Word: dumbed
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...there has always been in China the "squeeze" system, which we consider graft, but they do not. Any Chinese who handles a transaction for you takes 10%. If he takes 20%, he is dishonest; but, if he does not take 10%, he is not considered honest, he is just dumb. The Chinese say that dishonesty consists in leaving somebody with the wrong impression. So it is not graft from the Chinese point of view, because everybody knows perfectly well it is being done. It is "old custom," has always been done, and everybody understands...
Between the extremes of sullen impenitence and dumb docility, some German civilians seemed to want to make sense...
...insulted by some Bowery stroller, Gould snaps erect and lashes out with a storm of invective without over repeating himself, "Madam," he has said, "It is the duty of the bohemian to make a spectacle of himself. If may informality leads you to believe that I am a rum-dumb or that I belong in Bellevue, then hold fast to that belief; hold fast, and show your ignorance...
...Though Mr. Taft is an intelligent man, who would always get a high mark in school, he has never acquired sufficient wisdom and understanding. . . . He is probably more responsible than any other single man for leading the Republican Party into blind alleys of dumb obstruction on the vital issues of our time...
...eight of a bad heart. Laura had been a paragon of beauty and intelligence and, in Mrs. Q's opinion, Catherine resembled her. Result: Catherine, whose intelligence was mediocre, overworked at school to get good marks, and developed imitative heart trouble. In contrast, Mrs. Q considered Agnes "dumb," the symbol of her own failure in life. Result: Agnes stayed timidly at home, rarely spoke up, refused to eat - partly in imitation of her parents' stomach troubles, partly to get attention...