Word: squelch
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...souls wrested away by foreign upstarts from Hare Krishnas to Mormons to Aum Shinri Kyo wannabe-cults. Calling on a war chest (supplied by its duty-free, multimillion dollar oil export and cigarette import deals, according to the Russian-language weekly Kapital), the Church wields enough political clout to squelch the competition -- and keep Russian souls at home...
Such formal prose does not entirely squelch the sort of tomfooleries that Pynchon devotees so eagerly search out. When, for example, Mason takes offense at a remark by his partner, Dixon asks, "Tell me, what'd I say?" The anachronistic allusion to Ray Charles' future rock hit will tickle the cognoscenti. The book teems with other familiar Pynchonesque diversions: a talking dog that appears near the beginning and again near the end of the story; a four-ton cheese called "The Octuple Gloucester"; a journey by Mason to the inhabited center of the earth; cameo appearances by a number...
While this family has never been one to deny that "such things happen to them," they are unable to accept that anyone would ever find out. "We squelch [the world], blind ourselves to it with propriety and high-minded-ness and good cheer; act as though there's a few bad eggs out there, but the rest of us are just fine. But there's another world--a counterworld, you could say--where life is complicated and mistakes get made and women get pregnant when they're not supposed to and people do stupid things and betray each other...
...disturbances may also strengthen Arafat in his dealings with the Israelis. Says al-Khatib: "It proves to the Israelis that he has certain cards to play if they continue to stall the peace process." Certainly Arafat was in no great hurry to squelch the uprising. On Wednesday Israeli security officials expressed frustration that he was not responding to their appeals to restore calm. On Thursday afternoon Arafat issued a call to his forces for restraint. But it was half-hearted, and the violence, though lessened, continued into Saturday. Netanyahu, once so resolutely standoffish, phoned Arafat asking for a meeting...
...Greek airport improvement may have happened in a roundabout way--and as a result the Clinton Administration may come under fire for trying to play politics with airline safety. Last February, White House aides tried to squelch a Transportation Department warning to American travelers about lax safeguards against terrorism at the airport. White House aides feared such a warning would prompt a frosty reception for Hillary Clinton when she visited Athens in March to witness the lighting of the Olympic flame. Outraged FAA officials protested that travelers shouldn't be kept in the dark about the warning--which was required...