Vamp

Vamp (pronounced vamp)

(1) The portion of a shoe or boot upper that covers the instep and toes.

(2) Something patched up or pieced together (rare).

(3) In music, an accompaniment, usually improvised, consisting of a succession of simple chords.

(4) A seductive (and not necessarily conventionally attractive) woman who uses her sensuality to exploit men.  In this context a clipping of vampire.

(5) To use feminine charms upon; to seduce.

(6) Slang for vampire (rare, presumably to avoid confusion with vampish women).

(7) Modern urban slang for the act of leaving an area or scene, due usually to wishing no longer to be there.

(8) Modern urban slang for late (or all) night sessions, an allusion to the nocturnal habits of vampires.

1175-1225: From Middle English vampe, borrowed from Anglo-French vaumpé and Old French avantpié (front part of a shoe (hence, something patched)), from avant (to the fore, front) + pié (foot) derived from the Latin pēs.  As applied to music, meaning dates from 1789 but from the early twentieth-century associated mostly with jazz.  Popular usage, as a descriptor of the seductive femme fatale, was first noted in 1911, derived from film and theatre performances inspired by the Kipling poem, The Vampire.  Vamper is verb and noun, vampish the adjective.  The term "re-vamp" (updating or refreshing something) is based upon the use by cobblers (to replace the vamp in a shoe).

The etiquette of toe cleavage

Analogous with other displays, toe cleavage is the partial exposure of toes in shoes cut low at the vamp and specialists in the field have offered opinions.  Noted shoe stylist Manolo Blahnik, although an early advocate, urged some restraint in suggesting one should show “…only the first two cracks" but, given anatomical variation and the production-line standardization of all but the rare bespoke creations, it’s a rule difficult to enforce.  Christian Louboutin, he of the red soles, is less prescriptive, liking toe cleavage and more rather than less.  His designs emphasize the curved form of the foot, the instep, and he tends to conceal “…the heel and reveal the arch, culminating in a low-cut vamp."  Vogue’s venerable editor Anna Wintour, doesn’t specify how much toe cleavage should be displayed but agrees it’s an essential part of a voguette’s dress code; her point being the look "must never be combined with stockings".

Vampish: Lindsay Lohan’s ample toe cleavage on show in Christian Louboutin stilettos.  Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, Madrid, 2014.

Exsanguinate

Exsanguinate (pronounced eks-sang-gwuh-neyt)

(1) To kill by means of blood loss.

(2) To die by means of blood loss.

(3) To drain a body (living or dead) of blood.

1610–1620: From the Late Latin exsanguinātus (bloodless, deprived of blood), past participle of exsanguināre, the construct being ex- (out) + sanguinem, from sanguis (blood).  The construct in English was ex- + sanguine, + -ate.  The ex- prefix was from the Middle English, from words borrowed from the Middle French, from the Latin ex (out of, from), from the primitive Indo-European eǵ- & eǵs- (out).  It was cognate with the Ancient Greek ἐξ (ex) (out of, from), the Transalpine Gaulish ex- (out), the Old Irish ess- (out), the Old Church Slavonic изъ (izŭ) (out) & the Russian из (iz) (from, out of).  The “x” in “ex-“, sometimes is elided before certain constants, reduced to e- (eg ejaculate).  Sanguine was from the Middle English sanguine, from the Old French sanguin, from the Latin sanguineus (of blood), from sanguis.  The Latin sanquis, perhaps surprisingly, is of uncertain origin but may be from the primitive Indo-European hsh-én- from hésh₂r̥ (blood).  The suffix -ate was a word-forming element used in forming nouns from Latin words ending in -ātus, -āta, & -ātum (such as estate, primate & senate).  Those that came to English via French often began with -at, but an -e was added in the fifteenth century or later to indicate the long vowel.  It can also mark adjectives formed from Latin perfect passive participle suffixes of first conjugation verbs -ātus, -āta, & -ātum (such as desolate, moderate & separate).  Again, often they were adopted in Middle English with an –at suffix, the -e appended after circa 1400; a doublet of –ee.  Exsanguinate & exsanguinating are verbs, exsanguinated is a verb & adjective, exsanguination is a noun; the noun plural is exsanguinations.

As an adjective, exsanguine (bloodless) is attested from the mid-seventeenth century in both literal and figurative use and is now probably a technical word used only by embalmers, in clinical pathology, in the veterinary sciences or in slaughterhouses.  The word being a bit cumbersome, use never extended to kitchens, despite much exsanguination historically being part of the workings of production kitchens (before modern supply chains); where required, chefs prefer the punchier “drain”.  In use the verb is intransitive in the sense of “to die by means of blood loss” and transitive in the sense of “to kill by means of blood loss” or “to drain a body (living or dead) of blood”.

Gory: Lindsay Lohan was photographed in 2011 & 2013 by Tyler Shields (b 1982) in sessions which involved knives and the depiction of blood.  The shoot attracted some attention and while the technical achievement was noted, it being quite challenging to work with blood (fake or real) and realize something realistic but it was also criticized as adding little to the discussion about the pornography of violence against women.  There was a time when such photographs would has shocked but that moment has long passed and the most thoughtful comments on the photographs were that while it's a necessary discussion, it's one that should be conducted with words and such staged images do nothing but add to cultural desensitization.

