|
Date Rape
Unilateral escalation of a courtship to its inevitable conclusion, without the usual niceties of flowers and consent. Also, what a contemporary college student is likely to be charged with if he forgets to say, 'May I?' |
Dating
An elaborate prelude to mating that fulfils much the same function as the sniffing ritual in dogs, but without its forthright honesty. |
Decadence
Civilization in its overripe phase: soft, pulpy, sensuous, and likely to turn to mush when sufficient pressure is applied. |
Deconstructionism
The theory that one's personal response to a work of literature is more important than the work itself; not surprisingly a popular doctrine among creatively impaired English professors, who can now rank their efforts above those of Shakespeare and Dickens. |
Defence Industry
A loose association of hardware companies, any of which might be recommended as a sound investment whenever large numbers of living people are officially designated as targets. |
Demagogue
Traditionally a politician skilled in the use of incendiary rhetoric to inflame a mob. Now more likely to be a talk-show personality whose utterances consist entirely of calculated applause lines. |
Demographics
A portrait of an audience painted by statisticians and composed entirely of numbers; a work of art prized in the market-place as long as it depicts a college-educated, free-spending twenty-five-to-forty-year-old manager/professional with at least twice the household income of Joe Average. Whether the portrait reveals any emotional depth or subtlety is beside the point. |
Denial
How an optimist keeps from becoming a pessimist. |
Dentist
An amiable health professional who, following the devastating insult of rejection from medical school, must endure a lifetime of Dr Mengele analogies, the aroma of decaying tooth pulp, and possibly the worst scenery this side of a proctologist's office. |
Dentures
Two rows of artificial ivories that may be removed periodically to frighten one's grandchildren or provide accompaniment to Spanish music. |
