Word: aback
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...America's clean and well-lighted recruiting stations, where teenagers go to get the military sales pitch. When 18-year-old Carissa Schaper walked into one last year in St. Peters, Missouri, she thought she was safe. But as she later told an Army investigator, she was taken aback by what she saw and heard. "It's not a question of whether we can get you into the Army," she was told on her second visit, "but can the Army get into you?" The recruiters seemed more interested in enlisting her for sport sex than for service to her country...
Shelby Woo's creator, Alan Goodman, was always taken aback at Nancy Drew's ability to take command of any environment she found herself in: "She winds up in ski country, and suddenly she's winning a ski championship." Goodman limned Shelby, instead, as someone made of flesh and bone. "She doesn't excel in every course," he says of his character. "She depends on her friends for rides; she works because she needs the money. I wanted her to be more reflective of the girls I grew up with. Nancy Drew never made a wrong assumption in her life...
Speaking of the pot calling the kettle black! Even Dartboard was taken aback. Not only did recently re-elected Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, one of the ring leaders of the "keep campaign finance clean" cabal, get smacked with a fine of $300,000 and a reprimand imposed on him for ethics violations because he used tax-exempt funds to fund his own party, but also, he is now considering avoiding personal payment (and responsibility) by paying for that fine through the use of a legal defense fund...
...They were taken aback," he says. "But they didn't react harshly. They didn't kick me out of the house or anything. They have been open to my lifestyle...
While my students are enjoying free time, a parent calls me over. But instead of asking about his kid's flip turn, he makes a comment about Hahvahd. I am taken aback: the owner must have been bragging. The murmur of conversation in our area has died: all ears are on me. I smile and respond, then try to get my concentration back to where it should be: my swim class. On the way home, I see college decals in the back windows of other cars: University of Idaho, Pullman University, BYU. I promise myself never to buy a Harvard...