These are often distilled into deadpan rituals, with the director maintaining his Proustian interest in habit in its capacity both to mortify and console.

NEWYORKER: The Time That Remains

They say that while Jones' claim began with a single thread--that then Governor Clinton harmed her in 1991, when he allegedly exposed himself and asked for sex in a hotel room--it has since been embroidered into a garish tapestry of ancillary allegations intended to mortify.

CNN: Now It's Her Turn

It is not only deeply painful for the two of us but also for everyone else affected and it would mortify our mother if she were alive today and, if we might say so, we feel we are more able to speak for our mother than Paul.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Statements in full