Word: trivial
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...this makes for slow action; a static quality pervades the stories. There is no movement or direction; the stories are themselves suspended in time. The narrators try to relate episodes which encompass vast spans of time and succeed only in describing trivial incidents meaningless in themselves. Guessing, wondering, regretting, and yearning constitute most of the action in these episodes. The tendency is to pause and to look inside, silently...
...Reagan supporter and you will, at best, hear the argument that Reagan has created a genuine recovery and, at worst, be faced with a catty smile and a refusal to discuss such a trivial issue...
After playing too much Trivial Pursuit, jaded fans often complain that they have heard the questions already. But for Fred L. Worth of Sacramento, Calif., this happened last June on his first time around. The queries were familiar, Worth claims, because he wrote them. Last week in Los Angeles federal court Worth slapped the Canadian creators of the game with a $300 million lawsuit, charging copyright infringement. A former air-traffic controller, Worth is the author of nine books on trivia and currently writes for the ABC quiz show Trivia Trap...
...Memphis, says she has often been "given grief for wearing pants." As for formal dinners, she goes on, "the big thing these days is white linen, shined crystal, elegance all over the place-and then after dinner, take off your shoes, lie down on the floor, and play Trivial Pursuit all evening. I guess what's significant is that Trivial Pursuit just hit Memphis about a month ago." Comments an employee at an advertising agency: "You ask me about nightclubs? There are no nightclubs in Memphis. My God, we just heard of fettucini here in June...
...into a game of gaffe exploitation. "Modern debates are the political version of the Indianapolis Speedway," charges Political Scientist Nelson Polsby of the University of California, Berkeley. "What we're all there for-the journalists, the political pundits, the public-is to see somebody crack up in flames." Trivial mistakes get blown out of all proportion. Harking back to some celebrated ones from past debates, Kansas Senator Robert Dole, the admitted loser of a TV match against Walter Mondale in 1976 when they were opposing candidates for Vice President, offers a caustic list of no-nos for debaters...