実践ビジネス英語 2018/7/27 #実践ビジネス英語
27 金 Lesson8 Seeking Advice (6)
S:
Now our current vignette begins with Ueda Shota asking for advice. A certain person hasn’t responded to his emails and he wants to know what to do. What do you tend to do in that kind of situation, Heather?
H:
I often use a variation of Lyons’ little white lie. I’ve written to people saying, “My email service has been acting up lately, and some of my mails aren’t getting through to people.
Could you tell me if my email of XX date reached you?” I combine this with my 24 hour rule.
If I find myself thinking, “Hmm. I haven’t heard back from Ms. X yet. I wait another 24 hours if I can before contacting them again. It’s uncanny how many people actually get back to me within those 24 hours.” People probably have a similar sense of time. And Ms. X was just thinking, “Oh, I didn’t reply to Heather yet. I’d better do that now” I think that rule has often saved me from appearing too anxious or pushy.
S:
The conversation later turns to advice columns. My own introduction to Americana was also through American advice columnists like Ann Landers and Dear Abby, as well as etiquette experts like Miss Manners and Emily Post. I was thrilled by their witty advice based on fairly conservative American family values. I still remember the pet phrases Ann Landers used to use – urging
someone to dump an unworthy boyfriend, she would often say “Put him on a slow boat to China.”
Or “Wake up and smell the coffee!” meaning “You’re just dreaming. Face reality.”
It was quite interesting to learn from columns like hers what Americans tend to worry about, and to see what solutions and advice they would receive.
H:
I’ve always liked reading advice and etiquette columns about weddings.
There’s something about weddings that inspires truly bizarre human behavior. One of the most shocking ones I’ve ever come across was just recently, in an American newspaper.
The question came from the mother of a supposed-to-be bride, whose fiancé had run off with another woman two months before the wedding. When the mother notified people about the cancellation,
some of them complained about their nonrefundable plane tickets and demanded that the bride’s side reimburse them. When it came to the poor jilted daughter, apparently they could only spare a few perfunctory words of support. The mother was so upset, she said she didn’t want any further
relationship with those people.
S:
What was the columnist’s advice?
H:
She said, quote, “You don’t need me. You’ve got this. You have seen their true colors. And you are free not to have any relationship with them anymore.” I liked her next line even more. She said, “If you’d like, you can give them the run-away fiancé’s number to see about reimbursement.
a little white lie たわいない嘘、罪のないうそ
ancanny 〔気味が悪いほど〕異様な、尋常ではない、不可思議な、
pushy [púʃi] 押しの強い、厚かましい push
pussy [púsi] と間違えないように
pet phrase 口癖
pet = お気に入りの
phrase = フレーズ=語句・ことわざ・慣用表現等
dump 〔中身を〕放出する、〔不要な物を〕投げ捨てる、取り除く、〔人を〕首にする、お払い箱にする、〔恋人を〕振る、〔恋人と〕絶交する
bizarre 奇妙な、奇怪な、一風変わった [bizɑ́ːr]ビザール
supposed-to-be となるべきであると考えられている
nonrefundable = non refundable 返金不可の、払戻不能の
reimburse 〔払った金を〕払い戻す、〔人に〕返金する
When it comes to - 〜のこととなると
jilted , < jilt 〔恋人など〕に振られる［捨てられる］ 形容詞で 振られた、捨てられた perfunctory 通り一遍の、形だけの、気のない、投げやりな [pərfʌ́ŋktəri] パファンクトリィ true color 人や物の本来の性格 reimbursement 返済、弁済 - 遠くの親戚より近くの他人 A friend in need is a friend indeed. 「まさかの時の友こそ真の友」「困った時の友こそ真の友」 A friend in need is a friend you don't need.