piped music、Muzak 「店内に流すBGM」 [音楽と英語]
このところ pipeline を使った表現について書いてきた連想で、piped music を取り上げよう。ここでの pipe はパイプで流すように電線で音楽を伝える、と考えればいいだろうか、店内に流れるBGMを指す。それも、主にいかにもそれらしいムード音楽に使うようだ。
- light popular music prerecorded and played through amplifiers in a shop, restaurant, factory, etc., as background music
(Collins English Dictionary)
piped-in music としても良い。動詞の意味もチェックしよう。
- transmit (music, a radio or television program, signals, etc.) by wire or cable
Jazzy piano and blues music is piped into every room.
(Oxford Dictionaries)
- figurative Music is piped throughout the hotel complex.
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
同義語として Muzak がある。
- recorded music that is played quietly and continuously in public places, such as airports, hotels, and shops, to make people feel relaxed
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
Wikipedia を見ると piped music という項目はなかったが、代わりに elevator music という見出しがあった。これも同じ意味ということで、新たな発見だった。冒頭には、その他の同義語も並んでいたので、引用しよう。
- Elevator music (also known as Muzak, piped music, weather music, or lift music) refers to a type of popular music, often instrumental, that is commonly played through speakers at shopping malls, grocery stores, department stores, telephone systems (while the caller is on hold), cruise ships, airliners (during take-off and flight), hotels, airports, business offices, hospitals, and elevators.
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_music )
非ネイティブの分際でいうのも何だが、やたらと要素を列挙していてあまりうまい英文とはいえないような気がするが、店舗に限らず電話の待ち受けなどの音楽にも使えるとのことで、参考になる内容ではある。
Muzak はもともとは商標名で、それが一般名詞的に使われるようになったものだが、20世紀はじめに有線で音楽を流すシステムを作った人物が、カメラの「コダック」にヒントを得て考えた会社名だったそうだ。
- The word "Muzak" has always been a registered trademark of Muzak LLC, although it dominated the market for so many years that the term is often used (especially when used with lowercase spelling) as a generic term for all background music.
(中略)
Inventor Major General George Owen Squier, credited with inventing telephone carrier multiplexing in 1910, developed the original technical basis for Muzak. In the early 1920s, he was granted several further US patents related to transmission of information signals, among them a system for the transmission and distribution of signals over electrical lines.
(中略)
He was intrigued by the made-up word Kodak being used as a trademark and so took the first syllable from "music" and added the "ak" from "Kodak" to create the name Muzak which became the new name of the company.
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzak_%28brand%29 )
ついでに Kodak の由来を調べたら、既存の単語の組み合わせや変形ではなく、創業者のイーストマンが好みの字である k を入れる形でまったく人為的に作った言葉だそうだ。
なお、今回の pipe から wire を連想したが、wired music という言い方は少なくとも辞書には記載がなく、一般的ではないようである。
参考記事:
・wires and lights in a box 「電気紙芝居」 (映画「グッドナイト&グッドラック」)
- light popular music prerecorded and played through amplifiers in a shop, restaurant, factory, etc., as background music
(Collins English Dictionary)
piped-in music としても良い。動詞の意味もチェックしよう。
- transmit (music, a radio or television program, signals, etc.) by wire or cable
Jazzy piano and blues music is piped into every room.
(Oxford Dictionaries)
- figurative Music is piped throughout the hotel complex.
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
同義語として Muzak がある。
- recorded music that is played quietly and continuously in public places, such as airports, hotels, and shops, to make people feel relaxed
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
Wikipedia を見ると piped music という項目はなかったが、代わりに elevator music という見出しがあった。これも同じ意味ということで、新たな発見だった。冒頭には、その他の同義語も並んでいたので、引用しよう。
- Elevator music (also known as Muzak, piped music, weather music, or lift music) refers to a type of popular music, often instrumental, that is commonly played through speakers at shopping malls, grocery stores, department stores, telephone systems (while the caller is on hold), cruise ships, airliners (during take-off and flight), hotels, airports, business offices, hospitals, and elevators.
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_music )
非ネイティブの分際でいうのも何だが、やたらと要素を列挙していてあまりうまい英文とはいえないような気がするが、店舗に限らず電話の待ち受けなどの音楽にも使えるとのことで、参考になる内容ではある。
Muzak はもともとは商標名で、それが一般名詞的に使われるようになったものだが、20世紀はじめに有線で音楽を流すシステムを作った人物が、カメラの「コダック」にヒントを得て考えた会社名だったそうだ。
- The word "Muzak" has always been a registered trademark of Muzak LLC, although it dominated the market for so many years that the term is often used (especially when used with lowercase spelling) as a generic term for all background music.
(中略)
Inventor Major General George Owen Squier, credited with inventing telephone carrier multiplexing in 1910, developed the original technical basis for Muzak. In the early 1920s, he was granted several further US patents related to transmission of information signals, among them a system for the transmission and distribution of signals over electrical lines.
(中略)
He was intrigued by the made-up word Kodak being used as a trademark and so took the first syllable from "music" and added the "ak" from "Kodak" to create the name Muzak which became the new name of the company.
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzak_%28brand%29 )
ついでに Kodak の由来を調べたら、既存の単語の組み合わせや変形ではなく、創業者のイーストマンが好みの字である k を入れる形でまったく人為的に作った言葉だそうだ。
なお、今回の pipe から wire を連想したが、wired music という言い方は少なくとも辞書には記載がなく、一般的ではないようである。
参考記事:
・wires and lights in a box 「電気紙芝居」 (映画「グッドナイト&グッドラック」)
2015-03-18 07:42
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