Word: absurd
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Thomas Browne called them "vulgar errors." Said Francis Bacon: "Men rest not in false apprehensions without absurd and inconsequent deductions." As Essayist Logan Pearsall Smith put it, even the most lucid brains harbor "nests of woolly caterpillars...
...Communist paper print an article entitled "Allow Us to Err"? A newspaper in the Ukraine, where the new Soviet purge is at its peak, dared to do so last week. "Absurd," thundered Pravda. "This theory of the right to err really means . . . the right to be free from criticism. . . . Workers' officials who are unable to review their work critically are unable to go forward and are cowards and provincials...
Cried pint-sized Billy Rose: "I'm willing to give them more money. But this demand would put the Diamond Horseshoe out of business." Warned Joe Howard of the big, garish Zanzibar: "Absurd." There was, the owners hinted, only one alternative: firing the poor, beautiful chorus girls. Monte Proser of the Copacabana even went so far as to send his beauties notices of dismissal. Then all sat back and waited for further word from Caesar...
Second. The idea that the OPA is of benefit to the poor who cannot afford to pay black market prices is simply absurd. Inflation is caused by scarcity: scarcity is caused by under-production; and a man who cannot make what he considers enough profit will not produce...
Third. The idea that prices will continue to go up is equally absurd. Most manufacturers cater to the majority, and most goods are mass-produced. A mass producer cannot ask more for his product than the majority can afford to pay. And if they can pay, they will. They will buy more, and more will be produced. Within a short time, the scarcity will disappear, and the prices will come down...