Monoleg

Monoleg (pronounced mon-oh-leg)

(1) An object, structure or system with a single supporting leg (used typically of furniture).

(2) In speculative writing (usually in SF (science fiction) naturally one-legged creatures.

(3) In slang a one-legged human or a single prosthetic leg.

(4) In fashion, a garment (trousers, leggings etc) with only one fabric leg.

(5) In fashion, a measure (as “good monoleg” & “bad monoleg”) of how well the slit on a dress or skirt has been implemented.

1980s: The construct was mono- + leg.  Mono was from the Ancient Greek μόνος (monos) (alone, only, sole, single), from the Proto-Hellenic mónwos.  Oἶος (oîos) (only, single) was from óywos while the etymology of the initial element is uncertain but it may be from the primitive Indo-European men- (small), hinted at by the Ancient Greek μανός (manós) (sparse, rare), the Armenian մանր (manr) (slender, small) and even the Proto-West Germanic muniwu (small fish, minnow).  As a prefix, mono- is often found in chemical names to indicate a substance containing just one of a specified atom or group (eg a monohydrate such as carbon monoxide; carbon attached to a single atom of oxygen).  Leg was from the Middle English leg & legge, from the Old Norse leggr (leg, calf, bone of the arm or leg, hollow tube, stalk), from the Proto-Germanic lagjaz & lagwijaz (leg, thigh).  Although the source is uncertain, the Scandinavian forms may have come from a primitive Indo-European root used to mean “to bend” which would likely also have been linked with the Old High German Bein (bone, leg).  It was cognate with the Scots leg (leg), the Icelandic leggur (leg, limb), the Norwegian Bokmål legg (leg), the Norwegian Nynorsk legg (leg), the Swedish lägg (leg, shank, shaft), the Danish læg (leg), the Lombardic lagi (thigh, shank, leg), the Latin lacertus (limb, arm), and the Persian لنگ (leng).  After it entered the language, it mostly displaced the native Old English term sċanca (from which Modern English ultimately gained “shank”) which was probably from a root meaning “crooked” (in the literal sense of “bent” rather than the figurative used of crooked Hillary Clinton).  Monoleg is a noun; the noun plural is monolegs.

Three thoughts on the monoleg by Sarah Aphrodite (b 1979).

Although never likely to be seen on high streets, one-legged trousers always attract the eye of editors when seen on catwalks which is of course something of an end in itself.  The look was first seen in 2018 when the consensus seemed to be it was one of those absurdities shows can get away with once for the sake of the click-bait but in 2024 the monoleg returned with contributions from estimable fashion houses including Louis Vuitton, Bottega Veneta and Coperni and Louis Vuitton.  Apparently responsible for one-legged pairs of trousers was Dutch-born US designer Sarah Aphrodite who may not have imagined there would be many imitators but South Korean label Pushbutton launched a range of legged jeans, appealing presumably at least some of what has in the last decade become a nation of trend-setters.

Lindsay Lohan in a white ensemble by Michael Kors (b 1959) demonstrates the “momoleg” look offered by the “slit-cut” in a skirt or dress, New York, 2022.  Critics distinguish between the “good monoleg” & “bad monoleg”, the distinction between a cut which accentuates and one which just looks awkward.  This one is good.

The industry does like asymmetry and monolegs are about as jarring a look as fashion permits and of course, displaying only a leg, the look is lawful just about anywhere (except places run by ayatollahs, the Taliban etc),  It’s also correct to talk about “a pair of monolegs” despite that being an apparent linguistic paradox.  Like “pants” (which was from the French pantalon) which had its origin in a garment something like the leg-warmers of the 1980s (ie a separate one for each leg), trousers were originally separate pieces for each leg but obviously were always bought and worn in pairs, thus reference to “pair” (a la “a pair of gloves”.  Trousers dates from the early seventeenth century and was from the earlier trouzes, extended from trouse with the plural ending appended to follow the convention of such use for other garments.  The source was the Irish & Scottish Gaelic triubhas (the close-fitting trews (best understood as leggings)) and via the Middle Scots trewsers it entered English during the late Middle Ages.  The idea of a “pair of trousers” thus evolved from a “pair of garments” to the modern practice of describing bifurcated articles (in this case one for each leg) in a way which might suggest two items (al la “pair of glasses”, another thing which began a term meaning “two lens supplied together”, the definitely singular monocle a reminder of this history).  So a “pair of monolegs” is correct and in the tailoring sense there are (in a sense) two legs in a pair of monolegs; one much shorter than the other.

Monolegs on the catwalk, 2024.

Beyond the catwalk or those looking to be in the avant-garde of a short-lived trend, the monoleg might have some appeal for those with one heavily tattooed leg and one “clean-skin” (another asymmetry which seems to have some appeal) but the appeal is not likely to be wide because, unlike the long-established “fingerless glove”, a functional purpose is not immediately obvious.  There could though be a small (but presumably appreciative) audience among those diagnosed with the condition Body Integrity Dysphoria (BID and oreviosuly referred to as Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID) or Apotemnophilia, the latter term more specific and now dated.

Stensele monoleg bar table in anthracite by Ikea.  Thoughtfully, the Stensele included "handbag hooks", Swedish designers thinking about women more than most (it was Volvo which featured hollow headrests to accommodate pony-tails).

