a Daniel Okrent » Dogberry Pages

Title: Last Call
Author: Daniel Okrent
Page: 373
In almost every respect imaginable, Prohibition was a failure. It encouraged criminality and institutionalized hypocrisy. It deprived the government of revenue, stripped the gears of the political system, and imposed profound limitations on individual rights. It fostered a culture of bribery, blackmail, and official corruption. It also maimed and murdered, its excesses apparent in deaths by poison, by the brutality of ill-trained, improperly supervised enforcement officers, and by unfortunate proximity to mob gun battles.

Wonder if the war on drugs will do any better.


Title: Last Call
Author: Daniel Okrent
Sentence: When the Chicago Tribune quoted one particular Sabin attack on Prohibition, it explained: "These vehement words were spoken, you must remember, not by the old fashioned type of platform termagant, but by a lady sitting in her beautifully appointed drawing room—rare books, good picture and rich tapestries all around her.
Page: 340

Word: termagant
Definition:
  • n. - A quarrelsome, scolding woman; a shrew.
  • adj. - Shrewish; scolding.
  • [From Middle English Termagaunt, imaginary Muslim deity portrayed as a violent and overbearing character in medieval mystery plays, alteration of Tervagant, from Old French.]

   Source: Answers.com

Sounds like single issue politics


Title: Last Call
Author: Daniel Okrent
Sentence: He did not approach the open drinking culture of Manhattan timorously.
Page: 337

Word: timorous
Definition:
  • of a timid disposition : fearful (reproached myself with being so timorous and cautious — Daniel Defoe0
  • expressing or suggesting timidity (proceed with doubtful and timorous steps — Edward Gibbon)
   Source: Merriam-Webster Online

Am I timorous or just timid?


Title: Last Call
Author: Daniel Okrent
Page: 276
“The business pays very well,” [Clarence] Darrow said, “but it is outside the law and they can’t go to court, like shoe dealers or real-estate men or grocers when they think an injustice has been done them, or unfair competition has arisen in their territory.
“So,” Darrow concluded, “they naturally shoot.”

Justice at the end of a barrel.

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