The opening debate this afternoon was perfunctory, with Senator Russell D. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, the lone lawmaker to take to the floor on the issue.
One night of perfunctory debauchery has taught him that that is not his way to pass the last six months.
They can't have been improving it because it's a truly dire evening, a perfunctory trot through the biographical details of the life of the Irish-Catholic Ealing schoolgirl with the unique voice who grew up to have a string of hits, including You Don't Have to Say You Love Me and Son of a Preacher Man.
He muttered a perfunctory "Good morning," and began leading the orchestra through Mahler's Symphony No. 1 without even opening the score that sat on his music stand.
As a result, the discussion of stop-and-frisk — which, had the forum been held a week before, might very well have been the night's primary topic — was perfunctory, almost an afterthought.
He was not helped by the evening's host, Charles Osgood, whose perfunctory account of Mercer's life was a lightly annotated list of accomplishments — more than 1,300 song lyrics, 230 collaborators, four Oscar-winning best songs — lacking in color and enthusiasm.
To secure the British copyright, there was a perfunctory performance the afternoon before the New York premiere, at the Royal Bijou Theatre, Paignton, Devon, organised by Helen Lenoir.
MANNING, S.C. — On a blisteringly hot afternoon here, Alvin M. Greene talked in a perfunctory way about his improbable candidacy for the United States Senate.
"This is a far better outcome than appeared possible when the four foreign ministers met this morning," Julian writes: The talks were expected to be perfunctory and last a little more than a couple of hours.
George Osborne spoke in the morning, and received a standing ovation so perfunctory as to be offensive.
