By MARK LEIBOVICH and GRANT BARRETT

WASHINGTON — Politics without buzzwords is like sports without clichés, math without numbers or Blago without bleeps. Tough to imagine, in other words, especially in such a game-changer of a campaign year in which buzzwords were flying like shoes.

Buzzwords are what political wiseguys use to sound all important and knowing in a profession whose prime currency is the illusion of being both. They are like secret passwords for the chattering class, the verbal equivalent of a terrorist fist jab.

Michael Nagle for The New York Times
Santa Claus and his reindeer atop a roller coaster at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pa.

By CINDY PRICE

ON a cold, damp Friday afternoon in early December, the crowd pouring into Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., was in complete agreement: it was unseasonably cold for this time of year.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said he would be watching out for journalists taking off their shoes in news conferences after an Iraqi reporter threw a pair at outgoing U.S. President George W. Bush in Baghdad.

Liu Jianchao was asked what he thought of Sunday’s incident, when the television journalist also called the American leader a “dog,” and replied all leaders deserved respect.

“I believe we should have basic respect for the leader of a country,” he told a media briefing, before adding that the attack had given him pause for thought.

Ed Pilkington

It could have been just another upmarket Kensington fashion boutique.

By Mark Kleinman

The well-heeled are choosing to buy Jimmy Choos from home

In fact, the “shoppers” who converged on west London last week to snap up their favourite Jimmy Choo footwear and accessories were visitors to the home of Tamara Mellon, the company’s founder and president.

The event, the latest in a series of events dubbed “stealth fashion” sales, are becoming increasingly common among luxury goods-makers as wealthy consumers become more reluctant to be seen to be spending large sums of money during more austere economic times.