Word: squeamishness
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...that seems to yield further plot divergence, comes with Burton's casting of Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane. The gawky schoolteaching Ichabod of the novel and cartoon becomes an incredibly attractive, law-practicing heartthrob. This Ichabod, as opposed to the weird-looking schlepp in the book, is squeamish but admirable, cowardly but endearing. And while he tries his hardest to temper his hunkiness by acting nevous and jumpy (which definitely elicits some giggles), Johnny can't help but be adorable. Depp's appeal creates a new dimension for Ichabod's character, allowing him to have a romantic relationship with Katrina...
...baby boomers are squeamish too. Does trying to stay young mean having to subject your delicate face to the surgeon's knife? What we'd much rather have is a cosmetic "quick fix": fresher, firmer skin with no blood and gore, very little healing time--and cheaper too. Cue the laser...
...Houses can do better than that. Instead of leaving their squeamish students to fend off the fearsome insects themselves, the College should do more to make sure the Houses are bug-free at the beginning of the term. Roaches may be indestructible in the face of nuclear annihilation, but one thing they can't withstand is a visit from the exterminator...
Even with management support, employees can be squeamish about offsites. The corporate retreat from hell was memorialized on an episode of The Simpsons, in which Homer and the other workers at Springfield's nuclear-power plant head up snow-covered Mount Useful in pairs, competing to be first to reach a cabin at the top. The boss cheats, the employees just want free sandwiches, and an avalanche sabotages the whole thing. In the real world, climbing a mountain or learning to handle a kayak with someone you've barely met or, even worse, someone you see at the office every...
Then there are those folks who altered history but in ways that make us a little bit squeamish. They launched notions that we're not all that proud of and that may have engendered consequences we regret. Edward Bernays, the father of public relations (what we now blithely call spin), figured out how to get people to buy things they did not really want and feel things they did not really believe in. His legacy may be political campaigns without content, women who thought Virginia Slims were liberating, and an epidemic of credit-card debt...