延びに延びたトランプ米大統領による一般教書演説でこっくりをしていた大統領と同名の少年が話題になっています。以下,AFP-JIJI電です。JTに配信された記事です。

 

Snooze of the Union: (Joshua) Trump's power nap goes viral

 

WASHINGTON - Between the late bedtimes and early morning tweets the leader of the free world is renowned for needing just four hours’ sleep but his young State of the Union guest, Joshua Trump, hardly lived up to the name — nodding off midspeech.

 

The 11-year-old — who is not related to Donald Trump but has been bullied at school because of his surname — had been invited as a special guest of the first family to the prestigious annual address.

 

The youngster was seen looking presidential in a white shirt and dark tie as formalities commenced in Washington on Tuesday evening but he soon succumbed to the apparently soporific cadence of Trump’s words.

 

Installed two seats up from first lady Melania Trump, the middle school student from Delaware appears to have found his sudden fame somewhat tiring.

 

Images of him catching 40 winks quickly went viral on Twitter, where many hailed him as an unlikely talisman of the anti-Trump “resistance” while one wag remarked: “Joshua Trump spoke for all Americans.”

 

“Joshua Trump is a Trump I can get behind,” quipped another while a third enthused: “Not all heroes wear capes.”

 

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/02/07/world/politics-diplomacy-world/snooze-union-joshua-trumps-power-nap-goes-viral/#.XFttXa09xE4

 

power(-)napは「短い仮眠」のことです。トランプくんの場合は子供らしい「ネムネム」でしたが,この言葉は通常,ビジネスパーソンがちょこっと寝て,そのあと「パワー(power)が復活する」(up),つまり 「仮眠をとってシャッキとする」という意味合いの強い表現です。正確には韻は踏めていませんが, power upにかけた造語で覚えやすいものです。事実,知人の米国人もよく使っています。

 

「仮眠」に関係する英語表現は数多くあります。記憶力の鍛錬のために思いつくままに書き並べておきます。ゼミ生諸君はそれぞれの定義を英英で調べて,自分のものにしてください。

 

sleep a bit / take a nap / take a cat nap / take a rest / have a lie-down for a few minutes / have a little rest (in the hay stack) / go for a kip(英国用法?)

 

「ウトウト」というactionにしぼったものに;

snooze / doze off / (記事にある) nod off

 

などなどが思い浮かびます。

 

大統領と同名という理由でいじめにあったJosuaくんがCongressに招待され,緊張のなか soporific cadence of Trump’s wordsを聞かされたのだから無理もないことです。