Word: uncertainly
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
There is little if any hope that euphemisms will ever be excised from mankind's endless struggle with words that, as T. S. Eliot lamented, bend, break and crack under pressure. For one thing, certain kinds of everyday euphemisms have proved their psychological necessity. The uncertain morale of an awkward teen-ager may be momentarily buoyed if he thinks of himself as being afflicted by facial "blemishes" rather than "pimples." The label "For motion discomfort" that airlines place on paper containers undoubtedly helps the squeamish passenger keep control of his stomach in bumpy weather better than if they were...
...beside the point, to contend that lies are deplorable. So they are; but they cannot be moralized or legislated away, any more than euphemisms can be. Verbal miasma, when it deliberately obscures truth, is an offense to reason. But the inclination to speak of certain things in uncertain terms is a reminder that there will always be areas of life that humanity considers too private, or too close to feelings of guilt, to speak about directly. Like stammers or tears, euphemisms will be created whenever men doubt, or fear, or do not know. The instinct is not wholly unhealthy; there...
...proposed penalties, Feather gave his "solemn pledge" that the unions would do something themselves about the stoppages. Such strikes account for 95% of all work stoppages in Britain, and last year cost the country 4,500,000 man-days. Whether Feather will be able to redeem his pledge is uncertain. In August, 1,300 blast-furnacemen at a steel plant in Port Talbot, Wales, ignored his efforts to end a three-week walkout that hammered steel output to a 17-month...
...both teacher and father to hundreds of college men, first experiencing the delights of learning, to scores of graduate students undergoing the painful transition from general to professional education, and to dozens of assistant professors anguished by the difficulty of resolving through intelligence alone their uncertain prospects and half-formed interests. He was a steady source of strength and insight to his peers, and all who shared his love of learning, no matter their age, were Robert McCloskey's peers...
...about 70 ft. away. The driver of the car thereupon backed out of the lane onto the main road and drove the other way-toward Dike Bridge. Look says that a man was driving the car and that a woman was on the front seat beside him. He is uncertain whether or not there was still a third person...