Brat

Brat (pronounced brat)

(1) A child, especially one is ill-mannered, unruly, annoying, spoiled or impolite etc (usually used either playfully or in contempt or irritation, often in the phrase “spoiled brat”.

(2) As “military brat”, “army brat” etc, a child with one or more parent serving in the military; most associated with those moving between military bases on a short-duration basis; the derived form is “diplomatic brat” (child living with parents serving in overseas missions).

(3) In the BDSM (bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, sadism/masochism) community, a submissive partner who is disobedient and unruly (ie a role reversal: to act in a bratty manner as the submissive, the comparative being “more bratty”, the superlative “most bratty”).

(4) In mining, a thin bed of coal mixed with pyrites or carbonate of lime.

(5) A rough makeshift cloak or ragged garment (a now rare dialectal form).

(6) An apron fashioned from a coarse cloth, used to protect the clothing (a bib) (a now obsolete Scots dialect word).

(7) A turbot or flatfish.

(8) The young of an animal (obsolete).

(9) A clipping of bratwurst, from the German Bratwurst (a type of sausage) noted since 1904, from the Middle High German brātwurst, from the Old High German, the construct being Brāt (lean meat, finely shredded calf or swine meat) + wurst (sausage).

(10) As a 2024 neologism (technically a re-purposing), the qualities associated with a confident and assertive woman (along the lines of the earlier “bolshie woman” or “tough broad” but with a more overtly feminist flavor).

1500–1520: Thought to be a transferred use (as slang for “a beggar's child”) of the early Middle English brat (cloak of coarse cloth, rag), from the Old English bratt (cloak) of Celtic origin and related to the Old Irish brat (mantle, cloak; cloth used to cover the body).  The origin of the early Modern English slag use meaning “beggar's child” is uncertain.  It may have been an allusion, either to the contemporary use meaning “young of an animal” or to the shabby clothing such a child would have worn", the alternative theory being some link with the Scots bratchet (bitch, hound).  The early sense development (of children) may have included the fork of the notion of “an unplanned or unwanted baby” (as opposed to a “bastard” (in the technical rather than behavioral sense)) had by a married couple.  The “Hollywood Brat Pack” was a term from the mid-1980s referring to a grouping of certain actors and modeled on the 1950s “Rat Pack”.  The slang form “brattery” (a nursery for children) sounds TicTokish but actually dates from 1788 while the generalized idea of “spoiled and juvenile” became common in the 1930s.  The unrelated use of bratty (plural bratties) is from Raj-era Indian English where it describes a cake of dried cow dung, used for fuel.  Brat is a noun, verb & adjective, brattishness & brattiness are nouns, bratting & bratted are verbs, brattish & bratty are adjectives and brattily is an adverb; the noun plural is brats.

New York magazine, 10 June, 1985.

First published in 1968, New York magazine is now owned by Vox media and, unlike many, its print edition still appears on surviving news-stands.  The editorial focus has over the decades shifted, the most interesting trend-line being the extent to which it could be said to be very much a “New York-centred” publication, something which comes and goes but the most distinguishing characteristic has always been a willingness (often an eagerness) to descend into pop-culture in a way the New Yorker's editors would have distained; it was in a 1985 New York cover story the term “Brat Pack” first appeared.  Coined by journalist David Blum (b 1955) and about a number of successful early twenty-something film stars, the piece proved controversial because the subjects raised concerns about what they claimed was Blum’s unethical tactics in obtaining the material.  The term was a play on “Rat Pack” which in the 1950s had been used of an earlier group of entertainers although Blum also noted another journalist's coining of “Fat Pack”, used in restaurant-related stories.

LBJ, the "Chicken Tax" and the Subaru BRAT

Subaru BRAT, advertising in motion (in a US publication and thus a left-hand drive model).

The Subaru BRAT was (depending on linguistic practice) (1) a coupé utility, (2) a compact pick-up or (3) a small four wheel drive (4WD) ute (utility).  The name was an acronym (Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter), the novel idea of “bi-drive” (4WD) being the notion of both axles being driven, that linguistic construction dictated by the need to form the acronym.  “Bi-Drive Recreational All-Terrain Transporter” certainly was more imaginative (if opportunistic) than other uses of BRAT as an acronym which have included: ”Behaviour Research And Therapy” (an academic journal), “Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and Toast” (historically a diet recommended for those with certain stomach disorders), “Brush Rapid Attack Truck” (a fire-fighting vehicle), “Basenji Rescue and Transport” (a dog rescue organization), “Behavioral Risk Assessment Tool” (used in HIV/AIDS monitoring), Beautiful, Rich and Talented (self-explanatory), the “Bureau de Recherche en Aménagement du Territoire” (the Belgium Office of Research in Land Management (in the French)), “Beyond Line-Of-Sight Reporting and Tracking” (a US Army protocol for managing targets not in visual range) and “Battle-Management Requirements Analysis Tool” (a widely used military check-list, later interpolated into a BMS (Battle Management System).

Ronald Reagan on his Santa Barbara ranch with Subaru BRAT.  Like many owners who used their BRATs as pick-up trucks, President Reagan had the jump seats removed.

Built on the platform of the Leone (1971-1994) and known in some markets also as the MV Pickup, Brumby & Shifter, the BRAT was variously available between 1978-1994 and was never sold in the JDM (Japanese domestic market) although many have been “reverse imported” from other places (Australia favored because salt isn't used on the roads so rust is less of an issue) and the things now have a cult following in Tokyo.  The most famous BRAT owner was probably Ronald Reagan (1911-2004; US president 1981-1989) who kept a 1978 model on his Californian ranch until 1988, presenting something of a challenge for his Secret Service detail, many of whom didn’t know how to drive a stick-shift (manual transmission).  That though would have been less frightening than the experience of many taken for a drive by Lyndon Johnson (LBJ, 1908–1973; US president 1963-1969) in the Amphicar 770 (1961-1965) he kept at his Texas ranch.  LBJ suddenly would turn off the path, driving straight into the waters of the dam, having neglected to tell his passengers of the 770’s amphibious capabilities.  Although “770” has been used in the industry (in the US and Australia) as a trim-level designation (often as part of the sequence 440, 550, 660 etc) , on the amphibious Amphicar it was a reference to it being able to achieve speeds of 7 knots (8 mph; 13 km/h) on water and 70 mph (110 km/h) on land, both claims verified by testers although the nautical performance did demand reasonable calm conditions.

The Subaru BRAT is remembered also as a “Chicken Tax car”.  Tax regimes have a long history of influencing or dictating automotive design, the Japanese system of displacement-based taxation responsible for the entire market segment of “Kei cars” (a clipping of kei-jidōsha (軽自動車) (light automobile), the best known of which have been produced with 360, 600 & 660 cm3 (22, 37 & 40 cubic inch) engines in an astonishing range of configurations ranging from micro city cars to roadsters and 4WD dump trucks.  In Europe too, the post-war fiscal threshold resulted in a wealth of manufacturers (Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, BMW, Ford, Maserati, Opel et al) offering several generations of 2.8 litre (171 cubic inch) sixes while the that imposed by the Italian government saw special runs of certain 2.0 litre (122 cubic inch) fours, sixes & even V8s.  The US government’s “Chicken Tax” (a part of the “Chicken War”) was different in that it was a 25% tariff imposed in November 1963 (to come into effect in January 1964) by the Johnson administration on potato starch, dextrin, brandy and light trucks; it was a response to the impost of a similar tariffs by France and the FRG (Federal Republic of Germany, the old West Germany) on chicken meat imported from the US.

