Question of the Day #1010

Uptown Columbus puts on 'Wild Goose Chase' for the city

From the headline of this article at WTVM.com.

  上記の文で、wild goose chaseの意味は？
In the sentence above, what does "wild goose chase" 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、

得られぬものを追い求めること、骨折り損、無駄な追跡［探求・おいかけっこ］、無駄足を運ぶこと、無駄骨を折ること、途方もない［見込みのない］計画［企て・企画・話］

   

Answer

According to Merriam-Webster:

a complicated or lengthy and usually fruitless pursuit or search

 

語源

英辞郎によると、

野生のガンを捕まえることが大変な割に得られたものの価値が低いことから。最初にこの表現が使われたシェークスピアの「ロメオとジュリエット」では、ガンの動きをまねた一種の追いかけっこを指しており「相手（の無意味な動き）について行く」という意味で使われていた。2頭の馬を使うこのゲームでは、後ろの馬は先頭の馬を追い抜くまで、一定の距離を置いて先頭の馬の動きをそのまままねなければならなかった。しかし、この表現はシェークスピアの時代でもガンを捕まえることの苦労を指していたと考えられており、18世紀のSamuel Johnsonの辞書では現在の意味になっている。

 

Etymology

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary,

"pursuit of anything in ignorance of the direction it will take," hence "a foolish enterprise," 1592, first attested in "Romeo and Juliet," where it evidently is a figurative use of an earlier (but unrecorded) literal sense in reference to a kind of follow-the-leader steeplechase, perhaps from one of the "crazy, silly" senses in goose (n.). Wild goose (as opposed to a domesticated one) is attested in late Old English (wilde gos).

   

Examples

• After two hours spent wandering in the snow, I realized we were on a wild goose chase.
• These errors had two fatal consequences. The most obvious was that a number of engines and dozens of firefighters were sent on a wild-goose chase and did not get to the fire for many minutes. — Jim Murphy
• The United States is weeks away from defaulting on its debt, but the GOP is apparently more concerned with wild-goose chases. —Tori Otten, The New Republic, 10 May 2023
• The idea is to avoid sending patients on a wild-goose chase, since many pharmacies received only 20 Paxlovid treatment courses. — New York Times, 6 Jan. 2022
• People might well have argued that it was a waste of money to send Christopher Columbus on a wild goose chase.
MAN ON THE MOON | THE DAILY BEAST | JULY 19, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST

   

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