Word: goofing
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Some inefficiencies may have to be tolerated simply because they make life more human. A labor shortage that inspires employers to hire ghetto blacks and other handicapped people instead of leaving them to subsist on public welfare is a good thing, whatever inefficiencies it may breed. Goof-off time feeds inflation by lowering productivity ?and nobody should underestimate what social damage that can cause. But one of the charms of the affluent society is that it indulges the human propensity to loaf and gives at least partial fulfillment to the Industrial Revolution's old promise that the machine will...
Workers also insist on more leisure on the job itself?or what auto executives call "goof-off time." Local unions have sometimes called strikes over demands for slowing down assembly lines in order to allow workers more minutes each hour to stretch and gossip. Inefficiency, in the form of less productivity, becomes a formal contract goal. G.M. in particular has been hurt by walkouts over goof-off time and by wildcat strikes that occur with uncanny regularity just as the salmon-fishing or deer-hunting seasons begin. The trend of the times is echoed in Simon & Garfunkel's Feelin' Groovy...
...Time to Goof. There is little doubt that Agnew has come a long way since the 1968 campaign, when his chief contribution was a tendency to alienate voters. He is now seen as a man whose political instincts were underrated. Even those who regard his peccadillos as outrageous are no longer amused; Agnew's popularity has put new muscle behind his words. His attacks have made television commentators notably more cautious in their postmortems. His gaffes on the Asian and Pacific trip-such as nearly sitting on diminutive Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos-were largely overlooked by a chastened press...
...party's banner in the fall election campaigns. But Democrats are hoping that the original, bumbling Agnew will somehow shine through. "His popularity won't last," says one Democratic National Committee official, adding with perhaps more wishfulness than conviction: "He'll have plenty of time to goof up between now and November...
...defensive about the press. "Now it seems to be fashionable to make out Agnew to be some kind of goof," he tells friends. "I don't think I'm a brain. I've got an I.Q. of about 135 when it was last tested. I think that's pretty fair." He has been known to remark unhappily: "I'm still fighting the idea of being a rather ill-equipped, fumbling, obtuse kind of person...