Protuberant

Protuberant (pronounced proh-too-ber-uhnt, proh-tyoo-ber-uhnt, or pruh-too-ber-uhnt)

Bulging out beyond the surrounding surface; protruding; projecting; swelling from the surrounding surface; bulging.

1640–1650: From the sixteenth century French protubérant (prominent beyond the surrounding surface), from the Late Latin protuberantem (nominative protuberans), present participle of prōtūberāre (to swell, bulge, grow forth), the construct being pro- (forward) + tuber (lump, swelling) from the primitive Indo-European root teue- (to swell).  The most common form in the Late Latin was prōtūberāre (to swell).  The verb protuberate (bulge out, swell beyond the adjacent surface) dates from the 1570s, from Late Latin protuberatus, past participle of prōtūberāre.  Protuberant is an adjective, protuberate is a verb, protuberance & protuberancy are nouns and protuberantly is an adverb; the noun plural is protuberances.

Patting the protuberance of pregnancy: Ali Lohan (b 1993, left) photographed with her pregnant sister Lindsay Lohan (b 1986, right) wearing Sandal-Malvina Fringe Tank Dress in (unattributed) Dodge Yorange (left).  The shoes are Alexandre Birmen Clarita Platforms and may have been worn just for the photo-shoot; usually, pregnant people prefer something more sensible.

Artwork not by PM&C.

In Australia, PM&C (Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet) in 2022 released a new logo for the “Women’s Network”.  To the left of the construct was a cursive "W", the right stroke (the vertical diagonal line in a letter) adorned with a swash (a fancy or decorative replacement for a terminal or serif in an upper-case capital letter (although this w may be lower case (it’s hard to tell) in which case it would be a "flourish").  To the right was a capsular (technically a geometric stadium) protuberance which had been bitten into by the stylized W.  The logo’s graphical elements were rendered in a darkish purple which lightened as the shape extended right, the text below in two different sans serif fonts, one line in bold black, the other grey.  The design and placement of the text, though not obviously thoughtful, did at least add meaning to the graphic which might otherwise have been thought something to do with aubergines (eggplant).

Innocent interpretation: The aubergine (eggplant).

The logo proved to have a short life, withdrawn from circulation in response to complaints it resembled male genitalia; on Twitter, #logonono quickly trended.  Almost immediately the furor erupted, PM&C issued a statement saying the logo had been “removed” from its website “pending consultation with staff”.  Noting the phallic creation was part of a rebrand of staff DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) networks “to establish a consistent look and feel” between the logos used for various groups, PM&C added “the Women’s Network logo retained a ‘W’ icon which staff had been using for a number of years” which seemed an unnecessary clarification given nobody had objected to the W.  Anxious to assure the country that whatever controversy might have been induced by the purple protuberance, PM&C announced the “…rebrand was completed internally, using existing resources, and designs were consulted on widely.  No external providers were engaged for this work… (and that) the prime minister and the prime minister’s office were not part of this logo design.”  Well that cleared that up.

Graphic designers do seem sometimes unaware of the levels of anatomical comparison their work offers.  Of course, on the basis that "no publicity is bad publicity" there may be the odd "intentional inadvertence", there being much to be gained from a good handling of a controversy. 

The errors cut across cultures.  Here technical advice from an architect would have helped, more historically correct additional minarets should have been added and only a single dome depicted.

The attitude of critics was exemplified by the NOWN (National Older Women’s Network), which issued a statement describing the logo as “either thoughtless or an insult” although as a re-branding exercise, the project had to be labeled a success, most of the country now aware of the existence of the Women’s Network, a mysterious body previously familiar probably only to a handful of souls devoted to it causes.  A discussion of what it does or whether it fulfils any useful purpose wasn’t stimulated by the outcry over the offending logo so whatever the Women’s Network was doing before, it presumably continues to do.  One thing it achieved was to flush out the competition; it seems there are in the country a number of organizations with "Women's Network" in their title but whether there are demarcation disputes or all work together is collective feminist harmony seems not to have made the news.

Logo developed in 1973 by Gerry Kano Design on a commission from Roman Catholic Church's Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Designed for the Archdiocesan Commission of Catholic Youth, remarkably as it may now seem, the imaginative creation won an "Excellence in Design" award from the Art Director's Club of Los Angeles.  An example of how things have changed, it was a time when what priests did behind closed doors tended to be "hushed up" with bishops "solving the problem" by shifting the perpetrator to another parish when he would find new victims against whom to visit his sins.

Perhaps the men involved in the “Women’s Network” design didn’t notice the shape of the protuberance because they were focused on the color, anxious to avoid what might once have been the obvious choice: pink.  That would of course have been condescending and gender-stereotyping so the staff at PM&C deserve some praise in this aspect of a matter in which they weren’t involved.  Pink stuff for products aimed at the female market may be less of a thing than once it was but for men wanting a gift with a difference for women, it seems more of a thing than ever, pink tool kits popular gifts with sales spiking reliably in the run up to Christmas and even Valentine’s Day.  In truth, whatever the color, it's probably a good idea for the modern young spinster to have her own tool kit because as many of them will attest, men just can't be relied upon.  However, while working well for novelties like hammers and screwdrivers, pink doesn’t always have a good record as a marketing device writ large, failure exemplified by the Dodge La Femme.

Chrysler show cars, 1954:  Chrysler Le Comte (his, top) & Chrysler La Comtesse (hers, bottom).

