Caroline expanded, "The technological revolution that is ongoing is one of the most bracing things about the times we live in.
But taking in Coates's essays from start to finish is still a bracing thing, like drinking a triple scotch, neat.
Much as the annual Ugly Sweater party annoys, it is at least a gesture towards some earlier aspect of Christmas, when fun wasn't fun so much as a bracing thing to test your endurance.
When asked how he handles the extensive domestic and international travel his job demands, Paul replied, "I think it's a better and more bracing thing to go between places, and maybe that's one of the reasons that travel doesn't bother me". Congratulations, Vikram Patel, MBBS, PhD, on the publication of "Where There is no Psychiatrist," 2nd edition.
You don't want to do the braces thing again, do you?
I spent the hours after the crash immobilised and braced, while things I didn't fully understand happened around me.
Moreover, barring a swift economic renaissance, lawyers, managing agents and condo boards are bracing for things to worsen significantly this year as job losses mount, severances and savings evaporate, and the new reality sets in.
While shareholders generally see downsizing efforts as long overdue, they should be braced for things to get worse before they get better.
And we should never forget what Wodehouse's inimitable hero Bertie Wooster observes in the story "Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest": "...it's always just when a fellow is feeling particularly braced with things in general that Fate sneaks up behind him with a bit of lead piping".
Thigmotaxis is why stinkbugs are so often found between layers (beware the quilt left folded in a window seat) and underneath seemingly flat things (brace yourself before picking up that stack of newspapers beside the recycling bin).
