Word: fatuousness
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This growth, he implied, has been fortunate. For the federal system, in situations, where a "sweeping generalized edict from the national government might be futile or even fatuous", "recognizes diversity and achieves unity" through such devices as granting federal aid to the states. "It stimulates the states to action--and to higher standards of action--by offering matching funds on specific occasions...
...Napoleon, having just escaped from Elba, was marching up to Paris to begin the historic Hundred Days, which were to end with Waterloo. And as Napoleon approached-"the Eagle flying from steeple to steeple," rallying to his standard the regiments sent against him-King Louis XVIII, fat and fatuous, was fleeing north toward the Belgian border amid a confusion of loyal musketeers and grenadiers...
...assume they are not testing? . . . Our Allies are watching what we do, not what we say." Backed by a dozen other Senators,* Connecticut Democrat Thomas Dodd introduced a resolution calling for the U.S. to resume nuclear tests immediately. Stopping the tests in 1958, said Dodd, "was the most fatuous blunder in all our history...
...invent a new word: acronym (from the Greek akros for tip, onyma for name), which first appeared in dictionaries in 1947. Most insidious breeders are public relations experts, adept at spawning the punch word that sums up an organization, then, to fit its letters, turning out an often fatuous full title. Examples: WAIF (Women's Adoption International Fund) and the recently launched piggyback acronym YOU (Youth Out for UNICEF). Last week Mississippi segregationists coined yet another: SAFE, meaning Southern Action for Expansion...
...Relax. Any good kindergarten teacher knows that her kids in fact yearn to read. But Johnny can't read at 4½ because "research shows" that "reading readiness" comes at 6½. Even when he gets the chance, it may not be worth it. The fatuous "basal reader" with its Oh-Oh-Sue-said trivia destroys all joy in words. Mayer calls this "the most serious single criticism that can be made of the schools...