‘what I am saying makes me sound like some ageing Pollyanna who just wants to pretend that all is sweetness and light’
‘The rallying dollar, sinking crude, and surging financial stocks do today create a rather inspiring backdrop for the optimists and Pollyannas.’
‘Does this mean that we all should be brainless Pollyannas, cheerfully accepting whatever comes down the line?’
‘Those whose cup is half full are the world's optimists, the Pollyannas and the kind of people to be avoided at all costs, particularly at parties.’
‘The Pollyannas and ostriches who advocate open borders want Congress to believe three things about their pending Social Security agreement with Mexico-all of which are false.’
‘But that definition blunts the refreshing insight - that Pollyannas are often ludicrous opportunists - of George DuMaurier's classic cartoon.’
‘Ok, all you open-borders Pollyannas on both the left and right.’
‘It was opposed by immigration Pollyannas on the left and right.’
‘Yet, with each passing week, there are ever more reasons for those following the club to become Pollyannas of the first order.’
‘My inner Pollyanna can be quite the jargon-spewing tub-thumper when she wants to be.’
‘Insofar as this is self-delusion rather than outright deceit, he is a Pollyanna.’
‘And I don't want to be a Pollyanna but it's not impossible all these changes that we are now seeing in the Middle East might some day make that more possible.’
‘I'm a terrible Pollyanna and have had bad things happen that I always seem able to put a good spin on - it gets almost tedious for some people around me.’
‘Maybe, I'm just a middle-aged Pollyanna, but that isn't the world I see.’
‘Nor do I intend to be a Pollyanna (another word that may appear gender-biased).’
‘I don't want to go back to retail - I'm not that much of a Pollyanna - but I do want to connect with more people.’
‘You don't have to be a Pollyanna to think positively.’
‘I'm not being romantic; I'm not being a Pollyanna about it.’
‘Yet she is never a Pollyanna, eager to use the amazing accomplishment of her formal acumen to distract us from what she observes.’
‘Perhaps I am being a Pollyanna but my impression is that the new editor of the New York Times is trying to swing the paper back closer to middle ground.’
‘These resilient folks are commonly called optimists but if that term conjures up images of carefree Pollyannas, a psychological definition may surprise you.’
Origin
Early 20th century the name of the optimistic heroine created by Eleanor Hodgman Porter (1868–1920), American author of children's stories.
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