Word: evenings
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...thanks” no longer cuts it, although in most cases such an ending would most accurately describe our emotion; we rarely scream the word “thanks” when an act being rewarded is less-than-heroic. The misuse of this punctuation mark has spiraled even beyond the single exclamation point; since one represents the standard suffix to a message, you now have to put two or three extra points to show actual excitement or pleasure. Indulging this cultural norm incites a positive feedback system, with more and more exclamation points needed to show the same level...
...have, I must confess, serious doubts about the efficacy--or even the integrity--of the "classic" exam period editorial, "Beating the System," you reprinted recently. I almost suspect this so-called "Donald Carswell '50" of being rather one of Us--the Bad Guys--than one of You. If your readers have been following Mr. Carswell's advice for the last eleven years, then your readers have been going down the tubes. It is time to disillusion...
Artful Equivocations are even worse; lynx-eyed sly little rascals that we are, we see right through them. (Up to Exam No. 40. Then our lynx eyelids droop, and grading habits relax. Try to get on the bottom of the pile.) Again, it is not that A.E.'s are vicious or ludicrous as such; but in quantity they become sheer madness. Or induce it. "The twentieth century has never recoverd from the effects of Marx and Freud" (V.G.); "but whether this is a good thing or a bad is difficult to say" (A.E.). Now one such might be droll enough...
...usually one to impose—I don’t even take water when a host offers—I had given up. I was prepared to lay there helplessly until they fixed...
...reading period may not have turned out to be all the fun I had hoped, but at least I know that even if I decide to become a pirate when I grow up, I’ll still have some friends to crash with during my stays on the mainland...