Word: houseboy
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...around upper-middle-class dining tables, a frequent topic of conversation is "la gaucherie americaine"-which may include anything from the way G.I.s gun their big trucks through Saigon's streets to the contention that one U.S. embassy official speaks to President Thieu as though he were a "houseboy." Americans are blamed for ruining once beautiful Saigon ("Why do they cut down all the trees?") and for turning all of Viet Nam into a gigantic garbage pile. Though such talk has long been in vogue in educated circles, much of it may result from the desire of some Vietnamese...
...From her first appearance, as the kid sister of Samson's beloved, she is obviously excited by Samson's body, and her reaction to his outwrestling a lion is explicitly sexual. DeMille tentatively suggests Delilah's role as emasculating bitch (at one point she turns Samson into a docile houseboy), but ultimately backs away from this idea and has her "repent." Still, between DeMille's perversity and Hedy Lamarr's devastating charms, Delilah emerges as a highly unusual, if unresolved, extrapolation of the Bible...
Need for Spontaneity. Kenyatta paid close attention to diplomatic detail: antagonists were seated well apart from one another; security guards were watchful but unobtrusive (two were stationed in the attic of Government House); detailed instructions were posted all the way down to the houseboy level. "It should be noted that guests from Ethiopia are partial to good strong coffee," read one notice. The leaders met in Kenyatta's library-the most soundproof room in the mansion. There was purposely no agenda, for, as Jomo said: "That would have deprived us of spontaneity...
...notion that the diplomat's life abroad is cushioned by platoons of perfectly trained servants, Villard lays it to rest by describing the time that a West African houseboy was shown how to garnish a wild boar for an important dinner. "Consternation reigned," says Villard, "when the dish was triumphantly brought in, apple clenched firmly between the houseboy's teeth, parsley protruding from his nose...
...complains: "Is that all? Is that all?" In his office he swivels constantly like a metronome while he scribbles short answers to memos, receives visitors or pores over the pieces from newspapers and magazines that are clipped for him by Stella Russell, by his secretary, and by his Negro houseboy who, Simon insists, has a nose for news. Eternally restless, he constantly tweaks his ears, rubs his eyes, pulls at his neck, scratches his ankle, and chews constantly on a phenomenal number of Italian caramels that somehow do not seem to increase his steady weight...