In the revision to the fifth edition (DSM-5-TR (2022)) of the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), BID was listed among those conditions awaiting “further study”.  That means BID is not yet an officially recognized disorder but has been identified as an area requiring more research to validate its inclusion as a formal diagnosis.  The core symptoms were detailed as (1) A strong and persistent desire for amputation or disability in a specific limb or body part, despite it being healthy and (2) significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning due to this desire.  It manifests as a patient’s mismatch between their physical body and their internal sense of how their body should be, the “mismatch” due not to delusional thinking but reflecting a deeply ingrained identity issue.  It seems symptoms begin often in childhood or adolescence and may persist into adulthood, the feelings tending to be enduring and not fleeting.  Rare and unusual in most aspects, BID is distinct from conditions such as body dysmorphic disorder, gender dysphoria, or somatic delusions although there are overlapping features.  The inclusion in DSM-5-TR in “conditions for further study” indicates the profession’s growing recognition of the condition but also the need to discuss the ethical dilemmas presented, most obviously the implications of “providing a cure” (eg amputation a patient’s healthy leg).  There are cases in the literature of individuals who have reported an improved quality of life after elective amputation but for many reasons this is not accepted as a standard treatment and some suggest it should be contemplated only when a patient’s focus on amputation is such that there is an imminent danger of self-harm (ie performing a self-amputation).

Florence Griffith Joyner (1959-1998, left) and Serena Williams (b 1981, right).

The US sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner (1959-1998) in 1988 made a splash with a monoleg outfit and the tennis player Serena Williams (b 1981) paid tribute to her when she adopted the look in 2021.  Even those who liked the look concluded it was in each case worn as a promotional device (possibly for the inevitable clothing line) rather than something which might improve sporting performance although, if not causative, there was certainly correlation in this for Ms Griffith Joyner.  In the 100m event she ran an 11.06 in 1983 and in 1987 achieved a brace of 10.97s but in 1988 (at the age of 29) she set a new world record of 10.49, a mark which stands to this day.  Her late career improvement remains of the most remarkable in the history of athletics and one upon which many have remarked.

Proctology

Proctology (pronounced prok-tol-uh-jee)

(1) The branch of medicine dealing with the pathology of the colon, rectum and anus.

(2) Historically, the branch of medicine dealing with the surgery of the colon, rectum, and anus.

(3) In modern use, colorectal surgery as a specialty inside (as it were) proctology.

(4) A department or building so named in a hospital, university or clinic etc.

1896: The construct was procto- +‎ -logy or proct- + -ology.  Procto was from a Latinized form of the Greek prōktos (anus), from the primitive Indo-European prokto-, the source also of Armenian erastan-k' (buttocks).  The suffix -ology was formed from -o- (as an interconsonantal vowel) +‎ -logy.  The origin in English of the -logy suffix lies with loanwords from the Ancient Greek, usually via Latin and French, where the suffix (-λογία) is an integral part of the word loaned (eg astrology from astrologia) since the sixteenth century.  French picked up -logie from the Latin -logia, from the Ancient Greek -λογία (-logía).  Within Greek, the suffix is an -ία (-ía) abstract from λόγος (lógos) (account, explanation, narrative), and that a verbal noun from λέγω (légō) (I say, speak, converse, tell a story).  In English the suffix became extraordinarily productive, used notably to form names of sciences or disciplines of study, analogous to the names traditionally borrowed from the Latin (eg astrology from astrologia; geology from geologia) and by the late eighteenth century, the practice (despite the disapproval of the pedants) extended to terms with no connection to Greek or Latin such as those building on French or German bases (eg insectology (1766) after the French insectologie; terminology (1801) after the German Terminologie).  Within a few decades of the intrusion of modern languages, combinations emerged using English terms (eg undergroundology (1820); hatology (1837)).  In this evolution, the development may be though similar to the latter-day proliferation of “-isms” (fascism; feminism et al).  A physician specializing in proctology is a proctologist although some may prefer the punchier construction Bart Simpson (from the cartoon TV series The Simpsons), used: “butt doctor”.  The noun proctalgia (pain in the anus or rectum) existed in the medical literature as early as 1811 while the first known use of “proctologist” dates from 1897.  Proctology & proctologist are nouns and proctologic & proctological are adjectives; the noun plural is protologists.

In 1974, The British Medical Journal (BMJ) used the term “guitar nipple” to describe “the irritation to the breast that can occur from the pressure of the guitar against the body.”  In the same spirit, two years later a contributor to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) was more imaginative still, coining “hot pants syndrome” when documenting cases in which a burn to the skin had been induced by a patient carrying a battery-powered transistor radio in the pocket of their trousers.  There was also in 1978 the New England Journal of Medicine's (NEJM) “disco digit” which referred to “a sore or infected finger caused by too much finger snapping while dancing.”  These terms were indicative of the trend in the English-speaking world for newly-identified (and in some cases novel conditions) to be constructed with English elements, rather than the Latin historically used.  In the fields of proctology, the historic terms (of discomfort in the region) were:

Rectalgia (pain in the rectum), the construct being rect- (a clipping of the New Latin rectum, itself a clipping of the Latin rectum intestinum (literally “the straight intestine”), neuter of rectus (straight) +‎ -algia (from the New Latin -algia (pain), from the Ancient Greek ἄλγος (álgos) (pain).

Proctalgia (pain in the anal or rectal region), the construct being proct- (a New Latin combining form, from Ancient Greek πρωκτός (prōktós) (anus).+‎ -algia.

Anodynia (anal pain; anorectal pain), the construct being ano- (from the Latin anus) + -dynia (an alternative (used when the preceding morpheme has a terminal vowel) form of -odynia (a New Latin combining form, from the Ancient Greek ὀδύνη (odúnē) (sorrow, grief, anguish, unhappiness).

