geegaw

Yet in the final analysis--when all of the methodological and statistical geegaws are stripped away--we have, at best, a "direct line" relationship that amounts to about 10 percent of the variance in behavior.

-- we buy buttons with slogans on them and lots of rainbow geegaws to adorn our cars and homes and offices with.

In contrast, Americans would have to give up little of value-mere "geegaws" in Jefferson's words.

Nearly 700 dancers threw out about a million geegaws, beads, and doubloons to the athletes and spectators.

She smiled then, toothy and in a manner that seemed to involve her shoulders and a goodly percentage of her torso, and in that first minute after she said "yes," I understood I was obliged to put aside, like geegaws and trivia you've outgrown, all I knew about Thrones and Dominations, those swift heedless beings who get here by magic and stay around to make us miserable.

Just as the GI bill devalued a college education--almost any hayseed could get a B.A.-- mass appropriation of yuppie geegaws has sent their status value plummeting.

(""I don't hold with jewelry or none of them geegaws,' Mr.

It has gilded wallpaper, a whitewashed brick wall and lots of rose gold geegaws.

Magnificent paintings, which Sheila says mostly benefit local artists, antiques and fabulous fakes, oddities, lamps, geegaws, fabrics, hundreds of fully framed turn-of-the-century females whom Sheila insists were her ancestors, fabulous antique books, which Sheila says sardonically she buys "by weight.'' In my bedroom alone stood two statues carved out of wood from Grant Wood's famous "American Gothic'' painting.

Still, Brightline proved us wrong with its cleverly designed flightbag that uniquely swallows a headset while still having room for the other must-have geegaws you always have in your flightbag.

In general terms, Lewis predicts that consumer trends will veer more toward "experiences" than products in 2006, meaning you're more likely to receive vouchers for spa treatments, parachute jumps and other activities than dust-collecting geegaws.

The "Clones" geegaws include a much-improved selection of collector and toy lines, mostly focusing on action figures, light sabers and games.

Slightly less gruesome, but wondrously infelicitous, is Holman Hunt's Isabella and the Pot of Basil (Birmingham City Art Gallery), feverishly cluttered with pointless geegaws. It is almost fascinating to contemplate how a picture can be so intricately and painstakingly repellent.

Kiosks sell geegaws. There are two "clown jumpers," as my three-year-old daughter, Sky, calls them: inflated structures, topped by balloon-like heads of clowns, for children to bounce in, accompanied by hard-pumping Russian rock and roll.

Tie-ins for summer '98 were troubled: "Godzilla" geegaws were embargoed until the day of the film's release (and many consumers and retailers found them disappointing), while the battle of two asteroid movies collided with their tie-ins to create a state of confusion.