Wheeling & dealing: Walter Reuther (left) and LBJ (right), scheming something, November 1963.

In any president’s political horse trading there are always hidden agendas and ulterior motives and in LBJ’s White House there were more than usual because that’s the way he’d always done business and had he written a guide to the process, he might have called it "The Art of the Deal".  He was in his generation the most skilled of all, historians concluding after in 1937 having been initiated into the fraternity of Freemasons, he took the only first degree (as an “Entered Apprentice”) and opted not further to progress because soon he understood there was little even the Masons could teach him about the dark arts of plotting & scheming.  Year after the imposition of the chicken tax, the contents of the surviving tape-recordings of discussions in the White House revealed LBJ was negotiating with UAW (United Auto Workers’) president Walter Reuther (1907–1970) in the run-up to the 1964 congressional & presidential elections and the tariffs aimed at curtailing Volkswagen’s increasing market share were just one of the “quid pro quo chips” on the table.  Although it was the taping system used by Richard Nixon (1913-1994; US president 1969-1974) that became infamous, devices of this kind had been installed in the White House as early as the during the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR, 1882–1945, US president 1933-1945) and Nixon actually had LBJ’s devices removed before his staff came to understand their usefulness and Nixon agreed to having them re-fitted, the rest being history. 

Subaru BRAT in use.

The post-war development in the US of large scale, intensive chicken farming had both vastly expanded production of the meat and radically reduced the unit cost of production which was good but because supply quickly exceeded the demand capacity of the domestic market, the surplus was exported, having the effect in Europe of transforming chicken from a high-priced delicacy to a staple consumer protein; by 1961, imported US chicken had taken some 50% of the European market.  This was at a time when international trade operated under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (the GATT (1947)) and there was nothing like the codified dispute resolution mechanism which exists in the rules of the successor World Trade Organization (the WTO (1995)) and the farming lobbies in Germany, France and the Netherlands accused the US producers of “dumping” (ie selling at below the cost of production) with the French government objecting that the female hormones US farmers used to stimulate growth were a risk to public health, not only to those who ate the flesh but to all because nature of the substances was such that a residue enter the water supply.  The use of the female hormones in agriculture does remains a matter of concern, some researchers linking it to phenomena noted in the last six decades including the startling reduction in the human male's sperm count, the shrinking in size of the penises of alligators living in close proximity to urban human habitation and early-onset puberty in girls.

Subaru BRAT Advertising (US).

Eventually, the tariffs on potato starch, dextrin and brandy were lifted but the protection for the US truck producers remained, triggering a range of inventive “work-arounds” concocted between various engineering and legal offices, most of which involved turning two-seater trucks & vans into vehicles which technically could quality as four-seaters, a configuration which lasted sometimes only until the things reached a warehouse where the fittings could be removed, something which would cost the Ford Motor Company (one of the corporations the tax had been imposed to protect) over US$1 billion in penalties, their tactics in importing the Transit Connect light truck from Turkey (now the Republic of Türkiye) just too blatant.  In New Zealand, in the mid 1970s, the government found the “work-arounds” working the other way.  There, changes had been implemented to make the purchase of two seater light vans more attractive for businesses so almost instantly, up sprang a cottage industry of assembling four-door station wagons with no rear seat which, upon sale, returned to the workshop to have a seat fitted.  Modern capitalism has always been imaginative.

Subaru "Passing Lamp" on Leone 1600 GL station wagon (optional on BRATs, 1980-1982).

In Fuji Heavy Industries’ (then Subaru’s parent corporation) Ebisu boardroom, the challenge of what probably was described as the “Chicken Tax Incident” was met by adding to the BRAT two plastic, rear-facing jump seats, thereby qualifying the vehicle as a “passenger car” subject in the US only to a 2.5 and not a 25% import tax.  Such a “feature” probably seems strange in the regulatory environment of the 2020s but there was a time when there was more freedom in the air.  Subaru’s US operation decided the BRAT’s “outdoor bucket seats” made it an “open tourer” and slanted the advertising thus, the model enjoying much success although the additional seating wasn’t available for its final season in the US, the BRAT withdrawn after 1987.  Another nifty feature available on the BRAT between 1980-1982 was the “Passing Lamp” (renamed “Center Lamp” in 1982 although owners liked “Third Eye” or “Cyclops”), designed to suit those who had adopted the recommended European practice of flashing the headlights (on high beam) for a second prior to overtaking.  The BRAT was not all that powerful so passing opportunities were perhaps not frequent but the “passing lamp” was there to be used if ever something even slower was encountered.  The retractable lamp was of course a complicated solution to a simple problem given most folk so inclined just flash the headlights but it was the sort of fitting with great appeal to men who admire intricacy for its own sake.

BRAT seat mountings 1983 (left) and 1984 (centre).  The BRAT on the right has been retro-fitted with the seats (note the safety wire attached to the frame!) using U-bolts, a satisfactory method provided (1) the U-bolts are of high-tensile steel and (2) there is a backing place of adequate strength and size.

The seats were bolted to a frame (the design of which changed) which was welded to the bed.  The use of welding rather than bolts was dictated by the regulations because, had the frame been bolted (and thus defined as “removable”), the BRAT's classification would have changed from “passenger vehicle” to “truck” and been subject to the very tax the seats were installed to avoid.  Amusingly though, the side impact regulations which applied to the BRAT were in a different act and for those purposes the thing was defined as a truck which meant the doors could be fitted with lighter reinforcing bars than those mandated for the Subaru Leone sedans, station wagons and hatchbacks.  The stronger mechanism can be installed in a BRAT's doors so safety conscious owners do have that option.

Two 1987 BRATs with retro-fitted seats, the one on the right also with an after-market roll-bar, something which, all things considered, seems a sensible addition.  Of the physics, those familiar Sir Isaac Newton's (1642–1727) First Law of Motion (known also as the Law of Inertia: "An object at rest will remain at rest, and an object in motion will continue in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced external force") can ponder the possibilities while wondering whether to bother buckling up the seat belt or just rely on the "grab handles" (and probably never was that term used more appropriately).  Although the seats weren't factory-fitted after 1985, the parts could still be ordered and many later models have been retro-fitted.  The adjustable headrests were a nice touch although some did note they could be classified also as "rear window protectors".

Brat: Charli XCX's Summer 2024 album

Charli XCX, BRIT Awards, O2 Arena,  London, February 2016; the "BRITs" are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards.

“Brat” has been chosen by the Collins English Dictionary as its 2024 Word of the Year (WotY), an acknowledgement of the popular acclaim which greeted the word’s re-purposing by English singer-songwriter Charli XCX (the stage-name of Charlotte Emma Aitchison (b 1992)) who used it as the title for her summer 2024 album.  The star herself revealed her stage name is pronounced chahr-lee ex-cee-ex; it has no connection with Roman numerals and XCX is anyway not a standard Roman number.  XC is “90” (C minus X (100-10)) and CX is “110” (C plus X (100 +10)) but XCX presumably could be used as a code for “100” should the need arise, on the model of something like the “May 35^th” reference Chinese Internet users used in an attempt to circumvent the CCP's (Chinese Communist Party) "Great Firewall of China" when speaking of the “Tiananmen Square Incident” of 4 June 1989.  In 2015, Ms XCX revealed “XCX” was an element of her MSN screen name (CharliXCX92) when young (it stood for “kiss Charli kiss”) and she used it on some of the early promotion material for her music.

