Word: alphabet
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...most riotous seen in the world since the break-up of Latin." Some of the results are rooted in the New Deal and the Depression -e.g., forgotten man, economic royalist, horse-and-buggy days, boondoggling-as are the more ephemeral third-termite and That Man, and the alphabet soup of government bureaus (NRA, TVA). But the bulk of heavy coinage has come from a slew of irresponsible, word-happy inventors, including such Menckenian heroes as Variety's late Jack Conway (who coined baloney, S.A., high-hat, pushover, payoff, bellylaugh, palooka and scram) and the inventor of slanguage itself, Walter...
...year-old Peter Mathews was annoyed by the nice lady who asked him strange questions and made him put blocks in holes. After the lady decided which group he belonged in, things began to seem better. On the second day, a Mickey Mouse cartoon telling how to pronounce the alphabet, a play session with model airplanes, and a telecast of Mother Goose songs ushered Peter into the wonderful audio-visual-tactual routine that was to keep him fascinated during all eight years of studying the "Common Learnings." At first he disliked being one of the group who got their long...
...general attitude of the Americans was reflected by Lieutenant Lawrence Bangser, veteran Marine raider: "Either this Jap general is the world's greatest tactician or the world's most stupid man." Before noon on L-day (Loveday in the voice signal alphabet), the Jap general had lost Okinawa beyond reprieve. The tanks had arrived, the artillery was arriving to augment the planes and naval gunfire. The fleet's big guns had not been necessary in the immediate sense of killing Japs, but they had perhaps discouraged the halfhearted Jap general...
...Primers, illustrated with colorful pictures of Fascist soldiers, taught the alphabet with such examples as "F as in fascio." One of the first reading lessons: " 'Duce, Duce,' the voice of the children reaches up into the office where the Duce is working. The Duce hears it and smiles and works for them. Says the Duce: 'Be good children and obey. To obey is your first duty...
Last week, contrary evidence was apparent on almost every college gridiron: pink-cheeked freshmen scurried and whirled out of the T formation to touchdown after touchdown. More than 50% of college coaches now start their football alphabet with a capital T. The other half burn midnight oil devising ways & means to stop it. Few have succeeded...