Word: lexicon
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...course, President Nixon and Vice President Agnew have made their own special contribution to the lexicon of excess. Those who profess deep social feelings, as George McGovern surely does, seek to authenticate them with verbal ultimates. But the process wrings out our political vocabularies, corrupts them, drains them of meaning...
...intervening 600 years. To Moore, who first visited Florence on a traveling scholarship in 1925, the city is "my artistic home." The shapes of Tuscany-from the consoling, breastlike curves of its domes to the muscular run and clench of the Apennine horizon-have remained fundamental in his lexicon of form, giving it a stringency as well as a sense of humanistic presence that is unique in contemporary sculpture. One does not look to Moore's work for surprises but for a sense of continuity...
Remember "Don't give up the ship"? Or, "You may fire when ready, Gridley"? What about "Damn the torpedoes-full speed ahead"? Now Commander James Cannon, skipper of the U.S. destroyer Mullinnix, has added his own ringing battle cry to the Navy's lexicon of heroic challenges. As Mullinnix arrived for a third tour off Viet Nam, Commander Cannon announced: "We are ready to step in the batter's box and belt a few pitches with hard stuff now that the contract is signed for our third season with the big leagues." Anyone looking for the roots...
Safire published a second edition so quickly because of the bounteous contributions of President Nixon and that empyreal employer of epigram, Spiro Agnew. Since the language of politics is essentially the lexicon of propaganda, the tone of the Nixonisms reflects what are perceived to be the shifting moods and needs of the nation. Thus, Safire observes, the Great Unwashed is undesirable, while the Silent Majority is praiseworthy. Nixon's critics, says Safire, have manufactured their own verbal ammunition, such as Nixonomics and Southern Strategy...
...champion cliché word in the contemporary lexicon is paranoia. Like most clichés, it gained its currency from actual conditions. A tragic example is an incident that took place in a Chicago supermarket parking lot. David Munoz, 10, earned soda-pop and movie money by carrying grocery bags to customers' cars. As he was crossing the parking area carrying loaded bags, he passed an armored truck. Inside was a guard, Ronald Brannan, who was waiting for his partner to pick up the supermarket receipts...