compulsive, OED 2

[Laurence Horn]

At 3:11 PM -0400 9/29/10, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>"Obs."?  Evidently not:
>
>2008 Dennis Ford _The Search for Meaning_ (Berkeley: U. of C. P.) 15:
>Conformity and authoritarianism are thus collective strategies for relieving
>the anxiety that absolute freedom elicits. We willingly exchange our anxiety
>and freedom for compulsive activity and the answers provided by others.
>Conformity to the cultural norms...protects us.
>
>Prof. Ford earned his Ph.D. in religion from Syracuse University.
>
>BONUS:
>
>Can you find the error in the OED's entry on "hermeneut"
>
If I am correctly deconstructing the query, is it the fact that the
"hermeneutics" cite (comprising 50% of the record for "hermeneut")
has apparently wandered in from another entry, since the 1972 quote
has nothing to do with the search for an interpreter?

Maybe it could be replaced with one alluding to the fact that because
of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" based dismissals, the U. S. military is in
dire need of a few good Arabic hermeneuts, although hermaphroditic
hermeneuts need not apply.

LH

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