Word: inept
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...star Rosalind Elias, 64, a veteran and locally beloved mezzo. In one high-comedy scene, Elias, as the Marquise of Berkenfield, is seated at the piano coaching the high-spirited Marie, played by Battle, in a proper old tune. Battle stiffly complained that Elias' piano playing was inept and was adversely affecting her phrasing; she issued a series of ultimatums culminating in a demand that the solo be played by a musician in the orchestra...
...fifty-fifty with men, for initiating sexual contacts, thereby assuming the occasionally painful risks of rejection? That risk of rejection makes men, who usually must take the active part, not only look foolish many times, but also appear to be sexual harassers, when in fact they may be merely inept. A successful approach to a woman is called romance and courtship. An unsuccessful approach is called sexual harassment and may be a crime...
...verdict is in, and it's unanimous. Says one self-proclaimed larcenist, "The Coop should get smarter about how they deal with security." Another shoplifter declares that the Coop has "one of the most inept security systems in the world." Yet another petty thief uses the Coop's laxity to rationalize her crimes. "I do it partly for them [the Coop]... It's sort of like Nietzsche--'Punish the weak'...They really should crack down...
Suppose the monthly inflation rate in the U.S. was 20%, the output of the nation's industries had fallen 15% in a year, unemployment was rising across the country and the government was visibly inept. Suppose California and Texas had seceded, foreign communists were advising how to reconstruct the U.S. government, NATO had been disbanded, all U.S. military bases abroad had been closed and batches of the armed forces' most sophisticated weapons were being sold at bargain rates to former enemies...
...give me much a choice of role models. Which could you look up to: (a) Bruce Lee, a violent martial artist with a bad accent, (b) Mr. Miyagi, an exotic martial artist with a bad accent, or (c) Long Duck Dong from the movie Sixteen Candles, a socially inept math/science nerd with a bad accent...