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Robot
In Japan, an automaton programmed to carry out demeaning, repetitive tasks that in Britain are assigned to assembly-line workers. |
Rock 'n' Roll
A raucous musical rendering of adolescent glandular activity, peddled to receptive teens since the 1950s as a cheap and relatively bloodless means of overthrowing parental authority - along with most of the accumulated values of Western civilization. |
Rock Concert
Where the young gather in astonishing numbers to follow a degenerate Pied Piper with amplifiers. |
Role Model
One whose character traits are found worthy of emulation by impressionable young people; e.g., professional athletes, rock and video idols with distinctive hair, sullen postpubes-cent movie actors, drug dealers and anyone else with a six-figure income. In less-advanced societies, the list would include statesmen, writers, scientists and scholars. |
Romance Novel
A woman's recurring dream of being abducted while wearing a period costume, generally by a dashing fellow who bears not the slightest resemblance to her husband. |
Roots
Deep bonds that anchor a living thing to its native turf and nurture it for life; a feature noticeably absent in yuppies and tumble weeds. |
Rudeness
The etiquette of the Rock era. |
Rug
A decorative woolly patch used to conceal a bare expanse of wooden floor or head. The latter style rarely has an Oriental design woven into it and almost never needs vacuuming; both types tend to slide around unless anchored securely. |
Ruins
The forlorn architectural remains of a once-mighty civilization, like the walls of Babylon or an average British inner city. |
Ruthless
Exhibiting all the tender solicitude of a mother guppy or a corporate takeover specialist. |
