(1) A large picture painted or affixed directly on a wall or ceiling.
(2) A greatly enlarged photograph attached directly to a wall.
(3) A wallpaper pattern representing a landscape or the like, often with very widely spaced repeats so as to produce the effect of a mural painting on a wall of average size; sometimes created as a trompe l'oeil (“deceives the eye”).
(4) Of, relating to, or resembling a wall.
(5) Executed on or affixed to a wall.
(6) In early astronomy, pertaining to any of several astronomical instruments that were affixed to a wall aligned on the plane of a meridian; formerly used to measure the altitude of celestial bodies.
1400–1450: From the late Middle English mural, from the Latin mūrālis (of or pertaining to a wall), the construct being mūr(us) (wall) + ālis (the Latin suffix added to a noun or numeral to form an adjective of relationship; alternative forms were āris, ēlis, īlis & ūlis).The Latin mūrālis was from the Old Latin moiros & moerus, from the primitive Indo-European root mei (to fix; to build fences or fortifications) from which Old English picked-up mære (boundary, border, landmark) and Old Norse gained mæri (boundary, border-land). In the historic record, the most familiar Latin form was probably munire (to fortify, protect).The sense of "a painting on a wall" seems to have emerged as late as 1915 as a clipping of "mural-painting" (a painting executed upon the wall of a building), a term in use since at least 1850 and derived from mural in its adjectival form.
The adjective intermural (between walls) dates from the 1650s, from the Latin intermuralis (situated between walls), the construct being from inter- (between) + muralis (pertaining to a wall) from mūrus (wall). The adjective intramural (within the walls (of a city, building etc)) dates from 1846, the construct being intra- (within) + muralis (pertaining to a wall) from mūrus (wall); it was equivalent to Late Latin intramuranus and in English, was used originally in reference to burials of the dead. It came first to be used in relation to university matters by Columbia in 1871. Mural
is a noun, verb & adjective; muraled is a verb & adjective, muralist
& muralism are nouns and muraling is a verb; the noun plural is
murals.The adjectives murallike,
muralish & muralesque are non-standard and the adverb murally is unrelated,
murally a term from heraldry meaning “with a mural crown” and used mostly in
the technical terms “murally crowned” & “murally gorged”.A mural crown was a crown or headpiece
representing city walls or towers and was used as a military decoration in
Ancient Rome and later as a symbol in European heraldry; its most common
representation was as a shape recalling the alternating merlons (raised structures
extending the wall) atop a castle’s turret which provided defensive positions through
which archers could fire.The style
remains familiar in some of the turrets which sometimes on the more extravagant
McMansions and in the chess piece properly called the rook but also referred to
as a castle.
Lindsay
Lohan murals in the style of street art (graffiti): In hijab (al-amira) with
kebab roll by an unknown street artist, Melbourne, Australia (left), the
photograph the artist took as a template (centre) and in a green theme in Welcome to Venice mural by UK-born Californian
street artist Jules Muck (b 1978) (right).While a resident of Venice Beach, Ms Lohan lived next door to former special
friend, DJ Samantha Ronson (b 1977).
In
multi-cultural Australia, the kebab roll has become a fixture in the fast-food
scene with variations extending from vegan to pure meat, the term “kebab”
something of a generic term meaning what the vendor decides it means.Cross-culturally the kebab roll also fills a niche as the standard 3 am snack enjoyed by those leaving night
clubs, a place and time at which appetites are heightened.After midnight, many kebab rolls are sold by
street vendors from mobile carts and those in the Middle East will not be
surprised to learn barbaric Australians sometimes add pineapple to their roll.The photograph of Ms Lohan in hijab was taken
during a “doorstop” (an informal press conference) after her visit in October
2016 to Gaziantep (known to locals as Antep), a city in the Republic of Türkiye’s
south-eastern Anatolia Region.The
purpose of the visit was to meet with Syrian refugees being housed in Gaziantep’s
Nizip district and the floral hijab was a gift from one of the residents who
presumably assisted with the placement because there’s an art to a well-worn al-amira.Ms Muck’s work was a gesture to welcome Ms
Lohan moving from Hollywood to Venice Beach and the use of green is a theme in
many of her works.Unfortunately, Ms Lohan’s
time in Venice Beach was brief because she was compelled to return to New York
City after being stalked by the Freemasons.
Mural montage: Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021 and since 2025) osculating with Mr Putin (Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; b 1952; president or prime minister of Russia since 1999), Benjamin Netanyahu (b 1949; Israeli prime minister 1996-1999, 2009-2021 and since 2022), Boris Johnson (b 1964; UK prime-minister 2019-2022), Francis (1936-2025; pope 2013-2025) and “Lyin’
Ted” Cruz (b 1970; US senator (Republican-Texas) since 2013).
Probably not
long after the charcoal and ochre of the first cave paintings was seen by
someone other than the artist, there emerged the calling of “art critic” and
while the most common fork of that well-populated profession focuses on the aesthetic,
art has also long been political.The mural
of course has much scope to be controversial because they tend to be (1) big and
(2) installed in public spaces, both aspects making the things highly visible.Unlike a conventionally sized painting which,
even if large, a curator can hang in some obscure spot or put into storage, the
mural is just where it is and often part of the built environment; there it
will be seen.In art history, few murals
have more intriguing tales than Michelangelo’s (Michelangelo di Lodovico
Buonarroti Simoni; 1475–1564) ceiling and frescos (1508-1512) in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel
but although there were at the time of the commissioning and completion few theological
or political squabbles, there were the Vatican’s usual personal and
institutional tensions, cardinals and bishops with their own agendas (some
financial) peeking and poking into why Julius II (1443–1513; pope 1503-1513)
had handed the juicy contract to someone thought primarily a sculptor rather than
a painter.
