Page 245 - Word Power Made Easy: The Complete Handbook for Building a Superior Vocabulary

was the civil service workers who didn’t want to lose their cushy jobs—it was really

Roosevelt who won the election.
Anyway Harry didn’t accomplish a thing—he was just a victim of good fortune.
What were the apologists for Dewey’s failure doing?

They were disparaging Truman’s achievement.

2. playing it safe

Willing to look at some more history of the late 1940s?
Of course, Dewey did campaign, in his own way, for the presidency. As the Republican
aspirant, he had to take a stand on the controversial Taft-Hartley Act.
Was he for it? He was for that part of it which was good. Naturally, he was against any

of the provisions which were bad. Was he for it? The answer was yes—and also no. Take
whichever answer you wanted most to hear.
What was Dewey doing?

He was equivocating.

3. enjoying the little things

Have you ever gone through a book that was so good you kept hugging yourself mentally
as you read? Have you ever seen a play or motion picture that was so charming that you
felt sheer delight as you watched? Or perhaps you have had a portion of pumpkin-chi on
pie, light and airy and mildly avored, and with a aky, delicious crust, that was the last
word in gustatory enjoyment?

Now notice the examples I have used. I have not spoken of books that grip you
emotionally, of plays and movies that keep you on the edge of your seat in suspense, or of
food that satis es a ravenous hunger. These would o er quite a di erent, perhaps more
lasting and memorable, type of enjoyment. I have detailed, rather, mental or physical
stimuli that excite enjoyably but not too sharply—a delightful novel, a charming play, a
delicious dessert.
How do such things affect you?

They titillate you.

4. playing it way up

You know how the teen-agers of an earlier generation adored, idolized, and overwhelmed
Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Beatles?
And of course you know how certain people fall all over visiting celebrities—best-selling
authors, much publicized artists, or famous entertainers. They show them ingratiating,
almost servile attention, worship and flatter them fulsomely. 1
How do we say it in a single word?