Question of the Day #1395

Israel’s fait accompli in Gaza

From the headline of this article at Al Jazeera.

  上記の文で、fait accompliの意味は？
In the sentence above, what does "fait accompli" mean?

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解答

意味：
英辞郎によると、

〈フランス語〉既成事実

   

Answer

According to Merriam-Webster:

 a thing accomplished and presumably irreversible

 

Examples

1. In some years, the presentation of the best picture prize in the final minutes of the Oscars telecast feels like a fait accompli. - Daniel Arkin, NBC News, 15 Mar. 2026
2. The citizens of New York City will be faced with a fait accompli. - David Donovan, New York Daily News, 22 May 2024
3. That’s not a criticism that this was some sort of fait accompli. — Albert Breer, SI.com, 8 Feb. 2018
4. The policy change was presented to us as a fait accompli, without consultation or discussion.
5. But his promise to review consultant contracts that have been normally regarded as a fait accompli is a good start, some observers say. - From Salon • Mar. 8, 2025

   

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Question of the Day #1394

Maryland becomes first state to ban surveillance pricing in grocery stores

From the headline of this article at the Guardian.

  上記の文で、surveillance pricingの意味は？
In the sentence above, what does "surveillance pricing" mean?

  答えは、コメントに書いてください。
Write your answer in the Comments.

明日、ここに答えを書きます。
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解答

意味：
英辞郎にこの用語はまだ掲載されていないので、AIツールギャラリー の説明を引用します。

いま、AIを使って一人ひとりに異なる価格を表示する「監視プライシング（Surveillance Pricing）」が、米国を中心に広がっています。
購入履歴、閲覧行動、使っているブラウザやスマートフォンの機種、さらにはバッテリー残量まで分析し、「この人ならいくらまで払うか」をAIが算出して価格を変える仕組みです。

   

Answer

According to Epic.org:

Surveillance pricing is the practice of collecting personal information about consumers and charging different prices to individual (or groups of) consumers for the same goods or services. The goal of surveillance pricing is to infer the highest price that the customer is willing to pay, based on consumers’ personal data and other market data.

 

Examples

1. “Surveillance Pricing” Hurts Consumers, Incentivizes More Corporate Spying on Them
2. There’s no doubt that at core, the kind of leverage that surveillance pricing enables is something that hurts ordinary people — especially those least able to afford it.
3. The Federal Trade Commission’s initial findings from its surveillance pricing market study revealed that details like a person’s precise location or browser history can be frequently used to target individual consumers with different prices for the same goods and services.
4. Have you ever shopped online for a flight, only to find that the price mysteriously increased the second time you checked? Or have you and a friend searched for the same hotel room on your phones, only to find your friend sees a lower price? This isn’t a glitch — it’s surveillance pricing at work.
5. What makes surveillance pricing controversial isn’t just the price difference — it’s that you usually don’t know it’s happening. There’s rarely any disclosure or obvious way to compare your price with what others see.

   

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Question of the Day #1393

FCC Demands Early Review of Disney Broadcast Licenses Amid Kimmel Kerfuffle

From the headline of this article at Yahoo! News Malaysia.

  上記の文で、kerfuffleの意味は？
In the sentence above, what does "kerfuffle" mean?

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Write your answer in the Comments.

明日、ここに答えを書きます。
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解答

意味：
英辞郎によると、

【名】
〈英俗〉〔不要な〕ばか騒ぎ、騒動◆可算

   

Answer

According to :

a disturbance or commotion typically caused by a dispute or conflict

 

Examples

1. Allow me also to say one thing about the issue that has created some kerfuffle, namely voting rights.
2. We have all this great kerfuffle over one year—reducing the age from 21 to 20.
3. The kerfuffle comes amid questions about whether Mamdani will go forward with a project that would expand luxury housing at Hudson Yards. — Marcia Kramer, CBS News, 24 Apr. 2026
4. A kerfuffle ensued about whether the Africans had the right to take a lunch break. — Namwali Serpell, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2017
5. This has caused, to put it mildly, no end of kerfuffle. — Josef Adalian, Vulture, 14 Sep. 2023

   

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Question of the Day #1392

SOONER OR LATER, WE ALL JUMP THE SHARK

From the headline of this article at My Sun Day News.

  上記の文で、jump the sharkの意味は？
In the sentence above, what does "jump the shark" mean?

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Write your answer in the Comments.

明日、ここに答えを書きます。
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解答

意味：
英辞郎によると、

〈俗〉〔一時は人気があった存在・特にテレビドラマなどが〕落ち目になる、人気回復を狙って悪あがき［やたらと派手なことを］する

   

Answer

According to the Cambridge Dictionary:

(usually of television shows) to reach a point where something stops becoming more popular or starts to decrease in quality

 

語源

英辞郎によると、

【語源】アメリカのテレビドラマHappy Days（1974～1984年）に登場人物が水上スキーで「サメを飛び越える」場面があり、それ以降だんだん話がつまらなくなったという。

 

Etymology

According to Wiktionary:

From Hollywood (Part 3), an episode in 1977 during the fifth season of the American television series Happy Days, in which the character Fonzie jumped over a shark on waterskis. The expression argues that it was at this point that the show bore no similarity to its original form.

