John's chosen character is Xianghua, a slight swordstress who specializes in hopping around and skewering people.

From this social perception follows the corollary us-versus-them argument. Anyone who learns that this marker of identity “offends the ear” joins the select group of those in the know, and will have a criterion by which he can both identify and judge the out-group who “desire to be up with the latest in thing,” and reassert his own membership in the club of those with taste.

The decision to strip-mine was opposed by environmentalists.

A wee cockstand, eh? Is that what ye think I've got swinging low?