It was lampooned on "Saturday Night Live," imitated widely on YouTube and, for a few moments on Sunday night, inspired fervor that videos rarely do anymore.
If old, blobbish Pluto could inspire such fervor, think of the devotion that new, high-res Pluto, with its ice mountains and possible cryovolcanoes, might command.
But when it slips into a low-profile summer slot on PBS tonight, American viewers are likely to say, "Gormen who?" The Gormenghast trilogy, three novels by Mervyn Peake published between 1946 and 1959, have inspired cultish fervor in England for decades, and it's easy to see why.
Corporate America, too, periodically gets religion in the form of workplace fads that inspire revivalist fervor, then fade away.
The fervor inspired by Mr. Obama's history-making candidacy poses challenges.
Founding heroes whose faces adorn currency — in China, Mao; in India, Gandhi — no longer inspire the same fervor, but new heroes are nowhere to be found.
Perhaps it was patriotic fervor inspired by July 4 or Ted Williams's death that evoked memories of baseball as it ought to be.
The topic of Rambus inspired near-religious fervor among its investors.
Rambus had been the subject of a debate that inspired near religious fervor in the chip industry.
Away from the big auction houses, a vintage pair of Nikes or Adidas (the two most collectible brands) will trade hands online for thousands, and new, limited-release sneakers can inspire as much fervor as old vintage pairs.
