Button
(pronounced buht-n)
(1) A small disk, knob, or the like for sewing or
otherwise attaching to an article, as of clothing, serving as a fastening when
passed through a buttonhole or loop.
(2) Anything resembling a button, especially in
being small and round, as any of various candies, ornaments, tags,
identification badges, reflectors, markers, etc.
(3) A badge or emblem bearing a name, slogan,
identifying figure, etc., for wear on the lapel, dress, etc.
(4) Any small knob or disk pressed to activate an
electric circuit, release a spring, or otherwise operate or open a machine,
small door, toy, etc.
(5) In botany, a bud or other protuberant part of
a plant.
(6) In mycology, a young or undeveloped mushroom
or any protuberant part of a fungus.
(7) In zoological anatomy, any of various small
parts or structures resembling a button, as the rattle at the tip of the tail
in a very young rattlesnake.
(8) In boxing slang, the point of the chin.
(9) In architecture, a fastener for a door,
window, etc., having two arms and rotating on a pivot that is attached to the
frame (also called turn button).
(10) In metallurgy, when assaying, the small
globule or lump of metal at the bottom of a crucible after fusion.
(11) In fencing, the protective, blunting knob
fixed to the point of a foil.
(12) In horology, alternative name for the crown,
by which watch is wound.
(13) In the graphical user interface of computers
and related devices, a small, button-shaped or clearly defined area that the
user can click on or touch to choose an option.
(14) Slang term for the peyote cactus.
(15) A small gathering of people about two-thirds
of the drinks are spiked with LSD. Those
who drink the un-spiked are the buttons responsible for babysitting the
trippers (1960s west coast US use, now extinct).
(16) A series of nuts & bolts holding
together a three-piece wheel. Such
wheels are very expensive because of the forging process and the ability to
stagger offsets to create large lips.
(17) In boiler-making, the piece of a weld that
pulls out during the destructive testing of spot welds
(18) In rowing, a projection around the loom of
an oar that prevents it slipping through the rowlock.
(19) South African slang for methaqualone tablet.
(20) A unit of length equal to one twelfth of an inch
(British, archaic).
(21) Among luthiers, in the violin-family
instrument, the near semi-circular shape extending from the top of the back
plate of the instrument, meeting the heel of the neck.
(22) In the plural (as buttons), a popular nickname for young ladies, whose ability to
keep shirt buttons buttoned is in inverse proportion to the quantity of strong drink
taken.
1275-1325: From the Middle English boto(u)n (knob or ball attached to another body (especially as used to hold together different parts of a garment by being passed through a slit or loop)), from the Anglo-French, from the Old
& Middle French boton (button
(originally, a bud)), from bouter & boter (to
thrust, butt, strike, push) from the Proto-Germanic buttan,
from the primitive Indo-European root bhau-
(to strike); the button thus, etymologically, is something that pushes up,
or thrusts out. Records exist of the surname
Botouner (button-maker) as early as the mid-thirteenth century (and the Modern French noun bouton (button) actually dates from the twelfth century). It was cognate with the Spanish boton and the Italian bottone. The pugilistic slang (point of the chin) was first noted in 1921. First use of button as something pushed to
create an effect by opening or closing an electrical circuit is attested from
1840s and the use in metallurgy and welding is based by analogy on descriptions
of mushrooms. The verb button emerged in the late fourteenth century in the sense of "to furnish with buttons" which by the early 1600s had extended (when speaking of garments) to "to fasten with buttons". The button-down shirt collar was first advertised in 1916.
John Button (1987) (1933-2008; senator for Victoria (Australian Labor Party (ALP) 1974-1993), oil on canvas by Andrew Sibley (1933–2015),
National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, Australia.
