stiffly polite

Carroll loomed over him, stiffly polite but not to be put off.

His voice was stiffly polite and so cold she felt all the warmth leach out of her body.

We usually spend a stiffly polite Christmas Day with one or the other.

"No." She said it too quickly, then reminded herself that it was better if they were both stiffly polite.

Her voice was stiffly polite, the eyes wary.

The stiffly polite tone was the only defense she could come up with against six feet of wet, charming male in her hallway.

"Believe me, madam," he said, stiffly polite, "I've no desire to.

Three stiffly polite young men obeyed his summons.

Stiffly polite.

Why, if she were any more stiffly polite, even a trifle more rigidly correct, she would be in danger of shattering from brittleness.

"Sort of," Peter Barron said awkwardly, eyeing Amanda, while she managed a stiffly polite "We've met" and then looked away, a different woman from the one who had driven over with McHugh, her features suddenly closed and pursed and tight-lipped.

The atmosphere was stiffly polite today as Robert H. Bork returned to the Senate Judiciary Committee for a hearing about flag burning, his first appearance there since the panel shattered his hopes of becoming a Justice of the Supreme Court.