Elsewhere, the "tepid April rain fell on London with all the sincerity of a hired sales gimmick for umbrellas".
Duke's 6-foot-4-inch center, Iciss Tillis, had missed six of seven shots in the first half as the tepid Blue Devils fell behind, 40-28.
They have listened in horror as a hitherto tepid character, Helen Archer, fell for the deceptive charms of a suave hunting'n'shooting type, Rob Titchener, who proceeded to undermine, isolate, bully and control her.
In Portland, Ore., where the economy has performed poorly and private-sector job growth has been tepid, housing prices fell by 1.9% in September and are down 3.6% in the last year.
The first renminbi-denominated I.P.O. was in early April, Hui Xian REIT's 10.48 billion-renminbi offering, though it saw a tepid debut with shares falling nearly 8 percent.
The production of vehicle engines was tepid, with total output falling 0.3% in the year, largely due to a sharp drop in export demand.
I was down on the Kindle when it first launched but quickly fell in tepid like with it once it was in my hands for a few weeks.
The general downbeat direction of its economy, as evidenced by tepid 5% growth and falling foreign investment for the third year in a row, led to the ousting of the ruling party in favor of the country's first businessman president, a former Hyundai Engineering & Construction chief.
LETTERMAN GETS MAD ("Late Night With David Letterman," CBS) Normally politically tepid, David Letterman lost it this fall when John McCain canceled a guest appearance, ostensibly to deal with the economic crisis in Washington.
Knight Ridder, which is contending along with the rest of the industry with falling circulation and tepid revenue growth, said it had hired Goldman Sachs to help it evaluate "strategic alternatives".