Technical notes on the process of stunning & exsanguination in a slaughterhouse.  Department of Animal Biosciences, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

(1) Stunning process

Criteria for a good slaughter method:

(1) Animals must not be treated cruelly or unnecessarily stressed.

(2) Exsanguination must be as rapid and as complete as possible.

(3) Damage to the carcass must be minimal, and the method of slaughter must be hygienic, economical and safe for abattoir workers.

To avoid the risk of cruelty, animals must be stunned or rendered unconscious before exsanguination.  When religious reasons do not allow stunning, extra care is needed to ensure exsanguination causes the minimum of distress to the animal.  In the Kosher method of killing, conscious cattle are suspended with the head stretched back, and then the throat and its major blood vessels are severed. Drugs cannot be used in the meat industry to induce unconsciousness in animals for slaughter because unacceptable residues would remain in the meat.

Animals can be effectively stunned by concussion which may be induced by a bullet or a bolt that penetrates the cranium or by the impact of a fast-moving knocker on the surface of the cranium.  In modern abattoirs, the primitive pole-axe has been replaced by devices which use expanding gas, either from an air-compressor or a blank ammunition cartridge. First, the animal is restrained in a narrow pen or knocking box in order to minimize its head movements, then the concussion instrument is then accurately located at a point on the midline of the skull, above the level of the brow ridges of the eye sockets.  Concussion stunning should not be applied on the neck or posterior part of the skull.

The knocker is a heavy instrument held with both hands.  There is a safety catch on the handle, but the actual trigger protrudes from the head of the knocker and is activated as the knocker is tapped against the animal's head.  The captive bolt pistol resembles a heavy hand gun but a blank cartridge rather than a bullet is used to propel a cylindrical bolt into the skull.  After penetration, the bolt is withdrawn into the barrel of the pistol and the pistol is reloaded.  Steers, heifers and cows are normally stunned with a knocker or a heavy captive bolt pistol, but bulls and boars which have massive skulls are sometimes shot with a rifle bullet. Pigs and lambs may be stunned with a light-weight captive bolt pistol.

Thirsty work.  A vampire exsanguinates.

(2) Exsanguination process

Cattle and pigs are usually exsanguinated by a puncture wound which opens the major blood vessels at the base of the neck, not far from the heart (the trade name for this process is sticking).  In sheep, lambs and small calves, the major blood vessels may be severed by a transverse cut across the throat, near to the head.  Poultry can be exsanguinated with a diagonal cut from the corner of the jaw towards the ear on the other side, or by a knife thrust through the roof of the mouth to severe the brain and its major blood vessels. For poultry, the cut may be made on the side of the head if the head is later to be removed automatically by machine.

If the sticking wound is inaccurately placed, exsanguination may be too slow, and it may be almost halted by the formation of large blood clots.  The formation of blood clots is accelerated when large areas of tissue are damaged by repeated inaccurate punctures.  If the trachea is severed by the sticking wound, blood may be drawn into the lungs as the animal breathes. Later in the slaughter procedure, this may necessitate the trimming of blood clots from the pleural membranes after they have been inspected.  If the oesophagus is severed, the vascular system may be contaminated by the entry of food particles into the venous system. If the connective tissues of the shoulder are opened, blood may seep into the shoulder region to form blood clots between the muscles.

Incomplete exsanguination increases the amount of residual blood in the carcass.  The lean meat may then appear unduly dark and the fat may become streaked with blood. On the surface of incompletely exsanguinated poultry, the skin may appear dark and bloody over the breast, neck, shoulders and wings. The microscopic tissue damage that may later be caused by the freezing and thawing of poultry enables residual blood to leak from skin capillaries.  Thus, the results of incomplete exsanguination are often more noticeable to the consumer than to the producer.

The exsanguination or sticking of meat animals in an abattoir is usually performed by severing the carotid arteries and the jugular vein at the base of the neck.  In poultry, these vessels may be cut only on one side of the neck. The sticking knife must be kept clean otherwise bacteria might be introduced into the venous system and spread through the otherwise relatively sterile muscles of the carcass.  Once exsanguination has started, the pulse and mean blood pressure decline rapidly because of the reduced stroke volume of the heart. Blood pressure changes are monitored physiologically by baroreceptors in the carotid sinuses. During exsanguination, respiratory movements of the thorax may be stimulated, and neurogenic and hormonal mechanisms attempt to restore the blood pressure by increasing the peripheral resistance by vasoconstriction.  The heart keeps beating for some time after the major blood vessels are emptied, but stops rapidly if exposed and cooled.  Electrical stunning of pigs may terminate cardiac activity so that, at the start of exsanguination, the blood escapes by gravity rather than being pumped out.  In pigs, cardiac arrest does not affect the rate and extent of exsanguination.  After exsanguination has started, the heart usually re-starts and attempts to pump, until it runs out of energy. Thus, in many cases, there is no reason why animals such as pigs and sheep cannot be killed by electrocution rather than being merely electrically stunned.  In cattle stunned by concussion, more or less complete exsanguination may be obtained without ventricular pumping. Similarly, normal exsanguination is obtained in poultry that have been killed by electrocution rather than by being electrically stunned. In meat animals, "head to back" stunning may be used to stop the heart.

