Economist 기사(21 Dec 2019)에서 처음 본 표현이다. 

Our annual “country of the year” award celebrates improvement. Each December, therefore, we give a hostage to fortune. The places that climb furthest are often those that started near the bottom: poor, ill-governed and unstable. Freshly won democracy and peace do not always last, as Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar (The Economist’s country of the year in 2015) ended up reminding the world when she appeared recently at the International Court of Justice in The Hague and glossed over the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingyas, a Muslim minority, by her country’s soldiers.

Hostage to fortune 정의는 "an action or statement that could create problems for you later".

나중에 책잡힐 수도 있는 행동이나 말을 했을 때 쓸 수 있다. 여기서 fortune은 luck과 같은 뜻이다. 어떻게 될지 모르는 상황에 hostage를 줬다는 얘기니까 내가 아주 불리한 위치에 있는 것이다.

어떤 동영상을 보니 1시간 동안 열심히 떠든 뒤에 청중이 날카로운 질문을 하자,  I gave a hostage to fortune이라고 말한다. 이 얘기 저 얘기 했으니 공격당할 말도 했을 수 있다는 뜻이다.   

Paul Volcker 부고 기사를 보다가 inaugural chairman이라고 하면 기관의 초대 chairman이란 뜻을 배웠네.

10 Dec 2019

Statement on the death of Paul Volcker, inaugural Chairman of the IFRS Foundation Trustees

The Trustees and staff of the IFRS Foundation and Members of the International Accounting Standards Board (Board) wish to express their condolences to the family of Paul Volcker, who died on 8 December 2019.

Mr Volcker was a committed public servant, held in the highest regard internationally and within the United States. Among the many accomplishments of his long career, he was appointed as the inaugural Chairman of the IFRS Foundation (formerly IASC Foundation) Trustees, serving from 2000 until 2006.

During this period, Mr Volcker led the restructuring of the Foundation, appointed the first Board and garnered widespread international support for its mission of global accounting standards.

Many of the Foundation’s achievements in subsequent years are therefore thanks to the path set out by Mr Volcker during his tenure as Chairman of the Trustees.

The proof is in the pudding. 재미있는 표현이다.  pudding을 디저트로 먹는 푸딩이라고 생각했는데, 어원은 고기 넣어서 만든 British pudding이네. 

The idiom is usually stated the proof is in the pudding and means that the end result is the mark of the success or failure of one’s efforts or planning. The phrase may also be used in the past and future tenses: the proof will be/was in the pudding.

The original phrase was the proof of the pudding is in the eating and was generally used to say that one had to try food in order to know if it was good. The word proof is more synonymous with test than evidence. The pudding is good or bad and the trial of eating will decide it; rather than evidence that would prove it is in fact pudding.

It was a particularly apt phrase because pudding did not mean a creamy dessert, it was the term for a kind of mixture of meat and seasonings stuffed into a casing like sausage. And with meat in the very early 1600s, when the first example of the idiom appears in print, or in the 1400s, when the OED states the phrase originated,  it was very easily contaminated. One would not know if it was going to be good or bad until one ate it.

Examples

“The most important thing for our organization is for him to develop. … The proof is in the pudding at this point.” [The Washington Post]

“We think we’ve been productive over the last two weeks but the proof is in the pudding on Sunday.” [Western Morning News]

But Boyd has worked hard to turn his life around and the proof was in the pudding when Wayne Bennett’s newest Broncos signing was unveiled at Red Hill on Monday. [Stuff NZ]

“I guess the proof will be in the pudding when we see how we react to it all, but we’re excited about what happened.” [Los Angeles Times]

출처: https://grammarist.com/usage/proof-is-in-the-pudding/

어제 있었던 London Bridge terror attack 기사를 보다가, it was feared 를 어떻게 번역하면 좋을지 생각해 보았다. 

On Friday night it was feared the victims were students and academics who had been at the event. 

'~로 우려된다'라고 번역하면 되겠네.  '우려된다'라는 표현이 예전부터 있었을까 아니면 feared란 표현 따위를 우리말로 옮기다 보니까 쓰임이 굳어졌을까?  

The Chairman can appoint a Vice-Chairman to stand in where the Chairman is indisposed.

indisposed는 거의 unavailable과 같은 뜻으로 쓰이는 듯하다.  혹시 formal한 문맥에서만 쓰이는지 찾아보니, 아래와 같은 대화체에서도 쓰인다.

"I'm afraid she's indisposed. Can I take your message?"

사물 주어 다음에 can hope to do 라고 말하면 우리 말로 어색하다. 그런데 영어에서는 이렇게도 쓴다. 

No single narrative can hope to do justice to the many permutations that are possible.

(출처: The Economist, July 2nd 2016)

위 문장의 뜻은 "Brexit을 하면 수 많은 가능성이 있는데 한 가지 얘기로 다 설명할 수는 없다." 이다. 

Corpus에서 찾아보니 많진 않다. 그러나 이런 표현이 보인다.

In this case, no policy can hope to work if it is not realistic.

우리말에서 '거칠게 말하면'이란 표현을 보거나 들을 때 마다 아주 거슬린다. 이런 말투는 사회과학 책에서 많이 쓰인다.

아마도 영어 'roughly speaking'을 번역하면서 저렇게 쓰게 된 듯하다. roughly 뜻을 보면 두 가지다. 

1. in a manner lacking gentleness; harshly or violently.  

2. in a manner lacking refinement and precision. 

1번은 '거칠게'로 번역하면 맞지만, 2번은 '거칠게'가 아니다. 그러므로 '거칠게 말하면'이라고 하지 말고 '겉잡아 말하면'이라고 해야 한다. 

'~하면 더 좋을 것이다.' 라고 얘기할 때 언제나 "It would be better for sb to do sth"만 떠오른다.

그런데 'do oneself a favor'를 쓰면 더 좋을 때가 있을 듯하다. 뜻은 to make things easier for oneself (by doing something)

You can do yourself a favor by arriving early at the airport.란 예문이 보인다.