Rococo

Rococo (pronounced ruh-koh-koh or roh-kuh-koh)

(1) A style of architecture and decoration, originating in France about 1720, evolved from Baroque types and distinguished by using different materials for a delicate overall effect and by its ornament of shell-work, foliage etc.

(2) A homophonic musical style of the mid-eighteenth century, marked by a generally superficial elegance and charm and by the use of elaborate ornamentation and stereotyped devices.

(3) In fine art (with initial capital letters) noting or pertaining to a style of painting developed simultaneously with the rococo in architecture and decoration, characterized chiefly by smallness of scale, delicacy of color, freedom of brushwork, and the selection of playful subjects as thematic material.

(4) In sculpture, a corresponding style, chiefly characterized by diminutiveness of Baroque forms and playfulness of theme.

(5) Of or pertaining to, in the manner of, or suggested by rococo architecture, decoration, or music or the general atmosphere and spirit of the rococo.

(6) Ornate or florid in speech, literary style etc.

(7) In the abstract (almost always derogatory), relating to old traditions, which may be seen as foolishly outdated; archaic, old-fashioned, obsolete or backwards.

1797: From the French rococo, a blended word from rocaille (an eighteenth century artistic or architectural style of decoration characterized by elaborate ornamentation with pebbles and shells, typical of grottos and fountains from the Vulgar Latin rocca stone) and barroco, pejoratively to denote a "rock" style which fell from fashion; coined by French Neoclassical painter Pierre-Maurice Quays (1777-1803), a pupil of Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825).  David and Quays, devotees of an austere neoclassical ascetic, were influential in nudging high-culture taste in the dying days of the Ancien Régime back from the frivolity of what they came to describe as the rococo.  Their efforts had little impact on the middle-class fondness for decoration and intricate ornamentation.  The adjective appears to have come into use in English in 1836, a direct borrowing from the French and was being used as a noun by 1840 and the general sense of "tastelessly florid or ornate" is from 1844, extended by abstract to just about anything by the 1860s.

Rococo has long been used as a word of disparagement.  It is a critique of stuff excessively ornate or fussy, things which rely on layers of ornamentation to conceal a poverty of elegance in the basic design.  It’s much associated with pretentiousness but that said, there’s often much to admire in the craftsmanship needed to product work of such intricacy and while the taste might be questionable, in painting, engraving, porcelain, stone-masonry etc, there can be a quaint, decorative charm.

Rococo inside and out.

Rococo fashion: Lindsay Lohan in a Gucci Porcelain Garden print gown (the list price a reputed £4,040) at the launch of the One Family NGO (non-governmental organization), Savoy Hotel, London, June 2017.  Although neither cutting-edge nor retro in the conventional sense of the word, the gown generally was well-received.  Some thought it Rococo and perhaps thematically it could have been done with just a ruffled collar, the pussy bow a detail too many, but the patterning was clever and accentuated the lines.  It was one of those designs where a color change would have been transformative, a rendering in scarlet probably would have been less aesthetically pleasing but would have been eye-catching; the blue was a good choice.

Porte-cochere

Porte-cochere (pronounced pawrt-koh-shair, pawrt-kuh-shair, pohrt-koh-shair or pohrt-kuh-shair)

(1) A porch or portico-like structure attached to a building through which a horse and carriage (or now a motor vehicle) can pass in order for the occupants to alight under cover, protected from the weather.

(2) A gateway for carriages in a building, leading from the street to an interior court.

1690–1700: From the French porte-cochère, literally “gate for coaches”, the construct being porte (gateway) + cochère (the feminine adjectival form of coche (coach). Porte was from the Latin porta (a gate or entrance) from the Proto-Italic portā, from the primitive Indo-European porteha, from per- (to pass through/over). It was cognate with the Ancient Greek πόρος (póros) (means of passage).  Cochere was from coche (stage-coach), from the Hungarian kocsi, via the German Kutsche or the Italian cocchio (and a doublet of coach) + -ière.  The –French ière suffix was the feminine equivalent of –ier, from the Old & Middle French –ier & -er, from the Latin -ārium, accusative of –ārius.  It was used to form names in many diverse fields such as botany, architecture, ship-building and chemistry.

The Sublime Porte, photographed in 1904.

Later known as The Imperial Gate (Bâb-ı Hümâyûn), the structure leading to the outermost courtyard of Topkapi Palace, was, until the eighteenth century, known as The Sublime Porte.  Known also as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte (باب عالی‎, Romanized as Bāb-ı Ālī or Babıali), Sublime Porte was a synecdoche for the central government of the Ottoman Empire in the same manner as the White House (US), Number 10 (UK), the Élysée (France) or the Kremlin (Russia).

