Tent

Tent (pronounced tent)

(1) A portable shelter of skins, canvas, plastic, or the like, supported by one or more poles or a frame and often secured by ropes fastened to pegs in the ground.

(2) Something that resembles a tent (often as tent-like).

(3) A type of frock (usually as tent-dress).

(4) In casual political discourse (popularized by US President (1963-1969) Lyndon Johnson (1908-1973) (as “inside the tent”) a term to distinguish between those inside or outside the institutionalized political system.

(5) To give or pay attention to; to heed (Scots; largely archaic).

(6) In first-aid (medicine), a roll or pledget, usually of soft absorbent material, as lint or gauze, for dilating an orifice, keeping a wound open, etc.

(7) A red table wine from Alicante, Spain (obsolete).

(8) A sixteenth century word for a dark-colored tint (from the Spanish tinto (obsolete)).

(9) A portable pulpit set up outside to accommodate worshippers who cannot fit into a church (Scots; largely archaic).

1250–1300: From the Middle English tente (a probe) from the twelfth century Old French tente (tent, hanging, tapestry) from the Latin tenta, (a tent; literally literally "something stretched out”), noun use of feminine singular of the Latin tentus, (stretched), past participle of tendere (to extend; stretch) from the primitive Indo-European root ten (to stretch).  Technically, the Old French tente was a noun derivative of tenter from the Latin tentāre, variant of temptāre (to probe, test, to try). Despite some sources claiming the Latin tentōrium translates literally as “tent”, the correct meaning rather “something stretched out” from tendere (to extend; stretch); related was the Latin temptāre, source of the modern “tempt”.

In Middle English, tent (noun) (attention) was an aphetic variant of attent from the Old French atente (attention, intention) from the Latin attenta, feminine of attentus, past participle of attendere (to attend).  Word thus evolved in meaning to describe a structure of stretched fabric under which people could attend events.  The French borrowing wholly displaced the native Middle English tild & tilt (tent, til”) from the Old English teld (tent). The closest in Spanish is tienda (store, shop; tent).  The verb sense of "to camp in a tent" is attested from 1856, "to pitch a tent" noted a few years earlier.  The modern sense of tent and the relationship to words related to “stretch” is that the first tents were ad-hoc structures, created by stretching hides over wooden framework.  In arachnology, the Tent caterpillar, first recorded 1854, gained its name from the tent-like silken webs in which, gregariously they live.

FBI director J Edgar Hoover & President Johnson, the White House, 1967.

The phrase “inside the tent” is a bowdlerized version of words most frequently attributed to Lyndon Johnson (1908–1973 (LBJ); US president 1969-1969) explaining why, on assuming the presidency, he chose not to act on his original inclination (and the recommendation of some of his advisors) not to renew the appointment of J Edgar Hoover (1895–1972; director of US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) 1924-1972): “Well, it’s probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.”  That may have been sound political judgement from one of the most Machiavellian operators of the modern age but an indication also of the fear (shared by not a few others) of what damaging and even incriminating information about LBJ Hoover may have locked in his secret files.

Lord Beaverbrook & Winston Churchill, Canada, 1941.

LBJ’s sometimes scatological references often involved bodily functions but much of it drew on the earthy language he learned from decades of political horse trading in Texas, another favourite when speaking of decision-making being: “There comes a point when you have to piss or get off the pot”.  Nor were the words used of Hoover original, the earliest known references in exchanges in the early twentieth century between the Arabists in the UK’s Foreign Colonial offices as “…keeping the camel inside the tent”.  In the vein of the US State Department’s later “He might be a son of a bitch but he’s our son of a bitch”, it was an acknowledgement often it was desirable to in some way appease the odd emir so that he might remain an annoying but manageable nuisance rather than a potentially dangerous enemy.  When it came to colonial fixes, the foreign office had rare skills.  Winston Churchill (1875-1965; UK prime-minister 1940-1945 & 1951-1955) recycled the joke in 1940 when, after being advised by George VI (1895–1952; King of the United Kingdom 1936-1952) not to include Lord Beaverbrook (Maxwell Aitken, 1879-1964) in his administration, the king’s concerns including being well aware of why the press lord had gained his nickname “been a crook”.

