the bottom of the barrel

気がつくともう大晦日です。本年もえいご1日1語をご愛読ありがとうございました。来年もどうぞよろしくお願い致します。

今日取り上げる表現は、（特にこの日、つまり大晦日に因んでということでは全くないので恐縮ですが・・・）


the bottom of barrel


という表現ですが、見慣れない表現ではないでしょうか？

Time Warner Cable and the Long Island Power Authority are among the most despised companies in America, scoring remarkably low customer-service ratings according to a consumer study.

The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based American Consumer Satisfaction Index measures customer satisfaction of hundreds of companies and found TWC and LIPA to be bottom of the barrel.
(David K. Li. Time Warner Cable, LIPA rank among most despised companies in US. New York Post. December 30, 2013.)


辞書にも載っていない表現のようですが、イディオムの専門辞書にはエントリがあるようです。


the location of persons or things of the very lowest quality; someone or something of the lowest quality.
(McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs)


樽一杯のリンゴがある場合、底の方は押し潰されてしまっているからという補足がありますが、なるほど確かにそうかも知れませんね。

下記にもう1つ用例を挙げます。


Lake's student achievement has been among the worst in the district over the past three years. At a meeting recently in Lake's cafeteria, a group of parents sat with DPS liaisons who were explaining the school's chronic problems and DPS's turnaround strategies. "This is sad," said John Garcia, who brings his daughter to the school every day from Brighton. "If we are at the bottom of the barrel, we need to change it and focus on how to get better."
(Denver Post. 2009.)


コーパスを見ていますと、be動詞と共に用いられているケースがほとんどですが、"scrape"という動詞と共に用いられているケースも次いで多いようです。


Economically and industrially, Germany has scraped the bottom of the barrel, and there are few shops with anything to sell.
(Foreign Affairs. 2003.)