Confusingly though, because terminology evolved often independently an in parallel, medicine contrived to use anodynia also to mean “the absence of pain in a previously painful region” and in that case the construct differed, being an- (from the Ancient Greek ἀν- (an-); a doublet of un- and in- (used her in the sense of a negation) +‎ odynia (a New Latin combining form, from the Ancient Greek ὀδύνη (odúnē) (sorrow, grief, anguish, unhappiness).  So for the non-medically trained, confusion could arise given anodynia can mean either “pain in the butt” or “pain has gone away” although because it’s a word unlikely much to be seen by other than the medically trained, instances of this have presumably been rare.  But in the context of “butt pain” there would seem to be some overlap in meaning between rectalgia, proctalgia & anodynia but while all are used to refer to “pain in or around the rectal area”, in the profession there are distinctions in use, particularly in clinical and diagnostic work 

Rectalgia is used to describe pain localized in the rectum and tends to be used as general term for the condition and often without specifying a cause.  Conditions associated with rectalgia include anorectal abscesses and fissures.  Proctalgia encompasses pain in the anorectal region (both anus and rectum) and is commonly used of proctalgia fugax, a specific condition characterized by sudden, severe, and brief rectal pain with no obvious underlying cause.  As the etymology suggests, proctalgia’s remit is broader than that of rectalgia because it includes both anus and rectum.  Whether or not related to the duality of meaning, anodynia is now not in general clinical use but historically it referred to pain in the vicinity of the anus.  The modern terms for that are “anal pain” & “anorectal pain”.  So, although lay-readers might be forgiven for thinking they could be used interchangeably, clinicians applied them based on anatomical location: rectalgia (rectum), anodynia (anus) &, proctalgia (anorectal region).

In the thoughts of Kellyanne Conway: A protologist's ultrasonic rectal probe (available in 140 & 200 mm (5½ & 8 inch) length versions) by the Electro Surgical Instrument Company (ESI (1896)).

Protology and pains in the butt do feature in idiomatic use in English.  Kellyanne Conway (b 1967; senior counselor to the US president, 2017-2020) when discussing the “Muller probe” (an investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller (1944) into Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021; president elect 2024) and the matter of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election) told a press conference the whole project was “a political proctology exam.”  She clearly liked the imagery because later, when Mr Muller handed down his report, she told the assembled press pack it was the “best day” since Mr Trump’s (2016) election, repeated the phrase “political proctology” and, sticking with medical allusions, said the verdict delivered “a clean bill of health.”

PITB (and its variations) is widely used.

Kellyanne Conway in hoodie: Miss January, Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute's annual Conservative Women Calendar (2009).

So like Mr Trump, Ms Conway would have found the Muller probe a (metaphorical) pain in the butt but “political proctology exam” was both a more polite and elegant way of saying it.  The saying “pain in the butt” belongs to a class of such expressions (all meaning “a nuisance; a source of trouble or annoyance”) which variously are used according to the need for politeness, the hierarchy of rudeness (in ascending order) being: “pain in the neck”, “pain in the brain”, “pain in the back” (all about equal), “pain in the rear”, “pain in the bum”, “pain in the ass” & “pain in the arse” (the choice between “ass” & “arse” dictated by linguistic tradition).  All are often used as initializms (PITN PITB, PITR, PITA) and PITA seems the most popular while in oral use “pain in the neck” and “pain in the ass (arse)” vie for popularity although some do like “pain in the brain” for the rhyme.

First edition (hardcover, 1956) of Soranus' Gynecology, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, translated and with an introduction by Owsei Temkin MD (1902-2002).

Quite when the idea of “specialists” in the modern sense of the word came to the practice of medicine isn’t certain but long before such things were formalized by the creation of colleges or specialist qualifications, it’s likely the early physicians did tend to develop particular areas of expertise and would have had certain patients referred to them, much as is the modern practice.  Probably, this emergence of specialties would have happened organically, based on geography: a physician in a fishing community on the sunny Aegean coast would have encountered a different patient profile than one who worked in the cold of the mountains.  Thus, while it’s not known who can be though the “first proctologist”, medical students everywhere will probably nominate Soranus of Ephesus, a Greek physician who practiced in both Alexandria and Rome during the first & second century AD.  His four-volume treatise on gynecology still exists so he probably deserves to be remembered as an early gynecologist but, as many medical students will confirm, his name is pronounced sawr-ey-nuhs so a proto-proctologist he must be.  Such things do happen: Winston Churchill’s (1875-1965; UK prime-minister 1940-1945 & 1951-1955) neurologist was Russell Brain (1895–1966).

Trunk

Trunk (pronounced truhngk)

(1) The main stem of a tree, as distinct from the branches (limbs) and roots (also as bole; tree trunk).

(2) Of, relating to or noting a main channel or line, as of a railroad, waterway or something which assumes a similar shape (topographically).

(3) A large, sturdy box or chest for holding or transporting clothes, personal effects or other articles.  Such trunks usually have a hinged (sometimes domed) lid and handles at each end, provided because such is the size & weight, it takes at least two to carry one when loaded.

(4) A compartment, most often in the rear coachwork of an automobile, in which luggage, a spare tire, and other articles may be kept (a “boot” in the UK and certain other places in the English-speaking world and a “dicky” in India and elsewhere in South Asia).

(5) A storage compartment fitted behind the seat of a motorcycle and known also as a top-ox or top-case (as distinct from a “pannier” or “saddlebag” which is fitted at the side (usually in pairs), below the level of the seat).

(6) In anatomy, the body of a person or an animal excluding the head and limbs (the torso).

(7) In pathology, the main body of an artery, nerve, or the like, as distinct from its branches.

