Word: verbalism
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Last night’s preliminary election narrowed the mayoral field from four candidates to two. Menino, referred to by some as “Mumbles” for his thick Boston accent and history of verbal gaffes, swept roughly half the vote...
Juliane Kaminski of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, began exploring the verbal gifts of dogs when she saw a television show about a border collie named Rico--an animal that to all appearances could fetch dozens of different objects in response to their names. Kaminski put Rico to a rigorous test and confirmed that the dog could learn names for more than 200 toys, balls and other items. "I think Rico is a highly talented dog," says Kaminski, "but we've also found new dogs that do what Rico...
Guards and other facility staff also say that what they view as the new commissioner's more permissive regime has undermined their authority and made their already stressful, dangerous jobs that much more so. Small infractions like verbal abuse cannot be as readily disciplined - by withdrawing privileges or adding time - and this leads, they argue, to an escalation by kids who feel empowered. "The staff feel alienated from state officials, who they feel are not supporting them enough," says Stephen Madarasz, spokesperson for the New York Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA; Local 1000), which represents the guards and operational staff...
...when a reporter for the daily El País asked him about it two days later, Berlusconi went on a verbal rampage full of quotable gems. His confirmation that showgirls were frequent guests at his dinners: "Of the males here, raise your hands who wouldn't want to eat in front of [beautiful women] instead of [less attractive] people." His denial of ever knowingly being involved in prostitution: "I have never paid a lira, a euro for sex. I say this also because, for those who love to conquer, the joy and the most beautiful satisfaction...
...Rhetoric, one of the three ancient arts of discourse, harkens back to the Greeks—beginning with the fifth century B.C.E. Sophists, or even earlier. Long ago, thinkers highly valued verbal persuasion and deemed it a central facet of education. The field of rhetoric changed and developed during Roman rule and onward, until Harvard itself established the Boylston Professorship of Rhetoric and Oratory in 1806. It was Francis J. Child, the second professor to hold the position, who shifted the job once and for all toward literature and away from public speaking. Now, Harvard’s commitment...