Word: gay
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Pushing through the overflow crowd jammed into the Senate caucus room to hear him, the Secretary of State appeared fit and fresh in his pin-stripe grey suit and gay red necktie. Once more he was on hand to explain the President's request for authorization to 1) use U.S. forces, if requested, to defend any Middle Eastern nation against Communism, and 2) spend, without restriction, $200 million of already appropriated funds for Middle Eastern economic aid. Late the next afternoon, as he wearily pulled on his overcoat after questioning by the combined Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services...
Instantly there came the idea that has been cropping up in North Dakota for a long time: a new name for the state, something that was more romantic-anything, in fact, that would make North Dakota sound gay, cheerful as a bottle of champagne. That is how the question stood. Legislators were batting new names around, and Homer Ludwick had hope in his heart. Perhaps they would drop "North," and call it "Dakota." Or maybe "Miami," someone suggested, or "Dixie," or "East Guadalajara," or, with a nod to their Canadian neighbor, "South Manitoba." Maybe even "Welk...
...never understood the dimensions of his new wealth, still less what to do with it. By tradition, everything in the country belongs to the King, and he treated this wealth as a personal possession. His sons, given bottomless allowances for travel abroad, poured out of Arabia and into the gay spots of the Middle East. Soon the Middle East seethed with stories of their excesses. Nearly every Cairo nightclub had its Saudi prince surrounded by procurers and willing belly dancers. There were stories of a $15 tip given a waiter for a box of matches, of girls getting diamond rings...
...just a short subway or taxi ride from Times Square, a theatergoer could pay his money (ticket range: $1.15 to $4.50) and take his choice of a dozen productions. The three top hits: The Threepenny Opera, the sardonic satire of London's 19th century underworld taken from John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, which holds the record for longevity off-Broadway (560 performances); a revival of The Iceman Cometh, by Eugene O'Neill (225 performances); and Take a Giant Step, by Louis Peterson, another revival, which drew better reviews than the Broadway original...
These are among the fixed, solemn bells on which Author Compton-Burnett has managed to ring wild, gay changes for more than 30 years (e.g., Bullivant and the Lambs, Two Worlds and Their Ways). But no matter how worn her plots may be, the conversation is sure to be spangled with jewels that, to her devoted followers, still proclaim her a Cartier of contemporary fiction...