(8) In ichthyology, that part of a fish between the head and anus.

(9) In engineering and architecture, a name for a conduit, shaft, duct, channel or chute etc, used variously for airflow (thermal or blown), water, coal, grain etc.

(10) In steam engines, a large pipe forming the piston rod of a steam engine, of sufficient diameter to allow one end of the connecting rod to be attached to the crank, and the other end to pass within the pipe directly to the piston, thus making the engine more compact.

(11) In extractive mining, a flume or sluice in which ores are separated from the slimes in which they are contained.

(12) In architecture, the dado or die of a pedestal.

(13) In architecture, the part of a pilaster between the base and capital, corresponding to the shaft of a column.

(14) In hydrology, the main channel, artery or line in a river, railroad, highway, canal or other tributary system.

(15) In telephony, a telephone line or channel between two central offices or switching devices that is used in providing telephone connections between subscribers generally (also called a “tie-line”).

(16) In telegraphy, a telegraph line or channel between two main or central offices.

(17) In telecommunications, to provide simultaneous network access to multiple clients by sharing a set of circuits, carriers, channels or frequencies.

(18) In clothing, brief shorts (loose-fitting or tight) worn by men chiefly for boxing, swimming and athletics (some historically known as “trunk hose”.

(19) In zoology, the elongated prehensile, flexible, cylindrical nasal appendage of the elephant and certain other creatures (the proboscis).

(20) In nautical use, a large enclosed passage through the decks or bulkheads of a vessel, used as air ducting for purposes of heating, cooling, ventilation and such.

(21) In shipbuilding, any of various watertight casings in a vessel, as the vertical one above the slot for a centerboard in the bottom of a boat.

(22) A long tube through which pellets of clay, peas etc are driven by the force of the breath; a peashooter (archaic).

(23) In software engineering, the most current source tree, from which the latest unstable builds (so-called “trunk builds”) are compiled.

1400–1450: From the late Middle English tronke & trunke, from the Old French tronc (alms box, tree trunk, headless body), from the Latin truncus (stem, a stock, lopped tree trunk), a noun use of the adjective truncus (lopped; cut off, maimed, mutilated), (the later related to the English truncated).  Trunk & trunking are nouns & verbs, trunkful is a noun, trunked is a verb & adjective and trunkless is an adjective; the noun plural is trunks.

There are a myriad of “truck” terms in human pathology and other derived phrases include “elephant's trunk” (rhyming slang for “drunk”), “hand trunk” (a piece of luggage smaller than the traditional trunk and able to be carried by one), “junk in one's trunk” (corpulence of the buttocks, the alternative forms being “dump truck” or the vernacular “fat ass”), “the apple does not fall far from the trunk” (a variant of “the apple/pear etc does not fall far from the tree”) (children tend in appearance & characteristics to resemble their parents), “trunklid” (literally obviously “the lid of a trunk” and used of the opening panel which provides access to a car’s trunk), “bootlid” the UK equivalent and confusingly in the US used also as “decklid” on the basis of the trunk being a part of a car’s “rear deck”), “trunk novel” (a novel abandoned by the author while still a project), “trunk or treat” (an organized alternative to trick-or-treating where candy is handed out to children from cars in a parking lot; it was introduced as a child safety measure), “trunk show” (an event in which vendors present merchandise directly to store personnel or customers at a retail location or other venue, based on the idea of selling “out of a trunk”), “trunk sale” (and event at which goods are displayed for sale in the trunks of cars), “boot sale” the companion term)), “trunking” (travelling sitting in the trunk of a car”), and “trunk shot” (in film-making, a cinematic shot from within a car trunk (although there was a case of a serial killer who shot his victims while concealed in the trunk of a car.

Louis Vuitton Trunk #5 (left) and Louis Vuitton Trunk on Fire (right) by Tyler Shields (b 1982).

The original idea of a trunk being a “box; case etc” may lie in the first such “trunks” being hollowed-out tree trunks although some suggest the post-classical development of the meaning “box, case with a lid or top” was based on the notion of human body’s trunk being a “case” in which the organs were transported.  The modern idea of a “luggage compartment of a motor vehicle” dates from circa 1930, about the time trunks cease to be something separately carried and replaced by and space for luggage integrated into the bodywork.  The use of trunk had long been familiar in the medical literature (both of the torso and blood vessels etc) and the idea was by 1843 extended to railroad trunk lines and telephone networks by 1889.  “Trunk-hose” were first sold in the 1630s and seems to have been a kind of thermal underwear, the description a reference to them covering the whole torso (ie, the trunk) as opposed to most “hose” which was for the lower limbs.

The use of trunk to describe the “long snout of an elephant (or other beast with a similar appendage)” appeared first in the 1560s but etymologists are divided on whether it was an allusion to a tree’s trunk or has some connection with “trumpet”, based on the loud sound elephants are able to generate although the evidence does suggest the early use as a reference to the thing’s ability to hold water.  Predictably, by the early eighteenth century, it was a slang term for the human nose.  The use in clothing (always in the plural as “trunks”) emerged in the mid 1820s and initially described “short breeches of thin material”; it was a use of trunk in the sense of “torso”.  Use began in theatrical jargon but, as was not uncommon, soon it was applied to breeches generally, especially in US English and for the short, tight-fitting breeches worn by swimmers and other sporting types, adoption was close to universal by the 1890s.  “Swimming trunks” has survived as a regionalism; even within the one country, there are often several different names for what is one of humanity’s most simple garments.

