Word: spat
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...that. In personal affairs, he never forgave a slight, keeping a list of people who had insulted him and carefully noting the date when he considered that he had repaid them. He dueled often, one time so disdainfully that he ate cherries out of his cap and calmly spat the pits in his opponent's direction...
...quote is from Carlos Fuentes' novel Where the A ir Is Clear. The speaker is a former Mexican revolutionary who has turned businessman. Emiliano Zapata, a flesh-and-blood revolutionary with the unappeasable single-mindedness of a saint, no doubt would have spat at such words. He was a horse trainer and farmer who led the land-hungry campesinos of Mexico's south-central state of Morelos during the Mexican Revolution, which began in 1910. To Zapata opportunists like the character in the Fuentes book were cabrones(s.o.b.'s). "As soon as they see a little chance...
...treatment of foreign diplomats in Peking has markedly improved in recent months. They are allowed to travel outside the capital again, and even such arch-revisionists as the Yugoslavs are treated with courtesy. Two years ago, the dependents of Soviet diplomats were evacuated as Red Guards spat on them at the Peking airport and made them crawl under portraits of Mao Tse-tung; now these Soviet citizens are returning. A recent complaint to India over an attack on the Chinese embassy in New Delhi was stern but matter-of-fact, and there was no counter-demonstration in Peking-in stark...
Suddenly, it was no longer fun and games. Instead it had become a sad spectacle. It was, in fact, more like a bunch of big kids having a spat on the playground. Little Danny snitched that Georgie was hiring players without consulting him and with no regard for the team's budget. Georgie tattled that Danny was never around to consult. Danny claimed that Georgie demanded to be named general manager and was guilty of such naughty behavior as sending an assistant to spy on another team. Georgie said that he "never asked for anything for myself, only...
...treated as practically state secrets. But in a week of rioting and sporadic shootings, the toll reached at least eight and possibly 18 dead, with perhaps a hundred wounded on both sides, and more than 2,000 arrested. It was a heavy cost for what began as a minor spat between the granaderos, or riot police, and prep-school students affiliated with the 90,000-student National University. As the scrap spilled into the streets, the students directed their anger toward the traditionally revered personage of Mexico's President, and seized the chance of disrupting the upcoming Olympics...