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Oct 22, 2010
This week's themeEponyms This week's words harlequin stentorian pharisaical luddite simony 
Peter's conflict with Simon Magus (in black robes)
Art: Avanzino Nucci (c. 1552-1629)
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Gargsimony
PRONUNCIATION:
(SY-muh-nee, SIM-)
MEANING:
noun:
Profiting from holy things, especially buying and selling of holy positions
and pardons.
ETYMOLOGY:
After Simon Magus, Samaritan sorcerer in the Bible, who wanted to buy spiritual
powers -- the ability to transfer the "Holy Spirit" by putting hands on
someone -- from Peter.
USAGE:
"A related theme -- the preacher or moraliser unmasked -- has been richly
illustrated in recent years by examples from real life: a string of
corrupt American televangelists, self-appointed 'men of God', who
revelled in greed, lust, and simony, the very things they were thought
to be railing against."Gilchrist; The Economist (London, UK); Nov 19, 1994. See more usage examples of simony in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Intolerance of ambiguity is the mark of an authoritarian personality. -Theodor Adorno, philosopher and composer (1903-1969)
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