Word: meaninglessness
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Abolish parity. Probably no concept in modern government is more meaningless than parity, which is the relationship between the price that farmers collect for their crops and livestock, and what they pay for the goods and services that they use. Parity harks back to Washington's Depression-era effort to raise farm prices to their level in 1910-14, which farmers then remembered as "good times." The optimum parity is 100, the theoretical level that prevailed in pre-World War I days. Today, parity is running at a relatively high mark of 80. Considering that farm productivity has changed...
...Such questions try to squeeze profundity out of mere ambiguity. I doubt that even Pirandello knows where he intends them to lead. The play itself is not always strong enough to bear up under the load of philosophical significance, especially when the philosophy seems inconsistent or even meaningless...
...long-running quarrel with Egypt and Syria over the status of the Palestinian fedayeen in Jordan, at a meeting of the Arab League Defense Council. As long as the fedayeen are kept in check, Hussein would agree to the re-establishment of the Eastern Front, a largely meaningless unification of Arab armies under Egyptian command on Israel's border with Jordan. The King also got Syria and Egypt to agree that neither would undercut him if he suggested in Washington that the Arabs might finally recognize Israel in return for their occupied territories...
...schools with the worst problems are located. For an addict needing money for his next fix, a student with lunch money is an obvious target. Gang fights frequently spill over into school buildings. Vandalism alone costs schools $200 million a year nationally. Violent acts are often so seemingly meaningless that they defy reason. Outside Intermediate School 155 in New York's desolate South Bronx, a youngster was nearly stomped to death recently during an argument over a bottle of soda...
Disturbing too is that a meaningless interview should be given such an inordinate amount of screen time. The section dragged miserably, its length hardly justified by the penny-ante "atmosphere." In fact, the whole film is far too long (2 hours and 20 minutes), especially considering the emotionally charged nature of the subject matter. The personal, emotional, grieving scenes are by far the best and their impact is severely cut back by the long repetitious interviews with political figures. But if the total length is a bit much, it is almost saved by the perfect rhythm and timing...