Tar babyとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

tar +‎ baby, from African American folklore, popularized by the tale of Br'er Rabbit in the Uncle Remus stories (1881) of Joel Chandler Harris, originally from Cherokee folklore (a tar baby story was published in the Cherokee Advocate, 1845).

名詞

tarbaby (複数形 tarbabies)

1. A difficult or "sticky" situation, especially one where peoples' attempts to make it better only make it worse
   • 1898, Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings:

     ...en de Tar-Baby, she keep on sayin' nothin', twel present'y Brer Rabbit draw back wid his fis', he did, en blip he tuck 'er side er de head. Right dar's whar he broke his merlasses jug. His fis' stuck, en he can't pull loose. De tar hilt 'im. But Tar-Baby, she stay still...
     "'Ef you don't lemme loose, I'll knock you agin," sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, en wid dat he fotch 'er a wipe wid de udder han', en dat stuck. Tar-Baby, she ain't sayin' nothin'...
     " 'Tu'n me loose, fo' I kick de natal stuffin' outen you,' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, but de Tar-Baby, she ain't sayin' nothin'. She des hilt on, en den Brer Rabbit lose de use er his feet in de same way. Brer Fox, he lay low. Den Brer Rabbit squall out dat ef de Tar-Baby don't tu'n 'im loose he butt 'er cranksided. En den he butted, en his head got stuck...
     "Who ax you fer ter come en strike up a 'quaintance wid dish yer Tar-Baby? En who stuck you up dar whar you iz? Nobody in de roun' worril. You des tuck en jam yo'se'f on dat Tar-Baby widout waitin' fer enny invite," sez Brer Fox, "en dar you is, en dar you'll stay..."

   • 2000, Anthony Lake, The Tar Baby Option: American Policy toward Southern Rhodesia‎^[1], →ISBN:

     It is important to emphasize the basic difference between "tar baby" and the previous American approach to southern Africa. As defended by Morris and its other creators, the new approach was designed to assist peaceful change in the area. The danger was that if it failed to meet its purpose, the new policy would simply provide a thin excuse for normalization of relations with the white regimes.