“get dirt under your nails”の意味は

アメリカの人気テレビドラマ『ホワイトカラー』を観ながらETC英会話のフレッド先生のレッスンを受けています。

天才詐欺師のニールはFBI捜査官ピーターに捕まってしまいます。しかし、制限付きではありますが自由を得るために、ニールはFBIのホワイトカラークライム、知的犯罪捜査のコンサルタントとして協力することになります。

今日はこんなダイアログから。

Peter:
What’d you find?
Neal:
A professor who writes about the black market. Sicilian grave robbers, Egyptian smugglers, and Siberian mobsters. I mean, you can’t run with those crowds unless you’re willing to get dirt under your nails.
Peter:
What’s his name?
Neal:
Her name is Maria Fiametta.

さて、“get dirt under your nails”とはどのような意味なのでしょうか。

Well, if you go out working and no gloves, you are going to get dirt under your fingernails, right.
So, what it means in this case, is that the people, you are working with, are dirty, dirty people.
They are smugglers, mobsters, robbers.
So being associated with them, working with them, you are going to get dirty yourself.
So you will be doing bad things also.
So you are going to get dirt under your fingernails.
You are going to become dirty.
And if you have ever worked in the garden, bare handed, it is difficult to get the dirt out.
Once the dirt gets in, it’s difficult to get it out.
So the bad thing is you do with this mobsters and gangsters, you can not cut that association.
You are still connected.

You are going to get dirty.
“You are going to do bad things.”
“Being associated with them, is not good. Things are going to get difficult for you.”

robber
泥棒，強盗

smuggler
密輸業者.

mobster
暴力団の一員[一味]

get dirt
汚れる

■出演
・ETCマンツーマン英会話 フレッド先生(吉祥寺)

■聞き手
・青樹洋文

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“Movie Star * (The Making Of X) by Loveshadow

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