Trump Trunks: MAGA (Make America Great Again) swimming trunks.  Trump trunks are made from a “silky, breathable, 4-way stretch mesh fabric” and features include (1) a small internal pocket, (2) a built-in anti-chafe liner.  The country of manufacture is not disclosed.  Clearly, the DNC (Democratic National Committee) in 2016 missed an opportunity by failing to release the "Crooked Hillary Clinton Bikini".

One linguistic curiosity was “subscriber trunk dialing” (later changed to “subscriber toll dialing” which later still switched to DDD (Direct Distance Dialing).  The “other” use of STD was as “sexually transmitted disease”, previously known as VD (venereal disease) and it wasn’t until the 1970s the initialism VD began to be replaced by STD (VD thought to have to have gained too many specific associations) but fortunately for AT&T, in 1951 they renamed their STD service (for long-distance phone calls) to DDD, apparently for no better reason than the alliterative appeal although it's possible they just wanted to avoid mentioning “toll” with all that implies.  Many countries in the English-speaking world continued to use STD for the phone calls, even after the public health specialists had re-purposed the initialization.  In clinical use, STI “Sexually Transmitted Infection” seems now the preferred term).

The evolution of the trunk: 1851 Concord stagecoach on display at the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum, Washington DC (left) with truck strapped to the back, additional trunks carried on the roof; 1928 Mercedes-Benz Nürburg 460 K Pullman Limousine (W08, centre left) with separate trunk still carried on a rear frame; 1936 Studebaker Dictator 4-door sedan (centre right) with the trunk now an integrated part of the bodywork; The US full-sized cars of the era had most capacious trunks but few could match Leyland Australia's infamous P76 (1973-1975, right) which effortlessly could carry a 44 (imperial) gallon (209 litre) drum.

The compartment which is most located in the rear coachwork of an automobile is used for luggage and historically also the spare tyre a toolkit (neither now not always supplied).  In North American use, this is called a “trunk”, an inheritance from the time when the passengers’ trunks (ie, in the sense of the box-like suitcases) were strapped on to an extension at the back of horse-drawn carriages.  In the early automobiles, the practice continued (often with lined wicker baskets because they were of lightweight construction) and when these were integrated into the bodywork, the space provided continued to be called “the trunk”.  The British called the same thing a “boot”.  In horse-drawn carriages in the UK, a “boot” was a compartment used to store travel essentials, among which (in an age of rutted, poorly maintained roads) included boots, the male passengers sometimes required to push the coach when it became stuck in mud, the frequent inclusion of a “boot box” or “boot locker”, made typically of leather and attached at the rear.  The other suggested origin is the French boute (compartment; box).  The term “boot” thus spread throughout the British Empire although, under the Raj, in India & Ceylon (later Sri Lanka) it became the “dickie”.  That was based on the dicky seat (also as “dickie seat” & “dickey seat” and later more commonly known as the “rumble seat”), an upholstered bench mounted at the rear of a coach, carriage or early motorcar and as the car industry evolved and coachwork became more elaborate, increasingly they folded into the body.  The size varied but generally they were designed to accommodate one or two adults although the photographic evidence suggests they could be used also to seat half-a-dozen or more children.  Why it was called a dicky seat is unknown (the word dates from 1801 and most speculation is in some way related to the English class system) but when fitted on horse-drawn carriages it was always understood to mean “a boot (box or receptacle covered with leather at either end of a coach, the use based on the footwear) with a seat above it for servants”.  Under the Raj, “dickie” was preferred while the colloquial “mother-in-law seat” was at least trans-Atlantic and probably global.

Lindsay Lohan illustrates how there are trunks and there are frunks:  The rear-engined Porsche 911 Carrera (997, 2004-2013) cabriolet (Los Angeles, 2012, right) has a frunk while the front-engined Mercedes-Benz SL 550 (R230, 2001-2011) (Los Angeles, 2009, left) has a trunk.  The R230 range was unusual because of the quirk of the SL 550 (2006-2011), a designation used exclusively in the North American market, the RoW (rest of the world) cars retaining the SL 500 badge even though both used the 5.5 litre (333 cubic inch) V8 (M273).

The Fiat X1/9 (produced by Fiat 1972–1982 and Bertone from 1982–1989, centre) featured both a frunk (left) and a trunk (right.

Most cars built have had the engine mounted in the front, thus most trunks appeared in the rear bodywork.  There have however been cars with engines behind the driver (such things were quite numerous until well into the 1970s) and these usually had a storage compartment at the front (where the engine otherwise would sit, under the hood (bonnet)).  Until the early years of the twentieth century, these seem just to have been called a “trunk” or “boot” but as electric vehicles began to appear in volume “frunk” (the construct being f(ront) + (t)runk) and the less popular “froot” (the construct being fr(ont) + (b)oot)) came into use.  There have been mid-engined cars which have both a trunk and a frunk and those in the diminutive Fiat X1/9 were surprisingly large while others (such as Ferrari's Dino 308 GT4 (1973-1980) & 208 GT4 (1975-1980), both badged as Ferraris after 1976) were of a less generous capacity, the frunk in the Dinos most suited to storing something the size of a topless bikini but it was a genuine four-seater (2+2), something not often attempted with the mid-engined configuration.

Heterochromatic

Heterochromatic (pronounced het-er-uh-kroh-mat-ik or het-er-oh-kruh-mat-ik)

(1) Of, having, or pertaining to more than one color (especially as related to relating to heterochromia (in medicine & ophthalmology, the anatomical condition in which multiple pigmentations or colorings occur in the eyes, skin or hair).

(2) Having a pattern of mixed colors.

(3) Of light, having more than one wavelength.