Charli XCX with Brat album (vinyl pressing edition) packaging in "brat green".

According to Collins, the word “resonated with people globally”.  The dictionary had of course long had an entry for the word something in the vein of: “someone, especially a child, who behaves badly or annoys you”, but now it has added “characterized by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude”.  In popular culture, the use spiked in the wake of the album's released but it may be “brat” in this sense endures if the appeal is maintained, otherwise it will become unfashionable and fade from use, becoming a “stranded word”, trapped in the time of its historic origin.  So, either it enters the vernacular or by 2025 it will be regarded as “so 2024”.  The lexicographers at Collins seem optimistic about its future, saying in the WotY press release that “brat summer has established itself as an aesthetic and a way of life”.

Lindsay Lohan in Jil Sander (b 1943) "brat green" gown, Disney Legends Awards ceremony, Anaheim, Los Angeles, October 2024.  For anyone wanting to describe a yellowish-green color with a word which has the virtues of (1) being hard to pronounce, (2) harder to spell and (3) likely to baffle most of one’s interlocutors, there’s “smaragdine” (pronounced smuh-rag-din), from the Latin smaragdinus, from smaragdus (emerald), from the Ancient Greek σμάραγδινος (smáragdinos), from σμάραγδος (smáragdos).

The “kryptonite green” used for Brat’s album’s packaging seems also to have encouraged the use in fashion of various hues of “lurid green” (the particular shade used by Ms XCX already dubbed “brat green” although some which have appeared on the catwalks seem more of a chartreuse) and an online “brat generator” allowed users replicate the cover with their own choice of words.  The singer was quite helpful in fleshing out the parameters of the aesthetic, emphasizing it didn’t revolve around a goth-like “uniform” and nor was it gender-specific or socially restricted.  In an interview with the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), Ms XCX explained the brat thing was a spectrum condition extending from “luxury” to “trashy” and was a thing of attitude rather than accessories: “A pack of cigs, a Bic lighter, and a strappy white top with no bra.  That’s kind of all you need.”  Although gender-neutral, popular use does seem to put the re-purposed “brat” in the tradition of the earlier “bolshie woman” or “tough broad” but with a more overtly feminist flavor, best understood as “the qualities associated with a confident and assertive woman”.  In its semantic change, “brat” has joined some other historically negative words & phrases (“bitch”, “bogan”, the infamous “N-word(s)” et al) which have been “reclaimed” by those at whom the slur was once aimed, a tactic which not only creates or reinforces group identity but also re-weaponizes what was once a spent-insult so it can be used to return fire.

Nude & Naked

Nude (pronounced nood or nyood)

(1) Naked or unclothed, as a person or the body.

(2) Without the usual coverings, furnishings etc; bare.

(3) In art, being or prominently displaying a representation of the nude human figure.

(4) In law, a contract made without a consideration or other legal essential and therefore invalid (nudum pactum).

(5) In historic commercial use (usually for underwear), a light grayish-yellow brown to brownish-pink color (no longer in common use; now considered offensive because of the cultural implications of its association with white skin).

1531: As an artistic euphemism for naked, use was first applied to sculpture first emerged in the 1610s but the term not common in painting until the mid-nineteenth century when the idea of "the nude" was recognized as a genre.  The origin of the use in painting in the sense of "the representation of the undraped human figure in visual art" is said to date from 1708 and be derived from the French nud, an obsolete variant of nu (naked, nude, bare) also from the Latin nūdus.  The phrase idea of being in the nude (in a condition of being unclothed) emerged in the 1850s in parallel with the use in art criticism.

The adjective nude in legal use dates from the 1530s and meant "unsupported, not formally attested", the use from the Latin nūdus (naked, bare, unclothed, stripped) from the primitive Indo-European root nogw- (naked).  In legal matters it was typically applied in contract law (hence the "nude contract") and, by extension, the general sense of "mere, plain, simple" emerged twenty years later.  is attested from 1550s. In reference to the human body, "unclothed, undraped," it is an artistic euphemism for naked, dating from 1610s (implied in nudity) but not in common use in this sense until mid-nineteenth century.  The noun nudie (a nude show) dates from 1935 while the much earlier noun nudification (making naked) was from 1838, presumably a direct borrowing of the French nudification which had been in use since 1833.  The practice of nudism actually has roots in Antiquity but nudist (as applied to both practitioners and practice) came into use only in 1929 as an adjective and noun, both influenced by the French nudiste.  The noun nudism (the cult and practice of going unclothed) also dates from 1929 and in the UK, however inaccurately, it was described as a cult of German origin which had been picked up also by the more bohemian of the French, the more respectable London press linking the practice with vegetarianism, physical exercise, pagan worship and the eating of seeds.  Nude, nudeness  & nudist are nouns & adjectives and nudity & nudism are nouns; the noun plural is nudes.

Naked (pronounced ney-kid (U) or neck-ed (non-U))

(1) Being without clothing or covering; nude.

(2) Without adequate clothing.

(3) A natural environment bare of any covering, overlying matter, vegetation, foliage, or the like.

(4) Bare, stripped, or destitute.

(5) A descriptor of the most basic version of something sometimes more elaborate or embellished.

(6) In optics, as applied to the eye, sight etc, unassisted by a microscope, telescope, or other instrument.

(7) Defenseless; unprotected; exposed.

(8) Not accompanied or supplemented by anything else.

(9) In botany, (of seeds) not enclosed in an ovary; (of flowers) without a calyx or perianth; (of branches etc) without leaves; (of stalks, leaves etc) without hairs or pubescence.

(10) In zoology, having no covering of hair, feathers, shell etc.

(11) In motorcycle design, a machine in which the frame and engine are substantially exposed by virtue of screens and fairings not being fitted.

Pre 900: From the Middle English nakede & naked (without the usual or customary covering" (of a sword etc)) from the Old English nacod (nude, bare, empty or not fully clothed); related to the Old High German nackot, the Old Norse noktr and Latin nudus; cognate with the Dutch naakt, the German nackt, the Gothic naqths; akin to the Old Norse nakinn, the Latin nūdus, the Greek gymnós and Sanskrit nagnás.  Source was the Proto-Germanic nakwathaz, also the root of the Old Frisian nakad, the Middle Dutch naket, the Old Norse nökkviðr, the Old Swedish nakuþer and the Gothic naqaþs and ultimate source the primitive European nogw (naked), related to the Sanskrit nagna, the Hittite nekumant, the Old Persian nagna, the Lithuanian nuogas, the Old Church Slavonic nagu, the Russian nagoi, the Old Irish nocht and the Welsh noeth.  As applied to qualities, actions, etc, use emerged in the early thirteenth century, the phrase “naked truth” first noted in 1585 in Alexander Montgomerie's (circa 1550-1598) The Cherry and the Slae.  The phrase “naked as a jaybird (1943) was earlier referenced as “naked as a robin” (1879); the earliest known comparative based on it was the fourteenth century “naked as a needle”.  “Naked eye” is from 1660s, the form unnecessary in the world before improvements in lens grinding technology led to the invention of telescopes and microscopes.  The adjective nakedly (without concealment, plainly, openly) was from circa 1200.  The noun nakedness was from the Old English nacedness (nudity, bareness).  Naked is a verb & adjective and nakedness & nakedhood are nouns.  The special use of naked as a noun applies to motorcycles in which case the noun plural is nakeds.