The linkage which made the term Sublime Porte synecdochic of the Ottoman regime in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) was an old procedure in which the ruler delivered official pronouncements and sometimes judicial judgments at the gate of his palace of the palace.  It had been a frequent practice of Byzantine Emperors and was later adopted by Orhan I (Orhan Ghazi 1281–1362; second bey of the Ottoman Beylik 1323-1362) and thus the sultan’s palace became known as the Sublime Porte (High Gate).  The named moved with the sultan so after Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453, the mystique once attached to the palace in Bursa, moved to the new imperial capital where, leading to the outermost courtyard of the Topkapı Palace, it was known variously as the "High Gate", the "Sublime Porte" or the “Imperial Gate” (Bâb-ı Hümâyûn).  The old imperial practice endures in modern politics as the “doorstop interview” although it’s become popular with politicians because having a lockable door immediately to their rear means there’s an easy and safe path with which to beat a rapid retreat when lies are detected or questions become too difficult.

In fourteenth century Europe, French was the most widely-spoken language and in 1539, the King’s Court declared French to be the official language of government.  It was in this era too that diplomacy began to assume a recognisably modern form with an increasingly consistent use of titles, conventions and institutions and this extended sometimes to architecture.  After Francis I (1494-1547; King of France 1515-1547) and Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (Suleiman I (سليمان اول‎) 1494–1566; Sultan of the Ottoman Empire 1520-1566) negotiated a treaty in 1536, the French emissaries walked through the al-Bab al-'Ali (High Gate) to meet with the Sultan’s ministers to place their seals on the document.  Because French was the language of diplomacy, the French translation “Sublime Porte” was immediately adopted in other European chancelleries and became not only the term for the structure but also the synecdoche which served as a metaphor for the government of the Ottoman Empire.  Among locals however, it was often referred to as the “Gate of the Pasha” (paşa kapusu).  Damaged by fire in 1911, the buildings are now occupied by the offices of the Governor of Istanbul.

1967 Mercedes-Benz 600 (W100, 1963-1981) under the porte-cochere, Stamford Plaza Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Bedchamber

Bedchamber (pronounced bed-cheym-ber)

A now archaic word for bedroom; the alternative form was bed-chamber.

1325–1375:  From the Middle English bedchaumbre, the construct being bed + chamber.  Bed was from the Middle English bed or bedde, from the pre-1000 Old English bedd (bed, couch, resting-place; garden-bed, plot), from the Proto-Germanic badją (plot, grave, resting-place, bed) and thought perhaps derived from the Proto-Indo-European bhed (to dig).  It was cognate with the Scots bed and bede, the North Frisian baad and beed, the West Frisian bêd, the Low German Bedd, the Dutch bed, the German bett, the Danish bed, the Swedish bädd, the Icelandic beður and perhaps, (depending on the efficacy of the Proto-Indo-European lineage), the Ancient Greek βοθυρος (bothuros) (pit), the Latin fossa (ditch),the Latvian bedre (hole), the Welsh bedd (grave), the Breton bez (grave).  Any suggestion of links to Russian or other Slavic words is speculative.

Chamber dates from 1175-1225 and was from the Middle English chambre, borrowed from Old French chambre, from the Latin camera, derived from the Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára) (vaulted chamber); the meaning “room”, usually private, drawn from French use.  As applied to anatomy, use emerged in the late fourteenth century; it was applied to machinery in 1769 and to ballistics from the 1620s.  The meaning "legislative body" is from circa 1400 and the term chamber music was first noted in 1789, not as a descriptor of any musical form but to indicate that intended to be performed in private rooms rather than public halls.

The Bedchamber Crisis, 1839

A Lady of the Bedchamber, a position held typically by women of noble descent, is a kind of personal assistant to the Queen of England.  A personal appointment by the Queen, they’ve existed for centuries, their roles varying according to the relationships enjoyed.  Most European royal courts from time-to-time also adopted the practice.

The 1839 bedchamber crisis is emblematic of the shifting of political power from monarch to parliament.  Although the eighteenth-century administrative and economic reforms created the framework, it was the 1832 Reform Act which, in doing away with a monarch’s ability to stack parliaments with ample compliant souls, shattered a sovereign’s capacity to dictate election results and within two years the new weakness was apparent.  In 1834, William IV (1765–1837; King of the UK 1830-1837)  dismissed the Whig Lord Melbourne (1779–1848; Prime Minister of the UK 1834 & 1835-1841) and appointed the Tory Sir Robert Peel (1788–1850; Prime Minister of the UK 1834–1835 & 1841–1846).  However, the King no longer enjoyed the electoral influence necessary to secure Peel a majority in the Commons and after being defeated in the house six times in as many weeks, the premier was obliged to inform the palace of his inability to govern, compelling the king to invite Melbourne to form a new administration, one which endured half a decade, out-living William IV.  The king's exercise in 1834 of the royal prerogative proved the last time the powers of the head of state would be invoked sack a prime-minister until an Australian leader was dismissed in 1975 by the governor-general (and in a nice touch the sacked PM had appointed the clearly ungrateful GG).