(4) In genetics, of or relating to heterochromatin (in cytology, tightly coiled chromosome material; believed to be genetically inactive).

1890–1895: The construct was hetero- + chromatic + -ic.  The hetero- prefix was from the Ancient Greek ἕτερος (héteros) (the other (of two), another, different; second; other than usual) and was itself an ancient compound, the first element meaning "one, at one, together", from the primitive Indo-European root sem- (one; as one, together with), the second cognate with the second element in the Latin al-ter, the Gothic an-þar and the Old English o-ðer "other."  It's familiar in constructs such as “heterosexual”, “heterogeneity” et al.  In Classical Greek, there was quite a range of application including Heterokretes (true Cretan (ie one bred from the old stock)), heteroglossos (of or from a foreign language), heterozelos (zealous for one side (ie “one-eyed” in the figurative sense)), heterotropos (of a different sort or fashion (literally “turning the other way”) and the useful heterophron (raving (literally “of other mind” (ie “he’s barking mad”))).  The adjective chromatic dates from the turn of the seventeenth century and was used first of music in the sense of “involving tones foreign to the normal tonality of the scale, not diatonic” and was from the Latin chromaticus, from the Ancient Greek khrōmatikos (relating to color, suited for color) (which was applied also to music), from khrōma (genitive khrōmatos) (color, complexion, character (but used mostly metaphorically of embellishments in music); the original meaning was “skin, surface”.  In the Greek, khrōma was used also for certain modifications of the usual diatonic music scale but quite why it came to be used of music remains unclear, the most supported speculation being the influence of the extended sense of khrōma ("ornaments, makeup, embellishments) via the idea of it being “characteristic” of a musical scale or speech.  The -ic suffix was from the Middle English -ik, from the Old French -ique, from the Latin -icus, from the primitive Indo-European -kos & -ḱos, formed with the i-stem suffix -i- and the adjectival suffix -kos & -ḱos.  The form existed also in the Ancient Greek as -ικός (-ikós), in Sanskrit as -इक (-ika) and the Old Church Slavonic as -ъкъ (-ŭkŭ); A doublet of -y.  In European languages, adding -kos to noun stems carried the meaning "characteristic of, like, typical, pertaining to" while on adjectival stems it acted emphatically; in English it's always been used to form adjectives from nouns with the meaning “of or pertaining to”.  A precise technical use exists in physical chemistry where it's used to denote certain chemical compounds in which a specified chemical element has a higher oxidation number than in the equivalent compound whose name ends in the suffix -ous; (eg sulphuric acid (H₂SO₄) has more oxygen atoms per molecule than sulphurous acid (H₂SO₃).  Heterochromatic, heterochrome & heterochromous are adjectives, heterochrony, heterochromia & heterochromatism are nouns and heterochromatically is an adverb; the noun plural is heterochromias.

The obvious synonym is monochromatic (although is modern use that’s come often to mean “black & white” rather than “a single color”.  The -mono- prefix was from the Ancient Greek μόνος (mónos) (alone, only, sole, single), from the Proto-Hellenic mónwos and the ending may be compared with οἶος (oîos) (only, single) from óywos.  The etymology of the initial element remains murky but may be from the primitive Indo-European men- (small) and it may be compared with the Ancient Greek μανός (manós) (sparse, rare), the Armenian մանր (manr) (slender, small) and even the Proto-West Germanic muniwu (small fish, minnow).  The sense it’s understood in photography dates from 1940 when (presumably almost instantly), the verbal shorthand became “mono”, exactly the same pattern of use when the need arose to distinguish between color printers and those using only black consumables.  The word was used as an adjective after 1849 although monochromatic (of one color, consisting of light of one wavelength and probably based either on the French monochromatique or the Ancient Greek monokhrōmatos) had been used thus since at least 1807 (presumably it pre-dated this because the adverb monochromatically is documented since 1784).  The alternative forms are both self-explanatory: unicolour used usually single solids and monotint, rare and used mostly as a technical term in art-production where, properly, it describes a reproduction of a multi-color image using just shades of a single color.  Monochrome is a noun & adjective, monochromaticity, monochromy & monochromist are nouns, monochromic is an adjective and monochromatically is an adverb.

Sectoral heterochromia.

In medicine & ophthalmology, heterochromia describes a coloration variously of hair, skin and the eyes but it’s used most commonly of eyes.  At the cellular level, heterochromia is a function of the production, delivery, and concentration of the pigment melanin and the condition may be inherited or caused by genetic mosaicism, chimerism, disease, or injury.  It is not uncommon in certain breeds of domesticated animals (notably those subject to breeding programmes which tend to reduce the gene pool and cats with a predominantly white coat).  In clinical use heterochromia of the eye is known as heterochromia iridum or heterochromia iridis and can be complete, sectoral, or central.  The complete heterochromia is the best known by virtue of being the most photogenic for Instagram and other purposes: it exists when one iris is a wholly different color from the other.  In sectoral heterochromia, part of one iris is a different color from the rest while in central heterochromia, typically there is a ring around the pupil (less commonly seen as spikes radiating from the pupil) in a different color.

Ms Amina Ependieva (b 2008, left) was born in Grozny, the capital city of Chechnya, Russia; she has two rare, genetic conditions: (1) albinism which reduces the quantity the pigment melanin in the skin and (2) heterochromia, the latter manifesting as her having with one blue and one brown eye.  Ms Ependieva was photographed in 2019, aged eleven.  Alkira (b 2015, right) is a Persian cat with heterochromia, felines with predominately white coats the most prone to the condition; in domestic cats, it's most common for them to have one yellow and one blue eye.  The condition does not affect vision.

