There were still frantic news reports and stiff statements of sorrow from politicians.
The script does not air-brush Mr. Bush's first, awkward stumbles, and it faithfully recreates his stiff televised statement from Barksdale Air Force Base.
A few hours earlier Sebastian Coe, who is hoping to become the IAAF's president, had made a stiffer, more formal statement in Doha.
The statements are stiff and portentous.
Her speeches and public statements seemed stiff and forced.
Howard Dean was too angry; his human outburst in public did not sit well, where a "stiff upper lip", or political statements of inconsistency, or selective distortions, or overtly insincere ones, are the accepted, or even the required currency of communication.
He fortified himself with a stiff malt whisky before making his statement.
"Cynthia gave me my birth certificate in my early 20s in a rather stiff, matter-of-fact way – a pure statement of fact in a slightly stressed monotone.
He urged them to pay close attention to Roof's cold and casual demeanor, his stiff body language, as well as his statement to investigators that "I don't have a best friend".
That, and stiff broadband competition makes for an unpleasant profit statement: the third quarter saw NTLs net loss widen to £96 million ($183.7 million) from £52 million ($100 million) last year, while around 37,300 customers defected.
