Word: pettier
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Mukasey’s mind can harbor such considerable doubt on the applicability of the law over which he nominally presides, the upstanding citizen must be permitted a degree of skepticism with regard to the more picayune demands of that same law (for example, speed limits, and the pettier larcenies). It may prove helpful to think of the various penny-ante admonitions of the powers-that-be in a given free nation-state as ‘strong suggestions,’ rather than written legislation or penal code, even if in every case they are of the latter class...
Specifically, with really cheesy pop culture. Gen X developed its identity by being compared, usually unfavorably, with baby boomers. In part, the standard critique was that Gen X's culture was inferior--its music phonier, its ideals shallower, its icons pettier than those of the 1960s. True or not, as this cohort pushes 40, it has perversely rebelled against this gibe by embracing it--remembering its tackiest, most disposable childhood icons most fondly of all. If Gen X-ers turned nostalgic much earlier than the 30-year-olds of decades past, maybe it's because, inundated with video, musical...
Although the government established the Patriot Act to counteract terrorist activity, Murray said the expanded powers it grants governmental officials have been used to investigate far pettier crimes, violating the rights of suspected criminals...