House minority leader Gerald Ford & President Johnson, the White House, 1967.

One quip however does seem to be original, LBJ’s crude humor the source also of the phrase “walk and chew gum”, used to refer to the ability (or inability) of governments to focus on more than one issue.  It was a sanitized version of a comment made by LBJ after watching a typically pedestrian television performance by Gerald Ford (1913–2006; US president 1974-1977), then minority leader (Republican) in the House of Representatives: “Jerry Ford is so dumb he can't fart and chew gum at the same time.”  There was a time when that might never have been reported but times were changing and it was printed in the press as “Gerald Ford can't walk and chew gum at the same time.”

Of tents, sacks & maxi

The tent dress, also known as the "A-line", picked up both names because of the similarity of the trapezoid shape to an A-frame tent or building and was one of a number of garments which emerged in the 1960s when women's fashion retreated from the cinch-waisted, tailored lines mainstream manufacturers mass-produced in the 1950s.  Because the sheer volume of fabric, they were popular with some designers who used vivid psychedelic imagery in the patterns, a nod to the hippie vibe of the time.

Crooked Hillary Clinton in tent dress, The Hamptons, 2019.

Designed originally to be functional, comfortable and ageless, tent dresses have no waistline and are worn without belts; they’re thus essentially shapeless and while they don't exactly hide flaws, they certainly don't cling to them so can (sort of) flatter a shape to the extent it's possible, even though they actually accentuate width.  About once every fashion cycle, and never with great success, the industry pushes the tent dress as one of the trends of that season, the attempt in 2007 still regarded in the industry as a cautionary tale of how things shouldn't be done.

Tent dresses, made from a variety of fabrics, obviously have a lot of surface area so there's much scope to experiment with colors, patterns and graphics, the garments offered in everything from solid hues, subtle patterning, bold strips and, most famously, wild arrays of colors seemingly chosen deliberately to clash.  Given their purpose, most are long-sleeved or at least with a sleeve reaching the upper forearms and while the length can vary (some actually better described as loose shirts), the classic tent dress is knee or calf-length.

Sack dresses by Hubert de Givenchy (1927–2018), Spring Summer 1958 collection, Paris 1957.

Nor should the sack-line be confused with the tent.  Givenchy’s sack-line debuted in their spring-summer line in 1957, Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895-1972) showing a not dissimilar style just a few weeks later.  Both were essentially an evolution of the “Shirt Dress” which had attracted some attention the previous season and signaled a shift from the fitted, structured silhouettes which had been the signature motif of the decade.  The sack-line dresses were described by some critics as “shapeless” or “formless”, presumably because they lacked any suggestion of the waistline which had existed for so long as fashion’s pivot-point.  However, the forms the sack-line took would have been recognizable to anyone familiar with fluid dynamics or the flow of air in wind tunnels, a waistless dress which narrowed severely towards the hem one of the optimal aerodynamic shapes.

That was presumably a coincidence but Givenchy’s press-kits at the 1957 shows did claim that “More than a fashion, it’s actually a way of dressing” and one which must have found favor with at least some women, not unhappy at being able to ditch the forbidding and restrictive, high-waisted girdles needed to achieve the wasp-wasted “New Look” which Dior had introduced to a post-war world anxious to escape wartime austerity.  Waistless, the sack-line appeared to hang suspended from the shoulders like an envelope around the frame yet despite not being body-hugging, the lines managed to accentuate the figure, the trick being using the mind of the observer to "fill in the gaps", based on available visual clues.  The simplicity of the sack line made it the ideal canvas on which to display other stuff, models in sacks soon showing off gloves, hats, shoes and other adornments and the elegant austerity of the lines remains influential today.

Maxi dresses are not tent dresses.  Lindsay Lohan in maxi dresses illustrates the difference.

Not all enveloping dresses, of which the vaguely defined “maxi” is probably the best known example, are tent dresses.  What really distinguishes the tent dress is that it’s waistless and in the shape of a regular trapezoid, hence the alternative name “A-line” whereas the point of the maxi is that it’s ankle-length, the antithesis of the mini skirt which could be cut as high up the thigh as any relevant statutes and the wearer’s sense of daring permitted.  Extreme in length, the maxi typically had at least something of a waist although some with severe perpendicular lines certainly could be classified as sacks.

