I Almost Spewed My Coffee Out Of My Mouth

I'm always excited to hear when words that are given a small amount of play in the Bible make it into common parlance, or are at least recognized by the dictionary. The word "shibboleth," for example, is just plain fun to say, and while the meaning of the word "pharisaic" these days has been broadened to mean "anyone who disagrees with me on matters of religious discipline," at least it's still out there (although I would love to see the word "sadducean" used more often, particularly on the Jesus Seminar, et al). So imagine my delight when this little tidbit came across the wire:

Thirteen-year-old Kavya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kansas, spelled "laodicean," Thursday night to take top honors in the 82nd annual Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The eighth-grader won $40,000 in cash and prizes for nailing the final word. Pronounced lay-odd-uh-see-an, the word means lukewarm or indifferent, particularly in matters of politics or religion.

When interviewed about the prize money, young Kavya was reported to say this: "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing."