Word: epithetic
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Lately the word liberal has become something of a political epithet, meaning that the target is an impractical spendthrift. Kennedy's staff has taken to calling him a "pragmatist," which is supposed to convey the impression that he is a hard-headed problem solver not bound by any ideology. That definition, too, can be read in more than one way. Says an old Kennedy friend, conservative Republican Congressman Barber Conable of New York: "Ted is the son of Joe Kennedy and the brother of Jack and Bobby. Like them, he accommodates himself to the prevailing views...
...actions have made zionism "an epithet of disgrace," Dershowitz said. "The UN has classified it with apartheid." he added...
Iran also remains plagued by separatist problems, which last week centered on the oil-rich province of Khuzistan, whose inhabitants are mostly ethnic Arabs. Last week, in skirmishes between oilworkers and government troops, Arab demonstrators shouted "Death to Khomeini!"-a shocking echo of the epithet that only a few months ago was directed against the Shah. There were also rumblings of discontent in the Kurdish areas of northern Iran. The leader of the Kurds, Sheik Ezzeddin Hossaini, warned that unless the new constitution protects "all the ethnic minority groups in the country," Iran would face a "bloodbath...
...prospect of ten-year-old tube junkies using TV Guide as a syllabus is unsettling to parents who believe that serious learning comes from books. Teachers who have used one form or another of prime-time education, however, regard TV not as a "vast wasteland," in the memorable epithet of former Federal Communications Commissioner Newton Minow, but as a vast resource waiting to be tapped. One TV watcher who agrees is Minow himself, who now sits on the PTST board. Says he: "The most important educational institution in the country is not Harvard or Yale or Caltech...
ARMED FORCES began life under the name "Emotional Fascism." The old title is a perfect epithet for Elvis Costello's obsessions, but he had to bow to the commercial wisdom that would advise against that title. Costello hasn't completely given up on womankind, but his misogyny makes way for the paranoia here, and the music reflects the change. It's less straightforward, a bit less dynamic, and relies heavily on the work of studio whiz Nick Lowe...