nonanswer

How did you coach people in the art of the nonanswer?

That became a familiar nonanswer to a question I asked several people.

He would merely counter with a nonanswer of his own.

I bit the inside of my cheek at such a cryptic nonanswer.

But that response would not do and Gore tried another nonanswer: "I take one year at a time."

I decided on the slipperiness of another nonanswer.

Our host just gave us a nonanswer.

His nonanswer was answer enough.

Lauren left Dash's nonanswer at that.

"I can't answer that publicly," said Cashman, a nonanswer that was really an intriguing answer.

Obviously, Mays's nonanswer was an answer.

Another nonanswer.

Because I felt it was time that I left," is Midori's nonanswer during our first interview.

Each vice-presidential aspirant, by this point, has a practiced nonanswer to questions about whether he wants the job, but their friends and confidants are less constrained.

"I would much prefer if it were two quarters late and they could say it was this issue or that issue, rather than to give a nonanswer."

"Nice nonanswer."

Told that his nonanswer could be construed as his feeling unsupported elsewhere, Benitez said, "If you see it, you keep it."

After a few of these futile interviews, I begin to discern three distinct genres of nonanswer: The High-Minded Dismissal.

Torre told Sheffield that the trade for Abreu did not mean the Yankees had decided against bringing Sheffield back, but Cashman's cautious nonanswer was more telling.

It offers the normal public relations gobbledygook nonanswer, but the real reason may be embarrassment that a client's account was concentrated in two very risky stocks, an imprudent strategy in any market.

And rather than take up Mr. Gore's request for repeated debates, something most challengers would relish, Ms. Dunn offered a nonanswer: "There are going to be plenty of debates."

For many years, White House reporters have often undermined themselves and their cause by interrupting a colleague who may be closing in on the truth or, at least, on a nonanswer for the public record.

Indeed, at the regular Tuesday news briefing held by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Kong Quan, the dignified spokesman, stood on a stage decorated with potted plants, awaiting the inevitable question with his inevitable nonanswer.

It is the sort of question that Kessler doesn't like, so he gave a nonanswer: "I watched the Republicans coming to deregulate the F.D.A., and in the end it didn't work because it's not what the American people want."

A more eloquent version of the politically appropriate nonanswer was offered by Tony Coelho, Mr. Gore's campaign chief, who said: "Providing our seniors, our mothers, our grandparents with prescription drugs is something that Al Gore strongly believes in and that he will fight for without reservation.