Word: quack
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...mere words socialism and communism," wrote George Orwell 62 years ago, "draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex maniac, Quaker, 'Nature Cure' quack, pacifist and feminist in England." Today it is the bogeymen of globalization and world trade that bring out their own kooky crowd. There they were in Seattle last week: Zapatistas, anti-Nike-ites, butterfly defenders. They joined steelworkers and the Sierra Club, Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan in a giant anti-trade jamboree...
...coming years will also see the demise of the quack-laden Office of Alternative Medicine, which seven years ago was foisted on the reluctant National Institutes of Health, largely at the insistence of Tom Harkin, the otherwise sensible Senator from Iowa who believes in the curative powers of bee pollen. Talk about getting stung. Taxpayers will be incredulous when they become aware that after spending millions of dollars in its first seven years "investigating" highly questionable alternative therapies, the OAM failed to validate or--more significant--invalidate any of them (with the possible exception of acupuncture). And they...
Irregular and regular verbs embody the two underlying tricks behind the gift of articulate speech: words and rules. A word is a memorized link between a sound and a meaning. The word duck does not look, walk or quack like a duck. But we can use it to convey the idea of a duck because we all once learned to connect the sound with the idea...
...looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. Or so the saying goes. In Boston, however, a new flock of ducks have begun to emerge in hues of pink, green, blue and other colors Mother Nature never intended. As they ride down the street or float down the Charles, the gratuitous quack, quack, quacking of history hungry tourists, exuberant children and theatrical guides reverberates off of a disinterested Boston. (For the uninitiated: duck passengers are required to make quacking noises when the tour passes Boston pedestrians...
...perfectly apt tribute to the inventor of psychoanalysis. But three years ago it appeared in danger of never opening at all. A band of scholars objected that the exhibit, though still being assembled, would be a fawning tribute to a figure who was outdated at best, a dishonest quack at worst. Library officials, stunned to find themselves thrust into a battle they were not prepared for, postponed the show, claiming lack of funds. Yet now the exhibit is about to open with hardly a peep. What happened...