Lolita

Lolita (pronounced loh-lee-tuh)

(1) A female given name, a form of Charlotte or Dolores.

(2) A 1955 novel by Vladimir Nabokov.

(3) Referencing the eponymous character in the novel, a nymphet (or a representation of one in pornography) or a sexually precocious young girl (usually critically).

Lolita is a female given name of Spanish origin. It is the diminutive form of Lola, a hypocorism of Dolores (Lolita thus a double diminutive) which, depending on the source translates in Spanish as "suffering" or “sorrows”, the latter tending to be preferred because of the link with Maria de los Dolores.  Without any etymological evidence, some other (presumably fanciful) suggestions of meaning have included "a princess who loves pastel colors", "flower of love", "vivacious and beautiful" & "with a man's spirit".

As a given name, Dolores originated from La Virgen María de los Dolore (Virgin Mary of the Sorrows (dolores translating in Spanish as sorrows), one of the many titles given to the Blessed Mother in Spanish Roman Catholic tradition.  In the context of the Roman Catholic Church, Mary’s sorrows refer to seven events which occurred during her lifetime: (1) The Circumcision of Jesus, (2) the Flight from Jerusalem when Mary and Joseph take the baby Jesus to Egypt to protect him from King Herod of Judea’s orders to kill him, (3) the Finding in the Temple when Mary and Joseph lose the child Jesus only to find him later dwelling in the Temple among the elders, (4) Mary’s meeting with Jesus on the way to Calvary, (5) Jesus’ death on the cross, (6) Mary receiving the body of Jesus in her arms after he is taken down from the cross and (7) the placing of Jesus in the tomb.  The most observant Catholics observe a daily ritual in which they recite Our Father and seven Hail Marys in homage to the seven sorrows.  In the Spanish tradition, there are several given names derived from the many epithets given to the Blessed Mother, other examples including Concepción (referring to Mary’s immaculate conception); Corazón (referring to Mary’s immaculate heart); Luz (Our Lady of the “Light”); Mercedes (Our Lady of “Mercy”); Milagros (Our Lady of “Miracles”); Pilar (Our Lady of the “Pillars”); Rosario (Our Lady of the “Rosary”); and Soledad (Our Lady of “Solitude”).  From the late nineteenth century Dolores became popular among American Catholics and Nabokov’s novel seems briefly to have induced a spike in popularity which the later film adaptation (which reached a wider popular audience) may have quelled.  In the US, popularity peaked in 1963 and it’s never really recovered from the prurient associations explored by Nabokov.  Despite the reservations of parents in the English-speaking world, Lolita the name remains popular among Spanish speakers and in Europe.  In Latvia, Lolita’s name day is 30 May.

Sue Lyon in “Lolita Glasses” in Lolita (1962).  The most emblematic of the type are the sunglasses with the heart-shaped lens but the label is applied to many thick-rimmed styles, especially those with the sleek, “cats eye” shape.

Lindsay Lohan in Lolita glasses.

The 1955 novel by Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977) was controversial even before being published in French, English language houses, sensing trouble, having initially declined the manuscript and nor has there ever been any consensus about the literary merit.  Coincidently or not, there had been a Imperial-era German short-story about a girl called Lolita.  Published in 1916 by Heinz von Lichberg (the pen-name of Heinz von Eschwege (1890-1951)), it was not dissimilar in its themes and there are a number of reasons it may have been Nabokov was influenced although, given the structural differences, plagiarism is too strong a word.  Whatever the qualities of the text, it remains interesting as a canvas onto which can be mapped the changing attitudes to child abuse (and its artistic depiction).  Tellingly, when Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999) in 1962 adapted the novel for the screen, many aspects of the original were toned down and twelve-year old Lolita was re-imagined as fourteen, a change necessitated by the rules in some markets and it may have been hoped that if that was acceptable for Shakespeare’s Juliet, it was good enough for Kubrick’s Lolita.  Even as a morality tale, it was ambiguous; although the transgressive male protagonists all die in various unpleasant ways, so too do Lolita and her mother, the nominal female victims.

Sue Lyon, photographed by Bert Stern in 1960 for a pre-release publicity set.

What came to be called “Lolita glasses” (which are to this day marketed under that label) are the thick-rimmed items worn in the 1962 by Sue Lyon (1946-2019), aged between 14-15 at the time of filming.  The most famous of the glasses, with the heart-shaped lens, were chosen by photographer Bert Stern (1929-2013) who Kubrick in 1960 commissioned to produce some still images to be used in pre-release publicity.  Stern was already well known for his photographs of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and would later create a famous set of images of Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962), the style of which he controversially reprised in 2008 with Lindsay Lohan (b 1986) as the subject.

Popularity of the name Lolita in the US, 1900-2017.  Impressionistically, as might be expected, a film will influence popular culture more than literary fiction, regardless of content.

