These are subjects that have been batted about interminably and should have been settled last year.

ECONOMIST: A Middle Eastern time-out?

Some claims moulder for months, and a series of appeal mechanisms can extend the process almost interminably.

ECONOMIST: Unbolting the stable door

Change on the scale the New Deal wrought has proved interminably controversial.

ECONOMIST: American history

Once they were selected, the report confirms they were slow-tracked: While a few applications got attention, the vast majority sat interminably as the 2012 campaign rolled on.

WSJ: Review & Outlook: Democrats and the IRS

Sure there is lots of talk from those who plan to work in retirement that a life of golf outings and beach days would simply be interminably boring.

FORBES: Eying a Late-Career Change? You've Got Company

The medical economist Rashi Fein observed in 1986 that there are only three ways to limit the extravagant demand for medical care: "Inconvenience, " the practice used in the military, where one must wait interminably for care.

WSJ: Ed Marsh: Reflections of a Medical Ex-Practitioner

Next day, near the Notre Dame Cathedral (I was beginning to blame the Frenchies for all this), there were dozens of Christmas-card sellers vying for space with bridal couples in absurd white satin dresses and morning suits, who had just been married during the auspicious festive season and were posing interminably for photographs.

CNN: From Our Correspondent: Merry Christmas, Uncle Ho