Skunk

Skunk (pronounced skuhngk)

(1) Any of various American musteline mammals (of the weasel family) of the subfamily Mephitinae, especially the Mephitis mephitis (striped skunk), typically having a black and coat with a white, V-shaped stripe on the back and a bushy tail; infamous for the noxious smelling fluid sprayed from two musk glands (anal gland) at the base of the tail when alarmed or attacked

(2) In slang, a most contemptible person; a cheat, knave, scoundrel or stinker.

(3) In slang, anything very bad or a failure; something not a total failure yet with still badly flawed can be described as “skunky” although, in the way of such things, sub-sets of youth have repurposed “skunky” to mean “very good; highly regarded; most satisfactory” (al la the earlier inversion of “filth”), possibly under the influence of the famously potent strain of weed.

(4) In US Navy slang, an unidentified ship or target.

(5) In the slang of drug-users, a strain of Cannabis sativa & Cannabis indica with high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (exceeding those of typical hashish), noted for its exceptionally powerful psychoactive properties (also as skunkweed, the name derived from its highly aromatic properties).

(6) In the slang of certain (mostly North American) sports, to defeat thoroughly in a game, especially when the opponent has been prevented from scoring.

(7) In the game of cribbage, a win by 30 or more points (a double skunk 60 or more, a triple skunk 90 or more).

(8) In brewing, of beer, to spoil.

(9) In popular culture, a person whose lifestyle (or as it’s representing in their fashion choices) is a hybrid of the skinhead and punk sub-culture, the construct being sk(inhead) + p(unk).

1625–1630: An early Americanism, described as the Massachusett reflex of the southern New England region Proto-Algonquian šeka·kwa, the construct being šek- (to urinate) + -a·kw (a fox, a fox-like creature); a similar form was noted as the Abnaki segākw, segôgw & segonku (he who squirts urinates).  The first application of the verb was in 1831 when it was used in sport to mean “to completely defeat; to prevent from scoring” and it was used as an insult as early as 1841.  In botany, a local cabbage which gave of a strongly pungent odor when bruised was in 1751 nicknamed skunk-cabbage, having been known as skunkweed since 1738 (botanically unrelated to the later use in drug culture although the etymological influence was similar).

Skunk hair.

The term “skunk hair” originally described a thick blonde highlight applied to dark hair but it’s now used of any two-tone combination (and strictly speaking, beyond two-color schemes it becomes a variegation). Skunk hair is derided by many who treat it as a class-identifier, associating it with those in lower socio-economic demographics, the folk who used to be labelled "not of the better classes".  However, it offers real advantages over other color-changes in that it's possible to design one to accommodate re-growth, something frankly impossible with conventional styles which almost always require maintenance and for true obsessives than can be even weekly.  While it's true there is a genuine "dark roots" aesthetic which on the right subject can be truly stunning, they're a rare breed so it's a niche market few choose to inhabit.  By contrast, a properly executed skunk can last for months.

Lindsay Lohan 2003 with what is sometimes now described as "skunk hair" although it's better understood as a coloring when the dark/light contrast is more dramatic.

Czech, Danish, German, Norwegian, Swedish and Slovak all adopted the English spelling, other variations including the Finnish skunkki, the French skunks, the Icelandic skunkur, the Japanese: スカンク (sukanku) and the Russian скунс (skuns).  In idiomatic use, the phrase “as welcome as a skunk at a garden party” refers to someone badly behaved who is unwelcome and actively avoided, the analogy essentially literal.  By contrast, “drunk as a skunk” means “highly inebriated” (also “skunked” in the vernacular) and belongs to a class of phrases which make no apparent sense and endure only because of their memorable rhyme although “drunk as a monk” may have come from empirical observation.  Usefully, in polite society, most are acceptable in a way the rhyming “drunk as a cunt” is not.  Skunk and skunks are nouns & verbs, skunking is a verb, skunked is an adjective & verb, skunky & skunkish are adjectives; the noun plural is skunks or (especially collectively) skunk.  The adverb skunkily is a non-standard form and the verb skunkify appears exclusive to drug and related cultures.

Skunkworks

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works logo.

