beer and skittlesとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

Found as early as 1837, in Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, where it appears in the form, “It’s a reg’lar holiday to them—all porter and skittles”. The most common form, as a negative admonition, appears to have been popularized by Thomas Hughes in Tom Brown's School Days (1857, see quotation below).

発音

名詞

beer and skittles pl (plural only)

1. (chiefly UK, idiomatic) Fun times; pleasure and leisure.

   Synonyms: peaches and cream, bed of roses, bowl of cherries, sunshine and rainbows; see also Thesaurus:pleasure

   • 1857, Thomas Hughes, chapter 2, in Tom Brown's School Days:

     Well, well, we must bide our time. Life isn't all beer and skittles—but beer and skittles, or something better of the same sort, must form a good part of every Englishman's education.

   • 1911, Anthony Hope, chapter 22, in Mrs. Maxon Protests, page 259:

     Being a soldier's wife isn't all beer and skittles.

   • 2012 March 24, John Walsh, “The perils of reviewing restaurants”, in The Independent‎:

     His plight reveals a truth that's often obscured by the envy of newspaper readers; that it's not all beer and skittles in restaurant-critic land.

   • 2022 October 5, Nick Brodrick, “Pendolinos: a huge role to play”, in RAIL, number 967, page 41:

     Such highly intensive deployment left little wriggle room, something with which Dunster is all too familiar. "It hasn't all been beer and skittles," he says dryly.

使用する際の注意点

• Often used in the negative, "not all beer and skittles".

派生語

• life is not all beer and skittles

参考

アナグラム

• skittles and beer