Word: swanning
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...imaginary Rapstone and its inhabitants, larger events are disclosed: sugar rationing after the war, ban- the-bomb marches during the edgy '50s, the rise of swinging London, the Profumo scandal, strikes, strife and the sinking of traditions in a new tide of commercialism. The fate of the Swan's Nest, an old inn in the vicinity of Rapstone, is symptomatic: "In the course of time it would be taken over by a motel chain, re-christened Ye Olde Swan's Nest and given piped music, colour TVs in every bedroom . . . an enlarged car park and the Old Father Thames Carvery...
...pain and humiliation as sexual turn-ons. But more sweepingly, it forbade showing women "as sexual objects for domination, conquest, violation, exploitation, possession or use." A federal appeals court was concerned that the ordinance might encompass everything from the ! Iliad to Barbarella, to say nothing of Leda and the Swan...
Every opera fan knows how high Tosca bounced, when the next swan left and what Maria Callas thought of Renata Tebaldi; disasters, bons mots and bitchy remarks seem integral to the art. Ethan Mordden, who knows his way around backstage (Demented: The World of the Opera Diva; The Splendid Art of Opera), has gleefully amassed hundreds of such anecdotes, exchanges and choice bits of opera lore, along with some less celebrated stories. "Yet there is history here," he says, "for if many of the tales are silly, many others are telling...
Iowa has promised Kentucky 240 wild turkeys for 120 river otters. Colorado gave away pine martens, a relative of the weasel, for otters from Wisconsin. An official from Minnesota plans to travel to Alaska to get 50 trumpeter swan eggs. In one of the more elaborate wildlife trades to date, Idaho sent 50 chukar partridges to North Dakota, which sent 150 sharp-tailed grouse to Kansas, which sent 50 wild turkeys to Idaho. The trading has even taken on an international flavor. Michigan made an across-the-border swap with Canada: wild turkeys for moose. "It's like trading baseball...
...then try to track down the one bearing his name. The Elements of Style should be somewhere by the desk where the letters get written. The clutter of the children's rooms ought to yield dog- eared copies of Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan. The Essays and Letters are both within easy reach of the overstuffed armchair in front of the fireplace. For A Subtreasury of American Humor, the best bet is probably the bedside table in the guest room, where Aunt Mary left it a month or so ago. E.B. White's death...