Iconoclast

Iconoclast (pronounced ahy-kon-uh-klast)

(1) A person who attacks cherished beliefs, traditional institutions, etc as being based on error or superstition.

(2) A breaker or destroyer of images, especially those set up for religious veneration.

(3) An adherent of the heretical movement within the Greek Orthodox Church from 725-842 AD, which aimed at the destruction of icons and religious images.

1590–1600: From the Middle English, from the French iconoclaste from the Medieval Latin īconoclastēs from the Byzantine Greek εἰκονοκλάστης (eikonoklástēs) (literally image-breaker), the construct being eikono- (genitive eikonos) (icono-) + -klastēs (breaker), equivalent to klas-, variant stem of klân (to break) + -tēs (the agent noun suffix).  The early meaning referred literally to those who, in acts of theological obedience, broke or destroyed idols physically; the figurative meaning in reference to beliefs, cherished institutions etc emerged later, sources variously citing the first use between 1842-1858.  An older word for it was iconomachy (1580s), from the Greek eikonomakhia.  A clast is a technical word in geology to describe a fragment of rock broken from a larger rock or rock unit.  Iconoclast’s most commonly seen synonyms are unbeliever, questioner, dissenter, heretic, radical, dissident, nonbeliever, critic, rebel, revolutionist, cynic, sceptic, ruiner & non-conformist.

The Byzantine Iconoclastic Controversy

The Iconoclastic Controversy, an eighth & ninth century dispute over the use of religious images in the Byzantine Empire, was one of the many squabbles in Christendom (and other religions) triggered by arguments between those reading ancient texts literally and those treating then as allegory.  The Iconoclasts, those who rejected images, objected to icon veneration essentially because of the Old Testament prohibition against images in the Ten Commandments and the possibility of idolatry.

4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:4 (KJV 1611)

The defenders of the importance of imagery insisted upon their symbolic nature and the dignity of created matter and the controversy in Constantinople was nothing new.  From the Church’s earliest days, the making and veneration of portraits of Christ and the saints had been opposed by many but the use of icons nevertheless steadily gained in popularity, especially in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.  By the late sixth century, icons had become the object of an officially encouraged cult, sometimes implying a superstitious belief in their animation and the opposition to these practices became especially strong in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey).  In 726 the Byzantine emperor Leo III (circa 685–741) took a public stand against the perceived worship of icons, and in 730 proscribed their use, trigging a persecution of icon venerators that was most severe in the reign of Leo’s successor, Constantine V (741–775).  While the emperor’s scholars expressed the theological edit in elegant Byzantine script, on the ground, the smashing of icons and the attacks on the idolaters was done by angry mobs, assembled for the purpose by the social media of the day, events reprised in the sixteen and seventeenth centuries by protestants in the Netherlands who vandalized former Catholic churches in a second burst of iconoclasm.

Byzantine icons

Over the decades, in Byzantine fashion, power shifted between the factions.  In 787, the Empress Irene (circa 752–803) convoked the seventh ecumenical council at Nicaea at which Iconoclasm was condemned and the use of images was again permitted.  The Iconoclasts regained power in 814 after the accession of Leo V (circa 755-820) and icons were again banned after a ruling at a council in 815, the prohibition lasting until the death of the Emperor Theophilus (Circa 800-842).  Within a year of his death, his widow, the Empress Theodora (circa 815–circa 870s), finally restored icon veneration, an event still celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Feast of Orthodoxy.  In a piece of theological sophistry which would have impressed any pope, Theodora noted she was permitting only veneration, not worship and in that state, the Eastern Orthodox view of icons has rested for more than a thousand years.

Rump

Rump (pronounced ruhmp)

(1) The hind part of the body of an animal, as the hindquarters of a quadruped or sacral region of a bird.

(2) A cut of beef from this part of the animal, behind the loin and above the round.

(3) The buttocks.

(4) The last part, especially that which is unimportant or inferior.

(5) The remnant of a legislature, council, etc after a majority of the members have resigned or been expelled.

1375-1425: From the late Middle English rumpe from the Old Norse rumpr from the Middle Low German rump (the bulk or trunk of a body, trunk of a tree), ultimately from the Proto-Germanic rumpō (trunk of a tree, log).  It was cognate with the Icelandic rumpur (rump), the Swedish rumpa (rump), the Dutch romp (trunk, body, hull) and the German rumpf (hull, trunk, torso, trunk).  The meaning "hind-quarters, buttocks of an animal," is from the mid-fifteenth century and a borrowing from the Scandinavian sources.  The sense of a "small remnant" derives from "tail" and dates from the 1640s in reference to the English Rump Parliament (Dec 1648-Apr 1653).  The adjectival form appears first to have been used circa 1600.

