出てきましたが、その映画は戦闘シーンを多く含んだ、異国にいる兵士を描いたものでした。自国の基地が敵に囲まれ硬直状態になったとき、ため息交じりにこの言葉を発していたのを覚えています。上記の記述から判断すれば、「劣勢に立たされ、いつ仕留められてもおかしくない状態」を言うと考えられます。サメが近くにいる場所に血を垂らしてしまったら、襲われることになりますね。そう言った状況を比喩しているのでしょう。考えただけでも恐ろしいです。(OkaUchi)
