続 今日の英語

はてなダイアリーで地味に続けていた「今日の英語」の続き。日常出会った気になる英語表現を、オンライン辞書の例文などとともにメモしています。

...but they drive me up the wall.

(でも、(携帯電話は)私をイライラさせますから。)
 BBCラジオsitcom「Cabin Pressure」S1-E2 Bostonより。弱小エアラインMJN AirのCEO兼フライトアテンダントのキャロリンによる機内放送。「携帯電話をお切りください。別に切らなくても機器に影響はありませんけど、私がイラっとしますから」というアナウンスw

  • "drive somebody up the wall" で、「(人を)イライラさせる」という意味に(=make someone feel very annoyed/ to make someone extremely angry)。
  • そもそも"up the wall"に「悪い状況、とてもイライラして、心配して」という意味がある(in a very bad situation; very upset or anxious/very angry or annoyed/in a very bad position or situation)ので、形としては "drive me mad/crazy" と同じ(意味もほぼ同じ)。
    • That noise is driving me up the wall.
    • My flat-mate is driving me up the wall at the moment.
    • He's really up the wall about Mary's illness.
    • We were all up the wall until the matter was resolved.
    • I've got to be on time or Sarah will go up the wall.
    • The team was up the wall in the first half of the game.
    • We were all up the wall until the matter was resolved.
  • ちなみにこの回の機内放送の実際のセリフはこちら。だいたい毎回、bing-bongの音に続けて面白い機内放送が入る。

Your seatbelt fastens like this. And unfastens like this. An invaluable lesson there for any of you who have never been in a car. In the very unlikely event of an emergency landing, your inflatable safety jacket is under your seat, and that is precisely where I recommend it stay, given that the largest body of water between here and Luton is a open-air swimming pool in Daventry. Finally, please keep your mobile phones switched off for the duration of the flight. Obviously, they have no effect whatsoever on our navigational equipment or we wouldn’t let you have them, but they drive me up the wall. Thank you, and enjoy your flight.

http://cabin-pressure.livejournal.com/28486.html