Word: unctuous
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...think, President Seymour who first used that rather mealy-mouthed phrase, "the indefinable something that is Yale." The meaning of these six unctuous words is ephemeral and open to whatever interpretation the listener may be disposed to make; usually, for the outlander, they mean about as much as abracadabra. But to us Elis, who glibly parrot this phrase, it leaves an impression of abstract vapidity that often passes for profundity. A catchword that rolls neatly off the tongue, it is used with equanimity both for accepting praise and for repelling criticism. What, then, does it mean...
...best-paid man in the radio business is Major Edward Bowes, unctuous dominie of Chrysler's Original Amateur Hour each Thursday night at 9 over CBS. The Original Amateur Hour, as virtually every U. S. radio listener knows, is Opportunity Night on a national scale. Four years ago last week Major Bowes put it there, after a tryout year at Manhattan's WHN. Now the Major draws down a fee which the radio business covertly estimates at $20,000 a week for producing the radio program, collects between $10,000 and $15,000 weekly on the side from...
William Roerick, in the part of Algernon Moncrieff, a sort of prototype of Bertie Wooster, is a little too much the romantic lover and not enough of the playboy. Ainsworth Arnold supplies a refreshing blast of unctuous lechery as the Rev. Canon Chasuble...
...last Circumstance came to the aid of the Vagabond in the form of an insurance agent; he was a friend of the family and, like most agents, he wanted to protect the lives and property of all his relatives. He suggested in his bland, almost unctuous way that the Vagabond be provided with an accident insurance policy; thus, when he got hurt or killed, there would be money to cover the situation. It was a brilliant idea, worthy of the high ideals of material civilization; the family embraced it quickly, and the Vagabond was bundled off to be examined...
Then there are such diversions as the crossword puzzle in the Traveler. The better ones will keep you going for two hours after dinner and what more could you ask. Charles Lamb's pen name was "Elia". The synonym for "Unctuous" is "oily". The word (in cross-word puzzles) for "inflexibility" is "rigid". God help you if they want the name of a town on the Isle of Wight...