Word: embarrassing
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...think at this point that the operation might hurt or embarrass the President...
...suburban Houston's affluent Memorial area, Pawnbroker Jean Davis last month installed a drive-in window so that once rich oil barons would not have to embarrass themselves by going through the shop's front door. Davis recently began dispatching a black limousine to bring in clients. At Shaw's Jewelry and Loan on the eastern edge of Houston's tony River Oaks section, pawnbroker loans are running nearly 20% above last year's pace. The new clients are bringing in everything from a $35,000 bronze statue to state-of- the-art stereo systems. One oil company executive came...
...word processor by a word processor. The author often employs three exclamation points !!! where one would suffice, shows a blithe disregard for grammar ("My mother used to tell my brother David and I to 'hope for the best and expect the worst' "), and produces metaphors that obviously embarrass their creator: "He felt that he had unwittingly stuck his hand into the Great Wasps' Nest of Life. As an image it stank." But all along he displays one talent that never flags -- he is able to convince the reader that the unreal is actually occurring. Critic Jacques Barzun once analyzed...
Suddenly one of the Westerners mastered his fright and whispered, "Stop, let him pass." The four came to a halt in the middle of the sidewalk. The KGB man, clearly unprepared for the maneuver, walked past them. The hound had become the hare. "Now let's catch up and embarrass him," said the correspondent. The reporters began jogging toward the KGB agent, who looked around, startled, and set off at a dead run. Pedestrians turned to stare at the sight: middle-aged men dressed in suits and overcoats pounding down a snowy sidewalk like bankers after...
Prosperous neighbors feel guilty. Bankrupt neighbors feel ashamed. Farmers who can afford new machines won't buy them, lest they embarrass friends. Machinery dealers go broke. Bankers anguish and hesitate -- and fail...