Like a decade?

"I am here because this is a young and virile race, not dry and decadent like ours."

Dracula (Lon Chaney, Jr.)
Son of Dracula (1943)

He pronounces it /duh-KADE-nt/.

Laconic grunts, indeed

   "Going huntin', mister?"
   You can get far in North America with laconic grunts. "Huh," "hun," and "Hi!" in their various modulations, together with "sure," "guess so," "that so?" and "nuts!" will meet almost any contingency.
   Bond, slinging the strap of his rifle over his shoulder, said, "Hun."

Ian Fleming
"For Your Eyes Only" (1959)

Self-pity and freedom

   Where did the self-pity come from? The inordinate volume of it? By almost any standard, she led a luxurious life. She had all day every day to figure out some decent and satisfying way to live, and yet all she ever seemed to get for all her choices and all her freedom was more miserable. The autobiographer is almost forced to the conclusion that she pitied herself for being so free.

Johnathan Franzen
Freedom (2010)