Sistine Chapel, The Vatican, Rome.
The
political stoush came later.At the
time, the nudity had been noted and while some voices were raised in
opposition, there was no attempt to censor the work because during the High
Renaissance, depictions of nudity (on canvas, in marble etc) were all around
including in the Vatican but decades later, during the sittings of the Council
of Trent (1545–1563), critiques of “nakedness” in art became more vocal.That was especially the case after the Counter-Reformation
(circa 1550–circa 1670) produced a more severe Church, a development with many
repercussions, one of which was the “fig-leaf campaign” in which an artist was commissioned
to paint over (especially male) genitalia, the traditional “fig leaf” the
preferred device.Perhaps curiously,
despite the early appearance of the motif in the art of Christendom, for
centuries the fig leaf wasn’t “obligatory” although they appear often enough
that at times they must have been at least “desirable” and in other periods and
places clearly “essential”.The later
infamous “Fig Leaf Campaign” was initiated by Pope Paul IV (1476–1559; pope
1555-1559) and continued by his successors although it was most associated with
the ruling against “lasciviousness” in religious art made in 1563
by the Council of Trent.It was
something very much in the spirit of the Counter-Reformation and it was Pius IV
(1499–1565; pope 1559-1565) who commissioned artist Daniele da Volterra (circa
1509–1566) to paint over the genitalia Michelangelo had depicted on his ceiling,
extending his repertoire from strategically positioned leaves to artfully
placed draperies or loincloths; Romans to his dying day nicknamed Volterra “Il Braghettone” (the breeches
maker).As late as the nineteenth
century Greco-Roman statues from antiquity were still having their genitals
covered with fig leaves (sometimes detachable, a trick the British Museum later
adopted to protect Victoria’s (1819–1901; Queen of the UK 1837-1901) delicate
sensibilities during her infrequent visits).Another example of practical criticism was the edict by Pius IX
(1792–1878; pope 1846-1878) that extant male genitalia on some of the classical
statues adorning the Vatican should be “modified” and that involved
stonemasons, sculptors and other artisans receiving commissions to “modify or
cover” as required, some fig leaves at the time added.It is however a myth popes sometimes would be
seen atop a ladder, chisel in hand, hammering away for not only did they hire "the trades" to do their dirty work, what was done was almost always concealment
rather than vandalism.
Then a work in progress, this is one of the few known photographs of Diego Rivera's mural in New York City's Rockefeller Center. According to the Workers Age of 15 June, 1933, the image was "...taken surreptitiously by one of Rivera's aides..."
Still, no pope ever ordered
Michelangelo’s creation painted over but not all artists were so fortunate.On 9 May 1933 (by coincidence a day when the
Nazis publicly were burning books), New York’s very rich Rockefeller
family ordered Mexican artist Diego Rivera (1886-1957) to cease work on his
mural depicting "human intelligence in control of
the forces of nature", then being painted in the great hall of the
70-storey Rockefeller Center in New York City. Taking photographs of the mural was also prohibited. What incurred the family’s wrath was the artist's addition of a depiction
of Bolshevik revolutionary comrade Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924; head of
government of Russia or Soviet Union 1917-1924) against a background of crowds
of unemployed workers. Comrade Lenin had not appeared in the conceptual sketch (entitled Man at the Crossroads Looking with Hope and High Vision to the Choosing of a New and Better Future) the artist had provided prior to the commission being granted. Nelson
Rockefeller (1908–1979; US vice president 1974-1977 and who earned immortality
by having "died on the job") genuinely was a modern art fan-boy and
attempted to negotiate a compromise but it was the nadir of the Great
Depression, marked by plummeting industrial production, bank failures and an unemployment rate approaching 25%; other family members, knowing there was in the air talk of
revolution (the Rockefeller family had much to lose), didn’t want unemployed getting ideas. To them, Lenin was close to being the devil
incarnate and "the devil makes work for idle hands".The mural was
covered by a canvas drape until February 1934 when, under cover of darkness,
it was broken up and carted off to be dumped, the family dutifully having paid the artist his US$21,000 fee.
(1) A large
bin or receptacle; a fixed chest or box.
(2) In
military use, historically a fortification set mostly below the surface of the
ground with overhead protection provided by logs and earth or by concrete and
fitted with above-ground embrasures through which guns may be fired.
(3) A
fortification set mostly below the surface of the ground and used for a variety
of purposes.
(4) In golf,
an obstacle, classically a sand trap but sometimes a mound of dirt,
constituting a hazard.
(5) In
nautical use, to provide fuel for a vessel.
(6) In
nautical use, to convey bulk cargo (except grain) from a vessel to an adjacent
storehouse.
(7) In
golf, to hit a ball into a bunker.
(8) To
equip with or as if with bunkers.
(9) In
military use, to place personnel or materiel in a bunker or bunkers (sometimes
as “bunker down”).
1755–1760:
From the Scottish bonkar (box, chest
(also “seat” (in the sense of “bench”) of obscure origin but etymologists
conclude the use related to furniture hints at a relationship with banker (bench).Alternatively, it may be from a Scandinavian
source such as the Old Swedish bunke (boards
used to protect the cargo of a ship). The
meaning “receptacle for coal aboard a ship” was in use by at least 1839
(coal-burning steamships coming into general use in the 1820s).The use to describe the obstacles on golf
courses is documented from 1824 (probably from the extended sense “earthen seat”
which dates from 1805) but perhaps surprisingly, the familiar sense from
military use (dug-out fortification) seems not to have appeared before World
War I (1914-1918) although the structures so described had for millennia existed.“Bunkermate” was army slang for the
individual with whom one shares a bunker while the now obsolete “bunkerman”
(“bunkermen” the plural”) referred to someone (often the man in charge) who
worked at an industrial coal storage bunker.Bunker & bunkerage is a noun, bunkering is a noun & verb,
bunkered is a verb and bunkerish, bunkeresque, bunkerless & bunkerlike are adjectives;
the noun plural is bunkers.
