Word: wield
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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WHEN you travel anywhere in the world and say you're from Chicago, people will hold their arms pretending to wield a submachine gun and make rat-a-tat noises with huge, simpering grins on their faces--a futile attempt at portraying the city's gangster heritage. When you say that you live in Boston, people stretch out their arms to mimic driving a race car and make horrible screeching noises, with grimaces of abject horror on their faces. This shows an astute and intimate knowledge of the city...
...openly bending the regulations on fund limits. National politics is beset by special interests and schemers who have their own distant agendas and smell position or profits down the corridors of power. How many Bert Lances and Ed Meeses, with their singular financial styles, are circulating now, eager to wield federal authority next year? What often goes on in the political trenches is not acceptable in the calmer climates of government...
...bands Swing Out Sister and Curiosity Killed the Cat have also made a heavy Stateside impression by concocting easeful pop that shirks issues and shrugs off anything more serious than having a good time. Major American talent like Bruce Springsteen often carries a big thematic stick, but Britpoppers wield a club -- a nightclub where the solipsism of Thatcher's England is chilled out, prettied up and danced to till dawn. If you have the world's weight on your shoulders, after all, you can't shake your booty...
Admittedly, to be effective, a union must wield some amount of power. But I hope that the union organizers also realize that the union's first and foremost concern must be the employees...
They were also Catholic, which in that place and time meant they were not only inclined but well advised to share their bounty with those less fortunate and to wield their power with discretion. A boyhood chum, Bruce Leadbetter, says one reason Bruce Babbitt is uncomfortable addressing crowds is that "his family always emphasized leading quietly, influencing people, not jumping up on a box and talking down to them...