Question of the Day #509

"This exercise, and the rest of it—actually getting to trial, rather than trying to settle, as most people caught dead to rights doing something wrong (or at least actionable) would do—came after Musk tried to dig his way out rather than admit defeat."
From the 6th paragraph of this article at the Observer.

上記の文で、dead to rightsの意味は？
In the sentence above, what does "dead to rights" 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、

〈米話〉〔犯人逮捕などが〕現行犯で、現場で

イギリスでは、bang to rightsと言います。

Answer

According to Cambridge Dictionary:

in the act of doing something wrong or illegal

Examples

• Even if a kid is caught dead to rights with alcohol, we can't punish him.
• Because of the video replay, the ref had him dead to rights on the penalty.
• Trump’s lawyers have formed joint defense agreements with Jerome Corsi, who Mueller appears to have dead to rights on both perjury and attempts to collude with Wikileaks.  (New York Magazine)
• “Because he knows that after over two decades of sexually abusing underage girls, we blew this wide open and have him and his enablers dead to rights.” (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
• “The shooter hasn’t been caught yet, but the police have him dead to rights.”

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Question of the Day #508

"So infrastructure should be easy peasy, right? Of course not."
From the 5th paragraph of this article at Yahoo Finance.

上記の文で、easy peasy (easy-peasy)の意味は？
In the sentence above, what does "easy peasy (easy-peasy)" mean?

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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、

〈英話〉〔作業などが〕とても［めっちゃ・超］簡単な、ちょろい◆子どもが使う表現

「子どもが使う表現」となっていますが、必ずしもそうではなく大人が使う場合は、「子供がやってもとても簡単」というニュアンスがあると考えてもいいのではないかと思います。

Answer

According to The Longman Dictionary :

a word meaning very easy, used especially by children

Examples

• If we had a fight I know I'd win, easy-peasy.
• It would be easy-peasy to talk about introducing lots of lovely clean electricity generated by wind or whatever we liked if we charged the consumer twice as much.
• Difficulty levels can be adjusted from easy-peasy to fiendishly difficult.
• If you're booking independently, it's easy-peasy.
• The device is easy-peasy to set up.

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Question of the Day #507

"But even if they were failing before the coronavirus shut down campuses, he said, it shouldn’t matter, and the focus on grades is beside the point."
From the headline of this article at The New York Times.

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

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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、

〔話などの〕要点から外れて、的を外して、的外れで

Answer

According to The Free Dictionary:

Tangential or insignificant to the main issue being discussed.

Examples

• I do love the apartment, but that's beside the point because I don't have enough money for a security deposit right now.
• Your weekend plans are beside the point—let's get back to the topic at hand.
• The exact cost is beside the point – what’s important is that we get the job done.
• Stephen had certainly lied to her, but that was beside the point.
• It's unrealistic, but that's beside the point - it's just good entertainment.

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Question of the Day #506

"As a woman, a feminist, a believer in peace and justice for First Nations peoples, and for wild spaces around the planet, I am always moved by artists who use their voice to give rise to the voices that often aren’t heard or acknowledged – how did you first find your passion to talk the talk and walk the walk?"
From the 2nd paragraph of this article at Echo Net Daily.

上記の文で、talk the talk and walk the walkの意味は？
In the sentence above, what does "talk the talk and walk the walk" 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、

言うべき時に言うべきことを言いやるべき時にやるべきことをやる、有言実行する、言ったことをきちんと行う、口先だけでなく実行する

Answer

According to The Free Dictionary:

To back up one's words with equivalent actions. The phrase is used in many different forms, most often to indicate that one is being boastful or to express doubt that one can carry out what they have claimed.

Examples

• Chelsea talks a big game, but she can back it up too—she definitely talks the talk and walks the walk.
• Anybody can run their mouth like that, but can you talk the talk and walk the walk?
• Arthur frequently says that he will quit drinking alcohol, but he doesn’t seem to really mean it since I saw him drinking up a storm at the bar last night. He talks the talk by saying he’ll quit, but he needs to actually stop if he wants to walk the walk.
• You keep bragging that you can do the splits, but I’ve never seen you do them before. How about you walk the walk instead of talking the talk?

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Question of the Day #505

"'If the current cruise ship industry couldn’t foresee health issues, given its history, its shareholders deserve to be cleaned out on their investments,' they wrote."
From the 14th paragraph from the bottom of this article at People's World.

上記の文で、be cleaned outの意味は？
In the sentence above, what does "be cleaned out" 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、

《be ～》すっからかんになる、すってんてんになる、一文なしになる

ただし、主に金銭に関連して使いますが、下記英語の定義にあるように金銭に限らず何かがすっかりなくなることを言います。

Answer

According to The Free Dictionary:

To be emptied or devoid of money, food, resources, etc.

Examples

• I'd like to play another round of poker, but I'm totally cleaned out!
• I wish I could offer you some food to go with your tea, but I'm afraid we're cleaned out.
• I am really cleaned out after that bout with the stomach bug.
• ‘they were cleaned out by the Englishman at the baccarat table’
• Tom's cleaned out. How will he pay his bills now?

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Question of the Week #504

"Ahead of yet another momentous week, my nerves are shot. "
From the 4th paragraph of this article at The Guardian.

上記の文で、[one's] nerves are shotの意味は？
In the sentence above, what does "[one's] nerves are shot " 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：
英辞郎やWeblioに掲載されていないので、The Free Dictionaryの定義を訳すと下記のようになります、

精神的または感情的に疲れ切った・圧倒された・張り詰めた状態

Answer

According to The Free Dictionary:

One is mentally or emotionally exhausted, overwhelmed, or overwrought.

Examples

• Between dealing with mounting debt, my four children, and my recent divorce, my nerves are pretty shot at the moment.
• "Besides, I sort of needed a little vacation. My nerves were shot. They really were." J.D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye
• “My nerves are shot” is a pretty good way to describe what happens after intense or prolonged physical, mental, and emotional stress.
• I think my nerves are shot and because I feel really jumpy, I feel gruchy, like I could snap at someone at anytime and my head kind of hurts.

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Question of the Day #503

"Michael Gove, Dominic Raab and Iain Duncan Smith have all weighed in amid loose talk of a “reckoning”."
From the 5th paragraph of this article at The Guardian.

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

しまりのない話、雑談、詰めの甘い議論

とありますが、もっと深いニュアンスもあります。
下記英語の定義にあるように、「軽率な会話で、気付かずに個人または機密情報を他人に漏らす」という意味が含まれることがあります。

Answer

According to The Free Dictionary:

Uninhibited, indiscreet talk or conversation, especially as might unintentionally lead to revealing private or sensitive information to others.

Examples

• The details of this project are extremely confidential, so there can't be any loose talk about it whatsoever.
• There is a very popular phrase about loose talk which goes like this ‘Loose talk costs lives’.
• Two things can bring the dollar down: loose talk from America’s Secretary of the Treasury, or a sharp deterioration in America’s relative economic performance compared to the rest of the world.
• There has also been loose talk of going ahead with contracts for nuclear power reactors with countries such as Russia and France, while proceeding cautiously with the US.
• Loose talk can ruin people.

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