Word: fad
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Shiffrin is one of many devotees of a growing fad known as "past-lives therapy." Essentially, its practitioners take a conventional Freudian idea-that much adult behavior is unconsciously guided by early traumas-and apply it to the concept of reincarnation. Although the treatment has had a following in the U.S. and Europe for at least 15 years, more and more Americans are experimenting with the notion that their psychological problems arose during previous existences as, say, Shinto priests, Roman guards, citizens of Atlantis or even another planet...
...celebrities, a vacant former model who is Maitland's widow, and so on. All of these art lovers are very covetous indeed. The most appealing, though not necessarily the most villainous, is a brilliantly facile painter named Jake Dukker, who has profitably latched on to every new art fad in the past 20 years. Says someone of Dukker: "If the Hudson River School ever comes back into style, Jake will be sitting out there on the Palisades, painting the river and trees and clouds and Indians in canoes...
...biggest moneymaker ever (box office receipts are $12 million a week), the movie industry is wasting no time jumping onto the spacewagon. 20th Century-Fox is already plotting its first Star Wars sequel, and other film makers are rushing to make their own sci-fi flicks before the fad wears thin. Judging from some of their plans, that may not take too long...
...some 36 million Americans have now tried pot. By far the largest concentration of users is in the 18-to-25 age bracket; 53% of those surveyed said they had smoked marijuana at least once. Says NIDA: "Despite significant attempts to discourage marijuana use, cannabis is more than a fad and may well prove to be an enduring cultural pattern in the U.S." Other than suggesting that smoking pot might cause lung damage. NIDA ducks the issue of whether the drug poses a serious, long-term health hazard, explaining that the question requires further study. But the agency does note...
...Bowery bar called CBGB's in New York, a dingy cavern called the Roxy in London, and The Rat in Boston. There, shock is chic. Musicians and listeners strut around in deliberately torn T shirts and jeans; ideally, the rips should be joined with safety pins. Another fad is baggy pants with a direct connection between fly and pocket. These are called dumpies. Swastika emblems go well with such outfits. In London, the hair is often heavily greased and swept up into a coxcomb of blue, orange or green, or a comely two-tone. Pierced ears may sport safety...