Bilateral gynandromorphs: butterfly (left), bird (centre) & lobster (right).  The visually related phenomenon is gynandromorphism (an organism (most typically an insect, crustacean or bird) with both male and female attributes & characteristics, the construct being the Ancient Greek γυνή (gynē) (female) + ἀνήρ (anēr) (male) + μορφή (morphē) (form).  In Western science it was first extensively documented in (notably where it was most obvious: in Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths)) but it has since been identified in literally dozens of species.

Lindsay Lohan likes the heterochromatic look, whether in the vertical (Mercedes-Benz Fall 2004 Fashion Week, Smashbox Studios, Culver City, California, September, 2003, left), the horizontal (Maxim Hot 100 Party, Gansevoort Hotel, New York, May 2007, centre) or the variegated (ABC’s Good Morning America studios, New York, November 2022, right).

1985 BMW 635CSi (E24, 1976-1989) with heterochromatic headlights.

In Europe and beyond, yellow headlights are still seen because although few jurisdictions still mandate their use, for some they’ve become an aesthetic choice.  Between 1936-1993, French law required all vehicles to have yellow headlights, the intent being to reduce glare and improve visibility in foggy or rainy conditions, the science being the belief yellow light (which has a longer wavelength) reduced eye strain and made driving at night safer by “cutting through” mist and fog more effectively than white light.  The German philosopher Goethe (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832)) was said to be heterochromatic and he was interested in eyes & color, in 1810 publishing a 1,400-page treatise on the topic, asserting he was the first to questioned the validity of Sir Isaac Newton’s (1642–1727) ideas about light and color: “That I am the only person in this century who has the right insight into the difficult science of colors, that is what I am rather proud of, and that is what gives me the feeling that I have outstripped many.”  Goethe did misinterpret the results of some of Newton’s experiments, thinking he was explaining their invalidity but he did reformulate the topic of color in an entirely new way.  While Newton had viewed color as a physical “process” in which light entered the eye after striking and reflecting off an object, Goethe was the first to explain the sensation of color is shaped also by our perception (the mechanics of human vision and by the way our brains process information (the eyes being an out-growth of the brain).  So, explained Goethe, what we see is a construct of (1) the properties of the object, (2) the dynamics of lighting and (3) our perception.

Osphresiolagnia

Osphresiolagnia (pronounced aus-free-see-a-lan-gee-ah)

A paraphilia characterized by recurrent sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviour involving smells.

Early-mid twentieth century: A coining in clinical psychiatry the construct being osphres(is) + lagina.  Osphresis was from the Ancient Greek ὀσφρῆσις (osphrēsis) (sense of smell; olfaction).  Lagina was from the Ancient Greek λαγνεία (lagina) (lust; sexual desire), from λᾰγνός (lagnos) (lustful; sexually aroused).  Osphresiolagnia thus translated literally as “lust or sexual arousal related to or induced by one’s sense of smell”. Osphresiolagnia & Osphresiolagnism are nouns and osphresiolagnic is a noun & adjective; the noun plural is Osphresiolagnias.

The synonym is olfactophilia (sexual arousal caused by smells or odors, especially from the human body) and in modern clinical use, that’s seems now the accepted form.  Although now rare, in clinical use a renifleur was paraphiliac who derived sexual pleasure from certain smells.  Renifleur was from the French noun renifleur (the feminine renifleuse, the plural renifleurs), the construct being renifler +‎ -eur.  The construct of the verb renifler was re- (used in the sense of “to do; to perform the function”) + nifler (to irritate, to annoy); it was from the same Germanic root as the Italian niffo & niffa (snout) and related to the Low German Niff (nose, mouth, bill), the Dutch neb (nose, beak) and the English neb (nose, beak, face).  The French suffix -eur was from the Middle French, from the Old French -eor or -or, from the Latin -ātōrem & -tor and a doublet of -ateur.  It was used to form masculine agent nouns from verbs (some of which were used also as adjectives).

Pioneering Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) never developed his hypothesis of osphresiolagnia into a fully-developed theory and in his papers it’s mentioned only as an aspect of the psychoanalytic exploration of human sexuality, specifically focusing on the role of olfactory stimuli (sense of smell) in sexual arousal.  It was part of a body of work in which he explored his concept of fetishism and infantile sexuality.  In psychoanalysis, osphresiolagnia described the condition (“the state” might now be thought a better way of putting it) where certain smells become associated with sexual pleasure or arousal and to Freud these naturally were those related to bodily functions, such as sweat, skin, or other natural odors because he believed different sensory experiences, including smell, could become a focus of sexual fixation, particularly if something in early psychosexual development caused this association.  The tie-in with fetishism was that an obsessive focus on the sense of can form as a way of displacing or substituting more normative sexual interests.  Freud spoke also of the significance of the senses (including smell) in early childhood development and linked them to psychosexual stages, where early experiences with stimuli can influence later adult sexuality and while he didn’t use the word, he believed a smell associated with some significant childhood experience, could, even decades later, act as a “trigger”.  Although it’s been in the literature for more than a century, osmophresiolagnia (also now sometimes called “olfactory stimulation”) seems to have aroused more clinical and academic interest in the last fifteen years and while the psychological and physiological responses to certain smells have been well-documented, it was usually in the context of revulsion and the way this response could influence the decision-making processes.  However, positive responses can also be influential, thus the renewed interest.