Just as
ships called “coalers” were used to transport coal to and from shore-based
“coal stations”, it was “oilers” which took oil to storage tanks or out to sea
to refuel ships (a common naval procedure) and these STS (ship-to-ship)
transfers were called “bunkering” as the black stuff was pumped,
bunker-to-bunker.That the coal used by
steamships was stored on-board in compartments called “coal bunkers” led
ultimately to another derived term: “bunker oil”.When in the late nineteenth century ships
began the transition from being fuelled by coal to burning oil, the receptacles
of course became “oil bunkers” (among sailors nearly always clipped to
“bunker”) and as refining processes evolved, the fuel specifically produced for
oceangoing ships came to be called “bunker oil”.
Bunker oil is
“dirty stuff”, a highly viscous, heavy fuel oil which is essentially the
residue of crude oil refining; it’s that which remains after the more
refined and volatile products (gasoline (petrol), kerosene, diesel etc) have
been extracted.Until late in the
twentieth century, the orthodox view of economists was its use in big ships was
a good thing because it was a product for which industry had little other use
and, as essentially a by-product, it was relatively cheap.It came in three flavours: (1) Bunker A: Light
fuel oil (similar to a heavy diesel), (2) Bunker B: An oil of intermediate
viscosity used in engines larger than marine diesels but smaller than those
used in the big ships and (3) Bunker C: Heavy fuel oil used in container
ships and such which use VLD (very large displacement), slow running engines with a huge reciprocating
mass.Because of its composition, Bucker
C especially produced much pollution and although much of this happened at sea
(unseen by most but with obvious implications), when ships reached harbor to dock,
all the smoke and soot became obvious.Over the years, the worst of the pollution from the burning of bunker
oil greatly has been reduced (the work underway even before the Greta Thunberg
(b 2003) era), sometimes by the simple expedient of spraying a mist of water
through the smoke.
Floor-plans
of the upper (Vorbunker) and lower (Führerbunker) levels of the structure
now commonly referred to collectively as the Führerbunker.
History’s most
infamous bunker remains the Berlin Führerbunker
in which Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; Führer
(leader) and German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945)
spent much of the last few months of his life.In the architectural sense there were a number of Führerbunkers built, one at each of the semi-permanent Führerhauptquartiere (Führer Headquarters) created for the German
military campaigns and several others built where required but it’s the one in Berlin
which is remembered as “theFührerbunker”. Before 1944 when the intensification of the air
raids by the RAF (Royal Air Force) and USAAF (US Army Air Force) the term Führerbunker seems rarely to have been
used other than by the architects and others involved in their construction and
it wasn’t a designation like Führerhauptquartiere
which the military and other institutions of state shifted between locations
(rather as “Air Force One” is attached not to a specific airframe but whatever
aircraft in which the US president is travelling).In subsequent historical writing, the term Führerbunker tends often to be applied
to the whole, two-level complex in Berlin and although it was only the lower
layer which officially was designated as that, for most purposes the
distinction is not significant.In military
documents, after January, 1945 the Führerbunker
was referred to as Führerhauptquartiere.
Führerbunker tourist information board, Berlin, Germany.
Only an
information board at the intersection of den
Ministergärten and Gertrud-Kolmar-Straße, erected by the German Goverment
in 2006 prior to that year's FIFA (Fédération
Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of
Association Football)) World Cup now marks the place on Berlin's Wilhelmstrasse
77 where once the Führerbunker was located.The Soviet occupation forces razed the new Reich Chancellery and
demolished all the bunker's above-ground structures but the subsequent GDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German
Democratic Republic; the old East Germany) 1949-1990) abandoned attempts
completely to destroy what lay beneath.Until after the fall of the Berlin Wall (1961-1989) the site remained
unused and neglected, “re-discovered” only during excavations by
property developers, the government insisting on the destruction on whatever
was uncovered and, sensitive still to the spectre of “Neo-Nazi shrines”, for years the bunker’s location was never divulged, even as unremarkable buildings
(an unfortunate aspect of post-unification Berlin) began to appear on the
site.Most of what would have covered
the Führerbunker’s footprint is now a
supermarket car park.
The first
part of the complex to be built was the Vorbunker
(upper bunker or forward bunker), an underground facility of reinforced concrete
intended only as a temporary air-raid shelter for Hitler and his entourage in
the old Reich Chancellery.Substantially
completed during 1936-1937, it was until 1943 listed in documents as the Luftschutzbunker der Reichskanzlei (Reich
Chancellery Air-Raid Shelter), the Vorbunker
label applied only in 1944 when the lower level (the Führerbunker proper) was appended.In mid January, 1945, Hitler moved into the Führerbunker and, as the military
situation deteriorated, his appearances above ground became less frequent until
by late March he rarely saw the sky,Finally, on 30 April, he committed suicide.
Bunker
Busters
Northrop Grumman publicity shot of B2-Spirit from below, showing the twin bomb-bay doors through which the GBU-57 are released.
Awful as they are, there's an undeniable beauty in the engineering of some weapons and it's unfortunate humankind never collectively has resolved exclusively to devote such ingenuity to stuff other than us blowing up each other.
