Word: standoffishness
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...wanted an American Century or a minimal state, you could not be comfortable with Soviet aggrandizement. Lenin was anathema whether your philosophical polestar was Thomas Aquinas or Ayn Rand. Like an offensive guest at a lousy party, Communism drew together a lot of people who would otherwise have been standoffish...
...Moscow about how they should deal with Reagan, whether they need to bargain with him seriously or whether they can just wait for the next President." Reagan's decision last week to abandon the unratified SALT II ceilings on strategic weapons is likely to make Moscow even more standoffish...
...welcoming delegation at the Moscow airport. Under the current Soviet sobriety crackdown, there was no vodka either. The choice of an elegant suburban dacha for the talks was intended to encourage constructive informality for discussions normally cemented in rigid protocol. But behind the lace curtains, the Soviets proved standoffish...
...difficulty in agreeing on what to call one another. In England it is considered very proper and Oxbridgian to address a man simply by his last name. Most Americans call one another by their first names, even if they have just met. Except in Anglophile circles, many consider it standoffish, if not rude, to address a fellow worker as Mr. Jones. On the other hand, a fair number of people still dislike being patted on the shoulder and called Harry by someone who is trying to sell something. Women, in particular, object to being addressed as Susan by a doctor...
...play will not, of course, transform the court overnight. By losing Burger and gaining Scalia, Reagan is in a narrow sense simply replacing one conservative with another. Nevertheless, Rehnquist, a shrewd intellect and popular figure on the court, promises to be a much more forceful leader than the plodding, standoffish Burger. "The Rehnquist-Scalia duo is infinitely more dynamic than the conservative wing was with Burger at the helm," says Constitutional Scholar Laurence Tribe of Harvard Law School. "I would be extremely surprised if over the next several years the effect is not to push the court to the right...