In medicine and the study of human and animal sexuality, the significance of “olfactory attraction” has been researched and appears to be well understood.  At its most, the idea of olfactory attraction is that animals (including humans) can be attracted to someone based on scent; in the patients seen by psychiatrists, they can also be attracted to objects based on their smell, either because of their inherent quality or by their association with someone (either someone specific or “anyone”.  The best known aspect of the science is the study of pheromones (in biology A chemical secreted by an animal which acts to affects the development or behavior of other members of the same species, functioning often as a means of attracting a member of the opposite sex).  Human pheromones have been synthesised and are available commercially in convenient spray-packs for those who wish to enhance their desirability with a chemical additive.  More generally, there is also the notion of “fragrance attraction” which describes the allure another’s smell (either natural or the scent they wear) exerts and this can manifest in “objective transference” (keeping close during periods of absence a lover’s article of clothing or inhaling from the bottle of perfume they wear.

The opposite of being attracted to a smell is finding one repellent.  What is known in the profession technically as ORS (olfactory reference syndrome) has never been classified as a separate disorder in either the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) or the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Classification of Diseases (ICD).  The DSM-III-R (1987) did mention ORS in the context of “aversion”, noting “convictions that the person emits a foul odor…are one of the most common types of delusional disorder, somatic type”, the idea extended in DSM-IV (1994) which referred to the concept as a type of delusional disorder, somatic type, although the term “olfactory reference syndrome” was not mentioned.

In October 2024, it was reported by Greek news services that a court in Thessaloniki (the capital of the Macedonia region and Greece's second city) in the north of the country had imposed a suspended one-month prison sentence on a man convicted of “…disturbing his neighbors by repeatedly sneaking into their properties to smell their shoes.”  According to the AP (Associated Press), the 28-year-old man was unable to explain his behaviour although he did tell the court he was “embarrassed by it”, adding that he had “…no intention of breaking the law or harming anybody…” and his neighbours did testify he never displayed any signs of aggression during his nocturnal visits to the shoes, left outside the door to air.  The offences were committed in the village of Sindos, some 15 kilometres (9 miles) west of Thessaloniki and the police were called only after the man had ignored requests sent to his family that his conduct stop.  According to the neighbours, there had in the last six months been at least three prior instances of shoe sniffing.  In addition to the suspended sentence, the defendant was ordered to attend therapy sessions.

The postman always sniffs twice, Balnagask Circle, Torry, Aberdeen, Scotland, August 2024.  Helpfully, the video clip was posted by the Daily Mail and from his grave of a hundred-odd years, old Lord Northcliffe (Alfred Harmsworth, 1865–1922) would be delighted.

Osphresiolagnia is however not culturally specific and in August 2024, a postman delivering mail to an address on Balnagask Circle in the Torry area of South Aberdeen, Scotland was captured on a doorbell camera, pausing to “to sniff girl's shoes”.  All appeared normal until the osphresiolagnic servant of the Royal Mail had put the letters in the slot but then he turned and, after a grief glance at the shoe rack, bent down and picked up a white trainer which he sniffed before leaving to resume his round (and possibly his sniffing).  The mother of the girl whose shoes fell victim to the postman posted the video on social media, tagging the entry: “I would just like to let everyone know just to watch out for this postman; he sniffed my daughter's shoes; what an absolute creep.”  The clip came to the attention of the Scottish police which issued a statement: “We received a report of a man acting suspiciously in the Balnagask Circle area of Aberdeen.  Enquiries were carried out and no criminality was established. Suitable advice was given.”  It wasn’t made clear what that advice was or to whom it’s been delivered but presumably the constabulary’s attitude was no shoe being harmed during this sniffing, all’s well that ends well.

Shoe-sniffing should not be confused with Podophilia (a paraphilia describing the sexualized objectification of feet (and sometimes footwear), commonly called foot fetishism although the correct clinical description is now “foot partialism”).  The construct was podo- +‎ -philia.  Podo- (pertaining to a foot or a foot-like part) was from the Ancient Greek πούς (poús), from the primitive Indo-European pṓds.  It was cognate with the Mycenaean Greek po, the Latin pēs, the Sanskrit पद् (pad), the Old Armenian ոտն (otn) & հետ (het), the Gothic fōtus and the Old English fōt (from which Modern English gained “foot”).  It was Sigmund Freud who admitted that, lawfulness aside, as animals, the only truly aberrant sexual behavior in humans could be said to be its absence (something which the modern asexual movement re-defines rather than disproves).  It seemed to be in that spirit the DSM-5 (2013) was revised to treat podophila and many other “harmless” behaviors as “normal” and thus within the purview of the manual only to the extent of being described, clinical intervention no longer required.  Whether all psychiatrists agree with the new permissiveness isn’t known but early reports suggest there’s nothing in the DSM-5-TR (2022) to suggest podophiles will soon again be labeled as deviants.

Point of vulnerability to osphresiolagnism: Lindsay Lohan taking off her shoes and putting them on the shoe rack.  The photo shoot featured Ms Lohan as a nueva embajadora de Allbirds (new Allbirds ambassador), in a promotion for Allbirds (Comfortable, Sustainable Shoes & Apparel) and the shoes are the Tree Flyer in Lux Pink which include “no plastics” in their construction.  The photo session may have been shot on a Wednesday.

Shoe sniffing is different and clinicians define it as an instance of “intimacy by proxy” in a similar class to those who steal women’s underwear from their clothes lines; an attempt to in some way be associated with the wearer.  This differs from those with an interest in shoes or the garments as objects because they can fulfil their desires (conveniently & lawfully), by buying what they want from a shop.  How prevalent are such proclivities isn’t known because, being lawful (and in most cases presumably secret) fetish, unless self-reported, clinicians would never become aware of the activity.