But he doesn't confuse "punctual" with "punctilious."
Rita, your predecessor, had a bad habit of nattering about her household woes at staff meetings.
That got under his skin.
I noticed he was fed up with her bellyaching.
Some managers say they like to ask for feedback from their subordinates, but they're actually fishing for compliments.
■意味を考えてみよう。答えは以下で
punctilious natter get under someone's skin bellyaching fish for level with autocratic unapproachable scare the daylights out of someone out of bounds
────────────────────────────── punctilious, きちょうめんな、堅苦しい = meticulous ────────────────────────────── Someone who is punctilious is very careful to behave correctly. [FORMAL]
ex) He was punctilious about being ready and waiting in the entrance hall exactly on time.
────────────────────────────── natter, おしゃべりする = chat, gossip ────────────────────────────── When people natter, they talk casually for a long time about unimportant things. [mainly BRIT] [INFORMAL]
ex) Susan and the girl were still nattering away in German.
────────────────────────────── get under someone's skin, (人)をいらいらさせる、(人)の気に障る ────────────────────────────── 二つの一見、相反する意味があります。
If something gets under your skin, it annoys or worries you. 気に障る
If someone or something gets under your skin, they begin to affect you in a significant way, so that you become very interested in them or very fond of them. （知らぬ間に）…の気持ちをとらえる
どちらも何かが皮膚の下に入ってくるというイメージです。
────────────────────────────── bellyaching, 愚痴[不平]を言うこと ────────────────────────────── If you say that someone is bellyaching you mean they complain loudly and frequently about something and you think this is unreasonable or unjustified. [INFORMAL]
ex) Everyone is bellyaching about recession.
bellyacheは、「腹痛」
────────────────────────────── fish for, …を聞き出す、…を探り出す ────────────────────────────── If you fish for information or praise, you try and get it from someone in an indirect way.
ex) I think he was just fishing for compliments.
────────────────────────────── その他にも、次も押さえておきたい。[誌面の都合上省略] ★は重要表現 ────────────────────────────── ★level with, …に対して率直に振る舞う autocratic, 専制[独裁]的な unapproachable, 近寄りがたい ★scare the daylights out of someone, (人)をひどくおびえさせる out of bounds, 出すぎて、非常識で
"NHKラジオ ビジネス英会話 Managing up (4) 10/8-9 2007"
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