Word: impromptu
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...party: hip, hyperkinetic and hot. The host can't sit still, and the crowd can't get enough of him. At any moment, Hall might race into the studio audience in response to a shouting fan, or sidle over to his five-piece house band ("my posse") for some impromptu jamming. Meanwhile, as late-night's first successful black talk host, he has turned his guest couch into TV's liveliest melting pot. Rap groups get as much attention as Hollywood legends; George Hamilton or Glenn Close might find themselves rubbing elbows with one of the Jacksons -- Jesse...
...times the proceedings looked more like a tragicomedy than a federal criminal trial. First a Government witness fainted on the stand, then the defendant suffered a hallucinatory breakdown and was carted off for psychiatric tests. Even nature played an impromptu walk-on part as Hurricane Hugo temporarily suspended the federal trial in Charlotte...
When the noise and shaking reached their peak, the spectators fell silent. After it finally stopped, the relieved and unhurt crowd broke into a cheer. "That's San Francisco," said an admirer of the city. "They cheer an earthquake." A fan scribbled an impromptu sign: THAT WAS NOTHING. WAIT TILL THE GIANTS BAT! After the public address system lost power, police in squad cars used bullhorns to tell the fans that there would be no game and that they should move slowly toward exits. As they left and looked north, they could see a plume of black smoke rising into...
...announcement of Commonwealth Day's departure created an immediate political backlash and sparked angry allegations of racism. At an impromptu hearing, the City Council voted to set up a special commission to investigate the matter and to recommend action to appropriate city, state and federal agencies...
...this world of the endless campaign, pretty soon no candidate anywhere will ever again risk uttering an impromptu thought in public. For a hefty fee, U.S. advisers will market-test every word and gesture to achieve the proper level of dynamic blandness. And since media consultants tend to recycle endlessly any technique that works, it is easy to envision future political spots that begin, "It's morning again in Poland." But equally disturbing is the way that during the 1980s, the political handlers have wrung the last droplets of spontaneity out of U.S. politics, as passion and ideology have become...