The economy had become rigid and uncompetitive, moaned entrepreneurs.
But the ideology had become rigid, and something had to give.
While England have stiff competition in virtually every position, Wales have a thinner layer, although the success of the Under-20s this year may be a portent, and they have become rigid in their play.
Take the testimony of Coreen Costello, a mother of two, who was seven months pregnant when she learned her fetus had a fatal neurological defect and had become rigid in the birthing position.
Indeed, many of our columns report on people who are trying to change systems that have become rigid and out of touch, like our systems for foster care, music education and scientific research.
Bye-Bye Humans too have become rigid, intractible in our reliance upon outmoded technologies (gasoline-powered cars, coal-burning power plants) which are poisoning our atmosphere.
And, unfortunately, the organizations that have been led by the plodders -- the ones who continued to behave inertially, doing the same things every year -- have become rigid and unable to react flexibly to each new exogenous shock to the arts world.
Consider whether you're so tied up in your own sense of what is right that you have become rigid and unable to see when change is good.
In the eyes of the market, at least, "indie" gaming has become something rigid and quantifiable a distinct set of aesthetics (pixel art, high-color, non-naturalistic), design influences (a lingering fondness for old platformers and shmups) and plot themes (anarchic, nerdy humor or teary-eyed earnestness).