The use in
June 2025 by the USAF (US Air Force) of fourteen of its Boeing GBU-57 (Guided Bomb
Unit-57) Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOP) bombs against underground targets in
Iran (twelve on the Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant and two on the Natanz nuclear
facility) meant “Bunker Buster” hit the headlines.Carried by the Northrop B-2 Spirit heavy
bomber (built between 1989-2000), the GBU-57 is a 14,000 kg (30,000 lb) bomb with
a casing designed to withstand the stress of penetrating through layers of
reinforced concrete or thick rock.“Bunker buster” bombs have been around for a while, the ancestors of
today’s devices first built for the German military early in World War II (1939-1945)
and the principle remains unchanged to this day: up-scaled armor-piercing
shells.The initial purpose was to
produce a weapon with a casing strong enough to withstand the forces imposed
when impacting reinforced concrete structures, the idea simple in that what was
needed was a delivery system which could “bust through” whatever protective
layers surrounded a target, allowing the explosive charge to do damage where
needed rtaher than wastefully being expended on an outer skin.The German weapons proved effective but inevitably triggered an “arms
race” in that as the war progressed, the concrete layers became thicker, walls over
2 metres (6.6 feet) and ceilings of 5 (16) being constructed by 1943.Technological development continued and the
idea extended to rocket propelled bombs optimized both for armor-piercing and
aerodynamic efficiency, velocity a significant “mass multiplier” which made the
weapons still more effective.
USAF test-flight footage of Northrop B2-Spirit dropping two GBU-57 "Bunker Buster" bombs.
Concurrent
with this, the British developed the first true “bunker busters”, building on
the idea of the naval torpedo, one aspect of which was in exploding a short distance
from its target, it was highly damaging because it was able to take advantage
of one of the properties of water (quite strange stuff according to those who
study it) which is it doesn’t compress.
What that meant was it was often the “shock wave” of the water rather
than the blast itself which could breach a hull, the same principle used for
the famous “bouncing bombs” used for the RAF’s “Dambuster” (Operation Chastise, 17 May 1943) raids on German
dams. Because of the way water behaved,
it wasn’t necessary to score the “direct hit” which had been the ideal in the
early days of aerial warfare.
RAF Bomber
Command archive photograph of Avro Lancaster (built between 1941-1946) in
flight with Grand Slam mounted (left) and a comparison of the Tallboy &
Grand Slam (right), illustrating how the latter was in most respects a
scaled-up version of the former. To
carry the big Grand Slams, 32 “B1 Special” Lancasters were in 1945 built with up-rated
Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 engines, the removal of the bomb doors (the Grand Slam
carried externally, its dimensions exceeding internal capacity), deleted front
and mid-upper gun turrets, no radar equipment and a strengthened undercarriage.Such was the concern with weight (especially
for take-off) that just about anything non-essential was removed from the B1
Specials, even three of the four fire axes and its crew door ladder.In the US, Boeing went through a similar exercise
to produce the run of “Silverplate” B-29 Superfortresses able to carry the first
A-bombs used in August, 1945.
Best known
of the British devices were the so called “earthquake bombs”, the Tallboy (12,000
lb; 5.4 ton) & Grand Slam (22,000 lb, 10 ton) which, despite the impressive
bulk, were classified by the War Office as “medium capacity”. The terms “Medium Capacity” (MC) & “High
Capacity” referenced not the gross weight or physical dimensions but ratio of
explosive filler to the total weight of the construction (ie how much was explosive
compared to the casing and ancillary components). Because both had thick casings to ensure penetration
deep into hardened targets (bunkers and other structures encased in rock or reinforced
concrete) before exploding, the internal dimensions accordingly were reduced
compared with the ratio typical of contemporary ordinance.A High Capacity (HC) bomb (a typical “general-purpose” bomb) had a thinner casing and a much higher proportion of explosive (sometimes
over 70% of total weight). These were
intended for area bombing (known also as “carpet bombing”) and caused wide
blast damage whereas the Tallboy & Grand Slam were penetrative with casings
optimized for aerodynamic efficiency, their supersonic travel working as a mass-multiplier. The Tallboy’s
5,200 lb (2.3 ton) explosive load was some 43% of its gross weight while the
Grand Slam’s 9,100 lb (4 ton) absorbed 41%; this may be compared with the “big”
4000 lb (1.8 ton) HC “Blockbuster” which allocated 75% of the gross weight to
its 3000 LB (1.4 ton) charge.Like many
things in engineering (not just in military matters) the ratio represented a
trade-off, the MC design prioritizing penetrative power and structural
destruction over blast radius.The
novelty of the Tallboy & Grand Slam was that as earthquake bombs, their destructive potential was able to be unleashed not necessarily by achieving a
direct hit on a target but by entering the ground nearby, the explosion (1)
creating an underground cavity (a camouflet) and (2) transmitting a shock-wave
through the target’s foundations, leading to the structure collapsing into the
newly created lacuna.
The
etymology of camouflet has an interesting history in both French and military
mining.Originally it meant “a whiff of
smoke in the face (from a fire or pipe) and in figurative use it was a
reference to a snub or slight insult (something unpleasant delivered directly
to someone) and although the origin is murky and it may have been related to
the earlier French verb camoufler (to
disguise; to mask) which evolved also into “camouflage”.In the specialized military jargon of siege
warfare or mining (sapping), over the seventeen and nineteenth centuries “camouflet”
referred to “an underground explosion that does not break the surface, but
collapses enemy tunnels or fortifications by creating a subterranean void or
shockwave”.The use of this tactic is
best remembered from the Western Front in World War I,
some of the huge craters now tourist attractions.
Under
watchful eyes: Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (b 1939; Supreme Leader, Islamic Republic of Iran since 1989) delivering a speech, sitting in
front of the official portrait of the republic’s ever-unsmiling founder, Grand
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1900-1989; Supreme Leader, Islamic Republic of
Iran, 1979-1989).Ayatollah Khamenei
seemed in 1989 an improbable choice as Supreme Leader because others were
better credentialed but though cautious and uncharismatic, he has proved a great
survivor in a troubled region.
