Word: wits
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Lightning arced hotly around the stage in the lithe body of a girl in a metallic leotard (Matt Turney), rousing loiterers into dances that were alternately elegant, calculating or frenzied. Sometimes serious, Lightning was also full of the ironic wit with which Graham occasionally likes to prick the dance world's pretensions. The girl's coolest, most contained movements, for instance, often prompted her partners to shatter the mood with explosive, calisthenic displays...
With Pete Seeger gone, Lee Hays is certainly the outstanding individual artist in the group. Despite a bad cold Saturday, his resonant bass voice and his physical immensity gave both color and humor to the performance. Serving as emcee, he kept the concert moving with droll introductions and wry wit...
...legislation. By counting silent members as present, he frustrated the Democratic minority's parliamentary ploy of preventing a quorum by refusing to vote. The "Reed Rules," many of which are still in use, ended House filibusters for all time. Reed was known as well for his cynical wit as for his autocratic rulings. His definition of a statesman: "A dead politician." His sardonic tribute to Progressive Republican Theodore Roosevelt: "Theodore, if there is one thing for which I admire you, it is your original discovery of the Ten Commandments...
...paragraph as composed by Vaughan is not to be confused with the paragraph as defined by grammarians. Sometimes Vaughan's product is no more than a sentence, and seldom does it exceed two. When successful, it is a marvel of compression, laced with wisdom or wit. "The paragraph is an uncompromising medium," says Vaughan. "In 25 or 30 words you have to say something wise or funny, with no chance to pad it out or conceal the lack of point. Also, the paragraph presupposes some information on the part of the reader. The paragrapher can't explain what...
Cost of Living. One of the first paragraphers on record was a Louisville, Ky., editor named George D. Prentice. In the mid-19th century Prentice honed his paragraphs into needles to puncture rival editors. In his hands and others, the paragraph took on the quality of wit and humor that characterize it still. One of the best of the later breed was the Indianapolis' News's late, famed Frank McKinney ("Kin") Hubbard, who, as Abe Martin, turned out paragraphs by the thousands. "I think some folks are foolish." wrote Kin Hubbard. "to pay what it costs to live...