Word: phrasings
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...phrase gerrymander, coined in the early 1800s to describe a salamander- shaped district engineered by Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry, originally referred to an amphibian of convenience, the creature of whichever self-serving pol was carving up the turf. Such shenanigans have generally been deemed dubious because American democracy is based on the premise that legislators are elected to represent geographic regions and communities -- diverse constituencies that share sewer systems and schools and workplaces -- rather than a specific ethnic group, economic class or partisan faction. Circles and squares were fine; snakes and salamanders and inkblots tended to be perversions committed...
...differences between labor and management stem, however, from one key phrase frequently repeated in the document: "work covered by this agreement...
...That phrase summarizes for academics the appeal to academics of what is unquestionably the big time the way "The Show" does for minor league baseball players. Harvard professors are having "real impact," and the catalogue of policy initiatives they are involved with is impressive and comphrehensive...
...Equal athletic opportunity for members of both sexes" is a phrase subject to as many different interpretations as the strike zone in major league baseball...
...major point of At the Hand of Man is that conservation efforts must take account of human needs. He presents this as a novel idea, although the phrase "sustainable development" has been a mantra for international environmental organizations for two decades. Still, the best part of the book consists of case studies of imaginative projects in Namibia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania that create economic incentives for local people to protect wildlife...