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Progress
The public illusion that everything is getting better and better, coupled with the private suspicion that it's only getting more and more complicated. |
Propaganda
Patriotism as practised by our enemies. |
Property Values
Suburban euphemism for 'Let's keep this neighbourhood lily white'. |
Psychic
In the tabloid press, a self-proclaimed soothsayer who publishes annual predictions for a credulous public; e.g., that a volcano will erupt near Tunbridge Wells ... or that a nervous alien will be seen ordering thirty-five Big Macs in Penzance . . . or that Elvis will run for the Ohio state assembly under an assumed name. The lowbrow equivalent of the stock market forecasters who infest business supplements, except that nobody saves their predictions to review at year's end. |
Psychoanalysis
Allowing one's mind to be dismantled like the temple of Abu Simbel, then paying for the privilege of reassembling it oneself on higher and safer ground. An expensive upper-middle-class hobby, particularly in the U.S., often pursued over a lifetime, esp. if the analyst is shrewd enough to hide a few of the parts. |
Psychobabble
The jargon of standardized introspection, favoured esp. by chronic talk-show guests and victims of terminal therapy. |
Puberty
The age at which most humans jettison their genius and start revving up their genes. |
Public Relations
Propaganda for hire. |
Public School
In Britain, a noble institution traditionally esteemed for educating future members of the English ruling class, esp. in ancient Greek grammar and sexual customs. In the U.S., an asylum for belligerent inmates who rarely learn English grammar and require no instruction in sexual customs. |
Publicity
The theory that no news is bad news, that neither divorce nor adultery nor sex videotapes nor checking into a clinic to dry out will stay our celebrities from swiftly cashing in on the free exposure. |
