Incandescent with rage
"Incandescent with rage" is one of those British turns of phrase that, while serving as a colorful and concise way to describe someone's mood, is also greatly overused. Witness this list that I've compiled of people who've been described as incandescent with rage since March 31:
- Ninety-year-old Suleiman Khishta and his family, over the fact that Israelis could bulldoze homes in the middle of the night, giving residents no warning or time to gather their possessions. (Agence France Presse)
- Coronation Street's Gail Platt (played by Helen Worth) when her hysterical pregnant daughter Sarah (Tina O'Brien) reveals Todd cheated with gay nurse Karl. (The Sun)
- Glenda Gilson, Ireland's most beautiful brunette and girlfriend of Ireland rugby captain Brian O'Driscoll, over a sordid little story in an odious tabloid alleging Glenda had her toes sucked by an unidentified man on a sofa in theTime nightclub in Naas while Brian was in a Dublin bar with friends. (The Sunday Independent – Ireland)
- Taunton MP Adrian Flook (Taunton Times)
- Grown men who hear Sir Alex Ferguson's name mentioned in the same breath as that of Brian Clough (The Times)
- A small, vocal minority of Maori who watched the first Foreshore and Seabed Bill debate in Parliament and who cursed Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia (New Zealand Press Association)
- De Beers, over allegations that it isn't complying with its own Diamond Best Practice Principles or with the guidelines of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development for operating in developing countries (Economist Intelligence Unit)
- Aunt Beattie, over the fact that these highlights of an otherwise implacably mundane life could be so glibly dismissed as merely the consequence of a family delicacy (General Practicioner)
- Geoff Hill, after a few minutes spent trawling through the files of this newspaper (Belfast News Letter)
- Beeb bosses (The Sun)
- Education Secretary Charles Clarke, who looks like a bad-tempered grizzly bear - and can behave like one when taunted and provoked (Daily Post – Liverpool)
- Labour Deputy Michael D. Higgins, who claimed he had spent most of his political life being warned of the imminent opening of the floodgates of doom, and said he had heard enough. ``Condoms, he shouted, somewhat unexpectedly, jolting a couple of resting deputies from their leather seats. ``We were told our water systems would clog up from all the activity. Such rubbish.'' (Irish Independent)
- Brussels (stirred up by furious ferry operators and airlines) (Lloyd's List)
- PSV Eindhoven supporters (The Times)
- Arsenal striker Thierry Henry (The Herald – Glasgow)
- The consul in Bucharest and author of the latest Tomahawk e-mail against the Immigration Minister (The Times, again)