Naked motorcycles:  2010 Ducati 1098 Streetfighter (left) and 2015 MV Agusta Stradale (right).  Men can spend a long time admiring the intricacy of machines like these.

The concept of the naked motorcycle is a machine reduced to its essence of a frame, wheels and an engine, thereby making it lighter than more exotically configured models which may include flashings, windshields, saddlebags or fairings.  Simple physics mean a machine with less mass accelerates, turns and stops with less demand of energy and at low speed they tend to be easier to manoeuvre, are lighter to hold up when static and certainly easier to mount on a centre-stand.  There's also the attraction there are fewer things to break, fibreglass fairings being notorious for getting cracked, scratched or broken and Perspex screens are, with age, prone to cloudiness.  The look however is why some buy naked bikes, the intricacies of the exposed mechanicals appealing especially to engineers anxious to display the quality of the frame's welding or the indefinable but real attraction of Allen-headed bolts.  They're also quick.  Although sacrificing the aerodynamic advantages gained by fairings means in some cases the naked machines can have lower top speeds, they tend to accelerate with more alacrity, offer instant responsiveness and, in street use, top speeds are now anyway rarely approached. 

Nude or naked?

In many places the words may correctly be used interchangeably.  In law, a nude and a naked contract are the same, a pact which is unenforceable because if doesn’t possess all the elements required to be valid.  The legal maxim nuda pactio obligationem non parit signifies a naked promise which is a promise without anything being provided in return.  Nuda pactio obligationem non parit thus does not create a legal obligation.

Kenneth Clark. The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form. Bollingen Series, New York, Pantheon Books, 1956.

Kenneth Clark, a cultural elitist of a kind now perhaps either extinct or rendered silent by a less deferential culture, opened The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form (1956) by noting naked implied something embarrassing yet nude “… carries, in educated usage, no uncomfortable overtone”.  Clark’s view was there were works of art in which there were nudes but other depictions were just variations of nakedness for whatever purpose.  The nude, he concluded, "…is not the subject of art, but a form of art."  In other word, the models in men's magazines were photographed in a state of nakedness while the women rendered in fine art were part of the tradition of the nude.  Photographers who thought their work artistic didn't agree and the onset of cultural relativism means such debates no longer happen.  However, the adoption by some that nude was something to used exclusively about works of art dates only from the eighteenth century, a movement led by critics and the commercial art industry which wanted the English market again to start buying the many nudes available for sale but which, even before the Victorian era, had fallen from fashion.

New York Magazine, February 2008 (Spring Fashion Issue).

Bert Stern’s (1929-2013) nude photo shoot of Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) was commissioned by Vogue magazine and shot over three days, some six weeks before her death.  In book form, the images captured were compiled and published as The Last Sitting (first edition, William Morrow and Company (1982) ISBN 0-688-01173-X).  Stern reprised his work in 2008 with Lindsay Lohan, the photographs published in February 2008’s spring fashion issue of New York magazine.  Stern chose the medium of forty-six years earlier, committing the images to celluloid rather than using anything digital.  The reprised sessions visually echoed the original with a languorous air though the diaphanous fabrics were draped sometimes less artfully than all those years ago.  He later expressed ambivalence about the shoot, hinting regret at having imitated his own work but the photographs remain an exemplar of peak-Lohanary.

First published in 1968, New York magazine is now owned by Vox media and, unlike many, its print edition still appears on surviving news-stands.  The editorial focus has over the decades shifted, the most interesting trend-line being the extent to which it could be said to be very much a “New York-centred” publication, something which comes and goes but the most distinguishing characteristic has always been a willingness (often an eagerness) to descend into pop-culture in a way the New Yorker's editors would have distained; it was in a 1985 New York cover story the term “Brat Pack” first appeared.  Coined by journalist David Blum (b 1955) and about a number of successful early twenty-something film stars, the piece proved controversial because the subjects raised concerns about what they claimed was Blum’s unethical tactics in obtaining the material.  The term was a play on “Rat Pack” which in the 1950s had been used of an earlier group of entertainers although Blum also noted another journalist's coining of “Fat Pack”, used in restaurant-related stories.

Lindsay Lohan, Playboy magazine, January/February 2012.

Nudity & nakedness are defined by both context & circumstances.  The cover photograph for Lindsay Lohan's 2012 Playboy shoot was, in the narrow technical sense, ambiguous because the chair could have been concealing a pair of delicate lace knickers.  Importantly, even though there are stilettos on the feet, this is still a nude shot because, in this context, shoes don't count; everybody knows that.

Actually, in the context of nude shots it’s probably more correct to say stilettos can be part of the construct of "the nude", the shoes having a long history as an element in such photo sessions, the connotation well-understood.  For that reason, the motif was the one addition to a “nude pin-up calendar” published in 2010 by EIZO Corporation (株式会社, EIZO Kabushiki-gaisha), a Japanese visual technology company which began in 1968 as a television manufacturer.  The name EIZO is an unaltered use of the Japanese 映像 (eizō) (image).  As electronics became progressively cheaper and more powerful there was a proliferation in the use of screens for many purposes and EIZO responded by diversifying into products such as arcade game hardware, computer monitors, VCRs (video cassette recorders) and cassette players.  In 2002, a range of monitors for medical imaging was introduced and the novel calendar appeared to promote its radiological devices.

Eizo Pin-up calendar, 2010.

Advertising Agency: Butter, Berlin & Duesseldorf, Germany
Creative Director: Matthias Eickmeyer
Art Director: Nadine Schlichte
Illustrator/CGI: Carsten Mainz
Copywriter: Reinhard Henke

The theme of the calendar was a model scanned in twelve stereotypical “pin-up” poses, the young lady nude except for her stilettos with the images in the form of classic X-Ray film.  What that meant was the model was in a sense more naked than most nudes because all that was visible (except for the stilettos) was the skeleton and an adumbrated outline of the skin; like the more “artistic” pornography, much was achieved by having a viewer’s mind “fill in the gaps” as it were.  It attracted much interest but it soon was revealed no model was irradiated in the making of the calendar, the images all created with CGI (computer-generated imagery).  The concept came from Berlin-based creative agency Butter and in terms of brand-recognition was an outstanding success because before images of the calendar went viral, it’s doubtful many outside the Japanese electronics industry had heard of EIZO.

What a stiletto imposes on the wearer’s “metatarsophalangeal joint between the metatarsal and proximal phalangeal bones” attracted some comment.  It seems a small price to pay for the pleasure men gain from seeing a foot in these classic shoes.

Being the internet, the images were of course deconstructed even before Butter revealed the truth.  Those well acquainted with medical imaging pointed out it was obvious they were digital composites because some things appeared as “white” when they should have been “black”, Miss July’s nipples apparently an obvious clue to a trained eye while others pointed out a “conspicuous absence of bowel gas and pulmonary vascularity.”  To reassure the internet no model was required to be exposed to a high-dose of radiation, Butter published pictures of the physical wireframes constructed for the CGI modelling; while that proved she was all pixels and there was no exploitation, a feminist critique would still detect the gratuitous objectification of the female form.  Still, neither agency or client could resist the tagline: “The EIZO Medical pin-up calendar – just like EIZO monitors – really does show every detail.”

Nude bras by Flora & Fauna (left) and Capeizo (right).