Blood loss as a percentage of body weight differs between species: cows, 4.2 to 5.7%; calves, 4.4 to 6.7%; sheep, 4.4 to 7.6%; and pigs, 1.5 to 5.8%.  Blood content as a percentage of live weight may decrease in heavier animals since the growth of blood volume does not keep pace with growth of live weight. Approximately 60% of blood is lost at sticking, 20-25% remains in the viscera, while a maximum of 10% may remain in carcass muscles. Different stunning methods may modify the physiological conditions at the start of exsanguination and, also, the neural responses to exsanguination.  Electrically stunned sheep lose more blood than those stunned with a captive bolt, but they also have more blood splashes in their carcasses.

Reduction of blood flow to the kidneys causes the release of a proteolytic enzyme, renin, which acts on a plasma protein to produce a polypeptide, angiotensin I.  This polypeptide is converted enzymatically to angiotensin II which then causes widespread vasoconstriction. Vasoconstriction is important because it decreases the retention of blood in meat. Angiotensin II vasoconstriction is operative in both conscious and anaesthetized animals.  Catecholamines and antidiuretic hormone (ADH) may also enhance vasoconstriction during exsanguination.  Speed of exsanguination may modify the balance between neural and hormonal vasoconstrictive mechanisms, with hormonal vasoconstriction predominating in rapid exsanguination.  However, asphyxia prior to exsanguination may result in vasoconstriction due to the activity of the sympathetic nervous system.

Traditionally it has been maintained that poor bleeding leads to dark meat with poor keeping qualities due to microbial spoilage and rancidity but there is little scientific evidence in support of this view and it may be false, even in animals which retain massive amounts of blood in their carcasses.  Delayed exsanguination of cattle may lead to a slight reduction in the amount of blood removed so that the carcass and spleen are slightly heavier but the effects on meat quality are negligible. It is not suggested poor exsanguination is a good thing, but should it occur, it is not the disaster some meat inspectors suppose.

Drone

Drone (pronounced drohn)

(1) A male bee in a colony of social bees, stingless and making no honey whose sole function is to mate with the queen

(2) An unmanned aircraft or ship that can navigate autonomously, without manned control or beyond line of sight.

(3) In casual use, any unmanned aircraft or ship that is guided remotely.

(4) A person who lives on the labor of others; a parasitic loafer.

(5) A drudge.

(6) To make a dull, continued, low, monotonous sound; a hum or buzz.

(7) To speak in a monotonous tone.

(8) To proceed in a dull, monotonous manner.

(9) In music, originally, a continuous low tone produced by the bass pipes or bass strings of musical instruments (later extended to the notion of "drone music", a "clearing house" term for a range of sub-genres and elements).

(10) The pipes (especially of the bagpipe) or strings producing this tone or the bagpipe equipped with such pipes.

Pre 1000: From the Middle English drane & drone (male honeybee), from the Old English drān & drǣn (male bee, drone), from the Proto-Germanic drēniz, drēnuz & drenô (an insect, drone), from the primitive Indo-European dhrēn- (bee, drone, hornet); the Proto-Germanic was the source also of Middle Dutch drane, the Old High German treno (the German Drohne, is from Middle Low German drone), the origin of which may have been imitative (there was the Lithuanian tranni and the Greek thronax (a drone)).  It was cognate with the Dutch drone & Middle Dutch drōnen (male bee or wasp), the Low German drone & German drohne (drone), the dialectal German dräne, trehne & trene (drone), the Danish drone (drone) and the Swedish drönje & drönare (drone).  An earlier variation was the Old English drān, related to the Old High German treno (drone), the Gothic drunjus (noise) and the Greek tenthrēnē (asp) which was the source of the sense of a sound, the meaning emerging 1490–1500, related also to the Middle English droun (to roar), the Icelandic drynja (to bellow) and the Gothic drunjus (noise).

The meaning referring to pilotless airframes appears first to have been used by the military in 1945-1946, initially in the sense of towed target drones, the "pilotless aircraft directed by remote control".  Even in 1946, military theorists were speculating about the potential use of "drones" although much of what was then described was closer to the modern smart bombs or guided missiles.  The meaning "a deep, continuous humming sound" emerged circa 1500, apparently an independent imitative formation in the sense of the 1630s noun threnody (song of lament), from the Greek thrēnōdia (lamentation), the construct being thrēnos (dirge, lament) + ōidē (ode).  The Ancient Greek thrēnos was probably from the primitive Indo-European imitative root dher- (to drone, murmur, hum), source also of the Old English dran (drone), the Gothic drunjus (sound) and the Greek tenthrene (a species of wasp).  The specific technical use "bass pipe of a bagpipe" was first adopted in the  1590s.   The figurative sense of "an idler, a shiftless, lazy worker" (based on the idea of the male bees which make no honey), dates from the 1520s.  Drone quickly became a popular way to describe a mono-tonal, boring speech delivery.