A favored term in industries such as motorsport, aviation, defense, aerospace and ICT, a skunkworks is a research & development (R&D) facility within a large organization which exists to pursue special or urgent projects which can’t conveniently be pursued within the normal structures.  A skunkworks was originally a distinct physical space but latterly it’s been used also to describe concepts or projects and skunkworks can be either ad-hoc creations which are dissolved when their purpose has been fulfilled or they can evolve into permanent institutions.  One of the attractions of the skunkworks concept is that, properly implemented, it operates without the apparently inevitable bureaucracy which evolves in large corporations, stifling and suppressing new ideas.  In a skunkworks, the only administrative structures which exist are there directly to handle the needs of the project, unlike corporate bureaucracies which rather than being a means to an end, tend to become an impediment to the means.

Airframe nose-cone outside the skunkworks tent, circa 1943.

The origin of the term dates from 1943 when the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation needed urgently to develop a jet-engined pursuit (fighter) aircraft to counter the imminent threat intelligence suggested the allied air forces would soon face from German jet-fighters.  With war production operating at high-intensity, Lockheed’s factories were operating at 100% capacity and thus no space was available for the project so somewhere had to be found.  The details of quite what happened next have become the stuff of industry myth & legend but according to Lockheed-Martin’s official history, a large circus tent was rented and erected next to the closest available space which turned out to be adjacent to a processing facility which used processes emitting a strong odor.  These wafted over, permeating the tent and one of the engineers recalled the newspaper comic strip, "Li'l Abner," in which there was a running joke about a mysterious and malodorous place deep in the forest called the "Skonk Works" where a strong drink was brewed from skunks, old shoes and other strange ingredients.  One day, the engineer answered the telephone by saying "Skonk Works” and, in the way Chinese whispers work, his fellow employees decided it was the punchier “skunk works”, the name adopted by Lockheed as the official pseudonym for their Advanced Development Projects (ADP) division (now Advanced Development Programs).  There are variations of the story including which omits any mention of a tent, suggesting the ADP began in the mot-balled 3G distillery which still reeked with the smells of making bourbon but Lockheed-Martin has published a photograph of a prototype aircraft nose-cone with the tent in the background.

Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star.

The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star was the first skunkworks project although the team did undertake some work on the P-38 Lightning, first flown in 1939.  The first P-80 was built in a remarkable 147 days which, even given the urgency of wartime production which tended to compress many development programs, did seem to vindicate the skunkworks concept.  The P-80 reflected the thinking of the time and essentially optimized the airframe of a piston-engined fighter around a jet engine.  In that sense it was a developmental cul-de-sac and future directions would be set by the German’s Messerschmitt 262, all designers influenced by the swept-wings and other aerodynamic enhancements which would define the next generation of fighters.  However, the P80’s design was fundamentally sound, in 1946 setting a new world speed record of 623.8 mph (1003.8 km/h) and versions were still used as front-line fighters in the Korean War (1950-1953) although the unexpected appearance in the skies of Russian-built Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s (NATO reporting name: Fagot) saw the US rush to send squadrons of North American F86 Sabres to match the swing-wing threat.  However, some overseas customers used them as fighters as late as 1974 and so versatile did the platform prove that it continued to be developed in a number of roles including reconnaissance, the US military maintaining a fleet as jet-trainers until well into the 1990s.

Lockheed Martin SR-72 conceptual rendering.

Other skunkworks projects of note include the U-2 spy plane which played a notable role during the Cold War, the F-104 Starfighter which earned two nicknames (“the manned missile” & “the widow maker”; a brace which may be thought of as cause and effect), the high-speed, high-altitude SR-71 Blackbird which in the 1960s which set records which stand today and the F-22 Raptor, thirty-odd years on still the world’s most capable short-range interceptor which would have been produced in much greater numbers had not the USSR dissolved, ending the notion of dog-fights over Berlin being part of the Pentagon’s war-planning.  Much of their work appears now to be devoted to hypersonic (Mach 5 (5 x the speed of sound and beyond)) unmanned aerial vehicles (which should be called "UAVs", the common moniker "drone" not appropriate for these)) platforms for one purpose and another.  Most of the projects are thus far still vaporware although there have been notable advances in systems and specific components but the most dramatic (and best publicized), the SR-72 seems unlike to proceed even to the prototype stage although the speculated shape does suggest the engineers who ran the numbers on the Concorde's wind-tunnel sessions in the 1960s did their sums correctly.  Whatever form of hypersonic UAV eventually does emerge from the skunkworks, it will be armed with hypersonic missiles, a necessity because if existing missiles were used, the thing would shoot itself down.