Since aerial
bombing began to be used as a strategic weapon, of great interest has been the
debate over the BDA (battle damage assessment) and this issue emerged almost as
soon as the bunker buster attack on Iran was announced, focused on the extent
to which the MOPs had damaged the targets, the deepest of which were concealed deep
inside a mountain.BDA is a constantly
evolving science and while satellites have made analysis of surface damage
highly refined, it’s more difficult to understand what has happened deep
underground.Indeed, it wasn’t until the
USSBS (United States Strategic Bombing Survey) teams toured Germany and Japan
in 1945-1946, conducting interviews, economic analysis and site surveys that a
useful (and substantially accurate) understanding emerged of the effectiveness of
bombing although what technological advances have allowed for those with the
resources is the so-called “panacea targets” (ie critical infrastructure
and such once dismissed by planners because the required precision was for many
reasons rarely attainable) can now accurately be targeted, the USAF able to
drop a bomb within a few feet of the aiming point.As the phrase is used by the military, the Fordow
Uranium Enrichment Plant is as classic “panacea target” but whether even a technically
successful strike will achieve the desired political outcome remains to be
seen.
Mr Trump,
in a moment of exasperation, posted on Truth Social of Iran & Israel: “We basically have
two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know
what the fuck they're doing."Actually, both know exactly WTF they're doing; it's just Mr Trump (and
many others) would prefer they didn't do it.
Donald Trump (b 1946; US president
2017-2021 and since 2025) claimed “total obliteration” of the targets while Grand
Ayatollah Khamenei admitted only there had been “some damage” and which is closer to the truth
should one day be revealed.Even modelling
of the effects has probably been inconclusive because the deeper one goes
underground, the greater the number of variables in the natural structure and
the nature of the internal built environment will also influence blast
behaviour.All experts seem to agree much
damage will have been done but what can’t yet be determined is what has been
suffered by the facilities which sit as deep as 80 m (260 feet) inside the
mountain although, as the name implies, “bunker busters” are designed for buried
targets and it’s not always required for blast directly to reach target.Because the shock-wave can travel through earth
& rock, the effect is something like that of an earthquake and if the structure
sufficiently is affected, it may be the area can be rendered geologically too
unstable again to be used for its original purpose.
Within minutes of the bombing having been announced, legal academics were being interviewed (though not by Fox News) to explain why the attacks were unlawful under international law and in a sign of the times, the White House didn't bother to discuss fine legal points like the distinction between "preventive & pre-emptive strikes", preferring (like Fox News) to focus on the damage done. However, whatever
the murkiness surrounding the BDA, many analysts have concluded that even if
before the attacks the Iranian authorities had not approved the creation of a
nuclear weapon, this attack will have persuaded them one is essential for “regime
survival”, thus the interest in both Tel Aviv and (despite denials) Washington
DC in “regime change”.The consensus
seems to be Grand Ayatollah Khamenei had, prior to the strike, not ordered the creation
of a nuclear weapon but that all energies were directed towards completing the preliminary steps, thus the enriching of uranium to ten times the level
required for use in power generation; the ayatollah liked to keep his options
open.So, the fear of some is the attacks,
even if they have (by weeks, months or years) delayed the Islamic Republic’s
work on nuclear development, may prove counter-productive in that they convince
the ayatollah to concur with the reasoning of every state which since 1945 has
adopted an independent nuclear deterrent (IND).That reasoning was not complex and hasn’t changed since first a prehistoric
man picked up a stout stick to wave as a pre-lingual message to potential adversaries,
warning them there would be consequences for aggression.Although a theocracy, those who command power
in the Islamic Republic are part of an opaque political institution and in the
struggle which has for sometime been conducted in anticipation of the death of
the aged (and reportedly ailing) Supreme Leader, the matter of “an Iranian IND” is one of the central
dynamics. Many will be following what unfolds in Tehran and the observers will not be only in Tel Aviv and Washington DC because in the region and beyond, few things focus the mind like the thought of ayatollahs with A-Bombs.
Of the word "bust"
The Great Bust: The Depression of
the Thirties (1962)
by Jack Lang (left), highly qualified porn star Busty Buffy (b 1996, who has
never been accused of misleading advertising, centre) and The people's champion, Mr Lang, bust of Jack Lang, painted cast
plaster by an unknown artist, circa 1927, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra,
Australia (right).Remembered for a few things, Jack
Lang (1876–1975; premier of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW)
1925-1927 & 1930-1932) remains best known for having in 1932 been the first
head of government in the British Empire to have been sacked by the Crown
since William IV (1765–1837; King of the UK 1830-1837) in 1834 dismissed Lord
Melbourne (1779–1848; prime minister of the UK 1834 & 1835-1841).
Those
learning English must think it at least careless things can both be (1) “razed
to the ground” (totally to destroy something (typically a structure), usually
by demolition or incineration) and (2) “raised to the sky” (physically lifted upwards).The etymologies of “raze” and “raise” differ
but they’re pronounced the same so it’s fortunate the spellings vary but in
other troublesome examples of unrelated meanings, spelling and pronunciation
can align, as in “bust”.When used in
ways most directly related to human anatomy: (1) “a sculptural portrayal of a
person's head and shoulders” & (2) “the circumference of a woman's chest
around her breasts” there is an etymological link but these uses wholly are unconnected
with bust’s other senses.
Bust of
Lindsay Lohan in white marble by Stable Diffusion.Sculptures of just the neck and head came also to be called “busts”, the
emphasis on the technique rather than the original definition.
