皆さんこんにちは。今日は少し変わった英語のイディオム「Paint the town red」をご紹介します。
先日レッスンで生徒さんになぜこの表現を使うのか聞かれて、恥ずかしながら全く分かりませんでした！
基本的には「外に出かけて、多いに楽しむ」という意味になり、お酒をたくさん飲んだり羽目を外したりするときによく使います。

個人的に特にタイムリーな内容です。
なぜなら今月(9月)は私の誕生月だからです！(年齢は秘密です)なのでこのブログが公開される頃には、redだけでなく様々な色でpaint the townしていることでしょう！

「Paint the town red」の起源

この表現がなぜ使われるようになったのかについては様々な説あるようです。
最も一般的なのは、昔の英国で狐狩りの猟師(現在狐狩りは英国では違法です)が狩りの後に酔っ払い、街の家を血で赤く染めてしまったという説です。
止めに入った警備員まで赤く染めてしまったそうです。悲惨ですね…

「Paint the town red」を使った例文

「Are you coming out this weekend? It’s John’s 30th and we are planning to paint the town red.」
（今週末空いてる？ジョンの誕生日パーティーを企画してて、とても楽しい夜にする予定だよ。）

A:「What’s the matter with you? You look awful!」
（どうしたの？顔色悪いよ？）

B:「Yeah, I went to John’s 30th birthday last night. We painted the town red for sure and it was so much fun but I’m paying for it this morning.」
（うん…昨日ジョンの30才の誕生日パーティーで大騒ぎして楽しんだけど、今朝代償を払っているよ…）

「You never go out anymore! I know your new job is important to you but you have to loose once in a while. Why don’t you come and help me paint the town red this weekend? It’ll be just like old times.」
（最近全然出かけてないじゃん！新しい仕事が大事なのはわかるけど、たまには羽目を外さないと。今週末、俺と一緒に思いっきり楽しもうよ！昔みたいにさ。）

「Paint the town red」に似た表現

Have a night on the tiles

「I can’t wait for next Saturday. It’s my friend’s hen night. It’s been ages since I had a good night on the tiles.」
（来週の土曜日が待ちきれない。友達と女子会なんだ。夜遊びに出かけるのは久しぶりだよ。）

Live it up

「I used to like to live it up at the weekends but I’m getting a bit long in the tooth for that now and prefer a quiet night at home to be honest.」
（昔は週末になると目一杯遊ぶのが好きだったけど、今はもうちょっと年取ったし、正直行って静かな夜を家で過ごす方が好きだね。）

Large it (イギリス英語)

「Nice! Put a good bet on the horses today and backed a winner. Wasn’t planning to go out this weekend but it looks like me and the boys will be larging it again from sun down and sun up!」
（いいね！今日競馬で賭けて勝ったんだ。今週末は出かける予定じゃなかったけど、日没から夜明けまで、また俺と仲間でどんちゃん騒ぎすることになりそうだ！）

まとめ

ご覧の通り、英語では「楽しむ」を意味する表現がたくさんあります。
その全ての意味を理解するのは難しいとは思いますが、それがイディオムの面白いところであり、個人的には言語学習の醍醐味だと思います！
「Paint the town red」するときは私を呼んでくださいね！お祭り騒ぎや宴会への招待はいつでも大歓迎です！

私が息子に「large it」の仕方を教えている写真を載せてるのでご覧ください！

Jaimie

[英語原文]

Hello there everyone, 

Today I’d like to introduce you to a very strange idiom that we have in English and that is “paint the town red”. Someone asked me why we say this in class the other day and I had to admit that I didn’t have the foggiest idea! Basically it means to go out and have a really good time. Usually accompanied by lots of hard drinking and unruly behaviour.  

It is particularly timely for me since this a birthday month (not telling you how many) and by the time you have read this I’ve probably not only painted the town red, but also a number of other colours too! 

Origin

There seem to be a number of possible suggestions as to why we use this expression but the most common I can find is that some time in Britain’s distant past a group of fox hunters(now an illegal practice in the UK) got drunk after a hunt and for reasons best known to themselves, painted all the houses near the town square red. They even painted the local watchman who came to stop them it seems. How rude!

Examples

• “Are you coming out this weekend? It’s John’s 30th and we are planning to paint the town red.”

• “What’s the matter with you? You look awful!” 

• “Yeah, I went to John’s 30th birthday do last night. We painted the town red for sure and it was so much fun but I’m paying for it this morning.” 

• “You never go out anymore! I know your new job is important to you but you have to let loose once in a while. Why don’t you come and help me paint the town red this weekend? It’ll be just like old times.”

Similar Expressions

• Have a night on the tiles

“I can’t wait for next Saturday. It’s my friend’s hen night. It’s been ages since I had a good night on the tiles.” 

• Live it up

“I used to like to live it up at the weekends but I’m getting a bit long in the tooth for that now and prefer a quiet night at home to be honest.”

• Large it (British English)

“Nice! Put a good bet on the horses today and backed a winner. Wasn’t planning to go out this weekend but it looks like me and the boys will be larging it again from sun down to sun up!”

Summing up

As you can see there are plenty of nice ways to talk about having a good time in English and not all of them may make immediate sense to you but that is the beauty of idioms and in my opinion one part of what makes language learning so fun! Next time you are thinking of painting the town red, don’t be afraid to invite me! I’m always up for a bit of merry making and revelry!  Please see attached pic of me teaching my son how to large it! 

Jaimie