Word: ritualized
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Although the elements change as swiftly as the shapes of clouds, the weathercaster's three-to-four-minute performance is, in its discipline, as rigid as a sonnet or a haiku. The ritual be gins with the anchorman passing the baton with an oafishly merry transition line like: "Well, buddy, you sure did it to us yesterday, didn't you?" The weatherman casts his eyes downward with a chastened chuckle, accepting responsibility and thereby obscurely associating himself with nature's Higher Authorities...
Despite his stern rhetoric, Reagan is almost never visibly angered, even by the most hostile questions, and banters easily with practically anyone; he and his wife Nancy have made a ritual of passing out candy to reporters on campaign planes and buses. The old entertainer usually seeks to entertain his companions too. On a campaign bus driving through a heavy snow in New Hampshire, he started out with a labored joke: "If anyone hears dogs barking, it's because the next leg will be done by sled." That led to a stream-of-consciousness monologue skipping erratically from dogs...
...pristine and timeless kingdom of sport. But the Winter Games at Lake Placid seemed to bear a distinctly American stamp, from the incredible hoard of gold in speed skating to the site itself, a pleasant little mountain town swamped by the world. The Games provided a kind of ritual relief during a troubled American moment, supplanting cold war fears with cheers for an ice hockey upset. Like all Olympics, the 13th Winter Games left a gallery of bright images on the retina...
...past years, individuals might shave for dual meets, particularly the Harvard-Princeton meet, but the ritual of the entire team shaving together (kinky as it might sound) waited until the Easterns. Hence, the time drops at this first big championship meet may not be as spectacular as usual. However, Crimson coach Joe Bernal points out that "coming off of Indiana we are feeling pretty confident of what we are capable of doing...and about going into the meet as the favorite...
During a swim meet, Daniel positions himself in the stands directly above the finish line and begins his meticulous ritual. Before each race he listens attentively for the announcement of the competitors and neatly pencils their names into a makeshift scorecard in his looseleaf notebook...