Word: trait
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...comprehend. It almost seems indecent for a land so big to have a population so small: 701,000 people in all, or five to every square mile of atrocious magnificence. Each resident reflects the Montana character: a cussed inconsistency that some people call rugged individualism. It is a trait bestowed by birthright ("You're not a Montanan until you've weathered 40 winters," the saying goes) and steeped in frontier nostalgia. Montanans are closet cowboys in haunting pursuit of the roundup, even while struggling with realities. Democrats vote Republican, Republicans vote Democrat. The naive are suspicious, the shrewd...
...American. For one thing, after the extermination or exile of European Jewish leadership during World War II, the task of analyzing and shaping Jewish thought fell largely to American Jews. But the basic reason for the influence is that Judaism lives by dialectic. Classic rabbinical law displayed this trait; on every question, great and small, there was always a majority opinion and minority opinion, and one balanced the other. Similarly, Jewish developments in the Diaspora influence the homeland, and the homeland in turn shapes the Diaspora...
There are personality differences between the sexes too. Although no trait is confined to one sex-there are women who exceed the male average even in supposedly masculine characteristics-some distinctions turn up remarkably early. At New York University, for example, researchers have found that a female infant stops sucking a bottle and looks up when someone comes into the room; a male pays no attention to the visitor...
Fierce Bulls. One trait thought to be affected by hormones is aggressiveness. In all cultures, investigators report, male infants tend to play more aggressively than females. While scientists think a genetic factor may be involved, they also observe that society fosters the difference by permitting male aggression and encouraging female adaptability. Some suggest that females may be as aggressive as men -but with words instead of deeds...
...near the peak of his considerable powers, he no longer favors the flashy, intricate but error-prone attacks of his younger days. He has become the classical tactician, launching his assaults from solid positional bases, overpowering rather than dazzling his opponents. Paradoxically, his celebrated killer instinct was the one trait that seemed to threaten his chances against Petrosian. Prematch speculation had it that Fischer, the only grand master who consistently prefers to risk defeat rather than settle for a tie game, might be a setup for the Petrosian ploy of forcing draws. Said U.S. Grand Master Larry Evans, who served...