Spandex (pronounced span-deks)
(1) A
synthetic fibre composed of a long-chain polymer, used chiefly in the
manufacture of garments to enhance their elasticity.
(2) Something made from the material (usually clothing).
1959: Spandex was coined as an anagram of the word expands, an allusion to the synthetic fibre's exceptional properties of elasticity and is a polyether-polyurea copolymer invented by an industrial chemist at DuPont. Spandex is the preferred name in North America. In continental Europe it’s known by variants of elastane (élasthanne (France), elastan (Germany & Sweden), elastano (Spain), elastam (Italy) and elastaan (Netherlands). In the UK, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and Israel, it’s described usually as Lycra and the generic term is elastane (which tends to be restricted to technical use). The acronym MAMIL stands for "middle-aged man in lycra" and is usually applied to men of a certain age who have taken up cycling. Spandex is a noun; the noun plural is spandexes.
Lycra and Spandex
Spandex and Lycra are the same material. The Dupont Company registered Lycra as a tradename for a Spandex fibre thread because their marketing people thought a word like Spandex (coined by an industrial chemist) wouldn’t appeal to the female demographic at which many of the products were aimed and there is some genuine science in the deconstruction of words adopted or created for trademarks to use as product names. It surprised some when one Microsoft revealed his regret at the use of the name "Windows NT" in 1993 because subsequent research had discovered "N" & "T" were perceived as two of the "weakest letters". Now we know there are "weak" & "strong" letters in the alphabet and, impressionistically, the car manufacturers certainly seem to tend to favor some letters (A,C,D,E,F,G,I,J,K,L,O,R,S,T,V,X,Z) and avoid others (B,H,M,N,P,Q,U,W,Y). NT actually stood for "New Technology", applying to software the tradition IBM had established in hardware by calling successive generations of the personal computer (PC) architecture XT (eXtended Technology) & AT (Advanced Technology). Microsoft retired NT and it may be assumed "X" & "P" (the fondly remembered Windows XP debuted in 2001) must be "strong" letters although apart from the unhappy experiences with "Millennium" & "Vista", the post-NT Microsoft has stuck mostly to numeric strings. Dupont attached the trademark to a newly created subsidiary company called Invista but it was later sold to another corporation. Spandex and Lycra are thus the same material, Spandex being a generic term to describe the cloth whereas Lycra is a brand name for a range of Spandex products manufactured, marketed or licenced by Invista. In Australia, Middle-Aged Men In Lycra, usually on their bicycles, are known as Mamils. The sight can disturb some.
Spandex is a lightweight synthetic fibre which gains its quality of exceptional elasticity from its long-chain polymers named polyurethane and is made by combining polyester with a diisocyanate. The fibres can be stretched to almost five times their original length and has the characteristic of an elastomer, a material which, after being stretched, returns to its original shape. Invented in 1958 by DuPont, Spandex was one of the many products of post-war US industry with origins in the research effort undertaken into artificial rubber in the early 1940s. Even before the supply of natural rubber was disrupted in the early days of World War II (1939-1945) some of the basic research involved the creation of strong, elastic synthetic polymers and the first polyurethane elastomers were produced in 1940. After the war, the chemical industries in both Germany and the US continued polymer development and a spandex-like fibre was patented in Germany in 1952 but it was Dupont in 1958 which invented the process of synthesis suitable for mass-production and it was this which became Spandex, commercially released in 1962.
One of many rapid-firing guns named after its designer (Uziel "Uzi" Gal (1923–2002)), the Israeli-made Uzi was first issued to military special forces in 1952, becoming a general-issue weapon in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in 1954. Originally classified as a light-machine gun, it's now usually listed as a machine pistol and has for decades been one of the most widely used weapons of its type, said (officially) to have been exported to 103 countries. The first releases used exclusively a 25 round magazine and 9mm cartridges but a capacity of 32 was later standardised. Variants of the 9mm shell remain the most popular load but conversions are available for other calibres including the .45 ACP and the .22 LR (Rifle).
In June 2024, Lycra received a mention in a most improbable forum: Senate estimates. Senate estimates are hearings conducted by the Australian Senate (the federal upper house) during which senators scrutinise government expenditure, the name “estimates” used because what is examined is (1) how much money the government estimates it will collect and (2) how it claims to be planning to spend it all. The charm of the estimates process is that senators can question ministers, public servants and other officials about the work of the government and although politicians are adept at avoiding telling the truth, the employees are less skilled so interesting facts sometimes emerge and the rules under which the hearings are conducted are determined by the senators and not the government (a ruling party enjoying a majority in the Senate is rare) so there’s a wide scope for lines of questioning to be pursued.
Lycra got a mention when Joseph Longo (b 1958; ASIC (Australian Securities & Investments Commission, the successor to the old NCSC (National Companies & Securities Commission) chair since 2021) sat before the senators. His appearance moved Senator Jane Hume (b 1971; senator for Victoria (Liberal) since 2016) to remark: “I feel this is very awkward, every time I see Mr Longo now it seems to be at the gym on Saturday mornings. So I apologise for the lycra.” There was some ambiguity in the last sentence which prompted someone to ask: “His or yours?” Senator Hume clarified things by responding: “Less worthy men have seen me in far less.” and to set minds at rest Mr Longo added: “I want to reassure the committee that I will never be seen in lycra.” Unfortunately, things ended with the senator saying: “Sorry, I forgot myself for a moment.” before turning to matters related to government expenditure. Strictly speaking: “Men less worthy have seen me in far less.” would have been better but as a spur-of-the-moment thing, it was pretty good.
No comments:
Post a Comment