The concept of the “nude bra” was one of the unanticipated consequences of the emergence of DEI (diversity, equality & inclusion) as part of the West’s linguistic and cultural framework.  The beige bra has long been an industry staple and although the products are sometimes described as a “boring beige bra”, their usual qualities (comfortable, supportive and unobtrusive) made them an “everyday essential”.  However, the functional, if unexciting, garments tended once to be marketed as “skin-tone” which obviously was intrinsically exclusionary because it implied skin was “beige” and thus one of the many examples of “white privilege”.  Accordingly, mostly the industry shifted to value-free descriptors such as beige, black, brown, green, grey, ivory, pink, purple, red, white etc.  The purpose of a nude bra is to be nearly imperceptible under clothing, achieved by the fabric as closely as possible matching the skin tone and the obvious implication is what is a nude bra for one might be quite the opposite for another.  Glamour has a a helpful on-line guide based on the idea of skin's undertones able to be classified as cool, warm, or neutral and notes that while in underwear "black" and "white" tend to be universal, colors like beige or brown are spectrums and there are variations, both between manufacturers and even within their ranges,  That's good because even within a construct like "black skin" or "white skin", there are variations so ideally the selection of a nude bra will involve a consumer comparing fabric with flesh.

Bucket

Bucket (pronounced buhk-it)

(1) A deep, cylindrical vessel, usually of metal, plastic, or wood, with a flat bottom and a semi-circular bail, for collecting, carrying, or holding water, sand, fruit etc; a pail.

(2) Any container related to or suggesting this.

(3) In earth-moving and related machinery, any of the scoops attached to or forming the endless chain in certain types of conveyors or elevators.

(4) The scoop or clamshell of a steam shovel, power shovel, or dredge.

(5) A vane or blade of a waterwheel, paddle wheel, water turbine, or the like.

(6) In dam design, a concave surface at the foot of a spillway for deflecting the downward flow of water.

(7) In basketball, an informal term for the field goal; the part of the keyhole extending from the foul line to the end line.

(8) In seat design, as "bucket seat", most associated with cars, an individual seat for one person (as opposed to the bench seat for two or more).

(9) In ten-pin bowling, a "leave" of the two, four, five, and eight pins, or the three, five, six, and nine pins.

(10) To lift, carry, or handle in a bucket (often followed by up or out).

(11) In slang, to ride a horse fast and without concern for tiring it; also, used as slang for driving fast, both mostly UK use.

(12) To handle (orders, transactions, etc.) in or as if in a "bucket shop".

(13) In computer operating systems, as download bucket, a unit of storage on a direct-access device from which data can be stacked and retrieved; a storage space in a hash table for every item sharing a particular key.

(14) A unit of measure equal to four (Imperial) gallons (UK archaic).

(15) In Canadian (mostly Toronto) disparaging slang, a suggestion someone uses crack cocaine.

(16) In slang, an old vehicle that is not in good working order (often as rust bucket).

(17) In variation management, a mechanism for avoiding the allocation of targets in cases of mismanagement.

(18) As "bucket bag", the leather socket for holding the whip when driving (horses and sled-dogs), or for the carbine or lance when mounted (cavalry use).

(19) The pitcher in certain orchids.

(20) A type of narrow brimmed hat, and as slang, hats in general; the use as “brain bucket” is specific to crash helmets.

(21) In rowing, to make, or cause to make (the recovery), with a certain hurried or unskilful forward swing of the body.

(22) A pulley (a now obsolete Norfolk dialectical use).

(23) As "bucket bong", an improvised form of drug paraphernalia assembled for the purpose of smoking weed and consisting of a bucket filled with water and a plastic bottle with the bottom surface removed.  Social media platforms host instructional video clips for those who wish to hone their technique. 

(24) As "bucket list", (1) a list of tasks to be undertaken following discussions (the idea of them being put "in a bucket") and (2) a list of the things one wishes to have done before one dies (ie "kicks the bucket"). 

1250–1300: From the Middle English buket & boket, partly from the Anglo-Norman buket & buqet (tub, pail) and partly from the Old English bucc (bucket, pitcher), (a variant of būc (vessel, belly (cognate with the Old High German būh & the German Bauch)) + the Old French –et.  The suffix –et was from the Middle English -et, from the Old French –et & its feminine variant -ette, from the Late Latin -ittus (and the other gender forms -itta & -ittum).  It was used to form diminutives, loosely construed. The Anglo-Norman words (which in Norman had existed as boutchet & bouquet) were from the Old French buc (abdomen; object with a cavity), from the Vulgar Latin būcus (similar forms were the Occitan and Catalan buc, the Italian buco & buca (hole, gap), from the Frankish būk (belly, stomach).  Both the Old English and Frankish terms derive ultimately from the Proto-Germanic būkaz (belly, stomach).  The modern meaning "pail or open vessel for drawing and carrying water and other liquids" emerged by the mid-thirteenth century, the link to the idea conveyed by the Old English buc (pitcher, bulging vessel (originally "belly")) is that buckets were originally crafted from leather before being made of word and later metal.

Lindsay Lohan taking the #ALSIceBucketChallenge on the Jimmy Fallon show, August 2014.  The Ice Bucket Challenge was a viral event to promote awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as motor neuron disease and in the United States as Lou Gehrig's disease) and raise money for research.

In idiomatic use, a “drop in the bucket” is a small, usually inadequate amount in relation to what is needed or requested.  To “kick the bucket” (dating from 1785) means “to drop dead” which may be from the unrelated (1570s) bucket (beam on which something may be hung or carried), from the French buquet (balance), a beam from which slaughtered animals were hung (by the heels or hooves).  This may also have been reinforced by the notion of suicide by hanging after standing on an upturned bucket (apparently once a most popular choice for the purpose).  The related “bucket list” is the list of things one should do before dropping dead dates only from 2007 but had earlier been used in coding to describe algorithm sorting.  To “drop the bucket on” is (mostly Australian slang) to implicate, incriminate, or expose, used also in the form to “give (someone) a bucketing”..

Wet & Dry: Lindsay Lohan takes the #ALSIceBucketChallenge on the Jimmy Fallon show, August 2014.  

Showing a concern for public opinion (an under-researched aspect of the dynamics of totalitarian systems), comrade Stalin (1878-1953; Soviet leader 1924-1953) used the phrase in this sense in 1939 during the negotiations for the Nazi-Soviet Pact when he observed it would be wise to tone down the effusive language describing the friendship between the two dictatorships which were, at least on paper, ideologically opposed (although the various similarities between the two were, even then, acknowledged as quite striking): "For many years now, we have been pouring buckets of shit on each other's heads, and our propaganda boys could not do enough in that direction. And now, all of a sudden, are we to make our peoples believe that all is forgotten and forgiven? Things don't work that fast."  In most of the English-speaking world, bucket is the preferred term.  Both bucket and pail are used throughout the US, pail most popular in the north, bucket more common elsewhere, especially in the mid-west and the south.  Bucket is a noun, verb and (less commonly) an adjective, the present participle bucketing and the past and past participle bucketed; the noun plural is buckets.  To say the rain is “bucketing down” suggests hard rain or anything in great quantity and later Nobel literature laureate Bob Dylan included the track Buckets of Rain on his album Blood on the Tracks (1975).  Presumably untypically in popular song, the word from the title appears in the first four lines and not thereafter:

Buckets of rain
Buckets of tears
Got all them buckets comin' out of my ears
Buckets of moonbeams in my hand