Cenotaph

Cenotaph (pronounced sen-uh-taf or sen-uh-tahf)

A sepulchral monument in memory of and honoring a dead person or persons buried elsewhere; erected especially as military monuments.

1595–1605: From the French cénotaphe (empty tomb erected in honor of a dead person who is buried elsewhere or whose body is lost), from the Classical Latin cenotaphium from the Ancient Greek kenotáphion, the construct being κενός (kenós) (empty) + τάφος (táphos) (tomb) + -ion (the diminutive suffix) of uncertain origin.  Until well into the twentieth century it was thought ultimately derived (like the Armenian damban (tomb)) from the primitive Indo-European root dhembh- (to dig, bury) the the evidence is scant and some etymologists suspect both the Armenian and Greek could well be borrowings from other places.  Cenotaph is a noun and cenotaphic is an adjective; the noun plural is cenotaphs.

The Cenotaph to Reynold's Memory, Coleorton (circa 1833), oil on canvas by John Constable (1776-1837).

Percy Bysshe Shelly (1792-1822), The Cloud (1820)

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,
From the seas and the streams;
I bear light shade for the leaves when laid
In their noonday dreams.
From my wings are shaken the dews that waken
The sweet buds every one,
When rocked to rest on their mother's breast,
As she dances about the sun.
I wield the flail of the lashing hail,
And whiten the green plains under,
And then again I dissolve it in rain,
And laugh as I pass in thunder.
 
I sift the snow on the mountains below,
And their great pines groan aghast;
And all the night 'tis my pillow white,
While I sleep in the arms of the blast.
Sublime on the towers of my skiey bowers,
Lightning my pilot sits;
In a cavern under is fettered the thunder,
It struggles and howls at fits;
Over earth and ocean, with gentle motion,
This pilot is guiding me,
Lured by the love of the genii that move
In the depths of the purple sea;
Over the rills, and the crags, and the hills,
Over the lakes and the plains,
Wherever he dream, under mountain or stream,
The Spirit he loves remains;
And I all the while bask in Heaven's blue smile,
Whilst he is dissolving in rains.
 
The sanguine Sunrise, with his meteor eyes,
And his burning plumes outspread,
Leaps on the back of my sailing rack,
When the morning star shines dead;
As on the jag of a mountain crag,
Which an earthquake rocks and swings,
An eagle alit one moment may sit
In the light of its golden wings.
And when Sunset may breathe, from the lit sea beneath,
Its ardours of rest and of love,
And the crimson pall of eve may fall
From the depth of Heaven above,
With wings folded I rest, on mine aëry nest,
As still as a brooding dove.
 
That orbèd maiden with white fire laden,
Whom mortals call the Moon,
Glides glimmering o'er my fleece-like floor,
By the midnight breezes strewn;
And wherever the beat of her unseen feet,
Which only the angels hear,
May have broken the woof of my tent's thin roof,
The stars peep behind her and peer;
And I laugh to see them whirl and flee,
Like a swarm of golden bees,
When I widen the rent in my wind-built tent,
Till calm the rivers, lakes, and seas,
Like strips of the sky fallen through me on high,
Are each paved with the moon and these.
 
I bind the Sun's throne with a burning zone,
And the Moon's with a girdle of pearl;
The volcanoes are dim, and the stars reel and swim,
When the whirlwinds my banner unfurl.
From cape to cape, with a bridge-like shape,
Over a torrent sea,
Sunbeam-proof, I hang like a roof,
The mountains its columns be.
The triumphal arch through which I march
With hurricane, fire, and snow,
When the Powers of the air are chained to my chair,
Is the million-coloured bow;
The sphere-fire above its soft colours wove,
While the moist Earth was laughing below.
 
