Word: puritanly
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...more than a recreation of what happened. The producers cut miles of film showing procedural debates, and much that was relevant and exciting as well. What they saved were the fantastic scenes of a battle between the super-patriotism of a twisted, treacherous, almost convincing senator and the puritan New England decency of Joseph Welch, special counsel for the Army...
...pleasure is increasingly considered an almost constitutional right rather than a privilege, in which self-denial is increasingly seen as foolishness rather than virtue. While science has reduced fear of long-dreaded earthly dangers, such as pregnancy and VD, skepticism has diminished fear of divine punishment. In short, the Puritan ethic, so long the dominant moral force in the U.S., is widely considered to be dying, if not dead, and there are few mourners...
...sexual mores in the U.S. remains the fragility of American marriage. The institution has never been easily sustained; "forsaking all others," in human terms, represents a belief that in an average life, loneliness is a greater threat than boredom. But the U.S. has a special concept of marriage, both Puritan and romantic. In most Eastern societies, marriages are arranged by families; the same is true in many parts of Europe, and there, even where young people are free to choose, they often choose for purely practical reasons. In arranged marriage, it is expected that love may or may not come...
...roof; the American aim is to provide personal happiness. Partly as a result, the U.S. has developed what sociologists call "serial polygamy," often consisting of little more than a succes sion of love affairs with slight legal trimmings. Cynics point out that serial polygamy was a fact even in Puritan times, when men had three or four wives because women were apt to die young; nowadays, divorce rather than death provides variety...
...bathrooms, and bigger ones at that. And the rich are asking for and getting bathrooms with pool-type tubs, wall-to-wall carpeting, mirrored ceilings, arched canopies, private patios, and sometimes a picture-window view. In these circles, the bathroom is no longer thought of in its puritan context as strictly (and slightly shamefully) utilitarian, but as a sybaritic place of permitted indolence and luxury...