Drones and UAVs

The modern military term for what most people casually call a drone is unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) a more accurate descriptor given the original target drones were either objects towed by “target tugs” or radio controlled aircraft dumbly flying on pre-set paths.  Research on the concept of unmanned flying devices for reconnaissance target practice or even ordnance delivery had begun even before the military had adopted combat aircraft and by the mid-1930s, the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the UK had hundreds of radio controlled biplanes but the word drone appears to have been adopted only in 1945-1946 to describe the objects towed behind piloted aircraft.  Used to provide a moving target for either air-to-air or surface-to-air target practice, the target tugs towing the drone tended to be painted in lurid color schemes to differentiate tug from target although tugs still suffered hits from "friendly fire".  Over time, slang developing as it does, the terms “target drone” and “drone” came often to refer not just to the towed target-object but also the “target tug”, the aircraft towing the target, less a leakage from military use than just a misunderstanding that caught on.  Now, most UAVs sold to hobbyists or for commercial use are marketed as drones.

Paint scheme for target tug towing drone used for surface-to-air target practice on de Havilland Mosquito TT (target tug) Mark 35, No 3 CAACU (Civilian Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit), Exeter, UK, 1963.

The use as a target tug (TT) was the last operational role for the Mosquito, one of the more remarkable aircraft of World War Two.  Developed as a private venture by de Havilland, it was greeted by the by the Air Ministry with not their usual mere indifference but outright hostility to the very concept of a light, unarmed bomber made from plywood which relied for protection on speed rather than firepower.  The company however persisted and the Mosquito, which first flew in 1940, became one of the outstanding and most versatile combat aircraft of the war deployed as a fighter, fighter-bomber, night-fighter and bomber in roles as diverse as photo-reconnaissance, maritime strike, long-range surveillance, ground-attack and pathfinder missions guiding heavy bombers.  There was even a naval version for carrier operations, operated by the Fleet Air Arm.

The post-war career too was notable.  Equipped with the latest radar, the Mosquito was retained as a front-line, all-weather fighter until 1951-1952 when night-fighter versions of the Gloster Meteor and de Havilland Vampire entered service.  The last of the 7771 Mosquitos produced did not leave the production line until 1950, the long Indian summer necessitated by the UK’s technology deficit and although few probably thing of the Mosquito as a Cold War fighter but that was its unexpected penultimatum.  The less celebrated but valuable swansong came as a target tug, painted in vivid colors to decrease the danger from “friendly fire” and these platforms remained in operational service until finally retired in 1963, some of the decommissioned aircraft subsequently used by film studios for wartime features.  In addition to the RAF’s Mark 35s, a number of Mark 16 bombers were converted to TT Mark 39s, operated also by the Royal Navy and two ex-RAF Mark 6 (fighter-bombers) were in 1953-1954 converted to the TT Mark 6 standard for the Belgian Air Force which used them as target tugs at the Sylt firing ranges.  For an airframe which the authorities were at the time inclined to reject, the Mosquito enjoyed a remarkable operational life of over two decades; the Treasury got their money's worth.

Lindsay Lohan in Netflix's Irish Wish (2024) being filmed by drone (the car is a 1965 Triumph TR4A).  Camera-equipped drones have reduced the cost of filming such scenes.

It's no exaggeration to suggest drones (even the military now often use the term instead of UAV) have been a revolutionary weapon in armed conflict.  Able to function as long duration reconnaissance or weapons platforms, depending on the device, they can in real-time be controlled by soldiers in the field or from command centres thousands of miles away.  Cheap and mass-produced, they have emerged also as a "Kamikaze" weapon and, because off-the-shelf commercial drones can easily be adapted for offensive purposes, they present a challenge to established militaries when used by irregular combatant forces (including terrorist groups) which have not previously had access to weapons which can be deployed in mass at long range.    

The Germans, the Russians and Drone Music

Although musicologists categorize “drone music” as a sub-genre in the minimalist tradition, when produced thus it’s really an application of a element of sound which has been a component of many pieces nobody would describe as even vague drone-like.  Ethno-musicologists also object to the usually Eurocentric treatment of the topic, pointing out that musical traditions from Morocco to Mongolia contain much that can only be called a drone and along with a rhythmic beat, the two are probably the basis of most of the early music created by humans.  As a modern form however, to be thought of as “drone music”, compositions tend to be long and characterized by slight or sudden, jarring harmonic shifts.  The form obviously pre-dates means of electronics production but the availability in the twentieth century essentially allowed the genre to be created and it was figures such as Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007) and Pierre Schaeffer (1910–1995) who created the works which first came to public attention.  The critical response varied, those attracted to the avant-garde anxious not to seem reactionary while others would probably have agreed with comrade Stalin (1878-1953; Soviet leader 1924-1953) who condemned as “formalists” those artists who pursued novelties and technical challenges just to impress their peers and a small elite cohort.  The public reaction to the form in its early years seems mostly to have varied between scepticism and the dismissal of the very idea such sounds could be called “music”.  Still, it endured and although never more than a niche as a stand-alone product, continues to underpin many popular forms, notably those listened to in clubs or at festivals by those under the influence of some substance and as the artists well know, there is a relationship between the drone and the chemicals.

