結論: a doubled-edged sword
先日ミーティング中にアメリカ人の同僚が "It's a double-edged sword" と言ったときに、頭の中で一瞬空白ができてしまって議論から取り残されてしまった。なぜなら両端が刃物になっている蝉翅刀のようなものをイメージしてしまったから。
イメージ
閑話休題。
その後、すぐに「諸刃の剣」であることを理解して、議論を逆向きに追いかけて、発言して…という流れは、非ネイティブにとってしんどい作業である。だから、同じミスを繰り返さないために、実際にどのように使われるのかを確認してみた。
用例①
好んでよく使われる表現のよう。どれも a double-edged sword と冠詞の a が付いていることに注意。まずは高級紙 The Economistから。
So although, for now, Americans may feel relief at the shale boom, it could prove a double-edged sword. If their country continues to promote fossil fuels at the expense of cleaner energy sources, its dominance is unlikely to last.
用例②
次に大衆紙 The Guardianからの引用。同僚が使ったのと同じ表現である “It’s a double-edged sword.” シンプルイズベスト。
Although alarmed by the high levels of pollution in the creek, Monga says a pristine habitat would deprive flamingos of food and drive them away. “This phenomenon is called edge nature,” he says. “Here, wilderness merges with human impact and some species are able to thrive in it. It’s a double-edged sword.”
用例③
もう少し具体的に、どのような文脈において「諸刃」感が出ているのか調べてみた。大衆紙 The Guardian から別の例を。
The trouble is that Schumpeter meant what he said: innovation is a double-edged sword. Digital technology is indeed creative, in the sense that it enables us to do new things that were hitherto impossible, or to do old things better. In the case of the internet, for example just think of the web, Wikipedia and Skype, all instances of technology that have transformed our lives, mostly for the better.
But technology is also destructive in the sense that it destroys or undermines things that are valuable: bookshops and print newspapers, for example and – who knows? – maybe even institutions such as the BBC. Digital technology has already resulted in a dramatic erosion of personal privacy. And it's enabling things that are potentially or actually sinister – government surveillance on a massive scale and at an unimaginably detailed level, for example; and the growth of a few mega-corporations such as Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook that might eventually mediate most of our communicative acts.
そのまま Writing にも使えそう。
