But there is more to Mrs. Whitman's plan than an outlandish notion - even though her Democratic opponent, Gov. Jim Florio, promptly labeled it a "voodoo re-do," a reference to Ronald Reagan and supply-side economics.

Bernard-Henri Lévy, a prominent European intellectual, promptly labeled Mr. Ramadan a champion of double talk and said he had written an "anti-Semitic text."

This development triggered a walkout by the New Castle Republicans, who promptly labeled themselves the "Regular Republicans" or "Regulars."

The press promptly labeled them the Doves, reinforced by their owner being named Dovey.

Lee Iacocca, who was largely responsible for raising $345 million to refurbish the Statue of Liberty and reclaim Ellis Island, wanted to build an immigration theme park that critics promptly labeled an "ethnic Disneyland."

It was, she asserted, "the wrong thing to do," but a White House official, perhaps worried about Republican charges that incoming Clinton staffers used harder drugs, promptly labeled her experiment "drug use," which leaves the length of time open-ended.

The new Attorney General, who was present at Justice's sustained foot-dragging in B.C.C.I. and the Bank of Lavoro rip-offs, promptly labeled the concern that John Sununu or anyone might have influenced the B.C.C.I. probe "utter nonsense"; that prejudgment removes Justice from any investigation of the Sununu connection.

Norris Wright Cuney, the black Texas leader who controlled the state party from 1883 until his death in 1896, promptly labeled the insurgents "lily-whites," and the term was soon applied to similar groups throughout the South.