Word: fitful
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...quite far-fetched? Yes. Perhaps. Yet, in the context of this otherwise doggedly realistic novel, the mutant children are a surprisingly compelling solution. After all, it is a reworking of the Noah myth. Mrs. Lessing, because of her careful analysis of modern society, sees fit to purge mankind in a grand psychic, as well as physical, deluge. Only the extrasensory survive...
Numerous welfare programs have been put into action since that time, most notably during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. But few seem to be able to rid the concept of the main criticism leveled at it--that it fails to fit the individual into a stimulating and vital role...
...less consciously tries to create of the commissioner a sort of Greek W.C. Fields. It's a rather dangerous thing to do; if he didn't have the voice inflections, facial expressions, and gestures (especially flicking the cigar ash) timed so well, if they didn't seem to fit naturally, it would be the sort of characterization one could easily resent...
...British Historian C. Northcote Parkinson puckishly formulated the basic law of bureaucracy that bears his name: work expands to fit the time at hand for doing it. Parkinson himself regarded his "law" as satire; inevitably, several American psychologists have decided to take it seriously. What is more, they have not only proved, at least to their own satisfaction, that the theory is true, but have extended...
...belt broke outside a town called Monroe, Georgia. No one in town had a fan belt that could fit anything but American cars. (Even Volkswagens were virtually unknown in the South about five years ago.) So we wound up in a Phillips 66 station with a kid trying on all different sized belts until one fit. It took a long time. It also happens that this was the gathering spot of the local youths. In about ten minutes they all came pouring into the gas station with their GTO's and motorcycles. They were looking in at the engine...