More ominous was the use in 1997 by Tim Fischer (1946–2019; leader of the National Party of Australia 1990-1999).  In Wik Peoples v Queensland [1996] HCA 40-187 CLR 1, the High Court of Australia (HCA) had handed down a judgement which, in certain limited circumstances, granted to certain indigenous peoples (the “traditional owners of the land”) a “native title” which could exist concurrently if events since European settlement had not “extinguished” that status.  In September 1997, John Howard (b 1939; prime minister of Australia 1996-2007) introduced to the parliament his government’s legislative response to the decision: the Native Title Amendment Bill (1997 and known as the “Ten Point Plan”) which proposed to broaden the power of governments to extinguish native title, remove the right to claim over urban areas and make the initiation of claims more burdensome.  Mr Howard explained things thus: “My aim has always been to strike a fair balance between respect for native title and security for pastoralists, farmers and miners.  The fact is that the Wik decision pushed the pendulum too far in the Aboriginal direction.  The 10 point plan will return the pendulum to the centre.”  Mr Fischer was earthier, telling the National Party faithful the purpose of the Ten Point Plan was to deliver “…bucket loads of extinguishment.”

Mercedes-Benz 220 SE Coupé (foreground) & cabriolet (background) with standard rear bench seats, Frankfurt, September 1961 (left) & 1965 220 SE coupé with safari seat option (right).

One rarely specified option on the early Mercedes-Benz W111 (1961-1971; 220 SE, 250 SE, 280 SE & 280 SE 3.5) & W112 (1962-1967; 300 SE) coupés and cabriolets was the fitting of two individual (bucket) seats in the rear instead of the usual bench.  Individual seats in a car’s rear compartment had actually been not uncommon in the early days of motoring but by 1961, when the W111 coupé was released at the Geneva Motor Show, except for a few coach-built rarities, the option was unique.  The factory called then “safari seats”, the source of that being their special metal frame which actually permitted them to be removed and placed on the ground outside, the implication presumably that this would be handy for those on safari who wished to sit outside and watch the zebras.  Whether many of these machines were taken on safari isn’t known but the concept was transferrable to those going on picnics or watching the polo.  On both sides of the Atlantic, the fitting of individual rear-seats caught on for some high-end models but other than in some utility vehicles intended mostly for off-road use, no manufacturer made them removable.

Top row left to right: 1973 Ford (Australia) Landau, 1975 Lamborghini Jamara S and 1976 Jensen Interceptor.  Bottom row left to right: 1986 Ferrari 412, 1988 BMW M6 and 2014 Bentley Continental GTC Speed.  The sheer volume of the surface area can make the four-seat machines expensive to restore, something the Jensen Interceptor demanding as many as seven hides, a high-quality re-trim in the US costing usually in excess of US$20,000.   

As a marker of the things which increase appeal as the price rises (extravagance, exclusivity, impracticality) rear bucket sets became popular in the 1970s, installed increasingly with the full-length consoles which offered an accessible housing for cigar lighters & ashtrays (then still a thing) and stowage compartments though nobody had yet thought of cup-holders.  Like many forms of design they represented one implementation of the trade-off inherent in engineering: optimizing one aspect can be achieved only at the cost of compromising another.  The Ford Australia’s 1973 Landau was based on the humble Falcon which, configured with bench seats front and rear, was designed to seat, in reasonable comfort, six adults.  The Landau was strictly a four seater but both comfort and visual impact greatly were enhanced.

1966 Dodge Hemi Charger.

One mainstream manufacturer which anticipated the adoption of the motif was Dodge which in 1966 released the first generation (1966-1967) of the Charger, an intermediate-sized fastback which suffered in the market because (1) the price was high and (2) the ungainly slab-sided styling.  Still, the aerodynamic qualities of the fastback’s lines worked well (after a few tweaks) at high-speed on the NASCAR ovals so at least one department in Dodge division was happy.  In an attempt to stimulate demand, Dodge “de-contented” the 1967 models, one sacrifice being the rear bucket seats which were replaced by a more utilitarian (and cheaper to produce) bench.  The market didn’t respond but it did in 1968 when a sleek new body debuted with the second generation (1968-1970), sales increasing more than three-fold.  Unfortunately (in another example of trade-offs), the stylish shape which persuades so many buyers didn’t impress the laws of physics and it proved quite unstable at racing speeds, something it would take the corporation two attempts (and the assistance of genuine rocket scientists who became available as one unintended consequence of Richard Nixon’s (1913-1994; US president 1969-1974) arm-control initiatives, a prelude to the later police of détente with the Soviet Union) to resolve.  The 1966 Charger possessed a most unusual combination of virtues, able to be ordered with the 426 cubic inch (7.0) Street Hemi V8 (a slightly detuned version of the one used in NASCAR competition) yet the twin rear bucket seats could be folded down to create a large space for cargo (a la station wagon), accessible from the truck (boot).1967 Lamborghini Marzal, perhaps the purest implementation ever of the “four-bucket” look.

1967 Lamborghini Marzal, perhaps the purest implementation ever of the “four-bucket” look.

A one-off concept car first shown at the 1967 Genera Auto Salon, the Marzal was a marvellously impractical design by Bertone’s Marcello Gandini (1938–2024) which featured two vast gull-wing doors, providing access to what genuinely was a four-seat interior, noted for the thematic use of hexagons.  It was powered by a transversely-mounted 2.0 litre (120 cubic inch) straight-six (essentially half of the company’s V12) which was fitted behind the rear axle, making the rear-bias in weight distribution rather pronounced.  It was one of the most dramatic designs of the decade and although production was never contemplated, traces of the silhouette can be seen in the Lamborghini Espada (1968-1978) which adopted a conventional front-location for its 3.9 litre (240 cubic inch) V12 and was also a creditable four-seater although the gull-wing doors used on early design studies quickly were abandoned.  The Espada featured notably less glass than the Marzal and many have expressed doubts the air-conditioning system able to be used in the Marzal would in high temperatures have coped with the heat-soak and build-up.

Cockpit of a replica Porsche 907K (Kurzheck (short tail); note the balsa-wood gearshift knob, a weight-saving measure which made the car a few grams lighter and while that may not sound worthwhile, by 1968 competition in Group 6 was fierce and nobody was giving anything away.

The Porsche 907 competed under the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile’s (the FIA; the International Automobile Federation) Group 6 (Prototype class) in the World Sportscar Championship and one rule was the cars have “two seats”.  Accordingly, just about every Group 6 Machine on the grid had bolted to the floor a lightweight, shell-like “bucket seat” (the Group 7 (unlimited displacement) Can-Am cars also used the trick) although, as the lack of seat belts and the location of the fire extinguisher suggest, it wasn’t a seat in which someone was intended to sit.  The approach had a long tradition, as early as the 1920s, cars used in European racing were sometimes fitted with tiny doors just conform with the rules which demanded they be in place; some were even “fake doors”, blatant cheating being another long tradition in motorsport.

Porsche 907 K (left) and Porsche 907LH (right).