Gratuitous objectification: One dozen pictures of Lindsay Lohan’s rump.

Cromwell and the Rump Parliament

The Rump Parliament is the historical term for what was left of the Long Parliament after the English Parliament was purged in 1648 of members hostile to the rebel army’s intention to try King Charles I (1600–1649; King of England, Scotland & Ireland 1625-1649) for high treason.  The Rump is best known for the memorable (and not wholly apocryphal) words of by Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658; Lord Protector of the Commonwealth 1653-1658) who, on 20 April 1653, backed by his army, (illegally) dissolved the parliament, throwing its members into the street, locking the doors.   

“You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately... Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”

Those words were reprised by Leo Amery (1873–1955; British Tory Party politician 1911-1945) during a House of Commons debate in May 1940 in which he attacked Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940; UK prime-minister 1937-1940) over failings in the government's prosecution of the war.  Chamberlain resigned after acknowledging he'd lost the support of much of his party.  The drama of the moment meant Amery's words were well-chosen but when later used to try to dislodge a couple of twenty-first century prime-ministers, they seemed misplaced.

However, the famous quote is a paraphrase; no transcript of the speech survives but an approximation was reconstructed from the recollections of those in the house at the time.

“It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice.

Ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government.

Ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.

Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess?

Ye have no more religion than my horse. Gold is your God. Which of you have not bartered your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth?

Ye sordid prostitutes have you not defiled this sacred place, and turned the Lord’s temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices?

Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation. You were deputed here by the people to get grievances redressed, are yourselves become the greatest grievance.

Your country therefore calls upon me to cleanse this Augean stable, by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings in this House; and which by God’s help, and the strength he has given me, I am now come to do.

I command ye therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place.

Go, get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves be gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors”.

Cromwell dissolving the Rump Parliament (circa 1782) by Benjamin West (1738-1820).

Reprise

Reprise (pronounced ri-prahyz or ruh-preez)

(1) In law, (usually in the plural reprises), an annual deduction, duty, or payment out of a manor or estate, as an annuity or the like (also spelled reprises).

(2) In music, a repetition of a phrase, a return to an earlier theme, or a second rendition or version of a song in a programme or musical.

(3) A recurrence or resumption of an action; To return to an earlier (often first) theme or subject.

(4) To execute a repetition of; repeat.

(5) In fencing, a renewal of a failed attack, after going back into the en garde position.

(6) A taking by way of retaliation.

(7) To take (something) up or on again (obsolete, transitive form).

(8) To recompense; to pay (obsolete).

(9) In admiralty law, a ship recaptured from an enemy or from a pirate.

(10) In masonry, the return of a molding in an internal angle.

1350–1400: The late fourteenth century noun in the sense of "an annual deduction from charges upon a manor or estate" gained its meaning from the thirteenth century Old French reprise (act of taking back), the feminine of repris, past participle of reprendre (take back), from the Latin reprendere (pull back, hold back).  The meaning "resumption of an action" dates from the 1680s while the musical sense of "a repeated passage, act of repeating a passage" has been in use since 1879.  Reprise as a verb dates from the early fifteenth century as reprisen (begin (an activity) again), from the Old French repris, from the Latin reprehendere (to blame, censure, rebuke; seize, restrain ( literally "pull back, hold back).  Obsolete in this sense, the the modern meaning is "to repeat a (theatrical, musical etc.) performance" dates only from circa 1964, a presumably new formation from the verb. The familiar verbs (used with object) are reprised and reprising.

Blonde on Blonde

Bert Stern’s (1929-2013) photo shoot of Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) was commissioned by Vogue magazine and shot over three days, some six weeks before her death.  In book form, the images captured were compiled and published as The Last Sitting (first edition, William Morrow and Company (1982) ISBN 0-688-01173-X).

Stern reprised his work in 2008 with Lindsay Lohan, the photographs published in February 2008’s spring fashion issue of New York magazine.  Stern chose the medium of forty-six years earlier, committing the images to celluloid rather than using anything digital.  The reprised sessions visually echoed the original with a languorous air though the diaphanous fabrics were draped sometimes less artfully than all those years ago.  He later expressed ambivalence about the shoot, hinting regret at having imitated his own work but the photographs remain an exemplar of Lohanary.

Manifold

Manifold (pronounced man-uh-fohld)

(1) Of many kinds; numerous and varied:

(2) Having numerous different parts, elements, features, forms, etc.

(3) A copy or facsimile, as of something written, such as is made by manifolding (obsolete except in historic reference).

(4) Any thin, inexpensive paper for making carbon copies on a typewriter (archaic).

(5) In internal combustion engines, the part (1) of the exhaust system attached directly to the exhaust ports and (2) of the induction system attached directly to the inlet ports.

