Word: trait
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From the moment he arrived in the U.S. from New Malden, Surrey two years ago, a 42-year-old Briton named William George Philpot began wondering what he could do about an American trait that bothered him. At every traffic light someone behind him honked a horn. Five weeks ago in Detroit, Philpot ordered a metal sign. He bolted it to the rear of his car and set forth. The honking stopped. Last week, as a final test, he drove through clangorous Manhattan. Even there, the sign worked. Philpot sighed with relief, and set out in his self-made zone...
Since neither black bread nor sugar cane can be found in U.S. metropolitan areas, Dr. Neumann concludes: "The chewing of pencils, leather or pieces of wood by children should be regarded as a wholesome instinct and not as a neurotic trait...
...with three huge photographs. One of them showed a group of men standing in a doorway, and another showed a group of men walking down the street. These men, according to Glynn, were Communists who entered his district at election time. "They always hid their faces from photographers," a trait which the Representative's mother had warned him against. "Here," said Glynn, pointing to the third picture, "is the same group with different faces." Ignoring the laughter, Representative Glynn ended his testimony by shouting "Anything in Bill 426 I am against!" "For, you're for," howled the spectators, as Glynn...
...nexus of flesh and tissue that joined Chang and Eng together at the waist is not an inherent trait in the Siamese (Chang and Eng, as a matter of fact, were Chinese). Such an anatomical caprice might occur anywhere, in any multiple birth. Fortunately, it rarely does. Most doctors believe that congenitally joined twins are the result of an imperfect splitting of the egg during gestation. The resultant monstrous births may be two complete individuals like Chang and Eng, joined at a single point. Or "they" may be a single individual equipped with an extra (generally useless) arm, leg, head...
Truman's speech, said Tarle, was "compounded of syrupy speculations." The U.S. President "resembled most the Dickensian Pecksniff. They have the same manner-alternating a fox's tail and a wolf's teeth . . . [Truman's] distinguishing trait is a rather disgusting simulation of sincerity, simplicity and good humor . . . [His true policy] is an appeal to force [concealed by] a mixture of oleaginous hypocrisy and disgusting boasting...