uncharted territory

uncharted territoryはブログのタイトルにしている言葉なので愛着があります。ですからトランプ大統領に使って欲しくなかったというのが本音ですが。。。大統領はuncharted territoryという言葉はあまり使っていないようで、スピーチでは片手で数えるほどでした。通常は冒険精神、開拓者精神、起業家精神を讃えるポジティブな意味で使っていますが、今回の状況では文字通りの指針となるものがない状態を指して使われています。

Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing

 HEALTHCARE

Issued on: March 19, 2020

when can Americans expect their lives to go back to normal?  Will that not happen until there’s a vaccine, Mr. President?

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, I hope very soon.  We’ll see.  This is uncharted territory, as you know.  We think we have ideas.  It doesn’t help to say what the idea is.  I would hope very soon.  We’re — we’ve pulled together as a nation.  People are, for the most part, doing what they’re supposed to be doing.

The social distancing is very interesting.  A whole new term that’s become a hot — it’s become somewhat of a hot term.  But people are listening and they’re — and they’re really doing a great job.  This country is an amazing country.

I think you’re up to 141 different countries right now.  So it’s very uncharted territory.  Could have — could have been stopped — could have been stopped pretty easily if we had known — if everybody had known about it a number of months before people started reading about it.

自分の言動を反省もせずにWe were very prepared.  The only thing we weren’t prepared for was the media.といえてしまうのがトランプのすごさでしょう（もちろん褒めていません）。

  We were very prepared.  The only thing we weren’t prepared for was the media.  The media has not treated it fairly.  I’ll tell you how prepared I was: I called for a ban from people coming in from China long before anybody thought it was — in fact, it was your network — I believe they called me a racist because I did that.  It was — many of the people in the room, they called me racist and other words because I did that, because I went so early.

今回はホワイトハウスでのuncharted territoryの使われ方を見たいと思います。まずは2017年にミズーリ州での演説。米国建国時の西部探検隊に絡めて現在のミズーリ州の企業家精神をblazing new trails into totally uncharted territory of business and technologyと語っています。トランプの演説をほとんど見ませんが、こういう演説でも選挙戦のような軽口なんですね（もちろん褒めていません）。

6分38秒

This beautiful city of St. Charles is the perfect place to deliver the message that I want to deliver.  It’s the place where America’s past and future come to life on its historic brick-lined Main Street.  Nice street, do you agree?  (Applause.)

It was along these very streets that, in 1804, the great American explorers, Lewis and Clark, gathered their final supplies before setting out on their very historic expedition of discovery.  I have to say, I didn’t really know that until two days ago.  (Laughter.)

See?  See, now the world is watching.  Look at all the fake news back there.  They’re all —

AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE PRESIDENT:  They’re all watching.

Today, more than two centuries later, a new generation of American pioneers begins its own adventure, gathering inside the startups and the storefronts of main streets across the country, blazing new trails into totally uncharted territory of business and technology, and once again leading our nation into a future of limitless potential.

ルイス・クラーク探検隊はVOAでも動画を作成しているぐらいなのですから、歴史的にも重要なのでしょう。このことについてトランプは数日前に知ったばかりだと言っていますが、Yutaも同じです。。。

(Wikipedia)

ルイス・クラーク探検隊（ルイス・クラークたんけんたい、英語名:Lewis and Clark Expedition）は、アメリカ合衆国陸軍大尉メリウェザー・ルイスと少尉ウィリアム・クラークによって率いられ、太平洋へ陸路での探検をして帰還した白人アメリカ人で最初の探検隊である。探検隊は発見隊（はっけんたい、英語名:Corps of Discovery）としても知られる。

（オックスフォード）

Lewis and Clark

two US explorers who made the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804-5. President Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and William Clark (1770-1838) to lead an investigation of America's new Louisiana Purchase and record what they saw. They left from St Louis in 1804, reached the Pacific Ocean 18 months later, and then returned in 1806. Their journey encouraged many Americans to move to the West. The story of it was told in the film The Far Horizons (1955).

もう一つの用例も探検に絡めたものでした。北米大陸に初めて到達したヨーロッパ人と言われれるレイフ・エリクソンに絡めたものでした。

Presidential Proclamation on Leif Erikson Day, 2018

Issued on: October 8, 2018

More than a millennium ago, Leif Erikson sailed across the frigid Atlantic and set foot on North America, likely becoming the first European to reach our continent. On Leif Erikson Day, we celebrate the extraordinary journey made by this son of Iceland and grandson of Norway with his crew and recognize the immeasurable contributions that generations of Nordic Americans have made to our Nation.

After converting to Christianity in Norway, “Leif the Lucky” set out to bring the Gospel to settlers in his native Greenland. During his extensive travels, he landed on the northern Atlantic coast, expanding mankind’s knowledge of then uncharted territory. Centuries later, many Nordic families followed his example and set sail for America with the same determination and grit. After much struggle and sacrifice, these intrepid men and women arrived on our shores with hope for a better life.

(Wikipedia)

レイフ・エリクソン （Leif Erikson、古ノルド語:Leifur Eiríksson、970年頃 - 1020年頃）は、アイスランド生まれのノルマン人航海者（ヴァイキング）。赤毛のエイリークの息子。

ヨーロッパ大陸から海を渡ってアメリカ大陸に史上初めて到達したとサガによって伝えられている。「幸運なるレイフ」というあだ名でも知られる。

(American Heritage Dictionary)

Ericson also Ericsson, Leif  c. 1000.

Norse navigator who mounted an expedition in search of lands he had heard of west of Greenland. His camp in what he named Vinland was probably the first European settlement in North America.

ヴィンランド・サガという漫画はこの時代を取り上げていて、レイフも登場しているそうです。こういうのも侮れない、知識を広げてくれるありがたいものです。

現代で冒険といえば欠かせないのが宇宙。ペンス副大統領のスピーチですがアポロ11の映画上映会でアメリカの開拓者精神に絡めて語っていました。

Remarks by Vice President Pence at the Premiere Screening of Apollo 11: First Steps Edition

Issued on: May 15, 2019

Not that it should be a surprise.  In his Inaugural Address to the nation two years ago, President Trump said that America stands, in his words, “at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries of space.”

What the President recognized, what you all recognize is America has always been a nation of restless pioneers — ever striving to explore uncharted territories, reach new horizons, venture into the unknown, and expand the boundaries of human knowledge.

丁寧にuncharted territoryが使われるコンテキストを見てきました。やはり冒険精神、開拓者精神、起業家精神を讃えるポジティブな意味で使っているものばかりでした。

トランプのスピーチから離れますが、今後どうなるか全く分からない状況を指して使われていたのはまさにトランプが就任した時の状況でした（苦笑）

Yeah, Henry Adams once said the president has a course to steer and a port to seek, and you want — you want a president who thinks big and thinks brightly. Jefferson was a master of talking about how the sun of progress was going to go over the continent, and when it — no one would know when it set. 

President Reagan improved on Jesus when he talked about a shining hill on a hill and the Sermon on the Mount. It was just city on a hill, but Reagan's visual imagination made that even more vivid. 

So Walter used a good phrase a moment ago. It's uncharted waters. It's an odd and disconcerting moment to say the least. My own hope is that when we look back on this, it will simply have been a waste of America’s time and not the beginning of a serious cataclysm. 

Jon Meacham自身はa waste of America’s timeとさらに厳しい表現を使っています。でもnot the beginning of a serious cataclysmという部分は今回の件でも切に願いたいところです。