(6) In mathematics, a topological space that locally looks like the ordinary Euclidean space.

(7) The third stomach of a ruminant animal (an omasum) (US (mostly south of the Mason-Dixon Line)), usually in the plural.

(8) In computer graphics, a polygon-mesh representing the continuous closed surface of a solid object.

Pre 1000: From the Middle English adjective manifold (many times, in multiplied number or quantity), from the West Saxon & Old English manigfeald & manigfealde (monigfald was the Anglian variant) (various, varied in appearance, complicated; numerous, abundant), the construct being manig (many) + feald (fold).  From the Proto-Germanic managafalþaz came the common Germanic compound (the Middle High German manecvalt (manifold), the Icelandic margfaldr (multiple), the Old Frisian manichfald, the Middle Dutch menichvout & menigvoudig (various), the Danish mangefold (multiple), the German mannigfalt, the Swedish mångfalt (diversity) and the Gothic managfalþs), it’s thought perhaps a loan-translation of the Latin multiplex (multiply; having many forms) and the Old English also had a verbal form, manigfealdian (to multiply, abound, increase, extend), the meaning later extended to (the now obsolete) “make multiple copies of by a single operation”.  The adverb manigfealdlice (in various ways, manifoldly), was derived from the adjective.

The noun manifold was applied to the mechanical device (“a pipe or chamber, usually of cast metal, with several outlets”) from the mid-1850s and was a short-form (from engineer’s slang) of “manifold pipe” which had been in use since 1845 which originally was applied to the types of musical instruments mentioned in the Old Testament.  The familiar use to describe the components which are part of an internal combustion engine’s intake & exhaust systems dates from 1904 and applied initially to the pipe between a carburetor and the combustion chambers; the existence of exhaust manifolds was noted the following year.

Of manifold sins and wickedness: Lindsay Lohan smoking and smoldering.

 Among those first translating the Bible into English, manifold was a popular word and few phrases more concisely encapsulate the Church’s view of us than “manifold sins and wickedness”.  In the Book of Common Prayer (1549). the Church of England helpfully provided a general confession for those who knew they were wicked sinners (and of presumably greater significance knew that God knew) but had neither the time nor desire to list them all.  Once uttered, it invited God’s forgiveness.  The Book of Common Prayer became controversial within the more liberal factions of the Anglican communion because its more exacting demands were thought to be uninviting to a society which was changing while the Church was not.  However, despite many revisions (including some regionally exclusive to parts of the old colonial empire), sins and wickedness remain manifold in most editions. 

The General Confession from the Book of Common Prayer (1662 edition)

Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, maker of all things, judge of all men: We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed, by thought, word and deed, against thy Divine Majesty, provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us.

We do earnestly repent, and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings; the remembrance of them is grievous unto us; the burden of them is intolerable.

Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us, most merciful Father; for thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, forgive us all that is past; and grant that we may ever hereafter serve and please thee in newness of life, to the honour and glory of thy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

The Duesenberg manifolds

1935 Duesenberg Supercharged J (SJ) dual cowl phaeton with coachwork by LaGrande, the lines made more rakish still by the use of a Rollston V-shaped windshield.

The Duesenberg Model J was admired for it power, exclusivity, speed and coachwork but one aspect which always draws the eye of nerds is the exhaust manifold.  The look most associated with the marquee is that with four flexible pipes emerging from the right side of the bodywork, a motif used not only by Duesenberg’s corporate stablemates Cord and Auburn but also, if less extravagantly, by Mercedes-Benz where it was a feature of many of the supercharged cars of the 1920s and 1930s.

1935 Duesenberg Model J Special Speedster (SSJ)

The official factory designation was always “Model J” and their documents referred to the supercharged cars as the “Supercharged J” but the latter is known universally as the SJ.  The public imagination was further stimulated in 1935 when a short wheelbase version of the SJ was announced.  The factory referred to it as the “Special Speedster” but people preferred SSJ although it was a rare sight as only two were produced before Duesenberg finally succumbed to the effects of the Great Depression.

Of manifold shapes and weaknesses

The original manifolds used with the Model J were a variety of eight-port (8-into-1 in motorcycle parlance) units made from monel (a high-strength alloy of nickel, and copper, blended with carbon, iron & manganese) which engineers called “sewer pipes” (in modern parlance they’re known also as “dump pipes”).  In terms of fluid dynamics they were efficient but, cast in one piece they were prone to cracking as the torsional forces to which they were subject tended to find the weakest points so they were redesigned as two-piece units (4-into-1) which better distributed the loadings.  This improved durability though the propensity for the cast monel to crack wasn’t wholly eliminated and the the eight-pipe design made difficult the installation of the vertically installed supercharger hardware, added to which the heat-soak from the manifold was undesirable so the system was redesigned to used siamesed ports which fed the distinctive four external exhausts.

