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From:
The Los Angeles Times/6 October 2007
Oral Roberts’ Son, his wife face scandal at university AP TULSA, OKLA.—Twenty years ago, televangelist Oral Roberts said he was reading a spy novel when God appeared to him and told him to raise $8 million for Roberts’ university, or else he would be “called home.” Now, his son, Oral Roberts University President Richard Roberts, says God is speaking again, telling him to deny allegations in a lawsuit that threatens to engulf this 44-year-old Bible Belt college in scandal. Richard Roberts is accused of illegal involvement in a local political campaign and lavish spending at donors’ expense, including numerous home remodeling projects, use of the university jet for his daughter's senior trip to the Bahamas, and a red Mercedes convertible and a Lexus SUV for his wife, Lindsay. His wife is accused of dropping tens of thousands of dollars on clothes, awarding nonacademic scholarships to friends of her children and sending scores of text messages on university-issued cellphones to people described in the lawsuit as “underage males.”... |
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from: Shorter Oxford English Dictionary © Oxford University Press 1973, 1993, 2002 ,2007
fetish 1 Orig., an object used by peoples of W. Africa as an amulet or means of enchantment. Later more widely, an inanimate object reverenced as having magical powers or as being animated by a spirit. E17. ▸ b An object, principle, etc., irrationally reverenced, esp. in an obsessive manner. M19. ▸ c Psychology. A non-sexual part of the body, object, action, etc. acting as a focus for sexual desire. L19. H. Allen:“The witch-doctor's horrible little manikin, a fetish with…a blind, silly face.” G. Gorer: “The lucky mascot, the fetish which will preserve its owner from misfortune.” (b) E. Figes: “I made a fetish of being always punctual, always punctilious and conscientious.”...
theodicy [ORIGIN French théodicée title of a work by Leibniz, from Greek theos god + dikē justice...] The vindication of divine providence in relation to the existence of evil; an instance of this; a doctrine etc. in support of this (cf. optimism 1). Edward White “Their theodicy is based on the belief that out of…evil God will bring…good.”... |
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from: The Smoking Gun Dead Minister’s Rubber Fetish Autopsy: Pastor found in wet suits after autoerotic mishap OCTOBER 8--An Alabama minister who died in June of "accidental mechanical asphyxia" was found hogtied and wearing two complete wet suits, including a face mask, diving gloves and slippers, rubberized underwear, and a head mask, according to an autopsy report. Investigators determined that Rev. Gary Aldridge's death was not caused by foul play and that the 51-year-old pastor of Montgomery's Thorington Road Baptist Church was alone in his home at the time he died (while apparently in the midst of some autoerotic undertaking). ... Aldridge served as the church's pastor for 16 years. Immediately following his death, church officials issued a press release asking community members to "please refrain from speculation" about what led to Aldridge's demise, adding that, "we will begin the healing process under the strong arm of our Savior, Jesus Christ." |
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Ed. Note. I have a dictionary fetish. In the sense of “means of enchantment.” Nothing else! Nothing else! Buncha dictionaries, including the OED Online. The wonderful sixth editon of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary comes with a CD that will actually work on a Mac, the complete dictionary on a CD. Amazing. (Amazing. 2. Astonishing, wonderful.) But I should mention an omission. Even though “banner” does have the accepted sense of “the area of a newspaper or magazine where its name can be found”—also called "the nameplate” —I couldn't find that sense in SOED or any dictionary I checked. American Heritage, Merriam-Webster Unabridged (also online) and the OED online. In the photo above, my shiny new SOED is seen between Hodge bookends. Hodge was Samuel Johnson's cat, mentioned here. I have a dictionary fetish and a love of cats. |
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Each week we scan an ad from an actual catalog. These are real—real ads, real catalogs. Maybe they don't seem real, but they are real. This week we again feature an item from Brookstone. We do not know if the asphixiated pastor had such a chair in his home. |
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