the very circumstance which renders it so innocent is what chiefly exposes it to the public hatred
No, I was scared of the superficial kind [of ugliness] vilified in playground chants: fell from a tree and got beaten by an ugly stick on the way down. Ugliness seemed like a scarlet letter—if just one person described you as such, you'd wear the U for eternity, doomed to a life of insults, ostracization, and friendships with donkeys (Source: Shrek).
No. But one, or both of those men, may prove to be worse. That second man was Addison Berg, and he's agent for a firm of submarine boat builders who are rivals of dad's. Berg has been trying to find out why we abandoned our intention of competing for the Government prize.
Anna assured me that the band was pretty bad, as jazz bands went—in fact, her exact words were that they “sucked cheese"—but I'd never felt so sophisticated in my entire life. “This is the life,” I said. “Hanging out in the city,[…]