Memel 8-into-1 "sewer-pipe" manifold on 1934 Duesenberg SJ with the centrally-mounted supercharger fitted between cylinders 4 & 5 (left), the two piece (2 x 4-into-2) monel sewer-pipe manifolds in 1934 Duesenberg J (centre) and 8-into-1 sewer-pipe emerging through the engine-compartment right-side panel (right).  The use of the apple-green color for engine components was a signature feature of the brand.

The externally-routed pipe-work is regarded as one of the most charismatic features of the big Duesenbergs and still it’s associated by many with the presence of a supercharger but some of the SJs used the monel manifolds and, for the most flamboyant, the factory anyway offered the look as a retro-fit option for US$1000 (at a time when a new Ford V8 could be purchased for US$505).  Because of the fragility of the monel pipes and the fashion for the external ducting, only a handful of supercharged cars with the original manifolds are thought to survive.  To those who make a fetish of intricacy, the monel sewer-pipe manifolds are thought the most photogenic of all.

Manifold porn: Chrysler's Slant Six was an engine of modest specification and expectations but typical of the corporation in those days, the basic engineering was fundamentally sound and in a variety of displacements (170 cubic inch (2.8 litre, 1959-1969), 198 (3.2, 1970-1974) & 225 (3.7 1960-2000), it was produced between 1959-2000 making it one of the US industry's longest-serving powerplants.  One unusual aspect of the Slant Six's design was the block was canted to the right at a 30^o which meant there was much space available to the left and a range of intake manifolds followed, some of which remain available to this day.  Using variations of the Sonoramic tuning, manifolds were produced for single, two & four barrel carburetors and between 1965-1968, Chrysler's Argentine operation produced the Slant Six in a version with twin single barrel carburetors.  The use of the properties of fluid dynamics to gain power or torque as desired quickly was adopted by the industry as an engineering orthodoxy.

Fiscal

Fiscal (pronounced fis-kuh l)

(1) Off or relating to the public treasury or revenues.

(2) In casual use, of or relating to financial matters in general.

(3) A prosecuting attorney in Scotland, a contraction of procurator fiscal.

(4) In philately, a revenue stamp (a postage or other stamp signifying payment of a tax

(5) In some countries, a public official having control of public revenue.

(6) In some civil law or common-civil hybrids (including Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and former colonies of these countries and certain British colonies), the solicitor or attorney-general

1560s: From the Middle French fscal, from the Classical Latin fiscus (public money) and fiscālis (of the state treasury).  The Latin is of unknown etymology and suggestions are speculative: a connection with findō (I cleave) or a link to the rhyme with rarer riscus, a likely Celtic borrowing into Latin and Ancient Greek.  Most convincing is fidēlia (earthen pot, sometime translated as a purse or basket made of twigs in which money was kept).  The general sense of "financial" entered US English in 1865 and was abstracted from phrases like fiscal calendar and fiscal year.  Fiscal is a noun & adjective and fiscalization, fiscalizm & fiscalist are nouns; the noun plural is fiscals.  The nouns fiscalization, fiscalizm & fiscalist are used in the battles (waged for reasons both ideological & theoritical by culture warriors and activist economists) between those advocating the centrality either of monetary or fiscal as the central dynamic in public finances.

Fiscal Drag

Also known as "bracket creep", fiscal drag is the tendency of revenue from taxation to rise as a share of GDP in a growing economy.  Tax allowances, progressive tax rates and the threshold above which a particular rate of tax applies usually remain constant or are changed only gradually.  By contrast, as an economy grows, income, spending and corporate profits should rise, the tax-take therefore increasing without any need for government action.  This helps slow the rate of increase in demand, reducing the pace of growth, making less likely higher inflation; fiscal drag is thus an automatic stabilizer as it acts "naturally" to keep demand stable.  Economists did much work to adjust their models to reflect the post-GFC (Global Financial Crisis, 2008-2012) economy in which, while aggregate growth continued, the gains have tended to be concentrated in the hands of the rich with the incomes of most falling or stagnating in real-terms.  The historically peculiar effect the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have exacerbated these trends in fiscal outcomes, the most interesting of which has been the behavior of inflation now the allocation of the money supply is so distorted.

Salvator Mundi (Savior of the World, circa 1507), attributed in whole or in part to Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) sold at auction in 2017 US$450.3 million.  A 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 Spider (NART) (bottom) by Scaglietti sold at auction in 2013 for US$27,500,000.  It may yet prove a bargain.  In 2018, a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO (top) sold for $US48.4 million, a handy increase on the previous auction record of US$38.1 million paid for a 1963 250 GTO a year earlier and an even more impressive jump from its US$7 million sale in 2000.  Setting the record for the most expensive car ever sold was a privately-traded 250 GTO which in 2018 brought US$70 million.