Queen Mary's State Bed Chamber, Hampton Court Palace (1819) by Richard Cattermole (1795–1858).

By 1839, Melbourne felt unable to continue and the new Queen Victoria (1819–1901; Queen of the UK 1837-1901), reluctantly, invited Sir Robert Peel to assume the premiership, a reticence some historians attribute as much to her fondness for the avuncular Melbourne as her preference for his Whig (liberal) politics.  Peel, knowing any administration he could form would be nominally in a minority, knew his position would be strengthened if there was a demonstration of royal support so asked Victoria, as a gesture of good faith, to replace some of the Whig Ladies of the Bedchamber with a few of Tory breeding.  Most of the ladies were the wives or daughters of Whig politicians and Sir Robert’s request made sense in the world of 1839.

Victoria rejected his request and prevailed upon Melbourne to continue which he did, until a final defeat in 1841.  By then it was clear only Peel could command a majority in the Commons and he insisted on his bedchamber cull, forcing Victoria to acquiesce to the parliament imposing on her the most intimate of her advisors.  This is the moment in constitutional history where the precedent is established of the parliament and not the Crown determining the formation and fate of governments.  Since then, the palace can warn, counsel and advise but not compel.

A lady in, if not of, the bedchamber.  A recumbent Lindsay Lohan in The Canyons (IFC Films, 2013).

Skeuomorph

Skeuomorph (pronounced skyoo-uh-mawrf)

(1) An ornament or design on an object that mimics the form of the object when made from another material or by other techniques, usually one that reflects a previously functional element.

(2) In digital technology. a design or design element, as an icon on a digital device, that mimics the three-dimensional look or the sound of a physical object, even if that object is obsolete.

1889: The construct was the Ancient Greek σκεῦος (skeûos) (implement, tool, vessel) + μορφή (morphḗ) (shape; form), modeled after the earlier zoomorph (resembling an animal) and phyllomorph (resembling a plant).  The suffix -morph was appended to words to denote “of or pertaining to shape or structure”.  Skeuomorph & skeuomorphism are nouns, skeuomorphic is an adjective and skeuomorphically is an adverb; the noun plural is skeuomorphs.

Magic Cap's start-up screen (1994).

The classic desktop metaphor, built with skeuomorphs, which was the start-up screen for the Magic Communicating Applications Platform (1994-2001 and commonly known as Magic Cap), an operating system for personal digital assistants (PDA) constructed wholly in the object oriented programming (OOP) model.  Loaded with good ideas and ahead of its time, Magic Cap failed because the planet's communication infrastructure was neither robust enough or sufficiently fast to realize the OS's possibilities.  Additionally, even as things evolved, there was never enough inter-operability with other systems and services which had achieved critical mass.

A skeuomorph is a design element in an object which mimics the design of a similar object made from another material or serving another function; it can thus be considered a derivative object which retains visual cues from the original object.  Quite when the idea emerged of the skeuomorph as something which consciously and deliberately “carries over” an earlier motif for some purpose beyond the functional is uncertain but in engineering and architecture, the technique pre-dates Antiquity.  Because architectural generations (expressed usually as eras or epochs) tend to extend over at least several human generations, what comes to be defined as “attractive” or “elegant” can become well-established but as technological advances make possible structures which are bigger, taller or able to be created with different materials or in different shapes, it had been common for motifs like familiar visual elements to be (explicitly or in detail) to be included in the new.  It softened the shock of the new.  In domestic architecture, this continues to this day, much to the disgust of architects who are appalled at the mash-up of influences which can appear in a McMansion (in which there will be chandeliers with electric bulbs emulating wax candles; a classic skeuomorph) but since modernity was delivered with the twentieth century, in big buildings and representational architecture, the shock of the new seems to have become the objective and skeuomorphs are regarded as sentimental or worse: bourgeois.

Instagram’s old skeuomorph (left) and the new flat logo (right).

