Surely she might have thought of some remark less idiotic to make to herself, at such a time. He was explaining to her things about the air service. It seemed he had had experience in flying--some relation of his with whom he had spent a holiday last summer. It would mean his getting out quickly. He seemed quite eager to be gone. "Isn't it rather dangerous work?" she asked. She felt it was a footling question even as she asked it. Her brain had become stodgy.英文原著 · 《All Roads Lead to Calvary》
"Yes, the lady in grey." What other ladies were there! Stodgy chap!英文原著 · 《Five Tales》
At the Palace of Horticulture the architect said: "Here is the Mosque of Ahmed the First, taken from Constantinople and adapted to horticulture and to the Exposition. It has a distinct character of its own. It even has temperament. So many buildings that are well proportioned give the impression of being stodgy and dull. They are like the people that make goodness seem uninteresting. But here is use that expresses itself in beauty and adorns itself with appropriate decoration."英文原著 · 《The City of Domes》