Vile (pronounced vahyl)
(1) Wretchedly
bad.
(2) Highly
offensive, unpleasant, or objectionable.
(3) Repulsive
or disgusting, as to the senses or feelings; repellent.
(4) Morally
debased, depraved, or despicable; vulgar, obscene.
(5) Foul;
filthy.
(6) Poor;
wretched.
(7) Of
mean or low condition; menial; lowly.
(8) Degraded;
ignominious.
(9) Of
little value or account; paltry
(10) Vicious,
evil iniquitous.
(11) Unpleasant
or bad weather.
1250–1300: From the Middle English vil, from the Anglo-French ville, from the Old French vil (shameful, dishonorable; low-born; cheap; ugly, hideous), from the Latin vīlis (cheap, worthless, base, common), possibly from the primitive Indo-European wes-li, a deverbal adjective with passive meaning (which can be bought), from the root of venus (sale). It was cognate with the Latin vīlis, the Ancient Greek ὦνος (ônos) & ὠνέομαι (ōnéomai) (to buy), the Sanskrit वस्नयति (vasnayati) (to haggle) and वस्न (vasna) (price). Related forms are the adjectives viler and vilest, the adverb vilely and the noun vileness (the thirteenth century vilety appears to be extinct). Handy synonyms include repugnant, horrid, contemptible, depraved, noxious, vulgar, humiliating, vicious, disgusting, sleazy, ugly, despicable, repulsive, revolting, miserable, nasty, appalling, immoral, shocking and disgraceful. The verb revile was from the late fourteenth century revilen (debase, degrade (a sense now obsolete)) and by the mid-fourteenth century meant "insult, taunt, vilify, assail with abusive language". It was from the Old French reviler (consider vile, despise, scorn). The mid-fifteenth century vilify (to lower in worth or value) was from the Late Latin vilificare (to make cheap or base; to esteem of little value) is from the Latin vilis (cheap, worthless, base, common). The meaning "to slander, speak evil of" dates from the 1590s. Vile, viler (the comparative) & vilest (the superlative) are adjectives and forms like vilish & vilishness are non-standard, usually used humorously.
The aluminium can used to contribute much to litter, both as thoughtlessly they were discarded when empty and because the sealing tabs were detachable, beaches & parks in the 1970s notorious for being strewn with the things. The problems substantially were solved by (1) making a fee payable when the cans were handed in to a recycling centre and (2) changing the tab's design so the whole mechanism remains attached. Aluminium does consume large amounts of electricity during the production process but if "green energy" can be used it's one of the less environmentally destructive metals and, (1) being light it reduces the fuel load required during transportation & storage and (2) being non-ferrous it doesn't rust. It is one of the best and most economical efficient metals to recycle.
Phial is a doublet of vial. In technical use (in science), some institutions have drawn distinctions between the two: (1) phials being larger than vials and (2) vials are for liquids related to medicine and phials for other fluids but in general use they remain interchangeable (although consistency within documents is obviously recommended) although phial is now rare. In the US, early in the twentieth century, phial became close to extinct after hundreds of years of being nearly as common as vial while elsewhere in the English-speaking world, vial emerged as the preferred form during the post-war years and, except in laboratories, phial seems now a romantic form restricted to fiction, historical and spiritual writing.
But for the judgment of the Trump election campaign team, she might now be remembered as "vile Hillary Clinton". Like phial, vial must never be confused with its homophone vile, another example of an aspect of English which must annoy those learning the finer nuances of the language, So a vial (or phial) is a noun describing a vessel in which liquids are kept while vile is an adjective, applied most often to morally dubious or otherwise unpleasant and objectional characters. Donald Trump's (b 1946; US president 2017-2021) use of monikers for political opponents (and others) had been a little noticed feature of his conversation before becoming one of the features of the 2016 presidential election ("low energy Jeb" (Bush), "lying Ted" (Cruz), "little Marco" (Rubio), "crazy Bernie" (Sanders) et al but by far the most effective was "crooked Hillary" (Clinton) which is being recycled as "crooked Joe Biden" for the 2024 contest. Mr Trump's team apparently puts some effort into finding the best (ie most appropriately insulting) although it seems a beltway myth that focus groups were assembled for testing to determine some sort of metric of effectiveness. Bridget Jones in Helen Fielding's (b 1958) Bridget Jones's Diary (1996) liked "vile" and "vile Richard" was so evocative for readers, the word for some reason genuinely a pleasure to say the word, the meaning emphasized by lengthening the sound. "Vile Hillary" works well.
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