I am the daughter of Earth and Water,
And the nursling of the Sky;
I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores;
I change, but I cannot die.
For after the rain when with never a stain
The pavilion of Heaven is bare,
And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams
Build up the blue dome of air,
I silently laugh at my own cenotaph,
And out of the caverns of rain,
Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb,
I arise and unbuild it again.

Delta

Delta (pronounced del-tuh)

(1) The fourth letter of the Modern Greek alphabet (Δ, δ).

(2) The consonant sound represented by this letter.

(3) The fourth in a series of items.

(4) Anything triangular, an allusion to the Greek capital delta (Δ).

(5) In mathematics, an incremental change in a variable, as Δ or δ.

(6) A nearly flat plain of alluvial deposit between diverging branches of the mouth of a river, often, though not necessarily, triangular.

(7) A word used in communications to represent the letter D (usually initial capital letter); Used in the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) radiotelephony spelling alphabet (usually known as the NATO phonetic alphabet).

(8) In astronomy, a star that is usually the fourth brightest of a constellation (initial capital letter).

(9) In computing, a small but noticeable effect or the set of differences between two versions of a file; in informal use, a small but noticeable effect.

(10) In surveying, the angle subtended at the centre of a circular arc.

(11) A type of cargo bike that has one wheel in front and two in back.

(12) In electrical engineering (often attributive), the closed figure produced by connecting three coils or circuits successively, end for end, especially in a three-phase system.

(13) In finance, the rate of change in an option value with respect to the underlying asset's price.

(14) In chemistry, a value in delta notation indicating the relative abundances of isotopes or relating to or characterizing a polypeptide chain that is one of five types of heavy chains present in immunoglobins.

(15) In aerodynamics, a type of wing.

(16) The NATO code name for a class of Soviet nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine armed with sixteen multi-warhead missiles.

(17) In physics, of or characterizing the atom or radical group that is fourth in position from the functional group of atoms in an organic molecule.

(18) In US Space Force use, a unit, nominally headed by a colonel, equivalent to a USAF operations wing, or an army regiment.

(19)   In electrical engineering, the closed figure produced by connecting three coils or circuits successively, end for end, especially in a three-phase system.

Circa 1200: From the Middle English deltha from the Latin delta from the Ancient Greek δέλτα (délta), from the Phoenician dalet & daleth (tent door).  It was akin to the Hebrew dāleth.  It was the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet (equivalent to the Modern English D) and was shaped like a triangle (Δ).  The sense of a delta being a "triangular island or alluvial tract between the diverging branches of the mouth of a great river" is because the Ancient Greek writer Herodotus (circa 484–circa 425 BC) used it to describe the mouth of the Nile River (now known as the Nile Delta).  That was picked up in English during the 1550s and applied to other river mouths (often of quite different shapes) by 1790.  The related forms are deltaic and deltification.  In pre-modern medicine, the deltoid muscle (the large muscle of the shoulder; triangular, resembling the Greek letter delta) was described in 1758, the name from the Ancient Greek deltoeides (triangular, literally "shaped like the letter delta).  In modern use, the "deltoid muscle" gained the short-form “delts” in 1977.  The related form is deltoidal.

The delta-wing

Gloster Javelin (1951-1967).  The first twin-engined delta-wing in service, the Javelin was the UK’s long-term solution to its need for an all-weather interceptor, the post-war technology gap until then filled by the stop-gap Gloster Meteor and that most improbable cold-war fighter, the de Havilland Mosquito.  The Javelin was the last aircraft to bear the Gloster name, the company absorbed into the morass created by the mergers, acquisitions and nationalization that befell British industry between Attlee and Thatcher. 

In aviation, the delta shape pre-dated aircraft by centuries, triangular stabilizing fins for rockets described in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the first lifting wing in delta form patented in 1867 for use by a dart-shaped, rocket-propelled airplane.  However, although there were prototypes and much theoretical work was done during the first half of the twentieth century, it wasn’t until the late-1940s when jet propulsion made possible high-speed subsonic and supersonic flight that it was possible to build airframes which could take advantages of the delta-wing’s unique properties.

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird (1963-1999).  A product of Lockheed’s Skunk Works, although in development as a high-altitude interceptor since 1959, the US government didn’t admit the SR-71 existed until 1964 and decided ultimately to use it for reconnaissance and research into supersonic flight.  The SR-71 in 1976 set the world record for the fastest flight by an air-breathing manned aircraft and the mark still stands.

