Word: acridity
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...Gulf War had started, Kay was dozing in an armchair at his construction battalion's camp in Saudi Arabia, more than 100 miles from the Kuwaiti border. At 3 a.m. an exploding Scud missile jolted him awake. Before Kay had time to clamp on his gas mask, the acrid smell of ammonia assaulted his lungs, and he watched a whitish gray cloud drift over the camp. Says he: "Right after that, people started getting sick...
Pepsi, to me, was the perfect beverage. Coke was a bit too dry, and Dr. Pepper had too heavy a taste. Its delightful carbon dioxide bubbles tickled the nose and the throat as you sipped it. The mild after taste was just acrid enough to make the next taste that much more pleasant...
...tasted of some heavy, acrid East European woe. Beside the woman, a Serbian political journalist -- a dandy in houndstooth jacket, wearing Jean- Paul Sartre glasses -- nodded angry agreement and flicked ashes onto the fish carcass on his plate...
Mostly love -- or lust, since Leo is 12 and increasingly preoccupied with "the tail that swelled between my legs." The two scents, sweet and acrid, mingle whenever he sees his dream girl, Bianca (Giuditta Del Vecchio), a dark- haired waif who lives nearby. He has visions of Bianca standing in a Sicilian glade, singing Italian love songs in her thin, pure voice. Through the bathroom keyhole he has other views of Bianca. He watches her adjust her underclothes, then sees she is not alone. Grandfather is in the tub, naked, handing her money. "Sex," Leo writes, "I discovered between ignorance...
Fires quickly broke out, launching thick, acrid smoke up hundreds of stairwells and elevator banks. In both towers the electricity went out, including emergency backup systems. Even on the highest floors, workers were stunned by the speed at which smoke flew upward. David Deshane, 25, was on the 105th floor when he felt the explosion. "All the computers shut down, then all the phones shut down," he said. "Then all of a sudden we saw smoke ( everywhere." He ran to hit the fire-emergency button. "Nothing happened." In a panic, some people broke windows to admit air, sending daggers...