For many residents, people accustomed to hardships like power failures and indifference from the central government, the demise of the peace process has been taken in stride.

They tend to be optimists, doers rather than thinkers, people accustomed to success, confident in their abilities and good at compartmentalizing doubt and fear.

Sleek people accustomed to dealing with idler's sunshine, some of them dancing only to explore a little vulgar love.

"Even for people accustomed to handling family finances, the loss of a spouse through death or divorce is a crisis, and their normal coping abilities may be at risk."

Behind Medellin's disappearing elite is a kidnapping wave that has unnerved Colombians, a stoic people long accustomed to high rates of violence.

Thus, many people who go to the cinema encounter language to which they are not accustomed in daily life.

But even for people accustomed to flooding, 1993 was frustrating.

Even for people accustomed to the comforts of Fifth Avenue, Park Avenue and Manhattan's other Easy Streets, a four-figure cleaning bill is a lot of money.

It definitely can't mean 'No.' That's why people who have less fare better in show business: because they're not accustomed to getting it the first time around.

"But if people accustom their taste so that they enjoy hamburgers," Mr. Murphy said, "then trading health for taste is a rational preference."