Word: babel
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Tower of Babel" is what Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Louis Sullivan calls the din surrounding U.S. food products. But if Americans are having trouble deciphering the language in food labels and advertising, just who or what is to blame? The food industry likes to point the finger at the Federal Government's regulatory swamp, while the government puts the onus on overzealous marketers. But in truth there is enough culpability for all. For years now, foodmakers and government regulators have been tangled up together in a web of sloppy practices and, above all, cozy politics. "Everything in nutrition...
...same token, it would be hard to imagine a funnier, better modulated comic performance from Robin Williams than the Babel of Slavic accents he brings to a Russian folktale called The Fool and the Flying Ship. Or a more touching turn by Sigourney Weaver than her reading of the pensive Japanese story Peachboy. Or a sprightlier showcase for Michael Palin's Pythonesque versatility than his rendition of Jack and the Beanstalk...
...American grocery store, claims Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Louis Sullivan, has become a "Tower of Babel." Consumers need to be linguists, scientists and mind readers to understand the overblown health claims on labels that blare at them from supermarket shelves. And even those skills may not be enough. "Light" may mean low calorie to most health- conscious consumers, but on a bottle of Bertolli Extra Light olive oil, the term refers to its color. Hostess Light cupcakes are said to be "low fat, no cholesterol," but that does not mean they...
...Shaalan One camp, civility ends when the water truck arrives. As cries of "Water! Water!" erupt in a babel of languages from hundreds of parched throats, men and women battle their way to the nozzle of the tanker. One feverish man grabs a stone and threatens to bash a competitor's skull. Meanwhile, most of the precious liquid spills on the ground and vanishes into the sand...
...making many books there is no end." The famous wary complaint in Ecclesiastes could aptly apply to the Bible itself. For, verily, there is a Babel of Bibles. No fewer than 26 modern English translations have appeared during the past generation, beginning with the landmark Revised Standard Version of 1952. This week a major verse-by-verse overhaul of that work, sponsored by the National Council of Churches and known as the New Revised Standard Version, is being shipped to bookstores around the country. It will be used by millions of American Christians, for both private reading and public worship...