Word: trait
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...ANYWAY, IF one's goal is to compromise compassion with realism, then it would seem wiser to start from the point of defending absolute compassion. There will certainly always be someone around who is eager to defend absolute realism; it seems to be an inbred American intellectual trait. And so the compromise will be reached further toward realism if you start at some reasonable middle ground. Tsongas doesn't seem to like the messiness of negotiation; much better, he says, if both sides just decide beforehand that they'll agree on everything. But what if both sides don't decide...
Back in October, that trait was easy to overlook--Haig was only a tough-looking general with visions of grandeur and Reagan was an unemployed ex-governor. Now Haig is the President's Secretary of State, a post which, as many presidents have stressed, should never serve as one man's bully pulpit or stepping stone to the Oval Office. As recent events have shown, Haig has yet to learn that lesson...
...directly manipulating the genes?those tiny command posts of heredity that tell living cells whether they will become bacteria, toads or men. Thus a plant or animal might acquire a characteristic from a totally unrelated species and pass this new trait on to future generations...
...Thanksgiving mood testifies to an enduring-and endearing-trait in the American character: a willingness once an election is over to downplay old divisions and give a new leader a sporting chance to show what he can do. It is a trait for which to give abundant thanks...
When Iowa's Culver played fullback for Harvard's varsity, he was known as pugnacious, a trait he's retained through his career in the world's most exclusive club. Culver should feel lucky he's never been tamed, for he's had to drawn on every political instinct in this year's battle against Republican Charles Grassley, the Moral Majority candidate in the Corn State...