In 2018 Instagram switched its logo from a skeuomorph UI to a flat UI.  It was a move which at the time surprised many because the retro brown and cream camera with a rainbow stripe (a nod to the Polaroid cameras which were such a symbol of the late twentieth century) had become instantly recognisable but the company insisted the new design reflected how the app had changed. When first released (as Burbn), the app was used almost exclusively for its photo filters and effects that lent digital images a “retro edge”, the dominant pattern of use then to use Instagram as handler to edit images which were then uploaded to a platform such as Facebook or X (then known as Twitter).  However, Instagram clicked with generation brought up on short-form content and static images and became suddenly a massive social phenomenon.  So, the logo changed because as the company put it: “We've been inspired by all the ways the community has grown and changed, and we wanted to create something that reflects how vibrant and diverse storytelling on Instagram has become”.  Exactly how all this was reflected in the new logo was neither immediately obvious nor expanded on by Instagram but the point probably was just that it was changed, the medium being the message.  In 2012 Facebook bought Instagram for US$1 billion which now sounds a bargain but back then, a billion US$ was still a lot of money.

Skeuomorphs in action: The Lindsay Lohan Quiz for iOS.

In the more ephemeral world of screen icons, graphical user interfaces (GUI) and app design where the life of a design can be closer in duration to that of the premiership of Liz Truss (b 1975; UK prime-minister Sep-Oct 2022) than something like Westminster Abbey, skeuomorphs proved popular because instantly they could adopt symbols which were unambiguous and universally understood; the sense of continuity with the past really wasn’t important at all, the retro-look just amusing.  Although using a representation of an old-style rotary-dial telephone on a screen icons does sound paradoxical, it made sense because the symbol was internationally recognized whereas were an image of cell phone (mobile) to be used, it would not have worked as well because it could be easily confused with a calculator or some other rectangular device.  Equally, envelopes and mail-boxes were used where E-mail was involved because nothing else could possibly be so evocative of “mail”.

Among software designers, the dominant theme in the early skeuomorphs was to create panels with a 3D appearance to gain some resemblance to physical buttons.  This was at least partially because designers tend wherever possible to exploit to the maximum whatever is permitted by the medium which is their platform but it was also partly the persuasive utility of the skeuomorph itself.  The alternative approach was the “flat design” which deliberately avoided imitating real-world textures or objects, a paradigm inherited from a school of art and design which rejected the idea of one thing imitation another.  Imitation however thrived, thus smartphones have digital cameras which produce the audible sound of a mechanical shutter when a photograph is taken and note-taking apps may emulate the appearance (in 2D) of textured bond paper.  The trends come and go and no approach has ever seemed to be dominant, both motifs (and hybrid forms) peacefully co-existing, frequently on the one device although in recent years things do seem to have moved to the darker and more minimalist.

Saint

Saint (pronounced seynt)

(1) Any of certain persons, said to be of exceptional holiness of life, formally recognized as such by churches by act of canonization (with doctrinal and procedural differences between denominations).

(2) In secular use, figuratively, a person of extraordinary virtue or who performed acts of extraordinary virtue (often as secular saint).

(3) As patron-saint, the founder, sponsor, inspiration or patron, as of a movement or organization (used formally by churches and informally otherwise).

(4) A religious icon or relic (archaic).

Pre 1000; A borrowing from the Old French, it existed in English as seint, sainct, seinct, sanct & senct, derived from the Latin sānctus (sacred; holy), adjectival use of past participle of sancīre (to hallow; to consecrate), the construct being sanc (akin to sacer (sacred)) + tus (past participle suffix).  The French borrowing replaced the Old English sanct which had been drawn from the Latin.  Variations were adopted by most Germanic languages; it was sankt in the Old Frisian, sint in Dutch and sanct in German; the Italian is santa.  As a verb in the sense of "to enroll (someone) among the saints", use was common by the late fourteenth century and the adjectival forms saintly & saintliness emerged in the 1620s.  Universal abbreviation is St and now often without full-stop, a welcome reduction in clutter.  One quirk in English is the name St John (Christian or surname) is properly pronounced sin-jin.

Originally an adjective prefixed to the name of a canonized person, by circa 1300 it had become a noun.    Saint Bernard, to describe the breed of mastiff dogs, was used first in 1839, the name adopted because the monks of the hospice of the pass of St Bernard (between Italy and Switzerland) sent them to rescue snowbound travelers.  The term secular-saint remains in wide use, the first known example being St Elmo's Fire (named for the patron saint of Mediterranean sailors, a corruption of the name of St Erasmus (fuoco di Sant'Elmo in the Italian), an Italian bishop martyred in 303) in the 1560s.  The phenomenon of weather is known also as corposants or corpusants, from the Portuguese corpo santo (holy body), and was described as long ago as Antiquity, mentioned in Os Lusíadas (The Lusiads (1572), a Portuguese epic poem written by Luís Vaz de Camões (circa 1524-1580) and earlier alluded to by the Greek poet Xenophanes of Colophon (circa 570–circa 478 BC).

