Word: pile
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...insist and insist again, by Vague Generalities. We abhor V.G.'s, we skim right past them, we start wondering what kind of C to give from the first V.G. we encounter; and as they pile up we decide C- (Harvard being Harvard, we do not give D's. Consider C- a failure.). Why? Not because they are a sign the student does not know the material, or hasn't thought creatively, or any of that folly. They simply make tedious reading. "Locke is a transitional figure." "The whole thing boils down to human rights." Now I ask you, I have...
ARTFUL equivocations art even worse; lynx-eyed sly little rascals that we are, we see right through them. (Up to exam 40. Then our lynx eyes droop, and grading habits relax. Try to get on the bottom of the pile.) Again, it is not that A.E.'s are vicious or ludicrous as such; but in quantity they become sheer madness. Or induce it. "The 20th century has never recovered from the effects of Marx and Freud" (V.G.); "but whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is difficult to say." (A.E.) Now one such might be droll enough...
Uncovered beneath a pile of decomposing leaves in a shallow grave near Chebacco Rd., the body was estimated to have been dumped there between two and 10 years ago. Police Chief William D. Cullen told The Associated Press...
...mind-set of decision makers." Concurs senior writer Paul Gray, who is writing Grapevine: "While these items don't in themselves make a full TIME story, they provide information and a unique view of the news." For example, who curtly dismissed the Great Wall of China as "just a pile of bricks"? And who offered to help topple Manuel Noriega on the cheap? Turn to page 27 and find...
...said of the Great Wall of China, "Just a pile of bricks . . . We have brick walls in Chicago...