By the time the German experimentalists Tangerine Dream released Zeit (Largo in four movements, 1972), it’s possible all that could be done in droning had been done and it can be argued everything since has been a variation but that hasn’t stopped the explorations, the Europeans especially entranced although it was the film-makers who found snatches of drone so useful in creating dramatic effects.  Curiously, there are those who have argued the credit (or the blame, depending on one’s view) for the emergence of drone music belongs to Richard Wagner (1813–1883), on the basis that by the end of his career, tonality had constantly shifting key centres, modulated so often there was little but ambiguity about what the final notes should be.

That’s fine but, so the argument goes, if there are more and more shifting key centres, there comes a point at which there’s no longer a centre of pitch, thus Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) twelve-tone system in which instead of a composition being based on major or minor scales and chords, a tone row was created, the twelve appearing in a specific order (thus the nickname “tone row”).  Musically (and politically, according to some), the idea of a tone row is methodically to avoid a preference for one note over another; all are equal.  Unlike tonal music in which pull active tones “pull” to resolve to resting tones, what came to be called “atonal music” came about because so far had Wagner pushed the boundaries that tonality could do nothing but disintegrate.  For the avant-garde, this created a gap in the market for “critic-ready compositions” because just as a visual form like cubism deconstructed the “bits” of the image and let them be seem in isolation as part of a whole, music could be rediced to a collection of drones and these could be performed singularly, in parallel or as a lineal set.  “By Schoenberg, out or Wagner” is an intriguing explanation for the origin of drone music and not all will agree.

Halloween

Halloween (pronounced hal-uh-ween or hal-oh-een)

The evening of 31 October, historically was celebrated mostly in the UK, Canada, the US and Ireland but it spread to Scandinavia and Australia and can now be found in many countries, some participants presumably unaware of its history.

Circa 1745: From the festivals All Hallows Even (also as Hallow-e'en & Hallow e'en), celebrated as a popular holiday on the last night of October (the eve of All Saints Day).  All Hallows’ Eve was the evening before All Saints’ Day, from the Old English ealra halgena mæssedæg (All Hallows' Mass-day) and the literal meaning is "hallowed evening" or "holy evening", derived from the Scottish term Allhallowe'en although throughout the British Isles it had long been noted in the calendar as "the evening before All-Hallows".  In Scots, the word eve is even, and this became contracted to e'en or een, eventually to become Hallowe'en.  Hallow was from the otherwise-obsolete Middle English noun halwe (holy person, saint), from the Old English halga, which is from the source of the verb hallow.

A traditional Jack O'Lantern, hung throughout Scotland and Ireland to ward off evil spirits.  Pumpkins came later which were bigger and easier to carve but aesthetically, a turnip makes sense because the shape tends to more closely resemble that of a human skull.

The idea of "All Hallows'" existed in Old English but "All Hallows' Eve" didn’t appear until 1556.  All-Hallows is from the Middle English al-halwe, from the late Old English ealra halgan (all saints, the saints in heaven collectively) and this was both the name of the feast day and of individual churches.  In the regions of the British Isles the fests were celebrated on various days (influenced as in pagan times by the rhythm of the seasons and the demands placed on the allocation and location of labor) but in the Church records the date 31 October was being described as alle halwe eue by the early twelfth century.  The term “Hallow-day” for "All-Saints Day" is from 1590s, replacing the late thirteenth century halwemesse day.  The consequential Hallowtide (the first week of November) emerged in the mid-fifteenth century.

In pagan times it was the last night of the year in the old Celtic calendar, where it was Old Year's Night (a night for witches) and Halloween is thus another of the pagan festivals essentially taken over and re-branded by Christianity.  Because of the association with witches the day was always associated with magic and sorcery and it was this tradition which inspired Robert Burns’ (1759-1796) poem Halloween, penned in 1785 and first published in 1786 in the Kilmarnock Volume (1786).  Of twenty-eight stanzas (epic length by Burns’ standards) and written in a mix of Scots and English, it shows the clear influence of the twelve stanza on Hallow-E'en (1780) by John Mayne (1759–1836) and the spirit of the evening is captured in Burns’ words which suggest Halloween is "thought to be a night when witches, devils, and other mischief-making beings are all abroad on their baneful midnight errands".

Off to the party.  Lindsay Lohan entering the Cuckoo Club Halloween Party, 31 October 2018.

Although most associated with children going door-to-door in costume demanding candy with the (usually implied) menace of some minor prank if denied (hence trick-or-treat), this aspect is of US origin and dates only from the 1930s.  In these modern, litigious times, children are encouraged to be pragmatic, cut their losses and seek more treats from the more generous rather than visit tricks upon the parsimonious.

Like a number of the festivals in the Christian calendar, it’s a borrowing from pagan rituals, this one the last night of the year in the old Celtic calendar, where it was Old Year's Night, treated as a night for witches, hence the tradition of the costumes in this theme with pumpkins carved in demonic form (although the original Jack O'Lanterns in Scotland were turnips rather than pumpkins).  The Christian feast of 31 October begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide which, in the western liturgical calendar, is dedicated to the remembrance of the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the departed faithful.  The view that Halloween is a lineal descendant of old pagan festivals, especially the Gaelic Samhain, is generally accepted as being one of many Christianized by the early Church which found it more profitable to accommodate rather than suppress popular, unthreatening traditions.  However, there’s always been a purist sect within the Church which has denied the pagan link and insists Halloween’s origins are wholly Christian.  Modern capitalism is neutral on this, the day just another secular event during which much stuff can be sold and one unusual in that in United States, it’s the only event on the calendar free from some sort of moral or spiritual baggage.  Many abstained from meat on All Hallows' Eve, a tradition which endures in the vegetarian dishes of this vigil day such as potato pancakes, toffee-apples and soul cakes.

