She is doing better now, but she is back to herself, which is to say that she is short-tempered and violent.

CNN: Can a manic episode look like a tantrum?

Its candidate for prime minister, Jan Rokita, is a clever, short-tempered free-marketeer.

ECONOMIST: Poland's election race

But privately, he was irritable and short-tempered, ruminating endlessly over his cases and becoming easily frustrated by small things, like deciding which TV show to watch with his girlfriend.

NEWSWEEK: Culture

Although these films did very well abroad, local critics worried that internationally directed projects drew on stereotypes of Ireland being primitive yet idyllic and the Irish being short-tempered drunkards.

BBC: The evolution of Irish cinema

It must have been so exhausting for David Steel and Paddy Ashdown to keep up the pretence, perhaps that explains why they were always rather short-tempered during election campaigns.

BBC: Is anybody listening?

The Prometheus expedition, despite its grandiose ambitions, is a corporate endeavor, headed by Meredith Vickers, who is played by a distant, short-tempered Charlize Theron, looking sleeker than ever in a silver-gray mohair suit the epitome of outer-space chic.

NEWYORKER: That��s Life

Long-term optimism tempered with short-term skepticism is a good way to look at business, the economy and stocks too.

FORBES: Short-Term Skeptic, Long-Term Optimist

Shortly before the census an effort that involves 2, 000 scientists from 70 nations and will conclude in 2010 unveiled its new findings on December 10th, the United Nations concluded some bad-tempered negotiations on fishing with a resolution that fell far short of conservationists' highest hopes.

ECONOMIST: Marine conservation