Although it’s misleading to compare inflationary numbers with those of the 1970s & 1980s because the math of the calculation is now so different (and some of the changes did make sense), there’s no doubt the novel phenomenon of low inflation in the low-end of the economy and high inflation in the more rarefied air, is a product of very unusual circumstances, a succession of jolts and shocks, from the "Greenspan put" of the early 2000s, through the GFC, to the pandemic.  For two decades, the jolts and shocks have been buffered by seemingly limitless free money, now able to be distributed in a way which avoids general inflationary pressures while simultaneously driving up asset prices in objects as diverse as old masters and vintage Ferraris.  Economists are divided, both on whether this model can indefinitely continue and whether it’s a good idea, either in concept or its current specifics although all seem to concur it shouldn’t suddenly be stopped.  It’s not just the US Federal Reserve’s discount window which has been wide-open, the quantitatively-eased largess has been popular with many central banks so when adjustments to policy are made, there will be consequences.

Fiscal Neutrality

Fiscal neutrality is a term to describe the net effect of taxation and public spending being neutral, neither stimulating nor dampening demand. The term can be used to describe the overall stance of fiscal policy: a balanced budget is neutral, as total tax revenue equals total public spending.  It can also refer more narrowly to the combined impact of new measures introduced in an annual budget: the budget can be fiscally neutral if any new taxes equal any new spending, even if the overall stance of the budget either boosts or slows demand.

Fiscal policy

A nation’s fiscal policy is one of the two instruments of macroeconomic policy, the other being monetary policy. It comprises public spending and taxation, and any other government income or assistance to the private sector (such as tax breaks). It can be used to influence the level of demand in the economy, historically with the twin goals of maintaining low unemployment without triggering excessive inflation.  It can be deployed to manage short-term demand through fine tuning, although, since the beginning of the neo-liberal era in the 1980s, it has more often been targeted on long-term goals, with monetary policy preferred for shorter-term adjustments.  Disputes do exist, among both economists and politicians.  Some argue for a balanced budget as a structural end in itself while others suggest persistent deficits (public spending exceeding revenue) are acceptable provided, the deficit is used for investment in infrastructure or something useful rather than consumption.  However, even most deficit hawks concede fiscal policy should be counter-cyclical, aiming to automatically stabilize demand by increasing public spending relative to revenue when the economy is struggling and increasing taxes relative to spending towards the top of the cycle.

Hecatomb

Hecatomb (pronounced hek-uh-tohm or hek-uh-toom)

(1) In ancient Greece and Rome, any great public sacrifice and feast, originally a public sacrifice to the gods of 100 oxen.

(2) In Medieval use, by extension, any great sacrifice; a great number of people, animals or things, especially as sacrificed or destroyed; a large amount.

(3) In modern use (loosely), any great slaughter.

1585–1595:  From the Latin hecatombē, from the Ancient Greek ἑκατόμβη (hekatómbē) (originally (and literally) “an offering of 100 oxen” and later “any great sacrifice”), from hekatombwā, the construct derived from the idea of ἑκατόν (hekatón) (one hundred) + -bwā, (a form which etymologists have always found curious an assumed to be a derivative of βοῦς (boûs) (ox), from the primitive Indo-European root gwou- (ox, bull, cow).  The origin of hékaton is also a mystery but the construct may be from hem-katon, with hen (a neuter of heis or eis (one)) + katon (hundred).  The first month of the Attic calendar (July-August) was Hekatombaion, the annual season of sacrifice.    Hecatomb is a noun; the noun plural is plural hecatombs.

Hecatomb remains rare and obscure except in historic use but can, in the correct context, be used as a linguistic flourish as an alternative to warfare, havoc, killing, slaughter, crime, butchery, bloodshed, homicide, murder, liquidation, rapine, blood, blitz, holocaust, extermination, annihilation, shambles etc but should not replace the specific forms genocide or the holocaust; opinion is divided on whether it’s a suitable substitute for events pre-dating World War II which were historically described as holocausts.  Holocaust was from the Middle English holocaust (burnt offering), from the Anglo-Norman holocauste, the Old French holocauste & olocauste (which exists in modern French as holocaust), from the Late Latin holocaustum, from the Ancient Greek ὁλόκαυστον (holókauston), the neuter form of ὁλόκαυστος (holókaustos) (wholly burnt), the construct being ὅλος (hólos) (entire, whole (ultimately from the primitive Indo-European solh- (whole)) + καυστός (kaustós) (burnt), from καίω (kaíō) (to burn, burn up), the source of which is uncertain although there may be some link with the primitive Indo-European kehw-.  The verb is derived from the noun

The word holocaust is regarded by some as problematic (in the modern way that word is now used).  Holocaust has since at least the 1960s been established as the descriptor of the industrialized mass murder of Jews by the Nazis, the decision to exterminate the Jews of Europe taken in 1941 and formalized in 1942.  Some Jewish scholars however criticize the use of the word because of the historical associations with voluntary sacrifices to God and don’t wish any to draw the inference there was any voluntary religious purpose in the Nazi crime, either from the perspective either of the perpetrators or the victims.  Their preferred term is Shoah, (from the Hebrew שׁוֹאָה‎ (catastrophe).  Other Jewish scholars note the technical point but argue the use of Holocaust (capitalized) uniquely as a descriptor for the events of 1942-1945 is didactically helpful in a way a wider adoption of Shoah would not serve.

