Word: backgrounding
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Behind the discreet curtains of the cafes, crowds jam the tables drinking wine or coffee and eating little plates of grilled shrimp or fried baby octopus tentacles. Silent, grey-coated policemen stand discreetly in the background with little to do. Order is so perfect that Spaniards-against all their temperament-wait for the green light before they cross the streets...
...know if this young man is going to marry Princess Elizabeth nor do I care a damn. I might reply to the sentimental view that she ought to marry an Englishman and a 'commoner' by arguing that her background being what it is, the kind of commoner she would be most likely to marry is one of the Tory guard officers with whom she goes dancing, or possibly the son of some prominent Munichite or former Fascist. It might be different if the poor girl had not been so carefully sheltered from contact with ordinary working-class...
...instance, in the Middle East, the U.S. has just as much interest as Britain in 1) keeping the Russians out, and 2) getting the oil out. The British see the Palestine problem against the background of the larger U.S.-British objective of playing along with the Middle East Arabs. When President Truman flayed Britain on the Palestine issue, one angry Briton said: "He has sold your oil for a mess of New York votes...
...surprise: Episcopal Layman Charles Phelps Taft, 49, son of William Howard Taft, 26th President of the U.S. (and Unitarian), brother of Republican Senator Robert A. Taft. A lawyer with a long record of service in public affairs, Charles Taft came to the Council presidency without the theological background characteristic of his 13 predecessors. Knowing delegates saw his election as presaging a new era of lay leadership and political activity for U.S. Protestantism. In his vigorous statement on taking office, Layman Taft left no doubt as to his policies. Said...
...achieved prominence did so in law, while the medical field had a surprisingly low ratio or prominence. These figures were taken from trade manuals and journals and tended to disprove many of the standing notions about interests of the Harvard student. As an interesting sidelight on the background of Harvard men, it was computed that, while a greater percentage of public school graduates did honor work in college, this situation was reversed in life, where even a greater percentage of private school men achieved note, caused in part by family positions and contacts. Totally, some 20 percent of each class...