The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa

Unlike many of the buildings usually included in the standard tourist itinerary of Rome, the Cornaro Chapel (1626), at Santa Maria della Vittoria, close to the Repubblica metro station, is tiny.  In this intimate space is an elevated aedicule on which sits the little church’s famous installation, L'Estasi di Santa Teresa (The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa; sometimes called The Transverberation of Saint Teresa), a sculptural group in white marble, carved by Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) in 1652.

The interior of the church, also the work of Bernini, is sumptuously decorated, gilded stucco and multi-colored marble arranged so that barely a surface or crevice is left naked, this lushness the best setting imaginable for this masterpiece of high Roman baroque.  Bernini dismissed the suggestion he use an enclosed chapel and instead presented his composition as a theatre, cleverly lit by a window hidden by the pediment with, on the flanking walls, two opera-boxes containing sculptured representations of the family of his patron, the Venetian Cardinal Federico Cornaro (1579–1653). 

Bernini had reason to be grateful to the cardinal.  The work was completed during the pontificate of Innocent X (1574–1655; Giovanni Battista Pamphilj, pope 1644-1655) and Bernini had been the court architect of the previous pope, Urban VIII (circa 1568–1644; Maffeo Barberini, pope 1623-1644), regarded by Innocent as profligate.  With papal patronage withdrawn, Bernini was again an artist for hire and the cardinal granted the commission.  Teresa of Ávila, the Spanish founder of the Discalced Carmelite nuns, is depicted seated on clouds as if on a bed.  She is captured during the ecstasy she described in her mystical autobiography, experiencing an angel piercing her heart with a dart of divine love, causing both immense joy and pain.  Considering the long tradition of statuary in the Roman Catholic Church, that of Saint Teresa is quite a departure, her contorted posture and the ambiguous smile of the angel lending the scene a rare mix of passion and voluptuousness.  It’s reputed also to be the only Roman Catholic church with a painting depicting a battle scene above the alter and soldiers instead of angels holding up the organ, a legacy of the celebrations at the end of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648).

Saint Teresa in white marble, 1652 (left) and Lindsay Lohan resting in a Cadillac Escalade, Los Angeles, May 2007 (right).  The striking similarity between the two saintly souls inspired one of 2007's most widely-shared memes.

Backdrop

Backdrop (pronounced bak-drop)

(1) In theatre, the rear curtain of a stage setting (in the UK, often known as the back-cloth.

(2) The background of an event; the setting; the background to any scene or situation.

(3) In photography etc, to provide a setting or background for shots.

(4) Figuratively, any background situation.

(5) In gymnastics, a manoeuvre in which a trampolinist jumps in the air, lands on the back with the arms and legs pointed upward, and then springs up to a standing position.

(6) In professional (choreographed entertainment) wrestling, a self explanatory set piece move.

(7) To serve as a backdrop for.

1883: From the London theatrical argot meaning “the painted cloth hung at the back of a stage as part of the scenery”, the construct being the adjective back + the noun drop.  The word was adopted in the US theatre circa 1915.  Back was from the Middle English bak, from the Old English bæc (rear part of the body), from the Proto-West Germanic bak, from the Proto-Germanic baką & bakam, possibly from the primitive Indo-European bhago- (to bend; to curve) and may be compared with the Middle Low German bak (back), from the Old Saxon bak, the West Frisian bekling (chair back), the Old High German bah, and the Swedish and Norwegian bak.  It was cognate with the German Bache (sow (adult female hog)).  Drop was from the Middle English droppe & drope (small quantity of liquid; small or least amount of something; pendant jewel; dripping of a liquid; a shower; nasal flow, catarrh; speck, spot; blemish; disease causing spots on the skin), from the Old English dropa (a drop), from the Proto-West Germanic dropō (drop (of liquid)), from the Proto-Germanic drupô (drop (of liquid)), from the primitive Indo-European drewb- (to crumble, grind).  Figuratively, backdrop is used as a reference to something happening concurrently with whatever is being discussed.  It provides a background context which can be used to explain events or situations and in many cases can be thought of as a parallel narrative such as : “The 1968 US presidential election was conducted with the war in Vietnam as the backdrop.”  The word backdroppery is an irregular formation used in criticism of “political spin”.  Backdrop is a noun & verb, backdropped, backdropt & backdropping are verbs; the noun plural is backdrops.

Stage backdrop for Mean Girls the Musical by Scott Pask Studios, August Wilson Theatre, Broadway, New York, December 2018.

The theatre began as background used live theatre, creating a three-dimensional effect which meant the audience had the impression of the stage having greater depth.  Originally, they were large pieces of material or assembled cardboard, the designs of which interacted with the stage lighting and in larger theatres, for each performance, there may have been several backdrops, each raised or lowered as demanded by scene changes.  In recent years, the development of high definition lighting projection has meant backdrops are often virtualized and the deployment of LEDs (light emitting diodes) has meant extraordinary degrees of realism are now possible.