The delta form offers structural advantages and aerodynamic characteristics suited to the fluid dynamics of airflow in supersonic conditions.  To suit different applications, design variations have evolved, with and without additional stabilizing surfaces.  The long root chord of the delta wing and minimal structure outboard is inherently structurally efficient, able to be built stronger and stiffer yet lighter than a swept wing of equivalent lifting capability.  It’s thus simple and relatively inexpensive to build.

Avro Vulcan (1956-1984).

Until the UK adopted the submarine-launched Polaris missile system, the Vulcan was the platform for the UK’s independent nuclear deterrent and it remained in service long enough to be deployed for its only combat mission, a flight of five aircraft used for (conventional bombing) missions during the 1982 Falklands War.  Each aircraft flew almost 4000 miles  (6,500 km) from Ascension Island, Victor tankers used for the air-to-air refueling, almost 1.1 million gallons (5 million litres ) of fuel burned each mission.

The long root chord also allows a deeper structure for a given aerofoil section, providing more internal volume for fuel and other storage without a significant increase in drag although, on supersonic designs, designers often take the opportunity to use a thinner aerofoil instead, thereby further reducing drag.  Usefully, the large root chord also provides a large surface area which assists in reducing the minimum speed; a low landing speed being a design objective in most military and civil applications.  Delta wings can be designed to induce vortex lift, so flow separation can be turned into a means of increasing lift and the whole structure is naturally stable in pitch, therefore not requiring a separate tail surface.

Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde (1969-2003).

The Anglo-French supersonic passenger jet operated commercially between 1976-2003.  Flying at twice the speed of sound and carrying up to 128 passengers, it was the longest lasting of its time, the Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 in passenger service only for a few years during the 1970s after which it operated both as a freighter and a research platform and the American SST never progressed beyond engineering mock-ups.  The Americans worked out the economics were never going to make sense; the Soviets had a different relationship to money and the Concorde lasted as long as it did only because the French & British governments wrote-off the development costs.

There are drawbacks.  The large wing area creates more viscous drag for the same amount of lift compared to a high aspect ratio wing; swept wings have a better lift-to-drag ratio than deltas.  Also, high-lift devices like fowler flaps are hard to integrate into delta wings with the rearward location of the trailing edge producing intolerable pitching moments when such flaps would be deflected.  In short, delta wings are superior only in supersonic flight; their best known design probably the Anglo-French Concorde.

Lindsay Lohan in delta skirts.

A delta skirt is characterized by its triangular shape, an allusion to the Greek letter delta (Δ); almost always, a delta skirt is fitted at the waist, flaring out towards the hem, creating the triangular silhouette.  The concept is adaptable and can be made from just about any fabric, the most popular including cotton, taffeta, silk and a variety of other synthetics.  Delta skirts tend to be shorter because to produce the triangular effect as length increases either some sort of internal structure is required or additional material needs to be used, increasing bulk and weight.  Although most associated with younger women, they have been adopted by a number sub-sets from the anime aesthetic, Goths and bohemians to hippies.

Gaffer & Duct

Gaffer (pronounced gaf-er)

(1) The chief electrician on the set of a movie or television show.

(2) In informal use, a boss, supervisor, or manager.

(3) In informal use, an old man, especially one living in the country (often used affectionately or patronizingly).

(4) A foreman or overseer in charge of a group of physical laborers; the coach or manager of a sports team.

(5) In glassmaking, a master glassblower responsible for shaping glassware.

(6) Slang for boy or youth (unique to Ireland); used in maritime regions to refer to the baby of the house.

(7) A type of tape used usually as a safety device to tape-down cables to reduce the risk of tripping hazards (technically gaffer’s tape).

(8) In slang, as “to gaff”, “gaffered” or ”to gaffer”, a description of some temporary or roughly improvised repair using gaffer tape or some other quick and dirty method; “to make a gaff” as a description of a mistake is a variation of this.