Pumpkin carving can reflect many influences including pumpkin ∏ (pi) (left), Leggo (centre) and Kim Kardashian (right).

Upon that night, when fairies light
On Cassilis Downans dance,
Or owre the lays, in splendid blaze,
On sprightly coursers prance;
Or for Colean the route is ta'en,
Beneath the moon's pale beams;
There, up the cove, to stray and rove,

Among the rocks and streams
To sport that night.
Among the bonny winding banks,
Where Doon rins, wimplin' clear,
Where Bruce ance ruled the martial ranks,
And shook his Carrick spear,
Some merry, friendly, country-folks,
Together did convene,
To burn their nits, and pou their stocks,
And haud their Halloween
Fu' blithe that night.

Opening stanzas of Halloween by Robert Burns.

Samhainophobia trigger: posters for the 1978 movie Halloween.

One general principle (certainly in the West) which may be gleaned from the work of phenomenologists is that where a cultural practice exists, there may be an associated phobia.  The morbid fear of Halloween is known as samhainophobia, the construct being the Celtic samhuin (the construct being sam (summer) + fuin (end)) + phobia.  The suffix -phobia (fear of a specific thing; hate, dislike, or repression of a specific thing) was from the New Latin, from the Classical Latin, from the Ancient Greek -φοβία (-phobía) and was used to form nouns meaning fear of a specific thing (the idea of a hatred came later).  The name of the festival Samhuin was from the earlier Samfuin, from the Old Irish.  Samhainophobia can be triggered by many things including the general fear of ghosts, witches, skeletons, spiders, black cats, bats, vampires and any of the other spooky stuff associated with Halloween; the representations in popular culture (axe murderers and such) presumably reinforce these fears.  Although the research seems sparse, it seems likely the symptoms of the condition would be not dissimilar to those suffered by patients afflicted by victims of related phobias including phasmophobia (fear of ghosts), wiccaphobia (fear of witches and witchcraft), sanguivoriphobia (fear of vampires), chiroptophobia (fear of bats), nyctophobia (fear of darkness), arachnophobia (fear of spiders), skelephobia (fear of skeletons), placophobia (fear of tombstones), and michaelmyersphobia (fear of Michael Myers).

Interstice

Interstice (pronounced in-tur-stis)

(1) An intervening space.

(2) An interval of time.

(3) A small or narrow space or interval between things or parts, especially when one of a series of alternating uniform spaces and parts.

(4) In Roman Catholic canon law, the interval of time that must elapse before promotion to a higher degree of orders.

(5) In physics, the space between adjacent atoms in a crystal lattice.

(6) In medicine or pathology, a small area, space, or hole in the substance of an organ or tissue.

(7) In geology, an opening or space, especially a small or narrow one between mineral grains in a rock or within sediments or soil.

1595-1605:  From the Old French interstice (interval), from the Latin interstitium (interval (literally "space between")) from intersistere, the construct being inter (between) + sistere (to stand, place), the stem of stare (to stand) from the primitive Indo-European root sta- (to stand, make or be firm).  The adjective was interstitial (pertaining to or situated in an interstice), noted since the 1640s; the noun plural was interstices.

St Augustine, Benedict and canon law

Lindsay Lohan popping out for a cigarette during an interstice, Bar Pitti, 6th Ave, New York.

In Roman Catholic canon law, an interstice is a defined waiting period; the interval of time required between the attainment of different degrees of an order, the best-known and most widely applied being the three months between an appointment to a diaconate and ordination to the priesthood.  While ninety-odd days is the minimum, interstices tend to be longer though a bishop may shorten the length, should some extraordinary circumstance arise.  Codifications of these rules of progression of candidates for church office were published during the fourth & fifth centuries and reflected regional differences in the early church.  While there were those who never varied from the minimum stipulation, there were bishops who imposed a waiting period of four years as acolyte and five as a deacon.  Even during the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II, 1962-1965), there was no attempt to modify canon law organizationally by removing from it stuff which would better constitute a book of advisory guidelines.  Structurally interesting itself is canon law and its interpretation in an absolute theocracy.  The way it works is that canon law is not always interpreted by judges because, with the advice of the bishops, a pope is the Magisterium and his interpretations are binding.  This isn't an example of papal infallibility because that applies only in matters of doctrine and such and Pope Benedict XVI (b 1927; pope 2005-2013, pope emeritus since) discussed the matter in a 2012 address to the judges of the Roman Rota, the Holy See’s highest court of appeal.  He explained canonical law can be interpreted and understood “only” within the Church and "…the work of the interpreter must not be deprived of vital contact with ecclesial reality.”  Arguing for a more flexible position than had often been heard from Rome, Benedict said the need existed always to consider “…the proper meaning of the words considered in their text and context", commending the “inner process of St Augustine in biblical [teaching] the transcending of the letter has rendered the letter itself credible".

Happy birthday.