The Pentelic marble sculpture of the procession of sacrificial bulls during Hekatombaion, from the Parthenon frieze.

According to a legend which appears in more than one source, when the Greek philosopher Pythagoras discovered what came to be called the Pythagorean theorem (the one about famous right-triangles), he celebrated by sacrificing a hecatomb (100 head) of oxen to the gods.  Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, 1832–1898) is remembered now mostly for Alice’s many adventures but he was also a prolific author of works in mathematics, a discipline in which he took a first at Oxford.  In A New Theory of Parallels (1895), he wrote his whimsical take on the legend of the Pythagoras’s sacrifice.  As an anecdote it probably wouldn’t get many laughs in a any of today’s stand-up comedy clubs but it’s a nice relic of gentlemanly Victorian humor by one who was once an Oxford under-graduate and never quite recovered:

But neither thirty years, nor thirty centuries, affect the clearness, or the charm, of Geometrical truths.  Such a theorem as “the square of the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the sides” is as dazzlingly beautiful now as it was in the day when Pythagoras first discovered it, and celebrated its advent, it is said, by sacrificing a hecatomb of oxen — a method of doing honor to Science that has always seemed to me slightly exaggerated and uncalled-for.  One can imagine oneself, even in these degenerate days, marking the epoch of some brilliant scientific discovery by inviting a convivial friend or two, to join one in a beefsteak and a bottle of wine.  But a hecatomb of oxen!  It would produce a quite inconvenient supply of beef.

That in the German vernacular someone thought a dunce is called “an ox” allowed the penning of some Teutonic whimsy, the satirist Karl Ludwig Börne (1786–1837) observing: “After Pythagoras discovered his fundamental theorem he sacrificed a hecatomb of oxen. Since that time all dunces tremble whenever a new truth is discovered.”  The botanist and romantic poet Adelbert von Chamisso (1781–1838) also liked the pun which he used in a short verse:

Truth lasts throughout eternity,

When once the stupid world its light discerns:

The theorem, coupled with Pythagoras’ name,

Holds true today, as’t did in olden times.

A splendid sacrifice Pythagoras brought

The gods, who blessed him with this ray divine;

A great burnt offering of a hundred kine,

Proclaimed afar the sage’s gratitude.

Now since that day, all cattle [blockheads] when they scent

New truth about to see the light of day,

In frightful bellowing manifest their dismay;

Pythagoras fills them all with terror;

And powerless to shut out light by error,

In sheer despair, they shut their eyes and tremble.

Cellar

Cellar (pronounced sel-er)

(1) A room or set of rooms, for the storage of food, fuel etc, wholly or partly underground and usually beneath a building.

(2) As “wine cellar”, an underground room in wine is stored (now often built above ground but still referred to as “wine cellar”); as “cellar”, a stock of bottled wines.

(3) As “cellar dweller(s)”, in the slang of competitive sport, a reference to teams in the lowliest reaches of the points ladder.

(4) As a verb, to store something (usually wine) in a cellar.

(5) As “salt cellar”, (1) a historical term for a small dish used for holding salt to be dispensed by a spoon & (2) an alternative (if historically misleading) term for what tends in modern use (initially especially in North America but later more generally) to be called a “salt shaker”.

1175–1225: From the Middle English celer and the Old French celier (“salt box” which survives in Modern French as cellier) from the Anglo-French & Latin cellārium (pantry; storeroom (literally group of cells”)), the construct being cell(a) + -ārium, the later re-spelling adopted to reflect the Latin form.  The fifteenth century English saler is from the Old French salier (salière in Modern French), from the Latin salarius (relating to salt) from the Latin sal (salt).  The Latin salarium was a noun use of the adjective meaning "pertaining to salt," again derived from the Latin sal (salt) from the primitive Indo-European sal- (salt).  The sense "room under a house or other building, mostly underground and used for storage" gradually emerged in late Middle and early Modern English, cellar-door attested by 1640s.  The somewhat clumsy noun cellarer (the person, usually in a monastery, responsible for providing food and drink) appears to have gone extinct by the late eighteenth century.