Lindsay Lohan on the red carpet in front of media walls.

Media walls are a particular type of backdrop which are constructed usually as flat surfaces, their sole purpose almost always being the display of corporate logos.  The dimensions of media walls are dictated by the positioning of the cameras which will record images of those who appear in front of them.  In some circumstances, they can be only a few feet wide and little taller than human height but usually they’re much larger.  Like theatre or photographic backdrops, media wall designers in recent years have embraced electronics as advances have meant striking effects have become possible at a lower price point, an important consideration give that while theatre backdrops might serve for weeks, months or even years, media walls are one-off creations which tend to have a life-span of hours.  Thus, digital screens, LED panels, or projections to showcase dynamic content are now sometimes included in media walls but such designers do have to be cognizant of the purpose; media walls still usually there as a backdrop for filming or photography.

Weddings, parties etc: Static backdrops for hire.

Static backdrops are provided (and often hired) for specific events, typically domestic celebrations such as weddings and birthday parties.  They are thus optimized for photography and tend to be on the small scale which accommodates the camera lens.  They can be as simple as a curtain or a fake window (sometime even with a built-in panorama of rolling hills, oceans etc) or can be as kitsch as one’s imagination can descend to.

Snug

Snug (pronounced snuhg)

(1) Warmly comfortable or cozy, as a place, accommodations, clothing etc.

(2) Fitting closely (often as “snug fit”), applied usually to clothes, shoes etc but also to the internal space in buildings, the interaction of components etc.  In clothing, the nuances of the use of “snug” depend on context and can suggest either or both “warm & cozy” and “figure-hugging; form-fitting”.

(3) Compact or limited in size, and sheltered or warm.

(4) Something trim, neat or compactly arranged.

(5) Pleasant or agreeable, especially if in a small, exclusive way.

(6) A financial state enabling one to live in comfort.

(7) A secret, concealed or well-hidden place (as in a hideout).

(8) In nautical use, to prepare for a storm by taking in sail, lashing deck gear etc (usually in the phrase “snug down”); as “a sung harbor” or “a snug anchorage”, a sheltered and secure place to anchor or dock.

(9) In bars and pubs, a small room or enclosure, offering intimate seating for only a few persons (historically used Britain and Ireland but often seen in the “Irish Pubs” or “British Pubs” built in many countries and a similar concept to the “lounge bars” which were once distinct places from “public bars”).

(10) In engineering, a small peg under the head of a bolt engaging with a slot in the bolted component to prevent the bolt turning when the nut is tightened; a lug.

(11) A minor character in William Shakespeare's (1564–1616) play A Midsummer Night's Dream (1596).

(12) For two (or more) people lie closely or comfortably together; to nestle.

(13) To make something snug.

1575–1585: From dialectal English snug (tight, handsome) and in the sense of “prepared for storms” or “protected from the weather” (as used by sailors at sea), it may be from the Old Icelandic snöggr & Old Norse snøggr (short-haired), from the Proto-Germanic snawwuz (short, quick, fast) and cognate with the Swedish snygg (handsome, nice-looking; neat, tidy) and the Low German snögger (smart), the Icelandic snöggur (smooth) and the Danish snög (neat, tidy).  Although it’s uncertain, the ultimately source may have been the primitive Indo-European root kes- (to scratch).  The sense of "in a state of ease or comfort" was first documented in the 1620s while the sense of “fit closely” seems to have emerged in 1838.  The phrase “snug as a bug in a rug” was in use by at least 1769, the meaning the same was the earlier snug as a bee in a box, documented since 1706; rhyme seems to have prevailed over alliteration.  The verb snuggle in the sense of “move this way and that to get close to something or someone” (for purposes of warmth or affection) was in use by the 1680s, a frequentative of the verb snug (move so as to lie close to), dating from the 1580s.  Snuggled & snuggling were the related form and snuggle was used as noun from 1901.  Given the spread in meaning, the synonyms can include comfortable, comfy, cushy, neat, tight, close, compact, intimate, trim, homely, restful, sheltered, tidy, ordered, orderly, cozy, cuddle.  Snug is a noun, verb & adjective, snuggish, snugger & snuggest are adjectives, snugness is a noun, snugly is an adverb and snugged & snugging are verbs; the noun plural is snugs.

Lindsay Lohan in snug-fitting dresses.

