Word: thumb
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Frank Dascoli, 48, seemed the epitome of the big-league baseball umpire. His gestures were flamboyant and unmistakable; his concentration was intense. His calls were sure: this season a writers' poll voted him the best ball caller in the business. Relying on his "fast thumb" (he once ejected 18 players from an exhibition game), Dascoli insisted on absolute obedience in every game he worked. But good as he was, Dascoli committed the umpire's unforgivable sin: he lost his temper in public. Fortnight ago, for calling National League President Warren Giles "incompetent and spineless," Dascoli was summarily dismissed...
Last week Handicapper Trotter, 34, closeted himself in his concrete-walled office for 60 hours in all, handicapping such horses as Bolinas Boy, Chief of Chiefs and Wolfram. Pursuing an elusive goal-"I'm always satisfied with a photo finish" -he follows a general rule of thumb: three lbs. of weight equals one length in a mile race. From his performance charts (meticulously maintained by a trained, fulltime staff of nine), his own turf experience (he began working at tracks when he was 19) and reliable paddock chatter, Trotter gets the information he needs to assign weights: the ability...
Although official reaction to the situation has not been forthcoming, yesterday afternoon saw some members of the B. & G. crew dusting off the steps of Sever, Emerson, Memorial Chapel, and the Union with more than usual enthusiasm, while others were busy covering the Widener approach with well-sharpened thumb-tacks...
...less authentic country singers), and 2) the employment of a five-string banjo technique known affectionately as "pickin' scruggs." This technique, which moved one astigmatic observer to compare Scruggs's achievement on the banjo to Paganini's on the violin, involves a clawlike motion with thumb and two fingers that serves to transform the banjo player from a plunk-plunking accompanist into a virtuoso soloist. Nobody has heard anything to equal it, says one folk expert, since the glorious days of Fisher Hendley and his Aristocratic Pigs, famed hillbillies of the early...
...first motive - "thumbsucking without the thumb" - is predictably Freudian, the second is quite practical. The sound waves produced by humming are far more effective than the low volume would indicate. This is because humming is a "purer" tone. "When a person hums, he can blot out most of the sounds of speech," Ostwald reports. "Many hum to themselves while concentrating on tasks, particularly if these involve abstract thinking or fine motor skills...