1565–1575: Thought likely to be a contraction of godfather, but with the vowels influenced by grandfather.  The use to describe “an elderly rustic" was apparently based on continental analogies (compare gammer and the related French compère and German Gevatter).  It seems originally to have been a term of respect, also applied familiarly; from "old man" and was by 1841 extended to foremen and supervisors generally.  In UK police forces, it’s common slang to describe the officer in charge of a particular section or squad and in Association Football (soccer), the head coach or manager.

In the early twentieth century, it was carried over to the electrician or technician in charge of lighting on a film set because the natural lighting on early film sets was adjusted by opening and closing flaps in the tent, these cloths called gaff cloths or gaff flaps.  Because the technician used a long pole with a hook known as a “gaff hook”, he came to be known as a “the gaff hooker” and, as English does when users find there are too many syllables, this was truncated to “the gaffer”.  The tape later used for electrical cables was almost exclusively in the gaffers' toolboxes and thus became “gaffer’s tape”.  Now it’s known almost always as “gaffer tape”.

Duct (pronounced duhkt)

(1) Any tube, canal, pipe, or conduit by which a fluid, air, or other substance is conducted or conveyed.

(2) In anatomy and zoology, a tube, canal, or vessel conveying a body fluid, especially a glandular secretion or excretion.

(3) In botany, a cavity or vessel formed by elongated cells or by many cells.

(4) In the infrastructure of electricity, a single enclosed runway for conductors or cables.

(5) In a printing press, the reservoir for ink.

(6) Guidance; direction; quotation (obsolete).

1640-1650: From the Latin ductus (conveyance of water; a leading, a conduit pipe), noun use of the past participle of ducere (to lead) from dūcō (I lead, draw), from the primitive Indo-European root deuk (to lead).  Use has endured in the Medieval Latin aqueduct and the high rank of aristocracy, duke, drawn from the past participle of ducere (to lead); the construct was duc (variant stem of dūcere (to lead)) + tus (suffix of verbal action).  The meaning in an anatomical sense (vessel of an animal body by which blood, lymph etc, are conveyed) was first noted in the 1660s while that of a "conduit or channel" dates from 1713.  Use in a variety of architectural and engineering contexts to describe "tubes in a structure" developed after the use to describe an "air tube" in 1884.

Duct tape was in 1894 originally sold under the name duck tape, long, non-adhesive strips of plain cotton duck cloth used in various mechanical processes.  The name was transferred to a plastic-coated adhesive tape used by U.S. soldiers in World War II, probably because of its waterproof qualities (ie the sense of "water off a duck's back").  It continued in civilian use after the war, and the name shifted to duct tape by 1958, perhaps because the most common use was in air ducts, which also accounts for its still standard silver-gray color.

Duct and Gaffer Tape

Duct tape scene: Lindsay Lohan as Tess Conway in Freaky Friday (2003).

Often casually regarded as interchangeable, duct and gaffer tapes are constructed differently because they’re intended for different purposes.  Indeed, using one for the intended application of the other can cause messy or worse results.  They’re similar in that both are hand-tearable, conform well to uneven surfaces and tend to be sold in the same packaging and sizes.  Duct tape is constructed with a polyethylene (PE) cloth backing, a material that makes it waterproof and contains an aggressive, rubber-based glue, allowing it easily to adhere to many of surfaces.   Duct tape has (1) a shiny, reflective backing, (2) is for semi-permanent or permanent applications and (3) tends to leave an adhesive residue when removed.  A specialized variation is a heat-resistant foil (not cloth) duct tape, useful for sealing heating and cooling ducts.  For decades silvery gray, it’s now available in colors and even printed designs.

Lindsay Lohan in duct tape cocktail dress.  Tape is 3M Utility Duct Tape 2929 (Silver).  Shoes are Jimmy Choo Patent Leather Sandals.

Gaffer tape is made with a coated cloth backing and a synthetic, rubber-based glue.  Because it doesn’t have the PE backing, gaffer tape is not waterproof but, the barrier properties in the backing make it moisture resistant in most cases.  This means it shouldn’t be used for waterproofing but is suitable for temporary use in high-humidity and moist environments. The adhesive on gaffer tape is less aggressive than duct tape, rendering it more easily removed when temporary need is over.  Because of its origins in the theatre, gaffer tape traditionally had a matte white or black backing to reduce the reflection of light but is now available in colored gloss finishes.