New uses continue to emerge as technology evolves: The phrase button-pusher to describe someone "deliberately annoying or
provocative" was first recorded in the 1970s and hot-button issue appeared in political science journals as early as
1954, apparently a derivation of the brief use in the press of big red-button and hot-button to (somewhat erroneously) describe the mechanics of
launching a nuclear attack. Hot button issues can be useful for political parties to exploit but what the button triggers can shift with generational change: As late as the 1990s the Republican Party in the US used "gay marriage" as a hot button issue to mobilize their base but within 25 years the electoral universe had shifted and the issue no longer had the same traction. In the 1980s, the now mostly extinct button-pusher had been co-opted as a somewhat condescending description of photographers both by journalists
and snobby art critics, the former suggesting some lack of affinity with words,
the latter, an absence of artistic skill.
How it's done now. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS 56 inch (1.42 m) single-panel
screen. There are no physical buttons on the dashboard.
In cars, as in aircraft, the shifting of controls for core and ancillary
systems from individual buttons and switches to combined or multi-function
controllers began to accelerate during the 1960s, a reaction to the increasing
number of electrically activated functions being installed to the point where, if
left individualised, in some of the more electronic vehicles, space for all the
buttons would have been marginal and ergonomics worse even than it was. Some very clever designs of multi-function
controllers did appear but in the twenty-first century, by the time LED flat-screen
technology had become elsewhere ubiquitous, it became possible to integrate
entire system control environments into a single screen which, able to display
either one or a combination of several
sub-systems at a time, meant space became effectively unlimited, arrays of virtual buttons and switches available in layers. That didn't mean thing became easier or more convenient to use but production costs were lower. Of late, in response to consumer pressure, some manufacturers have admitted the approach went to far and what might be appropriate for someone sitting at their desk using a desktop PC (and the only way things can be done on a phone), might not be a good idea when driving a car at speed, in traffic. Thus, for core critical functions (ie those drivers most often perform) such as adjusting settings on entertainment and HVAC (heating, ventilation & air conditioning) systems, buttons are making a welcome comeback.
For those who can remember the ways things used to be done: 1965 Jaguar Mark X 4.2 with burl walnut & red leather. Jaguar's cockpits in the 1960s were among the most atmospheric of the era although, even at the time, the less than ideal ergonomics attracted criticism.
There were buttons and there were switches. Jaguar used toggle switches until US safety regulations in 1967 compelled a change to rocker switches with softer edges and less forward projection. The functionality wasn't affected and the rockers were less prone to damage for but for some the tactile experience was lacking and the ASMR less satisfying. ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) describes the physical & psychological pleasure derived from specific stimuli (usually a sound). For some, this can be the sight & sound of South Korean girls on TikTok eating noodles while for those fond of machines it can come from flicking toggle switches.
The manufacturers liked
the change to touch-screens because it was so much cheaper to produce and install than an array of
individual buttons, switches, instruments and lights, behind each of which ran at least one and sometimes several wires or lines, requiring wiring schematics that were sometimes baffling even to experts who needed sometime to track literally miles of wiring. While now using actually even more wiring, the new systems are capable better
although their long-term reliability remains uncertain and in many cases, a button or dial is both easier and after to lose. What certainly has been lost is the sometimes sensual atmospherics
the tactile, analogue world of buttons could summon.
1991 Mercedes-Benz 600 SE (W140).
Built on the SWB (short-wheelbase) platform, the 600 SE was offered only during the W140's first year, the V12 sedans subsequently available only as the LWB (long-wheelbase (V140)) 600 SEL (S 600 after 1993 when the corporate naming system changed). The duplication on the glovebox of the trunk (boot) lid badging was also a single-year fitting and even if a buyer opted for the "badge delete option" the characters on the glovebox remained. The badge delete option had existed for a long time but enjoyed a spike in popularity beginning during the 1970s when it became obvious the more expensive models were more likely to attract the eye of terrorists, kidnappers and such. While outfits like the
Baader–Meinhof Gang (technically the RAF (Red Army Faction) had some fondness for stealing expensive cars, they didn't approve of those being driven in them. On the 450 SEL 6.9 (1975-1980), the factory's delete option code was 261 and in the FRG (
Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany; the old West Germany) 1949-1990) it was ticked by those who like to go fast but not attract the attention of kidnappers or
assassins.
