Word: standoffishly
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...danger last week of posthumous teddy-bearization, with eulogists praising him as "calm" and "gentle." That wasn't even true of his TV persona--he laced his humor with sarcasm and sexual danger, and he batted Ed McMahon about like a pińata. In private Carson was standoffish and in his marriages admittedly no saint. His jokes about his serial monogamy endeared him to viewers, but you don't rack up three divorces by being a harmless sweetie...
POLO: Yeah, that was Bob enjoying himself. Dustin, you're the first person I've ever heard say in front of Bob that he's shy. But he really is. I mean, he's intimidating, of course--he's Robert De Niro. But he's not standoffish or cold. Just...
Prouty describes the teenage Kerry as shy, not to be confused with standoffish...
...class like this? The Undergraduate Council clearly doesn’t agree with me — that body awarded the lecturer the Levenson Memorial Teaching Prize in 2002. Even expected outlets of discontent don’t pipe up. The Harvard Republican Club? Not a word. The ever-standoffish University President Lawrence H. Summers? Nothing—in fact, he’s a guest lecturer, probably the most conservative on the docket...
...College christened its new life-sciences building the Franklin-Wilkins building. But in life Franklin never felt a need to be defended. Prickly she may have been, even brusque and difficult, but she was never troubled by bitterness over what might have been. Who was Rosalind Franklin? The snippy, standoffish, supporting player? The brilliant, wronged woman? Or somebody else entirely? There are deeper mysteries in life than DNA, and some of them may never be solved. --By Lev Grossman