Word: refering
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...ditchdigging is known as a profession rather than a job. Janitors for several years have been elevated by image-conscious unions to the status of "custodians"; nowadays, a teen-age rock guitarist with three chords to his credit can class himself with Horowitz as a "recording artist." Cadillac dealers refer to autos as "preowned" rather than "secondhand." Government researchers concerned with old people call them "senior citizens." Ads for bank credit cards and department stores refer to "convenient terms"-meaning 18% annual interest rates payable at the convenience of the creditor...
...television may chat about their sex lives in terms that a decade ago would have made gynecologists blush; more often than not, these emancipated women still speak about their children's "going to the potty." Government spokesmen talk about "redeployment" of American troops; they mean withdrawal. When sociologists refer to blacks living in slums, they are likely to mumble about "nonwhites" in a "culturally deprived environment." The CIA may never have used the expression "to terminate with extreme prejudice" when it wanted a spy rubbed out. But in the context of a war in which "pacification of the enemy...
...Clothing (Hawthorn; $6.95), by using "underprivileged," we are "made to feel that it is all our fault." The modern reluctance to judge makes it more offensive than ever before to call a man a liar; thus there is a "credibility gap" instead. No up-to-date teacher would dare refer to a child as "stupid" or a "bad student"; the D+ student is invariably an "underachiever" or a "slow learner...
...surface," says Busia, "I like to appear gentle. But I can be tough if it requires." The premier, a quiet man whom followers refer to as "The Prof" may have to get tough. Living costs and unemployment are spiraling, not to mention the birthrate. Worst of all, Nkrumah's rule left Ghana with $1.45 billion in debts and badly in need of foreign investment...
...returned to his home, Castle Wolfsbrunnenweg, on a hill above the Neckar River in Heidelberg. Speer was 28 when he became Hitler's architect, 36 when he was appointed Munitions Minister, 41 when he entered Spandau. Today he is a white-haired 64-year-old whom Heidelbergers refer to -incorrectly, since he never held military rank-as "the general up there...