Word: flyspeck
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...FUROR over Nicaragua, the transformation of a cartographer's flyspeck (largest of the Central American republics, but what does that mean?) into a superpower obsession, turns on a simple conceit: We don't know anything about Nicaragua, but we do know exactly what is good for it. What we generally mean when we talk about what is best for others is what is best...
...poor return for years spent on the assembly line of the law. The result: some large firms now commonly lose up to one-half of their associates. On Wall Street, for instance, many defect to investment banking, a field that lets them shape the deals they would merely flyspeck as lawyers and earn even more exorbitant salaries. Legal publications are filled with advice on how to soothe unhappy rookies. Business is booming for legal headhunters, who can charge $20,000 and more in fees to replace a single defector...
...argued that there are at least 37,351 Dead Heads, because that many attended an outdoor concert at Saratoga, N.Y., last summer. But even 37,351 is a statistical flyspeck in the megahyped world of rock music. The fact is that in almost 20 years of playing, the Dead have never managed to record a song that sold enough copies to make it as a hit single. They have had fair success with albums, but their ecstatic, visionary offshoot of rock spins with improvisation, and the necessity to nail things down in a studio version tends to fossilize the band...
...officials professed bemusement over Nicaragua's anxiety. The successful invasion of the flyspeck island of Grenada, they insisted, provided no precedent for an offensive against Nicaragua's well-armed and well-trained combined regular army and militia force of 100,000. "The fears of the government are exaggerated," insisted U.S. Ambassador Anthony Quainton in Managua. "You have to understand that Grenada and Nicaragua are completely different countries and situations." Said a State Department official in Washington: "It's a terrible idea. It's impractical and impolitic. It's also absolutely unnecessary...
...rumor take over. Several days after the invasion there was still determined resistance here and there, but no one knew how much, how serious or by whom. The result was vague and nagging alarm, a suspicion that the world's largest military power had trouble subduing a flyspeck island. However that impression might be dispelled later, some of the damage will linger. More important, the Administration's case for the invasion rests increasingly on the assertion that the Cubans had been attempting to transform Grenada into a sort of island fortress. Eyewitness reports from correspondents might have made...