Benedict XVI (1927–2022; pope 2005-2013, pope emeritus 2013-2022) with Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer (b 1949) and Archbishop Georg Gänswein (b 1956; prefect of the papal household & personal secretary to Pope Emeritus Benedict), having a couple of beers during the retired pontiff’s ninetieth birthday celebration at the Vatican.  Following Bavarian tradition, there was no interstice between rounds.

Lawful, Legal & Licit

Lawful (pronounced law-fuhl)

(1) Allowed or permitted by law; not contrary to law.

(2) Recognized or sanctioned by law; legitimate.

(3) Appointed or recognized by law; legally qualified.

(4) Acting or living according to the law; law-abiding.

(5) In role-playing games, a character having a lawful alignment.

Circa 1600: From Middle English laweful, the construct being law + -ful and conflated with the Middle English leful, leeful & leveful (according to law, lawful, pertaining to law).  Law dates from 1250-1300 and was from the Middle English lawe & laȝe, from the Old English lagu (law), from the Old Norse lǫg (law (literally “things laid down or fixed”)), originally the plural of lag (layer, stratum, a laying in order, measure, stroke), from the Proto-Germanic lagą (that which is laid down), from the primitive Indo-European legh (to lie).  It was cognate with the Icelandic lög (things laid down, law), the Swedish lag (law) and the Danish lov (law).  It replaced the Old English ǣ and ġesetnes and despite appearances, was unrelated to the French loi and the Spanish ley, both derived from leǵ- (to gather).  The –ful suffix was from the Middle English –ful & -full, from the Old English –ful & -full (full of), from the Proto-Germanic fullō & fullijô (“filling”) and fullaz (-ful), from fullaz (full).  It was cognate with the Scots -fu, the Saterland Frisian -ful (-ful), the West Frisian -fol (-ful), the Dutch -vol (-ful), the German -voll (-ful), the Swedish -full (-ful) and the Icelandic –fullur & -fyllur (-ful).  It was used to form adjectives from nouns, with the sense of tending to fullness or “as much as can be held by what is denoted by the noun”.

The synonyms include legal & licit, the words with related meanings including authorized, constitutional, justifiable, legal, permissible, proper, rightful, statutory, valid, bona fide, canonical, card-carrying, commanded, condign, decreed, due, enacted, enforced, enjoined, established.  The spelling lawfull is long obsolete and the rarely used plural remains lawfuls.  Lawful is an adjective, lawfully an adverb and lawfulness a noun.

Legal (pronounced lee-guhl)

(1) Permitted by law; lawful.

(2) Of or relating to law; connected with the law or its administration.

(3) Appointed, established, or authorized by law; deriving authority from law.

(4) In technical use, recognized, enforceable, or having a remedy at (common) law rather than in equity

(5) Of, relating to, or characteristic of the profession of law or of lawyers:

(6) In theology, of or relating to the Mosaic Law (the Torah or the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, once thought to have be written exclusively by Moses).

(7) In theology, of or relating to the doctrine that salvation is gained by good works rather than through free grace.

(8) A person who acts in a legal manner or with legal authority.

(9) A foreigner who has entered or resides in a country lawfully (usually in the plural as “legals”, the more common form being the undocumented “illegals”)

(10) A person whose status is protected by law.

(11) A fish or game animal, within specified size or weight limitations, that the law allows to be caught and kept during an appropriate season.

(12) In the slang of counter espionage, a foreigner who conducts espionage against a host country while working there in a legitimate capacity, often in the diplomatic service.

(13) In the plural legals, authorized investments that may be made by fiduciaries, as savings banks or trustees; also used in various commercial contexts to refer to documents related to contractual or other legal matters.

(14) In motorsport, vehicles which have passed scrutineering; parts and components certified as homologated and approved for use in competition.

(14) In informal use, a person above the age of consent or the permitted drinking age.

(15) In stationery, of paper or document layouts, a cut of sheet-paper measuring 8½ in × 14 in (215.9 mm × 355.6 mm). known also as “legal-size”; use is restricted almost wholly to North American markets.

1490–1500: From the fourteenth century French légal, from the Latin lēgālis (of or pertaining to the law), the construct being lēg- (stem of lēx (an enactment; a precept, regulation, principle, rule; formal proposition for a law, motion, bill; a contract, arrangement, contrivance)) + -ālis (the adjective suffix) and a doublet of loyal and leal.  The origin is curiously misty.  It’s probably related to legere (to gather) from the primitive Indo-European root leg- (to collect, gather) with derivatives meaning "to speak (ie to “pick out words”).  The noun was historically supposed to have come from the verb reflecting the idea of "a collection of rules," but some etymologists suggest the reverse.  The mystery is that the verb legare and its compounds all have a meaning which involves a “task or assignment” an can thus be interpreted as derivatives of lēx (“law” in its simple sense).  The Proto-Italic root noun leg- (law) can be interpreted as a “collection” but whether the root noun existed already in the primitive Indo-European has never been established.  The sense of "permitted by law" was known as early as the 1640s.  Legal is a noun and adjective; legally is an adverb.

