Word: symbolic
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...associate "high culture" with antiquity. Take wine, for instance, a symbol associated with the upper classes of old. Good wine is always old wine; new wine, mere fermented grape juice. Even vintage, another word for classic, is derived from the Latin word for wine. However, old items are not always palatable on first try. Hence, true appreciation often needs to be cultivated. Only then has one developed taste and an appreciation of the finer, more delicate and intellectual side of life...
...fire-sale prices--are today worth a fortune. If Keating had been able to ride out the real estate crash that bankrupted operators just as smart as he was, bondholders might have got their money back. But that's a junk-bond if. The Phoenician, derided as a symbol of Keating's wretched excess, is a crown jewel for its new owner, ITT-Sheraton, and worth at least twice what Keating spent to build...
...that more matters than classes, term papers and internships, but it doesn't send a clear picture of what exactly is more important. The Elmo craze has shown that even cuteness and harmless things can bring out the viciousness of the holiday season; Elmo is an adorable but malleable symbol...
Despite the fact that I wish his prominence could be dismissed as an excellent product prediction, I think Elmo has really become a role model for the millennium. He is properly a symbol of wonder for the end of the 20th century, a figure of endless wonder at a world that unfolds before him. Perhaps Elmo, always energetic about exploring the unknown, is the proper role model for us as we face the complex problems like social security and Medicare that face our country and the complicated advances like the Internet that hint at the future. Perhaps Elmo...
Maybe that is why Elmo worries me; I oppose him because he seems so hard to oppose. Elmo is cute, but he is really second-rate, an easy symbol for people to cling to. At the inauguration, Clinton and others were unclear on where the bridge to the 21st century will lead exactly; and spoke in foggy phrases and labels. Washington seems to think that, like Elmo, they can be stylish and pull a cute thing and replace any real details. No wonder the committee thought Elmo would be a great addition to their party...