Button porn: Centre console in 1991 Mercedes-Benz 600 SEL.
Although a sight to delight button-nerds, "peak button" unfortunately coincided with the "biodegradable wiring incident" (1991-1995) in which the soy-based insulation for the cables deteriorated some decades before the supplier's projected end-of-life, the issue exacerbated by the taste of soy which would attract rodents and other creatures happy to chew on the stuff for a quick snack.
The W140 sedans (1991-1998) and companion coupé (C140, 1992-1998) were probably peak-button and it won't happen again, touch-screens now much cheaper to install. The W140 was end-of-era stuff in many ways and was the last of the old-style exercises in pure engineering with which Mercedes-Benz re-built its reputation in the post-war years; what followed would increasingly show the influence of accountants and the dreaded "sales department". Most charismatic of the W140s were the early, 402 bhp (300 kw) 600s tuned for top end power; the 6.0 litre (365 cubic inch) V12 (M120; 1991-2001 (although it would appear in cars by other manufacturers until 2012)) would later be toned-down a little with a greater emphasis on mid-range torque and thoughts of the 8.0 litre V16 and W18 prototypes entering production were shelved as the economic climate of the early 1990s proved less buoyant than had been expected. Subsequent concerns about climate changed doomed any hope of resurrection but as something of a consolation, AMG for a while offered larger versions of the V12 (as big as 7.3 litre (445 cubic inch)). Diana, Princess of Wales (1961-1997) died in the hire-car (S 280 with a 2.8 litre six (171 cubic inch)) version of the W140.
Childless
cat lady Taylor Swift (b 1989) with Ragdoll Benjamin Button, named after the eponymous
character in the movie The Curious Case
of Benjamin Button (2008), Time Magazine cover for “Person of the Year” edition, 25 December, 2023. Ragdoll cats make good stoles because
(apparently because of a genetic mutation), they tend to “go limp” when picked
up.
An owner of three most
contented felines, gleefully, Ms Swift in 2024 embraced the appellation “childless
cat lady” after wide publicity of its earlier use as a slur by James David (JD)
Vance (b 1984; US vice president since 2025), something prompted by Mr Vance being
named as Donald Trump’s (b 1946; US president 2017-2021 and since 2025)
running-mate in the 2024 US presidential election. The now famous phrase had been used in a 2021
interview with then Fox News host Tucker Carlson (b 1969) when he complained about
the state of things: “…we are effectively run in this country via the Democrats,
via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are
miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made and so they want
to make the rest of the country miserable too.” Mr Vance may have struck an electoral chord because
while Kamala Harris (b 1964; US vice president 2021-2025) presumably gained the
childless cat vote, the Trump-Vance ticket won the election.
Pressed or pushed, many buttons needed.
The literal (physical) button-hole was noted in
tailoring first during the 1560s, the figurative sense "to detain
(someone) unwillingly in conversation” dating from 1862, a variation of the
earlier button-hold (1834) and button-holder (1806), all based on the image is
of holding someone by the coat-button so as to detain them. The adjectival push-button ("characterized
by the use of push-buttons) emerged in 1945 as a consequence of the increasingly
electronic military systems then in wide deployment. The earlier form “push-buttons" was from
1903, a modification of the noun push-button (button pressed with the finger to
effect some operation) from 1865, then applied to mechanical devices. The earlier adjectival form was “press-button”
(1892) derived from the noun (1879). For
no apparent reason, it was the earlier “press of a button” which tended in the
1950s & 1960s to be preferred to “push of a button” to express the concern
felt at the ease with which the US and USSR could trigger global thermo-nuclear
war although “flick of a switch” also achieved much currency. None were exactly usefully descriptive of a
complex chain of events but it’s true in a nuclear launch, many buttons and
switches still are involved.