Of cellars, jugs, pots, mills & all that

Lindsay Lohan with milk jug, preparing a Pilk.  A Pilk is a mix of Pepsi Cola and milk, one of a class of beverages created by the Pepsi Corporation called Dirty Sodas which includes the Naughty & Ice, the Chocolate Extreme, the Cherry on Top, the Snow Fl(oat) and the Nutty Cracker.  All are intended to be served with cookies (biscuits).

In English, to describe the containers in which small quantities of stuff (as opposed to bulk-storage such as a bin) was stored, a variety of terms evolved.  Ground pepper is stored in a pepper pot which is shaken; whole or cracked peppercorns being stored in a pepper mill (often now called a pepper grinder) which is ground.  Ground salt is stored in a salt cellar and should be dispensed with a spoon whereas if shaken from a container it's best called a salt shaker; salt crystals are stored in a salt mill (often now called a salt grinder) which is ground.  Sometimes, the pepper pot and salt cellar are kept in a receptacle called a condiment caddy.  Ink, if used by directly dipping in a nib or quill end, is kept in an inkwell; if bought from a shop, it is sold in an ink pot, the latter more recent and, with the decline of writing with ink, now more prevalent.  Gravy is served in a gravy boat.  A ramekin is a small bowl used for preparing and serving individual portions of a variety of dishes, including crème brûlée, soup, molten cakes, moin moin, cheese or egg dishes, poi, macaroni and cheese, lasagna, potted shrimps, ice cream, soufflé, baked cocottes, crumbles, chakra póngal, or scallops, or used to serve side garnishes and condiments alongside an entrée.  Biscuits are kept in a biscuit barrel.  Tea is kept in a tea caddy, milk is served from a milk jug and sugar is taken from a sugar bowl with tongs if in lumps and if in crystals, is taken with a spoon or sprinkled from a caster or, more rarely, a sifter. Liquid condiments such as olive oil and balsamic vinegar are served from a cruet.  Soups and stews are served in a tureen and dispensed with a ladle.

Japanese gold-lined sugar scuttle & sugar scoop with laurel leaf detailing (circa 1970s, left) and William IV Sterling Silver Sugar Bowl, John Fry II, London, England, 1832 (right).  Sugar scoops are used to scoop sugar from a “sugar scuttle” whereas if one’s sugar is in a “sugar bowl”, a “sugar spoon” is used.  The difference between a “sugar spoon” and a “tea spoon” is the former has a deeper and usually more rounded bowl and most are supplied as part of a “tea set” or “tea service”, often with the same decorative elements.

The word ladle is the subject of one of the more curious definitional disputes in English.  A ladle is thought by most reasonable folk to be a specialized spoon but there are pedants of gastronomy who insist that while ladles have a spoon-shaped bowl, the angle of the handle (which can be so acute as to be perpendicular to the bowl) means they are so different to every other spoon that they can be used only for ladling, not spooning.  The etymological evidence offered is that the Middle English ladel is from the Old English hlædel, derived from the Proto-Germanic hlaþaną (to load), derived from several primitive Indo-European sources which meant “to put”, “lay out”, to spread” and, the Old English hlædel (a glossing of the Latin antlia (pump for drawing water)) is from hladan (to load; to draw up water).  It’s less a technical point than a social class signifier known probably only to etymologist and the more snobby maîtres d'hôtel.

Saliera (salt cellar) circa 1542 by Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien.

In addition to the works he completed, Italian sculptor and goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini remembered for his vividly written autobiography, a few of the more extravagant tales suggesting some unreliability of memory but the four murders to which he confesses are undisputed and well-documented.  Convinced of his own greatness, which he did not seek to conceal from his readers, his virtues and vices he seems to suggest were the essential qualities of his genius and for an abundance of one he should be forgiven the excesses of the other.  Friends in high places seemed to agree.  Thanks repeatedly to the interventions of well-placed men of influence, including many cardinals and more than one pope, he was able either to escape punishment or secure pardons and early release from the imprisonment imposed for many of his crimes which, as well as the murders, included sodomy of both young men and women, one of whom in Paris filed a complaint accusing him of using her "after the Italian fashion".

A mannerist masterpiece, the memorable Saliera (salt cellar) is some 10" (250 mm) high and 13" (330 mm) wide, sculpted by hand from rolled gold, resting on a base of ebony into which are installed ivory bearings to permit it to be rolled between guests, around the table.  It represents the gods of the earth and sea, their legs intertwined and thought to suggest “those lengthier branches of the sea which run up into the continents”.  A small boat in which to store the salt floats next to the sea god while a temple for peppercorns sits next to the earth goddess, the figures on the base noting the winds and times of day.  When Cellini presented the piece he made no mention of the names of the figures and only later would they be identified as Neptune and Tellus.