Word: obvious
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...causes of the rise: After hailing the results of its latest survey, the NEA's chairman asks the obvious follow-up: "What happened in the past six years to revitalize American literary reading?" His answer is disappointing: "There is no statistical answer to this question." Not one to let the absence of facts spoil a good story, Gioia then goes on to propose that perhaps the sheer volume of electronic entertainment and communication we're exposed to has created a backlash of sorts, prompting a reading renaissance. But as L.A. Times reporter Carolyn Kellogg points out, is it really accurate...
...absurd.” What force! What gall! What fun! “Ridiculous,” “hopeless,” “nonsense,” on the one hand; “doubtless,” “obvious,” “unquestionable,” on the other, will have the same effect. A hint of nostalgic, antiacademic languor at this stage as well may match the grader’s own mood: “It seems more than obvious to one entangled in the petty quibbles...
...seems pretty obvious that in any discussion of the various methods whereby the crafty student attempts to show the grader that he knows a lot more than he actually does, the vague generality is the key device. A generality is a vague statement that means nothing by itself, but when placed in an essay on a specific subject very well might mean something to the grader. The true master of a generality is the man who can write a 10-page essay, which means nothing at all to him, and have it mean a great deal to anyone who reads...
...There is a third method of dealing with examination questions—that is by the use of overpowering assumption, an assumption so cosmic that it is sometimes accepted. For example, we wrote that it was pretty obvious that the vague generality was the key device in any discussion of examination writing. Why is it obvious? As a matter of fact, it wasn’t obvious at all, but just an arbitrary point from which to start. This is an example of an unwarranted assumption...
...mood was similar at the start of the 2006 war against Hizballah in Lebanon, but soured when it became obvious that Israeli politicians and generals were bungling the war, and that soldiers' lives were being needlessly lost. That hasn't happened yet, but already a few retired generals are starting to complain that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his cabinet are dithering. Says former National Security Council Chief Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland, "Either reach a cease-fire in two to three days, or start a big military operation that will take at least two weeks. We've been beating around...