Word: riffraff
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...much fun. The background is 1930s journalism, including the early days of TIME and big- and small-time newspapering in Texas and elsewhere. Jenkins, too much in love with his subject, throws in every good story he knows about gangsters, FBI men, reporters, editors, oil wildcatters and similar riffraff. The effect is to scatter the novel's focus so that a complete, fully plotted detective story about a crooked Texas Ranger can be misplaced, almost unnoticed, in one , corner. A dominant central figure might hold all of this together, but the novel's heroine, Texas newspaperwoman Betsy Throckmorton, is something...
Reaction to the takeover has been generally positive. Mayor Cucci claims to welcome the move. So does Board Member Dolores Eccleston, who declares, "I'm hoping that the firm hand of the commissioner will clean out some of the riffraff...
...soon as you mention his name, he gets respect. As far as I'm concerned, they're crucifying him." A young mother in a powder blue jumpsuit, who is picking up her small daughter, says of Gotti, "I think he's good for 101st Avenue. There's no riffraff around here. If it weren't for him, this neighborhood would be carried away by the drug addicts." Every year on the Fourth of July, the Bergen Hunt and Fish Club holds a picnic for the community, with fireworks, hot dogs, hamburgers and ice cream. A woman wearing red Reebok sneakers...
...which they take the Lord's name in vain? So what if Sunset Carson is his hero? So what if he drinks sarsaparilla at the Crystal Palace? "The people are beginning to realize they're either gonna have law enforcement," the marshal said,"or they're gonna let the riffraff take over the town." For his part, no matter whether he is reappointed for two more years this fall, the man is stuck on Tombstone. The other day, he traded his Winnebago and a 1948 diamond- studded, flat-top Gibson guitar for a 65-ft. mobile home...
...keep one step ahead of some burly evictors. But Omar's Uncle Nasser (Saeed Jaffrey) comes to the rescue and agrees to employ his nephew, eventually allowing him to manage the eponymous laundrette, at that point nothing more than an unprofitable hangout for skinheads and other local riffraff...