The movie hinges, predictably, on the formation of a triangle, although it's not a typical one: husband and wife unknowingly start affairs with the same man.
In the Mediterranean and central-eastern Europe, it was a stop-start affair.
But its attempts to grow beyond that have been a more stop-start affair.
Too many whistles and it becomes a stop-start affair that fails to get out of first gear.
For many triathletes, especially those who are relatively inexperienced, training over the winter can be a stop-stop-start affair.
It sparked heady optimism that democracy in Pakistan, for so long a stop-start affair to be interrupted constantly by a meddling military establishment, was taking root.
The match could have gone either way in the second half, which was a stop-start affair played in wilting humidity.
Most of their third album is given over to a dreamy, ambient indie sound but Pelican is a stop-start affair with a jolt of life in it.
It seems that cultural "progress" was a stop-start affair for much of our evolution, until human groups were large, had long-lived individuals, and wide social networks, all helping to maximise the chances that innovations would survive and accumulate.
Cars that travel at nearly four miles a minute in close proximity to concrete walls do not mix well with rain so if the heavens open it could be a stop-start affair.
The second half was a stop-start affair, with no team able to gain any sort of momentum and both managers making plenty of changes.