Because of the “UG” element in snug, there have been many SNUG acronyms which have come and gone over the years, Acronym Finder listing a couple of dozen including:

Synopsys Users Group
Space Network Users' Guide
Stanford Newton User Group (Palo Alto, California)
Storage Networking User Group
Sydney Novell Users Group
Siemens International Users Group
Startel National Users Group
Stanford Newton Users Group
Storage Network Users Group
Storage Network User Group
Stichting Notes User Group
Seniors Networking User Group
Storage Networking User Groups
Select Noble Users Group
Southwest Notes User Group
Sebastopol Nix User Group
SolidWorks National User Group
Special Needs User Group
Sinclair Northamerican User Groups
Spanish NonStop User Group
Space Network Users Guide
SMS National User Group
Southern National Users Group
Sydney NetWare Users Group
Startel National User Group
Strategic Network User Group

Thanks to Urban Dictionary, it can be revealed snug is a word which describes a number of sexual practices ranging from the charming to the depraved.  It’s also a part of drug slang, a snug being either (1) an intricately small, but very dank nug of weed or (2) a small nug of weed that becomes lodged in the hole of a pipe, constricting the airflow.  A Snug is also a girl apparently native to university campuses and defined by her clothing choice: Spandex pants, North Face jacket, UGG boots.

In the Snug.

Minnie Caldwell (Margot Bryant; 1897-1988, left), Ena Sharples (Violet Carson; 1898-1983, centre) and Martha Longhurst (Lynne Carol; 1914-1990, right) gossiping in the Rovers Return snug which was one of the sets of the Granada Television soap opera Coronation Street (1960-).  The three characters were usually depicted drinking milk stout but in 1964, Martha Longhurst dropped dead in the snug, shortly after ordering a sherry.  The story-line may have been an early public service health warning about the dangers of mixing drinks.

The origin of the snug, a small room in a secluded part of a pub, was to provide a private room where ladies could enjoy a drink at a time when it was not proper for a woman to be seen in a pub.  The tradition began in Ireland at a time when women weren’t even allowed to enter pubs, the drink trade in the country being vibrant but public consumption was exclusively a male domain.  There was social pressure but probably economics was just as compelling a reason for their introduction and in the late nineteenth century they began to appear and they were patronized not only by women but by those who simply might not wish to be seen, a list which was reputed to extend to police officers and priests as well as those transacting business.  As time went by, snugs proved to be what the hospitality business calls a “revenue centre” and they became places where higher prices could be charged and so menus were added, lunch and dinner “in the snug” becoming a thing.

Flanagan’s Outback Sports Bar, Emporium Building, 69 Front Street, Hamilton HM 12, Bermuda.

In pre-EU (European Union) Ireland, it wasn’t actually against the law for a woman to enter a pub, it was just one of those social conventions enforced if required by many innkeepers, always with the approval of the parish priest, the Roman Catholic Church then exercising an influence was so pervasive it’s difficult now for those who didn’t live through the era to believe it could have happened.  There is much documentary evidence that in pre-famine Ireland it was common for men and women to drink together in bars but, as is well-known, that can lead to dancing or worse and the church decided to do something about the immorality and indecency, imposing from the pulpit new and restrictive social mores.  Beginning in the 1960s however, even Ireland was exposed to the social forces which were transforming other Western cultures and women started to appear in bars.  That proved in some ways to be the end of civilization as the Catholic Church knew it but women could now enjoy a pint at the bar so there was that.  The snugs however survived for a while although in both the UK and Ireland they’re now rare but paradoxically, because so many “British” and “Irish” pubs have been built around the world, there are now more snugs outside the British Isles than within and just to remove doubts, many have a sign above the door (often in some “olde worlde” script) saying “The Snug”.

The attraction of the word in “Irish Pub” branding means around the world there are many actually called “Snug”, something which was never the practice in Ireland or the UK.

Within Ireland and the UK, the snugs began to vanish because instead of increasing revenue, they became a drag on the operation, taking up space which could be used more profitability.  Those with the space would create “lounge bars” where drinks cost more than in the public bar; it was a place to meet a better class of drunk and the idea had proved popular in Australia and New Zealand where for much of the twentieth century, women were also by various means excluded from public bars.  In the British Isles, a number of snugs remain because they’re on a register of historic architecture and must be maintained.

Fastigiate

Fastigiate (pronounced fa-stij-ee-it or fa-stij-yet)

(1) In zoology, joined together in a tapering adhering group.

(2) In botany, erect and parallel (as in branches) or having such branches; having erect branches, often appearing to form a single column with the stem.

(3) In palynology (the study of pollen grains and other spores, especially those found in archaeological or geological deposits), characterized by a fastigium, a cavity separating the intexine from the sexine near the endoaperture of a colporate pollen grain.

(4) A structure or design rising or tapering to a point (now rare and restricted mostly to technical use in various forms of architecture, including at the micro level).

