Week 3: vocabulary
1. volte-face: an about-face.
I was eventually eased out of the organisation, but not
before British policy had performed a volte-face on Cyprus, the colony had
gained independence, and yesterday's political wisdoms had suddenly been
repudiated.
-- George Urban, Radio Free Europe and the Pursuit of
Democracy
Among the pressures provoking these distresses were a
father's financial inadequacy and a growing awareness that, by finding
employment himself, he could ameliorate the family's exiguous circumstances.
-- Terence Brown, The Life of W. B. Yeats: A Critical Biography
The young man of the house was absorbed in his vegetable
garden and the possibilities for pecuniary profit that it held.
-- Samuel Chamberlain, Clementine in the Kitchen
I sometimes wonder whether those who traduce today's
television have any conception just how much is on offer to the growing number
of us with multi-channel television.
-- Peter Bazalgette, "Golden Age? This is it",
The Guardian, November 19, 2001
When I wake up in the morning, I can have my usual
breakfast -- a slightly bizarre concoction of three kinds of cold cereal topped
with grapes and a cup of decaf -- and then stagger back to bed for a
postprandial snooze.
-- Sylvan Fox, "It's Less Hectic Staying Put In One
Place", Newsday, April 3, 1994
I was fortunate to receive the. . . offer, which in
practical terms was a sinecure .
-- David Freeman, One of Us
But in retrospect, this period would prove to be the
apogee of O'Sullivan's career, although he always felt bigger and better things
were on his way.
-- Edward L. Widmer, Young America
It is in the nature of philosophical questions that they
do not have final, incontrovertible
answers, or, more exactly, that every answer raises new questions.
-- George Soros, Open Society: Reforming Global
Capitalism
In a season of ruffles, frills and furbelows, simple cuts inneutral shades stand out.
-- "Designers Head for Neutral Territory", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 27, 1997
He was a bad drunk and became maudlin and weepyand would often have to be carried home by his friends.
-- Barry Miles, Jack Kerouac, King of the Beats
Legislative sessions are long, constituents' demands areexigent, policy problems are increasingly complicated.
-- Anthony King, "Running Scared", The Atlantic, January1997
Anorexics, for example, clearly contravene our
evolutionary dictate to eat.
-- Jerry A. Coyne, "Of Vice and Men", The New Republic ,April 3, 2000
I have confessed myself a temerarious theologian, andin that passage from boyhood to manhood I rangedwidely in my search for some permanently satisfyingTruth.
-- H. G. Wells, The New Machiavelli
Tell me now, fairy as you are - can't you give me acharm, or a philter, or something of that sort, to makeme a handsome man?
"
-- Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
People might be reticent to put a more sizable amount into their 401(k) because they're worried it will affecttheir lifestyle.
-- Alexandra Zendrian, "Feel The Retirement Burn", Forbes, July 29, 2009
It was said of her, by a man given to such
pronunciamentos, that "in conversation she had more
wit than any other person, male or female."
-- Jonathan Yardley, "Ladies of the Grand Tour", Washington Post, December 16, 2001
Her tongue, so voluble and kind,
It always runs before her mind.
It always runs before her mind.
-- Matthew Prior, "Truth and Falsehood",
Fantasy baseball, in its modern form, was born 30 yearsago as a diversion played by a group of erudite baseball fans.
-- John Oudens, "Fantasy Baseball", New York Times , January 23, 2010
In the world of the crematoriums hatred is a recklessand incontinent passion, incompatible with the humdrumnature of the quotidian task.
-- William Styron, Sophie's Choice
Back in our expatriate days, we roistering provincials,
slap-happy to be in Paris, drunk on the beauty of oursurroundings, were fearful of retiring to our Left Bankhotel rooms lest we wake up back home, retrieved byparents who would remind us of how much they hadinvested in our educations, and how it was time for us to
put our shoulders to the wheel.
-- Mordecai Richler, Barney's Version
Mr. and Mrs. Kenwigs thanked every lady andgentleman, seriatim , for the favour of their company.
-- Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickelby
The loose detritus of thought, washed down to usthrough long ages.
-- H. Rogers, Essays
And when the final blessing of a perfect French cookappeared to make our domestic picture complete, we became utter sybarites, frank worshippers of thesplendors of the French cuisine.
-- Samuel Chamberlain, Clémentine in the Kitchen
Blatant symbolism combines with outrageous humor. This ad
campaign has continuity, for the preceding ad featured the loquacious bottle
talking to a tomato.
-- Philip B. Meggs, Meggs' History of Graphic Design
It's difficult to imagine a tyro publishing a book on
medical procedures or economic theory.
-- Philip Zaleski, "God Help the Spiritual Writer", New York Times, January 10, 1999
Comments
Post a Comment