Word: ritually
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Television taboos are made to be broken. Violating them is a venerated tradition, a familiar ritual preceded by elaborate puffery: solemn sermons or titillating teasers aimed at increasing curiosity and ratings. Though often a mindless come-on rather than a thoughtful coming out, the "breakthrough" can sometimes mirror changing cultural mores and set the stage for bolder TV sequels...
Here the Harvard band redeemed itself. Mired in propriety throughout the day, give or take an occasional shouted grotesquerie ("Break their arms off, break their legs off, we love football!"), they finally came to life. Champagne was produced for the hanky-waving ritual, and the flow of Mumm inspired Will Moore, the 6-ft. 6-in. drum major, to pour a quart or two into his size-13 sneaker and drink from it. Other bandies joined...
...dolls have actually been around for years. Back in 1977 a Georgia artist named Xavier Roberts, now 28, began to turn out handmade cloth models that he insisted on calling "little people," each different from all others. Roberts invented a syrupy ritual for selling the dolls. They were not made but "delivered" and "adopted" at a former medical clinic in Cleveland, Ga. His employees had to wear nurse's white uniforms, and each prospective "parent" had to raise a right hand and vow undying love. Roberts has sold 250,000 dolls, many to adults for themselves, at prices ranging...
...explanations. One theory is that the very homeliness of the dolls is appealing. "It is comforting," wrote Dr. Joyce Brothers, "to feel the Cabbage Patch doll can be loved with all your might-even though it isn't pretty." Still another theory emphasizes the doll's adoption ritual. The computers have given each doll a mellifluous name like Cornela Lenora or Clarissa Sadie, and each comes with its own birth certificate and adoption papers, ready to be signed. "Most children between the ages of six and twelve fantasize that they were really adopted," says Dr. Bruce Axelrod, director...
...little defensive about how big it is here. We wonder how we fit into the broader world. Willa Cather spoke of the 'clammy shiver of embarrassment' she felt in the presence of Easterners merely at the mention of the name Nebraska. We all partake in this tribal ritual of football, this coming together in the community, this need for a common identity. But we are a bit self-conscious about it, and saved, I suspect, by a sense of humor. I think one of the reasons Nebraskans feel as secure as we do is Tom Osborne...