Bust in the sense
of “a sculpture of upper torso and head” dates from the 1690s and was from the
sixteenth century French buste, from
the Italian busto (upper body;
torso), from the Latin bustum (funeral
monument, tomb (although the original sense was “funeral pyre, place where
corpses are burned”)) and it may have emerged (as a shortened form) from ambustum, neuter of ambustus (burned around), past participle of amburere (burn around, scorch), the construct being ambi- (around) + urere (to burn),The
alternative etymology traces a link to the Old Latin boro, the early form of the Classical Latin uro (to burn) and it’s though the development in Italian was
influenced by the Etruscan custom of keeping the ashes of the dead in an urn
shaped like the person when alive.Thus
the use, common by the 1720s of bust (a clipping from the French buste) being “a carving of the “trunk of
the human body from the chest up”.From
this came the meaning “dimension of the bosom; the measurement around a woman's
body at the level of her breasts” and that evolved on the basis of a comparison
with the sculptures, the base of which was described as the “bust-line”, the
term still used in dress-making (and for other comparative purposes as one of
the three “vital statistics” by which women are judged (bust, waist, hips),
each circumference having an “ideal range”).It’s not known when “bust” and “bust-line” came into oral use among
dress-makers and related professions but it’s documented since the 1880s.Derived forms (sometimes hyphenated) include
busty (tending to bustiness, thus Busty Buffy's choice of stage-name), overbust
& underbust (technical terms in women's fashion referencing specific
measurements) and bustier (a tight-fitting women's top which covers (most or
all of) the bust.
The other
senses of bust (as a noun, verb & adjective) are diverse (and sometimes
diametric opposites and include: “to break or fail”; “to be caught doing
something unlawful / illicit / disgusting etc”; “to debunk”; “dramatically or
unexpectedly to succeed”; “to go broke”; “to break in” (horses, girlfriends etc):
“to assault”; the downward portion of an economic cycle (ie “boom & bust”);
“the act of effecting an arrest” and “someone (especially in professional sport)
who failed to perform to expectation”.That’s quite a range and that has meant the creation of dozens of
idiomatic forms, the best known of which include: “boom & bust”, “busted
flush”, “dambuster”, “bunker buster”,“busted arse country”, “drug bust”, “cloud bust”, belly-busting, bust
one's ass (or butt), bust a gut, bust a move, bust a nut, bust-down, bust
loose, bust off, bust one's balls, bust-out, sod buster, bust the dust,
myth-busting and trend-busting. In the
sense of “breaking through”, bust was from the Middle English busten, a variant of bursten & bresten (to burst) and may be compared with the Low German basten & barsten (to burst). Bust in
the sense of “break”, “smash”, “fail”, “arrest” etc was a creation of
mid-nineteenth century US English and is of uncertain inspiration but most
etymologists seem to concur it was likely a modification of “burst” effected
with a phonetic alteration but it’s not impossible it came directly as an
imperfect echoic of Germanic speech.The
apparent contradiction of bust meaning both “fail” and “dramatically succeed”
happened because the former was an allusion to “being busted” (ie broken) while
the latter meaning used the notion of “busting through”.
(1) A garden or farming tool for digging, having an iron
blade adapted for pressing into the ground with the foot and a long handle
commonly with a grip or crosspiece at the top, and with the blade usually
narrower and flatter than that of a shovel.
(2) Some implement, piece, or part resembling this.
(3) A heavy metallic projection on the bottom of a gun
trail, designed to dig into the earth to restrict backward movement of the
carriage during recoil.
(4) To dig, cut, or remove with a spade.
(5) In four-suit card-games, a black figure shaped like
an inverted heart and with a short stem at the cusp opposite the point; a card
of the suit bearing such figures.
(6) In slang, a disparaging and offensive term for a
person with black skin (based on the spade in packs of cards) (obsolete).
(7) In nautical use, a type of oar blade that is
comparatively broad and short (as opposed to a spoon).
(8) A cutting tool for stripping the blubber from a whale
or skin from a carcass.
(9) As “in spades”, a term synonymous with the idiomatic “laying
it on with a trowel” to indicate something done to excess or in an emphatic way.
(10) As “to call a spade a spade”, to be candid; to speak
plainly without resort to euphemisms.
(11) As “to do the spadework” to be thorough in
preparation.
(12) A hart or stag three years old (rare).
(13) A castrated man or animal (archaic).
Pre-900: From the Middle English noun spade, from the Old English spada, spade & spadu.It was cognate with the the Proto-Germanic spadǭ, spadô & spadō, the Dutch spade, the
Old Frisian spada, the Old Saxon spado, the Old High German spato,
the German Spaten, the Old Norse spathi (spade), the Hunsrik Spaad and the Ancient Greek spáthē (blade; broad, flat piece of wood).The ultimate source was the
primitive Indo-Europeanspe-dh-, from which the
Ancient Greek gained σπάθη (spáthē) (blade),
Hittite išpatar (spear), Persian سپار (sopār) (plow), Northern
Luri ئەسپار (aspār) (diging) and Central Kurdish ئەسپەر (esper) & ئەسپەرە (espere) (cross-piece on shaft of spade to take pressure
of foot).More recent descendants
include the Scottish Gaelic spaid and the
Fiji Hindi sipi. Spade & spading are nouns & verbs, spader & spadeful are nouns, spaded is a verb and spadable & spadelike are adjectives; the noun plural is spades.
Pentagon-authorized playing cards, 2003.
