Posted at 2018.06.24 Category : 未分類
「人生を変えられる」「夢を叶えられる」というのは英語学習の呼び込み口上でもおなじみです。アメリカでも中年の学び直しを狙う産業があり、それによって人生をか変えるどころか借金が増えてしまうという危険な状況になってしまう人もいると警鐘を鳴らしている記事がありました。ここでのsecond actは演劇の「第二幕」から「人生の第二幕」をさしています。
By Alissa Quart
Ms. Quart is the author of “Squeezed: Why Our Families Can’t Afford America.”
June 22, 2018
英語学習もsnake oilに過ぎないのか、ダイエット産業を比べる人はそのように見るでしょう。この記事はまた別の機会に取り上げようと思います。今回はsnake oilを見ていきます。
(ウィズダム)
snake oil
⦅主に米⦆いかがわしい薬, がまの油.
(ロングマン)
snake oil
noun [uncountable] especially American English informal
something that is claimed to be a solution to a problem, but is not effective
snake oil salesman/peddler
informal
someone who deceives people by persuading them to accept false information, solutions that are not effective etc
「がまの油」という訳語でsnakeなのに「がま」なのと思うかも知れませが、人を集めて効果の怪しい薬を売るという面を考えるとまさに「がまの油」のようです。そこで浮かんだのがマイケルジャクソンとポールマッカートニーの歌。snake oilと聞いてこういう状況が浮かべばこの語彙を理解していることになるでしょう。
August 26, 201311:55 AM ET
LAKSHMI GANDHI
"Snake Oil Salesman." The phrase conjures up images of seedy profiteers trying to exploit an unsuspecting public by selling it fake cures. In fact, the Oxford English Dictionary defines snake oil as "a quack remedy or panacea." What the OED does not note, however, is that the history of snake oil is linked to an often forgotten chapter of Asian-American history.
効果の怪しい薬を売るのは巡業のmedicine showというのがあったようで、snake oil以外にもKickapoo Indian Medicineというのも有名だったようです。
(Wikipedia)
Medicine show
Medicine shows were touring acts (traveling by truck, horse, or wagon teams) which peddled "miracle cure" patent medicines and other products between various entertainments. They developed from European mountebank shows and were common in the United States in the nineteenth century, especially in the Old West (though some continued until World War II).[1] They usually promoted "miracle elixirs" (sometimes referred to as snake oil), which, it was claimed, had the ability to cure disease, smooth wrinkles, remove stains, prolong life or cure any number of common ailments. Most shows had their own patent medicine (these medicines were for the most part unpatented but took the name to sound official). Entertainments often included a freak show, a flea circus, musical acts, magic tricks, jokes, or storytelling. Each show was run by a man posing as a doctor who drew the crowd with a monologue. The entertainers, such as acrobats, musclemen, magicians, dancers, ventriloquists, exotic performers, and trick shots, kept the audience engaged until the salesman sold his medicine.
Kickapoo Indian Medicineを紹介している文ですが、ポールマッカートニーの口上と似たようなものですね。
"Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, step right up. Put your quarter on the line. Money back if not cured within twenty-four hours. I can help every one of you"
Kickapoo Joy Juice was a fictional moonshine created by Al Capp, but there were real Kickapoo ‘medicines’ that sold like wildfire in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
ニューヨークタイムズの記事ではsnake oilが比喩的に使われていましたが、今現在真っ先に思い付く人物がいますねえ。この動画では最後の最後にsnake oilが出ます。日本ではトランプは有能なビジネスマンと素朴に信じている人がいるのとはえらい違いですね。。。
最近でも元CIA長官がトランプを'snake oil salesman'と呼んだようです。
DAVID GARDNER US Correspondent
Monday 4 June 2018 12:14
Former CIA director John Brennan has launched an extraordinary attack on President Donald Trump, describing him as a “snake oil salesman” who “lies routinely to the American people without compunction.”
Snake oil salesmanを取り上げた1950年代のテレビ番組がトランプそっくりだと指摘している人もいました。
Jan 21, 2018
snake oilは別に特殊な例ではなく、語彙を知っているということはこのような使われているイメージが浮かぶことではないかと思います。
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