Button theory: Button
theory suggests buttons can be done-up or undone. Noted empiricist Lindsay Lohan has for some
years been undertaking a longitudinal study to test theory.
Shapes, shades and sizes.
The fear
of buttons is koumpounophobia, the construct being the Modern Greek κουμπί
(koumpí) + -phobia and
the word, like many describing phobias is a neologism. Koumpi was from the Ancient Greek κομβίον
(kombíon) translates as button in its two literal senses (a fastener for
clothing or a device for instrument or remote mechanical control). A button in Greek is thus κουμπί (koumpí) (the
plural κουμπιά) and the verb is κουμπώνω (koumpóno). In the Ancient Greek the lexemic unit koump- didn’t
exist although it did have κομβίον (kombíon (which exists in Modern Greek as komvíon))
which meant buckle. It may seem as strange
omission because Ancient Greek had κουμπούνω, (koumpouno) which meant “to
button” but the root was κύαμος (komos or koumos) meaning “broad
bean” and, because there were no buttons in the Greece of Antiquity, they used
appropriately sized & shaped beans as clothes fasteners. The construct of koumpouno (to button) koum(os)
+ + πονέω (poneo) (to work; to exert), the
idea of a bean which is used again and again.
The suffix -phobia (fear of a specific thing; hate, dislike, or
repression of a specific thing) was from the New Latin, from the Classical
Latin, from the Ancient Greek -φοβία (-phobía)
and was used to form nouns meaning fear of a specific thing (the idea of a
hatred came later). In medicine, the absence of the belly button is a rare congenital defect, the medical term for which is omphalocele, usually something ultimately of no physiological significance but because it can cause psychological distress, plastic surgeons can re-construct one, a relatively simple procedure. The alternative for an omphalocelic is to shun omphalophiliacs and hook up with someone who suffers omphalophobia (fear of the belly button); they should live happily ever after. The phobia koumpounophobia is unrelated and references only the manufactured objects.
Lindsay Lohan in
trench coat buttons up. As fashionistas know, with a trench the
belt is tied, only the military buckling up.
So,
in the narrow technical sense, an etymologist might insist koumpounophobia is
the fear of clothing fasteners rather than buttons of all types but that seems not
helpful and it’s regarded as a generalised aversion and one said sometimes
associated with kyklophobia (the fear of circles or other round objects) and
especially the surprisingly common trypophobia (fear of holes (particularly if
clustered or in some way arranged in a pattern)). Estimates of the prevalence
of the condition have been given by some but these are unverified and it’s not
clear if those who for whatever reason prefer zips, Velcro or some other
fastener are included and with phobias, numbers really should include only
those where the aversion has some significant impact on life. The symptoms suffered can include (1) an
inability to tolerate the sight, sound, or texture of buttons, (2) feelings of
panic, dread, or terror when seeing or thinking about buttons, (3) an acknowledgment
that the fear is either wholly irrational or disproportionate to the potential danger. Koumpounophobia reactions are usually
automatic & uncontrollable and the source may be unknown or experiential
(exposure to some disturbing imagery or description of buttons or an actual
event involving buttons such as swallowing one when a child). Like many phobias, the physical reactions can
include a rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, trembling, excessive sweating,
nausea, dry mouth, inability to speak or think clearly, tightening of stomach
muscles, and an overwhelming desire to escape from button-related situations. All are likely to involve an anxiety attack to
some extent and the recommended treatment is the staggered exposure therapy used
for many phobias; the patient slowly learning to wear, use and live with
buttons; antidepressants, tranquillisers & beta-blockers are now considered
medications of last resort.
Buttons are hard to avoid.