   

Examples

1. The show jumped the shark a few years ago.
2. Will Twitter soon jump the shark?
3. Jumping the shark is typically applied to TV shows which are losing their audience, or have run out of creativity.
4. I would define jumping the shark for classic rock as the point when a successful classic rock band, adapted a new, inferior sound in order to increase their audience, to jump on a new musical trend, or simply because they had run out of good song ideas.
5. 2003, Jon Hein, Jump the Shark, book overview (revised edition; Plume; →ISBN, 9780452284104)
   Happy Days infamously jumped the shark when Fonzie literally jumped a shark on water skis. I Love Lucy jumped the shark when Lucy and Ricky moved to the suburbs. The Brady Bunch jumped the shark when Cousin Oliver moved in.

   

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Question of the Day #1391

Nvidia's 'meh' moment

From the headline of this article at Reuters.

  上記の文で、mehの意味は？
In the sentence above, what does "meh" mean?

  答えは、コメントに書いてください。
Write your answer in the Comments.

明日、ここに答えを書きます。
I will add the answer and other remarks here tomorrow.

 

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解答

意味：
英辞郎によると、

1. 【形】
   〈俗〉別に大したことはない、期待ほどではない、凡庸な
2. 【間投】
   〈俗〉まあ（いいか）、別に◆無関心・投げやり。

   

Answer

According to Merriam-Webster:

1. not impressive: SO-SO
2. APATHETIC, INDIFFERENT

 

Examples

1. We thought it would sell, but customers are saying “Meh!”
2. My lashes are just kind of meh — dark, but short and straight, with sparse/light bottom lashes. — Karina Hoshikawa, refinery29.com, 18 June 2021
3. My feeling about meh food is that the number one culprit is usually underseasoning. — Molly Baz, Bon Appétit, 20 Apr. 2021
4. In a new interview, the comic — who recently announced the end of his popular and long-lived podcast “WTF” — criticized the current podcast landscape as awash in meh. - From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 13, 2025
5. “It’s a long life to spend doing something you’re only meh about,” I insist. - From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon

   

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Question of the Day #1390

Comms etymology: What’s the scuttlebutt? The origins of words heard around the office

From the headline of this article at Ragan.com.

  上記の文で、scuttlebuttの意味は？
In the sentence above, what does "scuttlebutt" mean?

  答えは、コメントに書いてください。
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明日、ここに答えを書きます。
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解答

意味：
英辞郎によると、

1. 飲料水用のたる◆不可算
2. 〈米話〉うわさ、ゴシップ

   

Answer

According to Merriam-Webster:

1. 1. a cask on shipboard to contain fresh water for a day's use
   2. a drinking fountain on a ship or at a naval or marine installation
2. RUMOR, GOSSIP

 

Examples

1. Besides, he has no proof that the allegations are true; Washington is full of scuttlebutt.
2. And both the scuttlebutt and spoilers could conceivably conspire to hurt the bottom line. — Chris Lee, Vulture, 2 Apr. 2026
3. For all the scuttlebutt about the Big 12’s new LED glass court, reviews have mostly been positive from players and coaches. — Pj Green, Kansas City Star, 11 Mar. 2026
4. I’ve heard scuttlebutt from the donor community, some of whom are reportedly miffed to have their microscopically printed names out of circulation. - From Washington Post • Jul. 23, 2022
5. Just as the scuttlebutt had it, we men of the First Marine Amphibious Corps were heading for the Solomons to force a landing on Bougainville. - From "Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two" by Joseph Bruchac

   

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Question of the Day #1389

‘A leopard can’t change its spots’ – Norton says as he rehashes APNU’s promises at Bagotsville

From the headline of this article at the NewsRoom.gy.

  上記の文で、a leopard can’t change its spotsの意味は？
In the sentence above, what does "a leopard can’t change its spots" mean?

  答えは、コメントに書いてください。
Write your answer in the Comments.

明日、ここに答えを書きます。
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解答

意味：
英辞郎によると、

ヒョウは自分で斑点を変えられない。／ヒョウは、いつまでたってもヒョウ柄のまま。／持って生まれた性質は直らない。／性格を変えることはできない。／三つ子の魂百まで。

   

Answer

According to :

used to say that people cannot change their basic personalities, habits, etc.

 

Examples

1. After our breakup, he came crawling back, trying to convince me that he'd changed, but I know that a leopard can't change its spots.
2. You're never going to convince Tom about this—he's too stubborn, and a leopard can't change its spots.
3. A: "Come on, a leopard can't change its spots." B: "I thought so too, but the former president really seems to have changed his views on social welfare since leaving office."
4. He's a conservative, no matter what he says; the leopard cannot change its spots.
5. “I don’t believe he has really gone legit. A leopard doesn’t change its spots.”

   

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