The use on playing cards dates from 1590–1600, from the Italian,
plural of spada the meaning of which was
originally “sword”, from the Latin spatha,
from the Greek spáthē. Historically, the ace of spades was the highest card in the deck and, dating from the reign of James I (James Stuart, 1566–1625; James VI of Scotland 1567-1925 & James I of England and Ireland 1603-1625), the law required the ace of spades to bear the insignia of the printing house. This was to ensure the stamp duty was paid and the method to certify its payment on playing cards was a physical stamp on the highest card of the deck. Beginning in the seventeenth century, card manufacturers started putting their identification marks on the ace of spades and it was soon an industry tradition, maintained even when the tax was no longer payable, the intricate designs now serving to protect them from illegal copying. The ace of spades has a (somewhat dubiously gained) reputation as the death card but its become part of the folk lore attached to various organized crime operations and has been used by some militaries in psychological warfare, the US army ordering bulk supplies of ace of spades cards to scatter around although the belief the Viet Cong soldiers feared the card appears to have been untrue.
Lindsay Lohan's Royal Routine in spades in The Parent Trap (1998).
The Pentagon however still liked the imagery. In the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, thousands of packs of cards were issued, all decorated with pictures of the Iraqi regime's most wanted figures. The dubious honor of being the ace of spades was of course granted to President Saddam Hussein (1937–2006; president of Iraq 1979-2003) but, unfortunately, the regime's final official spokesman, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf (b 1940), despite his memorable war-time press conferences (as a result of which he was dubbed "Comical Ali" (a
dark allusion to Ali Hassan al-Majid al-Tikriti (1941-2010, an Iraqi
military officer who became notorious for his use of chemical weapons against
Kurdish civilians) or "Baghdad Bob" by the press corps) which made him the country's second best known figure, didn't rate a card. The Pentagon deemed him not worth even a two of clubs, an act of some ingratitude in the circumstances.
Dating from the 1520s, the spatula, now familiar as a kitchen tool used to scrape the contents of bowls, was derived from the early fifteenth century medical instrument, from the Latin spatula (broad piece), diminutive of spatha (broad, flat tool or weapon) from the Ancient Greek spathe (broad flat blade (used by weavers); the erroneous form spattular appeared circa 1600.
Mid-twentieth century silver-plated cake server by Viners of Sheffield (left) & early twentieth century Danish silver-plated cake spades (right).
The cake spade was a curious alternative to the cake (or pie) server, the latter a utensil styled to conform to the size and shape of the typical domestic slice of cake or pie. Where the cake spade differed was in the use of a regular or irregular trapezoid shape which, although it would make it difficult to maneuver something cut in the traditional, elongated triangle used with circular cakes or pies, offered advantages in stability for anything served is a squarer form including desirable stuff like lasagna: horses for courses.
Drain spade with comfort step and D-grip with fibreglass
handle; available at Walmart.
Although a proliferation of modern hybrid designs
for home gardeners has a little blurred the distinction, traditionally, a spade
differs from a two-handed shovel mostly in the form and thickness of the blade. The phase “to call a spade a spade" (using
blunt language, call things by right names and avoid euphemisms) dates from
the 1540s and was a translation of a Greek proverb (which was known to the Greek
satirist and rhetorician Lucian of Samosata (Λουκιανός ό Σαμοσατεύς; circa 125-Circa
185) ten skaphen skaphen legein (to
call a bowl a bowl) but Dutch Catholic theologian Desiderius Erasmus
Roterodamus (Erasmus of Rotterdam; 1466–1536) mis-translated, confusing the Greek
skaphe (trough, bowl) for a
derivative of the stem of skaptein (to
dig) and the mistake has forever stuck, possibly because, at least in English, it better conveys the meaning.
Laying it on with a trowel
The trowel used by Queen Victoria when laying the
foundation stone of the new buildings at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 17 May
1899, an act she managed to perform without leaving the comfort of her
carriage.A trowel is a kind of small hand-held
spade, used in gardening and to apply the mortar in brick-laying. The ornamental
trowel was rendered in silver and enamel by the silversmith Nelson Dawson
(1859-1941) and his wife Edith (1862-1928).
The phrase “in spades” (a suggestion of abundance) appeared first as
recently as 1929 in a short story by US journalist and author Damon Runyon (1880-1946),
a reference to the desirably of having many of the suit in bridge, spades the
highest-ranking suit.A similar phrase
is that reported by the poet Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) and attributed to Benjamin
Disraeli (1804–1881; UK prime- minister 1868 &
1874-1880) who, when discussing the techniques he adopted during his audiences
with Queen Victoria (1819–1901; Queen of the UK 1837-1901), advised “everyone
likes flattery and when you come to royalty, you should lay it on with a trowel”.
Although
Disraeli joined the Church of England at the age of twelve, he was born Jewish and
one who clearly understood the value of laying flattery on “with a trowel” was Benjamin
Netanyahu (b 1949; Israeli prime minister 1996-1999, 2009-2021 and since 2022)
who, while doubtless noting the “No Kings” protest movement in the US, decided
that for these purposes Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021 and since
2025) should be treated like royalty.Shortly after it was in June 2025 announced the US military had (with
the now famous “bunker-buster” bombs) attacked Iranian nuclear processing
facilities which the ayatollahs had concealed deep inside a convenient
mountain, Mr Netanyahu appeared at the lectern, metaphorical trowel in hand:
Benjamin Netanyahu (left) & Donald Trump (right).
“Congratulations
President Trump, your bold decision to target Iran's nuclear facilities with
the awesome and righteous might of the United States will change history. Israel has done truly amazing things. But in
tonight's action against Iran's nuclear facilities, America has been truly
unsurpassed. It has done what no other
country on earth could do. History will record that President Trump acted to
deny the world's most dangerous regime, the world's most dangerous weapons. His leadership today has created a pivot of
history that can help lead the Middle East and beyond to a future of prosperity
and peace. President Trump and I often
say 'peace through strength'. First
comes strength, then comes peace. And
tonight President Trump and the United States acted with a lot of strength. President Trump, I thank you. The people of Israel thank you. The forces of civilization thank you. God bless America. God bless Israel and may God bless our
unshakeable alliance, our unbreakable faith.”