Built in 1967-1968 and victorious in 12 Hours of Sebring and the Targa Florio in 1968, the 907K was used on circuits where really high speeds couldn’t be attained, the rear bodywork designed to increase the down-force most beneficial in places with lots of corners.  The companion 907LH (Langheck (long-tail)) was allocated to the high speed tracks where the long straights put a premium on top speed, the drivers having to adjust their techniques to compensate for the increased tendency for the LH in certain circumstances to lift.  That approach (again, trade-offs in action) proved manageable, even with speed the 907s could attain (Kurzheck: 302 km/h (188 mph) & Langheck: 330 km/h (205 mph)) but the instability inherent in Langheck shape became apparent in 1969 when the much more powerful 917 was released: At the 386 km/h (240 mph) it could reach on the longest straights, the fluid dynamics of the airflow made the long tail behave more like the way an aircraft’s wing creates lift, something discovered only when the first cars reached the circuits because Porsche had no access to a test track where such a speed could be reached, computer simulations then decades away.

1967 Porsche 910 (Chassis 910001).

There were though occasions on which a harness was fitted to the fibreglass “fake seats”.  Sometimes passengers were present during high-speed testing but a Porsche 910 (Chassis 910001) was in 1969 registered in Austria for road use, thus the need for restraints.  That what was so obviously a race car could be registered for use on the streets but Austria was not then a member of the EEC (the European Economic Community, predecessor of the EU (European Union)) and thus not as riddled with bureaucracy, rules & regulations and anyway, in the era, there was more freedom in the air.  A half-decade on, by having his lawyers thread a clause through a loophole, a well-connected (and resourced) Italian aristocrat was able to use the registration granted (in never wholly explained circumstances) by the Alabama DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) to be able to register a Porsche 917 for use on European roads and another 917 to this day remains registered in Monaco, one of those jurisdictions where some definitely are more equal than others.  In fairness to the Austrians, the 910 was a less extreme machine than the 917 and demanded fewer modifications to render it a plausible road-car; there are still street-legal 910s in the US.

Porsche 908/2 Spyder, Road Atlanta, Round 7 of the 1970 Can-Am season, September 1970.  Can-Am cars also used a "fake" bucket seat because "two seats" was one of the few rules.

Based on the Porsche 906 (1966) the 910 was produced during 1966-1967 with all 28 coupés built in 1967.  Most used 2.0 & 2.2 litre (121 & 132 cubic inch) flat-sixes but some were fitted with a 2.0 litre flat-eight and these were dubbed 910/8 rather than being separately designated.  The 910/8 proved faster but also more fragile and it was the six-cylinder 910 which in the 1967 Nürburgring 1000 km (625 mile) endurance race delivered the factory its “breakthrough” victory, securing Porsche its first trophy in a major World Sportscar Championship event since 1960; subsequently, a910 would also be victorious in the 1967 Targa Florio.  Development continued and a 3.0 litre (182 cubic inch) flat-eight 908 would even win the 1970 Road Atlanta round of the 1970 Canadian-American Challenge Cup (the Group 7 Can-Am for unlimited displacement sports cars), a remarkable event remembered for the drivers escaping with noting more than bruising, despite there being 16 accidents (four collisions and 12 spinouts).  Although the 908 was not a factory entry (it was a second-hand race car being run by an unsponsored privateer) and, against the seven and eight litre V8 monsters was not the fastest, the flat-eight proved reliable and prevailed; it was the first time in 20 Can-Am races a McLaren had not taken the chequered flag.  It was a harbinger of what was to come, the Porsche 917 dominating in 1972 and 1973.

Subaru BRAT with “outdoor bucket seats” in use.

It wasn’t only machines made for Group 6 & 7 racing which were fitted with lightweight, plastic seats to comply with the letter of the law.  The Subaru BRAT was (depending on linguistic practice) (1) a coupé utility, (2) a compact pick-up or (3) a small four wheel drive (4WD) ute (utility) and the name an acronym (Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter), the novel idea of “bi-drive” (4WD) being the notion of both axles being driven, something dictated by the need to form the acronym.  Although now in some places a cult vehicle (especially in Japan where it was never sold), the BRAT is now most remembered as a “Chicken Tax car”.  Tax regimes have a long history of influencing or dictating automotive design, the Japanese system of displacement-based taxation responsible for the entire market segment of “Kei cars” (a clipping of kei-jidōsha (軽自動車) (light automobile), the best known of which have been produced with 360, 600 & 660 cm3 (22, 37 & 40 cubic inch) engines in an astonishing range of configurations ranging from micro city cars to roadsters and 4WD dump trucks.  In Europe too, the post-war fiscal threshold resulted in a wealth of manufacturers (Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, BMW, Ford, Maserati, Opel et al) offering several generations of 2.8 litre (171 cubic inch) sixes while the that imposed by the Italian government saw special runs of certain 2.0 litre (122 cubic inch) fours, sixes & even V8s.  The US government’s “Chicken Tax” (a part of the “Chicken War”) was different in that it was a 25% tariff imposed in 1963 by the Johnson administration on potato starch, dextrin, brandy and light trucks; it was a response to the impost of a similar tariffs by France and the FRG (Federal Republic of Germany, the old West Germany) on chicken meat imported from the US.

Two 1987 BRATs with retro-fitted seats, the one on the right also with an after-market roll-bar, something which, all things considered, seems a sensible addition.  Of the physics, those familiar Sir Isaac Newton's (1642–1727) First Law of Motion (known also as the Law of Inertia: "An object at rest will remain at rest, and an object in motion will continue in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced external force") can ponder the possibilities while wondering whether to bother buckling up the seat belt or just rely on the "grab handles" (and probably never was that term used more appropriately).  Although the seats weren't factory-fitted after 1985, the parts could still be ordered and many later models have been retro-fitted.  The adjustable headrests were a nice touch although some did note they could be classified also as "rear window protectors".

In Fuji Heavy Industries’ (then Subaru’s parent corporation) Ebisu boardroom, the challenge of what probably was described as the “Chicken Tax Incident” was met by adding to the BRAT two plastic, rear-facing jump seats, thereby qualifying the vehicle as a “passenger car” subject in the US only to a 2.5 and not a 25% import tax.  Such a “feature” probably seems strange in the regulatory environment of the 2020s but there was a time when there was more freedom in the air.  Subaru’s US operation decided the BRAT’s “outdoor bucket seats” made it an “open tourer” and slanted the advertising thus, the model enjoying much success although the additional seating wasn’t available after 1985 and the model was withdrawn from the US market after 1987.

1966 Lamborghini 350 GT in the rare 2+1 configuration with central rear bucket seat (left), the later rear storage area shared by most 350 GTs and the 23 400 GT “Interims” (centre) and 1968 Lamborghini 400 GT 2+2 (right).

Lamborghini’s 350 GT was the company’s first production car, 131 of which were made between 1964-1966 and while that might sound modest, by the standards of contemporary European exotica, it was mass-production.  Powered by a 3.5 litre (211 cubic inch) version of the company’s first V12 (which would serve the line for over 50 years), the shape was based on the slinky 350 GTV prototype which left an impression but was wholly unsuited to series production.  Either nine or ten of the early GT 350s were configured with an unusual 2+1 seating arrangement (two buckets in the front and one, centrally located, in the rear).  On the later 350 GTs, the central bucket wasn’t fitted and the whole space was configured as a storage area with an upholstered shelf so it can be thought of as Lamborghini’s take on the two-door business coupé, a US creation of the 1930s which was a conventional two-door sedan with no rear-seat, the area added to the trunk (boot), providing travelling salesmen with a large, lockable storage space for their wares.  When the 400 GT (1966-1968 and powered by a 3.9 litre (240 cubic inch) V12) was released, the first 23 were configured with the upholstered shelf (and known semi-formally as the “400 GT Interim”) while the remainder of the 247 featured 2+2 seating.