1655–1665: From the from Medieval Latin fastīgātus (high, lofty; peaked), the construct being the Classical Latin fastīgi(um) (height, highest point, peak) + -ate.  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.  Fastigiate is a noun & adjective, fastigiation is a noun and fastigiated is an adjective; the noun plural is fastigiates.

Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, London.

In botany, fastigiated shrubs or trees are those with an upright, columnar growth habit, usually with branches growing almost parallel to the main stem, a shape which makes them popular for use in smaller areas with limited lateral space, such as streetscapes, car-parks, and public recreation areas.  The Royal Arsenal sits on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich in south-east London and beginning in the seventeenth century, it served as the headquarters of the Office of Ordnance and was until the 1960s a factory site where munitions were manufactured.  For much of that time it was also a research & development (R&D) centre for armor, ammunition & armaments (until in the twentieth century the explosions became too large and the civilian population began to encroach on the surrounding area).  The Ministry of Defence finally moved the last of its operations to other places in 1994 and now the site is in the throes of being re-developed for housing and community use.  Because of the location conveniently close to the city of London, Royal Arsenal has become a desirable residential area and as part of the plan for the open space, 24 English oak trees (Quercus robur (Fastigiata)) were planted in the public square, each up to 30 feet (9 m) in height.  The slender fastigiate form of oak selected is a popular variety among landscape architects who choose it because it provides so much foliage with a very small footprint and it’s ideal for locations where the desire is to retain a high proportion of the available sunlight.  The architects also note that being a former military site, the characteristic upright aspect of the Quercus robur recalls soldiers on parade.

Foliage of the liriodendron tulipifera Fastigiata (the common names including Upright Tulip Tree, Tulip Poplar & Whitewood) (left) and Lindsay Lohan in a floral maxi dress, London, 2016 (right).  Flower arrangers like fastigiated (upright) blooms because they can be interlaced into constructions to produce a three dimensional effect without the need for any underlying framework.  Clothing designers use fastigiates less than they do the big, open blooms like roses or carnations because when used in isolation, it’s easier with the latter to produce a more dramatic effect.  Lindsay Lohan has often worn floral fabrics but seldom were they fastigiates, the maxi dress in which she was photographed in London in 2016 a rare showing.  Upon publication however, most comment was about the fake tan and the fabric was neglected.

The cable-stayed Uddevalla Bridge crossing Sunninge sound near Uddevalla, Bohuslän, Sweden (left).  Pylons are inherently fastigitated structures and the two which support the roadway in a semi-fan arrangement are each 489 feet (149 m) high.  The Stonehenge-like structure in Windsor, Brisbane, Australia (right) is a part of the freeway architecture, the uprights essentially decorative but are said to play a part in sound reduction.

GM-X Stiletto (1964, left), GM Runabout (1964, centre) and Pontiac Grand Am (1973, right).  The Grand Am pictured is a factory one-off which was fitted with the 455 cubic inch (7.5 litre) Super Duty (SD) Pontiac V8.  The prototype used the original 310 horsepower version of the 455 SD which was declared unlawful by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) because the manufacturer blatantly cheated during the certification process.  Consequently, during its two seasons of availability (1973-1974), the 455 SD offered in Pontiac’s Firebird and Trans Am was rated at a compliant 290 hp with plans to offer it in the Grand Am and GTO cancelled, the two prototypes scrapped.

Historically, fastigiated was used to describe a structure or design rising or tapering to a point.  It still occasionally appears in the context of architecture but now it seems a fixture only in the technical journals of those discussing the very big (cosmology) or the very small (anything microscopic or smaller still).  The sharp-central point was a feature of a number of automobiles before governments started passing safety laws in the post-war years but General Motors (GM) which had during the 1950s built many bizarre (some frankly absurd) “show cars” with a prominent point couldn’t resist the motif and at the New York World's Fair in 1964 displayed the Runabout and the GM-X Stiletto.  The Runabout was genuinely thoughtful, a 3-wheeled “city car” with a front wheel which could turn 180^o, enabling a tight turning circle and an ease of parking which was astonishing by the standards of the era.  The tail-end contained two detachable shopping trolleys with wheels which folded-away when they were stored as an integral part of the rear compartment; remarkably, the little machine had space for two adults and three children.  Reflecting the spirit of the age, GM’s promotional material noted it was an ideal design for women shopping at the still quite novel supermarkets but that men could use it too because easily it would accommodate a set of golf clubs.  The fastigiated nose made a final appearance (although they’re seen still on racing cars) on the 1973 Pontiac Grand Am but it was lawful only because it was made from a closed-cell urethane foam, bonded to a steel frame, a clever (if for years troublesome to manufacture) design introduced on the 1968 GTO and called “Endura”.  The attraction of Endura was that at the time it convinced the regulators it was harmless to others, thus the survival of the sharp point for a few more years.