Word: manias
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...certifiable trendlets in '92 -- inflatable bikinis, Virgin Mary sightings, potato-spelling jokes -- but most were too sickly and feeble to grow. Divorcing one's parents looked big for a week or so, sparking hopes of a real estate boom as 10-year-olds sought their own condos. Menopause mania proved to be a flash, so to speak, in the pan, and "smart drugs" couldn't compete with the far more numerous dumb ones...
...aside from, perhaps, Boris Yeltsin. Imagine the puzzlement if U.S. headline writers began invoking first names like Helmut (Kohl) or Kiichi (Miyazawa). But all through Europe, Bill and Hillary have suddenly become as familiar as other one-word American icons like Madonna, Magic and McDonald's. Is this Clinton mania merely the latest manifestation of the one eternally booming U.S. industry -- the creation of international celebrities -- or does it speak to something larger about the worldwide perception of both America and its new President-elect...
...Spirit Committee, which is thinking of providing proctors with cassettes of school songs, must think that first-years are prime targets for rah-rah Harvard mania...
Politically, the gasoline tax can help keep enviro-mania at bay. Since a large portion of the population pays for it and since the amount of the tax is visible to anyone who looks at the pump, the public can get an easy handle on the cost of "clean air." Thus, the democratic process gives you a built-in check against environmental excess...
...sampling chile dishes, taking "chile tours" of the New Mexican countryside and listening to experts like Paul ("Mr. Chile") Bosland dispense advice on how to grow just about every member of the family, from the mild-mannered bell pepper to the Mexican habanero, the world's hottest. The chile mania "has really turned into a tiger," says Bosland, who has headed the chile-research program at New Mexico State University since...