Word: phrase
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...enough insight or background for the reader to become familiar with her. The character is presented from a sterile distance, so that the reader has a vague idea of her, but little understanding. One of the most traumatic scenes, the moment that Stewart miscarries, is ended simply with the phrase "I had lost a part of myself". While this may be true, the reader needs more. What part of herself, and how did that feel? The reader is left to fill in the blanks...
...recall who coined the phrase "patience is a virtue," but the words are nonetheless ingrained in our collective head. They are uttered as if writ by God. Mothers remind their children, teachers their students and golf pros their frustrated amateurs. But I wonder if these immortal words deserve their sanctified status...
This immortal phrase encourages self-delusions such as: "Watching Baywatch is good for me because it allows me to most thoroughly absorb and understand exactly what Jefferson meant by the pursuit of happiness" or "Staying in the dining room so that none of my friends eat alone will teach me what Baumol and Blinder mean when they talk of consumers with different tastes and preferences...
Prop. 209 has engendered a small industry of polling on affirmative action. What the polls reveal is that the phrase is reasonably popular, but the word preferences is extremely unpopular. In real life, alas, there is no affirmative-action plan that doesn't involve preferences--that is, taking minority race or female gender into account as a plus factor. That's why affirmative action is another one of those issues on which it's more difficult than is immediately apparent to give the public what it wants. The debate around it really leads into a much larger and more profound...
...staff editorial went on to fault President Clinton for "governing from the middle," a pejorative phrase only in those zip codes where people actually find those "Mr. Jenkins" Tanqueray Ginads funny. While Bob Dole's big idea for a tax cut has been derided, elite quarters have also sneered at President Clinton's collection of little ideas. No, V-chips, school uniforms, curfews and food safety may not make liberals' mouths water in the way that universal health care coverage did. However, Clinton's assortment of pygmy proposals makes a real difference in people's lives...