Word: oneupmanship
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...Russians have so far spent more money than the Chinese, but the game of oneupmanship, which the Chinese probably invented, may have already been won by Peking. In Luang Prabang, the capital of figurehead King Savang Vatthana, the Chinese have promised to build a new National Assembly building that will overshadow Moscow's projected gift, a giant statue of the King...
...Somebody. As a young minnow among real estate sharks, Ringer, now 37, was repeatedly cheated out of most of his broker's fee in "routine commissiondectomies." Then he discovered what he calls intimidation−really traditional oneupmanship. He started sending lavish 10-in. by 10-in. brochures as calling cards−each costing about $5 and featuring a glossy photo of the earth as seen from an Apollo spaceship. The legend: earth is "an investment to the wise." Explains Ringer: "The brochure was intimidating. I was not just another member of the pack. I was obviously 'somebody...
...their tax returns and net worth statements - everything, including accounts of the egg money, it seems - to prove their honesty. When one prospective Democratic challenger made public ten years' worth of tax returns, Republican Senator Henry Bellmon of Oklahoma went to the Internal Revenue Service bent on novel oneupmanship. Audit my returns for the last ten years, he proposed, and we'll announce the results...
...were three bestselling authors and their analyst. Jacqueline Susann (Once Is Not Enough), Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (Breakfast of Champions), Alex Comfort (The Joy of Sex) and New York Times Book Reviewer Christopher Lehmann-Haupt participated in what turned out to be a brisk round of alternate back-patting and oneupmanship. Susann gushed to Vonnegut, who replaced her at the top of the lists: "I'm your No. 1 fan. People expect us to be enemies. We're not." Lehmann-Haupt reminded the authors that the Bible and the Boy Scout manual are still the alltime big sellers...
...death, as the four characters in Endgame are, why not expire with a gag rather than a whimper? Gregory captures that aspect of Beckett that is too frequently scanted, his Gaelic gallows humor, his fascination with vaudeville turns, his boozy way with a monologue that is pure barroom oneupmanship...