人名に“the”を付ける意味は

名探偵シャーロック・ホームズを現代のイギリスに蘇らせたBBCのテレビドラマ『Sherlock』を観ながら、ETC英会話のトニー先生のレッスンを受けています。

今日はこんなダイアログから。

JOHN:　
I can’t afford London on an Army pension.
MIKE:　
Ah, you couldn’t bear to be anywhere else. That’s not the John Watson I know.
JOHN:　
Yeah, I’m not the John Watson.

さて、the John Watsonと人の名前に定冠詞のtheを付けるのにはどのような意味があるのでしょうか。

When we know somebody, we for instance John Watson, I know John Watson, and he acts in a certain way.
He in a certain situation, he would do this.
And I know in another situation, he would do this.
So if I see John Watson doing something acting in a different way than I know he would usually act.
Then I can say about John Watson, I know John Watson.
And I know how he acts.
And so If he had acted differently, that is not the John Watson that I know.
So I know John Watson, but the John Watson that I know, he wouldn’t do that.
He must be a different John Watson.

Q: So If I say that without “the”,,,

The difference between “that’s not John Watson” and “that’s not the John Watson I know”, in English that is definitely different.
“The” is very important.
Because if you say, “that’s not John Watson I know”, that means there are many John Watsons that isn’t, really isn’t John Watson that I know.
There are many Watsons.
In a phone book you are looking through, “oh no, that’s not John Watson I know”,“that’s not John Watson I know”,“that’s not John Watson I know”.
But when it is on a close friendship thing, you do know that is the, you are talking about the same John Watson,
So there is no question.
We are talking about the same person.
That is when “the” is very important, because “that’s not the John Watson that I know”.

Q: It’s quite a big difference.

It’s a huge difference, yes.

a certain situation
ある場合

in a different way
違った方法で

act differently
以前の行動とは別の行動をとる

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