The thought crosses your mind whenever you hear yet another dire effort, such as a pensions company riffing on the word "power".
Stoute has never won the Arc and Workforce, 5-1 third favourite and a seven-length winner of the Derby, would be a strong contender if in peak form, but the colt turned in a dire effort in the King George and has not been seen in public since.
But at this point, even that dire effort likely wouldn't be enough to save their agenda.
"The volunteers of the Red Cross and the Committee of Health Aid were brave young people committed to the dire effort of controlling the spread of an epidemic.
"We believe there is a dire attempt to hinder efforts of the constitutional assembly because its success would mean that we are on the right track, that the democracy is working and government is changing," Asem said.
By early Saturday, with predictions for Katrina becoming increasingly dire, Blanco had launched a desperate effort to persuade New Orleanians to evacuate ahead of the storm, memos show.
Clearly, many of New York's schools remain dire, despite the efforts of the two Rudys, Crew and Giuliani.
Conservationists say the emissions from burning up to 60m tonnes of coal a year would have a dire impact on efforts to limit global warming.
The city is in dire need of efforts to counter the risk of flooding – in July, metro stations, roads and the football stadium were all under water.
I reached saturation point with Barnyard, a dire farm-based effort which featured a bull with udders, when I made my eldest cry by complaining to the Odeon's blameless manager.