What
is sometimes treated as koumpounophobia can be a manifestation of a different
phobia. In the literature there are
examples of buttons triggering anxiety when touched or viewed but the reaction was
actually to texture, color or a resemblance to something (typically a face,
mouth or teeth). The button is thus incidental
to the reaction in the same way that those with mysophobia (in popular use the
germophobic) may react to buttons because of the association with uncleanliness. One documented aspect of obsessive compulsive
disorder (OCD) is that many sufferers immediately wash their hands after
touching a button; the increased prevalence of this behaviour during the COVID-19
pandemic in relation to buttons touched by other (keyboards, elevators etc) is
not thought indicative of a phobia but would be if it manifests as life-long behaviour.
Apple Magic Mouse, Multi-Touch Surface in white @ US$99.00 (left), Logitech Signature M650 L Full-size Wireless two-button Scroll Mouse with Silent Clicks in blue @ US$37.99 (centre) and Steve Jobs' vision of hell: Canon 5565B001 X Mark I Slim 3-in-1 wireless mouse with keypad calculator @ US$49.95.
Steve
Jobs (1955-2011; sometime co-founder, chairman & CEO of Apple) was said to
have an aversion to buttons, something linked to his fondness for button-free
turtleneck clothing but given he spent decades using keyboards without apparent
ill-effect, it’s doubtful a clinician would diagnose koumpounophobia and it's more likely he was just convinced of the technological advantages of going
button-less. Without buttons,
manufacturing processes would be cheaper, water-proofing devices like iPhones would become (at least
theoretically) possible and upgrades would no longer be constrained by static buttons,
the user interface wholly virtualized on one flat panel, able to be upgraded purely in software. It apparently started with the button-less
Apple mouse, the industry legend being Mr Jobs saw a prototype (which the
designers regarded as nothing more than speculative) and insisted it become
Apple’s standard device. Whether or not
it happened that way, the story is illustrative of the way business was done at
Apple and it’s notable his veto on offering a stylus with which to interact
with apps or the operating system didn’t survive his death. His response to the idea of a stylus was
reportedly “yuk” and he seems to have decided all his users would think the
same way and probably he was right, Apple’s users tending always to do what Apple
tells them to do. However, for those who
find the sleek Apple mouse better to behold than use, third-party products with
buttons and scroll wheels are available, sometimes for half the cost of the
genuine article.
Shiny on the outside: Finished in Bianco Avus over black leather with Rosso Corsa (racing red) instruments, of the 400 Ferrai Enzos (2002-2004) chassis 133023 (2003) was the only one the factory painted white. Some Ferraris really suit white, notably the elegant 365 GT4 2+2 and the successor 400 and 412 models (1972-1989).
The
dreaded “Ferrari sticky buttons” is a well-known phenomenon, the stickiness coming
from the rubberized material preferred by the factory because of the superior
feel offered. However, under just about any
climatic conditions, continuous use will induce a deterioration which
resembles melting, "mushiness" the final outcome. The internet is awash with suggestions, the simplest
of which involves products like rubbing alcohol (the use of which can cause its own destructiveness) and the consensus seems to be that in many cases only replacement
buttons will produce a satisfactory result.
The choice is between obtaining the real Ferrari part-number (if
available) with the knowledge the problem will re-occur or use third-part replacements
which are made of a more durable material, the disadvantage being the feel won’t
be quite the same and there’s a reluctance among some to use non-factory parts, an attitude enforced by the "originality police".
Sticky on the inside: Ferrari 485 California F1 gearbox buttons, sticky (left) and not (right).
Ferrari
does use the suspect material for a reason and it’s applied to interior
components such as trim, bezels, buttons & switches, and heating, ventilation
& air-conditioning panels. The
coatings are usually referred to as “soft-touch” and designers like them for
the soft, velvet-like feel imparted. Used
also on computer mice and electronic remote controls, the low gloss sheen is
also helpful in cars because being absorptive, glare is reduced and Ferrari
uses them with both a clear and black finish.
It’s an issue not exclusive to Ferraris although owners of
those do seem most concerned and while using rubbing alcohol might sound a
tempting Q&D (quick & dirty) fix, for those with sticky buttons this is
probably a job best left to experts of which there are now a few.