Legal proved a productive word in the generation of English forms.  Legal tender (money which the creditor is bound by law to accept) is from 1740 and the first legal holiday (one established by statute or proclamation, during which government business was usually suspended, was established in 1867).  The adjective medico-legal (of or relating to law and medicine) dates from 1824 and the noun legalese (the language of legal documents), the construct being legal + the language name suffix (–ese) was attested from 1914; technically it can be a mere technical descriptor but tends to be applied disparagingly in critiques of the turgid and prolix.

The modern sounding verb legalize (and the related legalized & legalizing) was actually used as long ago as 1716.  The paralegal (often as para-legal) (one trained in subsidiary legal matters) was first used in 1972 to describe a kind of legal assistant with skills beyond the merely clerical and use has expanded, thus far apparently little-affected by office automation although there is speculation developments in AI (artificial intelligence) might impact on them as much as trained lawyers.

The adjective legalistic is from 1843 and was originally used to describe "one who advocates strict adherence to the law", a use applied especially in theology after the 1640s although as a formal term, legalism in theology was first attested only in 1838.  Legalistic, depending on context, can carry neutral or negative connotations and was sometimes part of the language of criticism used in the 1980s in the squabbles between the by the “legal sociologists” and the “black-letter” or “substantive” lawyers.  The noun legality (law-abiding behavior or character) is from the mid-fifteenth century, from the Medieval Latin legalitatem (nominative legalitas), from the Latin lēgālis (of or pertaining to the law)

Licit (pronounced lis-it)

(1) Legal; lawful; legitimate; permissible; not forbidden by formal or informal rules; explicitly established or constituted by law.

(2) A less common word for lawful

1475–1485: From the Latin licitus (permitted; lawful; allowable), past participle of licēre (to be permitted; it is permitted (impersonal verb)) and replacing the earlier Middle French licite.  In early nineteenth century England, many disapproved of licit, claiming, entirely unjustly. It was an Americanism.  Licit is an adjective, licitly an adverb and licitness a noun

Lawful, Legal & Licit

Lindsay Lohan and her lawyer in court, Los Angeles, December 2011

The terms lawful and legal have long been used interchangeably to convey the sense of “something against the law” and in many cases that’s either correct or, when erroneous, of little matter because the context of use makes the real meaning obvious.

Lawful deals with the substance of law, legal with the form.  For a contract to be legally correct it must conform to certain criteria such as there being an offer & acceptance, certainty of terms and consideration (some exchange of value).  If a contract complies with the requirements demanded in law, it is a “legal contract”.  However, a “legal contract” could be executed in which one party arranges with another to murder some third party.  Murder being against the law, the contract, while remaining “legal” is void for illegality because the matter contracted is unlawful and the fact that the legal contract exists might be relevant evidence in a prosecution.  Similar conditions attach to the legal state of possession.  To be legally in possession of something demands certain conditions are fulfilled and if one buys a car and drives off then one is in legal and lawful possession of the vehicle.  If however one steels a car and drives off, generally one will be in legal but unlawful possession.  A lawful act thus is one authorized or not forbidden by law. A legal act is that which is in accordance with the technical conditions defined in law.

Licit is interesting because it’s so rare yet illicit is co common.  The adjective illicit is from the fourteenth century Old French illicite (unlawful, forbidden), from the Latin illicitus (not allowed, unlawful, illegal), from an assimilated form, the construct being i(n)- (not, opposite of) + licitus (lawful), past participle of licere (to be allowed). 

Illicit can thus be used as a direct synonym of unlawful but because use has evolved with an overlap to mean also things quite lawful yet disapproved of.  Barnaby Joyce’s (b 1967; deputy prime-minister of Australia thrice variously since 2016) adulterous affair was illicit but certainly neither illegal nor unlawful yet, in certain jurisdictions at certain times, it would have been legal but certainly both unlawful & illicit.  Licit & Illicit also retain a place in canon law, notably in the abstract definitions in the Roman Catholic Church where it’s considered with the “valid and invalid”.  A “valid” act is one which produces the desired effect whereas an act which does not produce the desired effect is labelled "invalid".  A “licit” act is one which legitimately has been performed whereas an illicit act is one not legitimately performed.  Thus it’s possible for some acts to be illicit yet still be valid.  The rules canon lawyers have developed to administer matter of procedure and ritual are long and intricate (although with the benefit of codification) and they contain a formula to determine validity or invalidity.  The concept of valida sed illicit (valid but illicit) is a distinction similar to that between “legal” & “lawful” possession in secular law.  

Weed: Often still labeled as illicit even in places where, legally, use is no longer unlawful.

Reflecting perhaps the long tradition of using the word when discussing matters of outrage or immorality, illicit seems often to be the preferred adjective applied to illegal narcotics regarded as less harmful, such as cannabis.  In December 2023, the Netherlands government announced it would be undertaking a trial (in selected locations) in which the production, sale and consumption of cannabis would (under certain circumstances) become lawful.  Contrary to the widespread belief among the generations of who happily have travelled to Amsterdam so spend time in coffee shops (many without having a coffee), smoking weed has not over the decades been lawful, merely "tolerated" by law enforcement agencies.  Although not initially enthusiastic about being required, in effect, to ignore the law they were employed to enforce, the police soon become very supportive, noting dealing with stoners was a rarely violent and much more pleasant experience than handling those affected by alcohol.