Word: phrase
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...Royal pair around in his Ford with manual brakes and gearshift, giving Scotland Yard palpitations. He and the King had another swim. By this time the Roosevelts had developed a father-&-motherly feeling towards this nice young couple ("Very, very delightful people," was the President's authorized phrase), whom they were equipped to entertain at home as no President since Taft could have done...
Next to tossing off a round phrase of his own or snagging a quote from Shakespeare, John Llewellyn Lewis likes nothing more than to be shaved in bed. At times of stress, he indulges this soothing fancy whenever a barber is within telephone call...
...real feelings, and real situations. That most of the paintings were framed and hung by members of the Museum Class contributes not a little toward making the exhibit something more than a vapid supplement to an afternoon tea party. There is nothing in the whole collection reminiscent of the phrase "art for art's sake," that syrupy expression which connotes lack of sincerity: in short, lack of something to say. Therefore, those people who attend art exhibits because it is the thing to do--pseudo-aesthetes who come well stocked with the latest artistic catchwords and cliches--are advised...
...think, President Seymour who first used that rather mealy-mouthed phrase, "the indefinable something that is Yale." The meaning of these six unctuous words is ephemeral and open to whatever interpretation the listener may be disposed to make; usually, for the outlander, they mean about as much as abracadabra. But to us Elis, who glibly parrot this phrase, it leaves an impression of abstract vapidity that often passes for profundity. A catchword that rolls neatly off the tongue, it is used with equanimity both for accepting praise and for repelling criticism. What, then, does it mean...
...pondered war, Sir Edward Grey stood at the window of the Foreign Office, watching the lamps being lit in the summer dusk, and said: "The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime." To those who expect another war, his phrase seems optimistic ; many are in a mood to say: "They will never be lit again...