Gibbons, as Jackson plays him, unflinchingly responds, “A small price I paid for putting foot to ass for my country,” oddly vivid metaphorical language.

The tornado hit. The roof went bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk! as the aluminum was lifted up and down by the wind and vacuum. Its gaskets were loosened by the Passing Presence, the roof became a sieve.

At Environment Canada, senior climatologist David Phillips′ standard for a white Christmas calls for at least two centimeters of snow on the ground at 7 a.m. . . . “In England, if a weather guy sees a snowflake, they call it a white Christmas.”

This is clearly what happens in the swot-vac phenomenon: the student rote-learns his material for just long enough to see the exam through.