Disraeli himself
can scarcely ever have been as effusive in his praise of his Queen (although on
occasion he was known to go on bended knee to kiss the hand) and were Mr Netanyahu
able to grant Mr Trump an imperial title (as Disraeli in 1876 conferred on Victoria
by making her “Empress of India”), surely he would.In paying due tribute, the Israeli prime
minister set the mark but in a post-operation press briefing conducted with the
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (US Air Force (USAF) General Dan Caine (b
1968)) Pete Hegseth (b 1980; US secretary of defense since 2025) rose to the occasion:
Donald Trump (left) & Pete Hegseth (right).
“For the entirety of his time in office,
President Trump has consistently stated, for over 10 years, that Iran must not
get a nuclear weapon, full stop. Thanks
to President Trump's bold and visionary leadership and his commitment to peace
through strength, Iran's nuclear ambitions have been obliterated. Many presidents have dreamed of delivering the
final blow to Iran's nuclear program, and none could, until President Trump. The operation President Trump planned was bold
and it was brilliant, showing the world that American deterrence is back. When this President speaks, the world should
listen and the U.S. Military, we can back it up. The most powerful military the world has ever
known. No other country on planet Earth
could have conducted the operation that the chairman is going to outline this
morning. Not even close. Just like Soleimani found out in the first
term Iran found out when POTUS says 60 days that he seeks peace and
negotiation, he means 60 days of peace and negotiation otherwise that nuclear
program, that nuclear capability, will not exist. He meant it. This is not the previous administration. President Trump said, no nukes. He seeks
peace, and Iran should take that path. He
sent out a Truth last night, saying this: any retaliation by Iran against the
United States of America will be met with force far greater than what was
witnessed tonight, signed the President of the United States, Donald J Trump. Iran would be smart to heed those words. He
said it before, and he means it. I want
to give congratulations to our commander in chief. It was an honor to watch him
lead last night and throughout and to our great American warriors on this
successful operation. God bless our troops. God bless America, and we give
glory to God for his providence and continue to ask for his protection.”
Donald Trump (left) and Mark Rutte.
Not wanting
the White House to think NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) couldn’t
handle a trowel as well as Tel Aviv and the Pentagon, Mark Rutte (b 1967; prime
minister of the Netherlands 2010-2024, secretary general of NATO since 2024)
took the opportunity presented by Mr Trump’s impending arrival at the 2025 NATO
Summit Defence Industry Forum to send the president a message congratulating
him on the apparent success of the USAF’s strikes on Iran:
“Mr President,
dear Donald, congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran,
that was truly extraordinary, and something no one else dared to do. It makes
us all safer. You are flying into
another big success in The Hague this evening. It was not easy but we’ve got them all signed
onto 5 percent! Donald, you have driven
us to a really, really important moment for America and Europe, and the world. You will achieve something NO American
president in decades could get done. Europe
is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win. Safe travels and see you at His Majesty’s
dinner!”
Mike Huckabee (left) and Donald Trump (right).
One who had his own way of sending
the message was Mike Huckabee (b 1955; Baptist preacher, Republican governor of
Arkansas 1996-2007, US ambassador to Israel since 2025) who earlier had told Mr
Trump that while doubtlessly he was hearing advice from many sources telling
him what to do about Iran: “There is only one voice that matters, HIS voice. I believe you will hear from heaven and that voice
is far more important than mine or ANYONE else’s.” The president clearly liked the thought of
God as his advisor and re-posted the message on his Truth Social platform. Despite his critics alleging he thinks himself as above God, it’s probably more accurate to suggest Mr Trump regards Him
as an equal.
Splayd(pronounced splade)
An eating utensil combining the functions of spoon, knife
and fork.
1943: A constructed brand name which was not a conventionally blended word but one with a pronunciation intended to remind the speaker of the devices functional elements (spoon & blade) with the hint of "splay" (to slant, slope or spread outwards) to allude to the shape of the tines. While the shape of the splayd was at the time unusual, the idea of utensils which combined the knife, fork & spoon had been around for generations and during World War II (1939-1945), allied soldiers enviously would admire the "light-weight and brilliantly simple" one issued to the German army. Splayd is a noun; the noun plural is splayds.
The splayd was created by William McArthur of Sydney,
Australia, with production licensed to several manufacturers, the best known
of which was Viners of Sheffield.Although several variations of the spork (a
utensil combining the functionality of spoon and fork) already existed, the
splayd’s innovation was the refinement of two outer fork tines, each having a hard,
flat edge, suitable for cutting through soft food and they tended to have a geometric
rather than a rounded bowl (usually with two longitudinal folds in the metal). Mrs McArthur used and sold
splayds in her Martha Washington Café in Sydney's Martin Place between 1943-1967 and in 1960 sold
the manufacturing rights to the Stokes company which instituted some minor
changes to the design, making them more easily mass-produced.
Set of six splayds plated in 24 carat gold; most splayds
were rendered in 18-8 stainless steel although, especially in England, silver
plate items appeared in smaller volumes.
Among some of the middle class seeking to add a layer of something to their dinner parties, splades were often seen and during their heyday in the 1950s & 1960s. They were also a popular wedding gift and one unintended benefit was their usefulness in aged care and medical rehabilitation facilities, their use recommended for those with feeding difficulties following or during treatment
of the arm. A range was manufactured
with the Selectagrip system which featured customizable handles to assist people
who had difficulties gripping or manipulating standard utensils.