Seatbelt not required: 1964 Mercedes-Benz 230 SL with Kindetsitz.  Like the un-belted baby in the Corvair, the occupant of the kinder seat would be subject to Newton's First Law of Motion.

There were other 2+1s and for all of the 1960s Mercedes-Benz offered the not uncommonly ordered option of transverse single seat (centre) made the W113 (230, 250 & 280 SL, 1963-1971)  roadster, making it one of the rare post-war 2+1s.  While it could accommodate an adult-sized human, the factory listed it as the Kindetsitz (child's seat, code 565) although German men often preferred Schwiegermutterplatz or Schwiegermuttersitz (mother-in-law seat).  That the factory would offer (in a convertible!) a "child's seat" which sat sideways and was fitted with no restraint system is an indication of how things have changed.

Donald Healey Motor Company’s Speed Equipment Catalogue 1960-1961.

Dubious though the safety credentials of the Kindetsitza may now seem, at least Mercedes-Benz secured it to the structure with good, German high-tensile nuts and bolts and that can be C&Ced (compared & contrasted) with the approach the British once took when designing a child’s seat.  Listed in the 1960-1961 Speed Equipment Catalogue from the Donald Healey Motor Company was a child’s seat for the Austin-Healey Sprite, a diminutive roadster which was definitely a two-seater (although “rear seats” were at time offered, both third-party miniature “buckets” and a factory “bench” although the latter, supplied without a squab, is better described as a “padded parcel shelf”).  Unlike the Germans, the Healey product was held in place only by the pressure the four steel prongs exerted on the transmission tunnel on which it sat and while that meant it was quick and easy to fit and remove, were one’s Sprite suddenly to come to a halt (ie crashing into something), child and (depending on velocity at point of impact) seat would be subject to Newton’s second law of motion.  Clearly, the UK’s latter day reputation as a latter-day hotbed of H&S (health & Safety) legislation and enforcement was unknown in 1960.

Awaiting "installation" and lucky young passenger: Donald Healey Motor Company’s Child's Seat for Austin-Healey Sprite.

Pros: Looks comfortable for a child; finished in leathercloth with contrasting piping to match interior trim; can be installed or removed in literally seconds; location permits child to use feet to play with gear shifter, keeping them amused on long trips.

Cons: Unsecured installation means in the event of an accident, depending on speed of impact, it would function like an ejector seat and, were the roadster’s roof at the time not erected, trajectory of seat and child would be either (1) into or (2) over windscreen; location permits child to use feet to play with gear shifter, possibly (1) knocking car out of gear or (2) selecting incorrect gear.

US market 1958 Austin-Healey Sprite ("Bugeye" or "Frogeye") with Healey's "child's seat" in place. 

The “child's seat” was a Donald Healey Motor Company part number and not one which appeared in the lists of BMC (British Motor Corporation) which was the corporate umbrella under which Healey operated.  Although advertised only during the era of the Austin-Healey Sprite Mark 1 (1958-1961; the so-called “bugeye” or “frogeye”), the useful option could be fitted to any subsequent Sprite or the companion (and substantially identical) MG Midget. When the Sprite first was revised in 1961, simultaneously the MG Midget was released and it continued until 1980 while the Sprite lasted only until 1971 (and in its final season sold as the “Austin Sprite” after the contract with Donald Healey expired).  Perhaps predictably, Healy’s child’s seat was not a big seller and although (hopefully) no longer used for its intended purpose, the rarity and shock value (to twenty-first century eyes) make it a prized option in the Sprite community.

A full bucket of VPOTUS.

In the US during the nineteenth century there was a joke about two brothers: "One ran off to sea and the other became vice-president; neither were ever heard of again."  That was of course an exaggeration but it reflected the general view of the office which has very few formal duties and can only ever be as powerful or influential as a president allows although the incumbent is "a heartbeat from the presidency".  John Nance Garner III (1868–1967, vice president of the US 1933-1941), a reasonable judge of these things, once told Lyndon Johnson (LBJ, 1908–1973; US president 1963-1969) being VPOTUS was "not worth a bucket of warm piss" (which is polite company usually is sanitized as "...bucket of warm spit").  In the US, a number of VPOTUSs (Vice-President of the United States) have become POTUS (President of the United States) and some have worked out well although of late the record has not been encouraging, the presidencies of Lyndon Johnson (LBJ, 1908–1973; VPOTUS 1961-1963, POTUS 1963-1968), Richard Nixon (1913-1994; VPOTUS 1953-1961, POTUS 1969-1974) and Joe Biden (b 1942; VPOTUS 2008-2017, POTUS 2021-2025) 1963-1968, all ending badly, in despair, disgrace and decrepitude respectively.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 1.0 (1995).

Microsoft's Internet Explorer (usually referred to as IE (IE7, IE8 etc by nerds) was in June 2022 officially retired.  It was released in 1995 as part of the Plus! package for Windows 95 which, remarkable as it now seems, shipped to an expectant and receptive market without any vision of it being a platform for internet access, Microsoft's preferred model their proprietary walled-garden the Microsoft Network (MSN).  The public’s reaction meant corporate belief in that model didn't last and MSN was soon re-positioned as just another place to go on the internet.  IE had its early controversies because of the use of code belonging to other companies and subsequently because it was given away or bundled with Microsoft's operating systems, thereby undermining the business model of competing companies which had developed browsers as shrink-wrap products to be sold for a profit.  With a few twists and turns, those issues worked their way (slowly) through US and European courts, Microsoft often using what had become the industry's preferred  solution: Throw money at the problem and it goes away.  That approach was applied too to product development and sometimes it needed to be, Windows 95, IE4 and the then mysterious “Active Desktop” ensemble resisting many attempts to secure stability.

Lindsay Lohan in bucket hat.

Still, most competition thus eliminated, IE went on to great things and early in the century enjoyed a market-share which at its peak exceeded 90%, the penetration assisted greatly by IE being the choice of many corporations which began using the browser as their default interface for internal as well as external access.  However, this very success was what ultimately doomed IE as Microsoft was compelled to retain much legacy support within the browser to accommodate the corporations which generated so much of Microsoft’s revenue.  Newer competitors were able to offer faster, more flexible browsers with modernized interfaces and gradually gained critical mass, IE by 2020 confined mostly to those corporations using legacy applications with a specific dependence.  Indeed, although noting IE’s retirement, for the affected corporations Microsoft is retaining a small subset of software support on Windows Server 2019 and the Windows 10 LTSC (Long-Term Servicing Channel), the latter in five and ten year programmes.

Pol Roger Champagne ice bucket by Argit of France in nickel plated brass, circa 1920.

Unfashionable though it became, there was one aspect of IE which for years worked better than the implementation on other browsers: The handling of download buckets.  Download buckets are the places on operating systems which permit users to tag files for downloading as a batch, rather than having to download each individually.  For whatever reason, IE’s download buckets seemed for years always more stable than the newer entrants.  Even today, Microsoft’s own update catalogue offers support for a download bucket on IE but not on other browsers although, helpfully, Microsoft’s own (Chromium-based) Edge browser can be configured with an “IE mode” which continues to support the bucket, the “Add” and “Remove” options appearing as before.

Microsoft Update Catalog on IE (and Edge in IE mode).

Microsoft Update Catalog on Chromium-based browsers (and Firefox) in native mode.