Chrysler offered the La Femme package in 1955 and 1956 on the Custom Royal Lancer (the division's top trim line), the creation not a stylistic whim but a response to sociological changes in an unexpectedly affluent post-war US society in which women were found to be exerting a greater influence on the allocation of their family’s rising disposable income and of most interest to Chrysler was that those increasingly suburban families were buying second cars, women getting their own.  Adventurous color schemes were nothing new for Detroit, the cars of the art deco era noted for their two-tone combos but shades had been more subdued in the years immediately after World War II (1939-1945).  That changed with the exuberance of 1950s experimentation when three and four-tone renderings hit the showrooms though for the La Femme concept which had been previewed in the La Comtesse, two were judged enough.  The Le Comte & La Comtesse show cars in 1954 attracted most attention for their clear Perspex roofs (a craze at the time which didn’t last long as buyers found themselves slowly being cooked) but, following the grammatical conventions of their French definite articles, they were very much a “his & hers” brace, the darker (black & bronze) Le Comte with a “masculine” image and the La Comtesse, painted in  "Dusty Rose" & "Pigeon Grey", a softer and more “feminine” look.

1955 Dodge La Femme by Chrysler (left), accessories by by Evans of Chicago (right).

The public and critical response to La Comtesse must have been positive enought to encourage production and for the 1955 model year, the La Femme option was offered on the Dodge Custom Royal Lancer two-door hardtop, finished in a two-tone combination of "Heather Rose" (a shade of pink) & "Sapphire White", highlighted with gold-colored "La Femme" badges in a display script but if the exterior was (almost) subdued, the interior, a sea of pink, was femininity laid on with a trowel.  Trimmed in a tapestry fabric unique to the La Femme which wove pink rosebuds on a silver-pink background in pastel-pink vinyl, confronting those who sat there was a dashboard painted in bright-pink lacquer.  In case nobody sitting inside got the message, there was another La Femme badge in anodized gold-tone making explicit this was "a car for women". 

In the pink: Dodge La Femme (1955-1956).

In a marketing ploy which turned out to be years ahead of its time, the La Femme also came with coordinated accessories, the centrepiece a pink calfskin handbag that fitted neatly into a storage compartment built into the back of the passenger’s seat, the shape of which included a scallop which meant the handbag’s escutcheon plate was visible, Dodge’s press-kits noting the brushed-metal was designed to permit the owner’s name to be engraved.  The handbag contained a compact, lipstick case, cigarette case, comb, cigarette lighter, and change purse, all made variously with faux-tortoiseshell or pink calfskin, both combined with yet more anodized gold-tone metal.  In a matching compartment on the back of the driver’s seat was a rain coat, rain-cap and umbrella, all made with a vinyl patterned to match the rosebud interior fabric.  The design and production was by Evans of Chicago, a furrier and maker of fine accessories, famous for the display of "Black Diamond" mink coats in their flagship store at 36 South State Street.  Evans later would fall victim to the anti-fur movement which would lay waste to an industry on which many regional economies had been built.

The advertising message which at the time seemed a good idea.

In toned-down form, the La Femme option re-appeared in 1956.  The external color combination was changed to a "Misty Orchid" & "Regal Orchid" scheme and the interior finish was simplified, the previous year’s tapestry fabric proving challenging to produce in volume.  The revised upholstery used a heavy white cloth with random patterns of short lavender (purple's most "feminine" hue) and purple loops, matching the loop-pile carpeting and the accessories were limited, restricted in 1956 to just the rain coat, rain cap and umbrella.  Over the two seasons, fewer than 2,500 buyers chose the US$143 option and it didn’t re-appear for 1957.

Dodge in 1955-1956 had advertising for men (HP (horsepower), speed and V8 engines, left) and for women (everything pink, the paint, the rosebuds on the upholstery, the handbag, compact, lipstick case, cigarette case, comb, cigarette lighter, change purse, rain coat, rain-cap and umbrella, right).  In an interesting (though unverified) juxtaposition of men's perceptions, several sources suggest at least three La Femme buyers chose the most powerful engine on the option list, Dodge’s D-500 (a 315 cubic inch (5.2 litre) V8 with hemi heads and a four barrel carburetor, rated at a then most masculine 285 HP); perhaps not all clung to 1950s gender stereotyping.

Dodge La Femme advertising copy (1955, left) and pony-tail friendly headrest (right).  The men at Dodge were not wrong in concluding the “discriminating, modern woman” existed in commercially significant numbers and that she might buy a car but didn't grasp that functional features would have more appeal than pink paint. Ironically, the evidence does suggest men at the time were rather more susceptible to being drawn to a car because it was marketed as “masculine” than were women to something cynically and superficially “feminized”.

Other manufacturers did dabble with feminine-themed cars in a similar vein including GM's (General Motors) 1958 Chevrolet Impala Martinique and Cadillac Eldorado Seville Baroness but neither reached series-production.  The special detailing on GM’s 1958 show cars was the work of two of the seven women hired by the corporation's then head of styling, Harley Earl (1893–1969) and within the studios, the septep were known as the “Damsels of Design”, Jeanette Linder working on the Impala Martinique convertible and Suzanne Vanderbilt on the Eldorado Seville Baroness.  Had their presence continued Detroit’s design language in the 1960s might at least subtly have followed a different path but, upon Earl’s retirement in 1958, he was succeeded by Bill Mitchell (1912–1988; head of design at GM 1958–1977) whose world view was different: “No women are going to stand next to my male senior designers”.  Under the Mitchell regime, the damsels departed although probably he’d approved of their work at GM’s Frigidaire division designing the 1955 “Frigidaire Kitchen of Tomorrow” which genuinely was influential.  While doubtlessly Mr Mitchell opened a fridge only to get himself a beer when no woman was on hand to fetch one for him, he’d have thought women just the people to design how fridges should look.  Much later, there would be innovations in car design which women found genuinely helpful such as a hook on which a handbag could hang while remaining conveniently accessible and headrests which comfortably would accommodate a ponytail.

Six and the Single Girl, 1966.  Describing the Mustang's politely behaved six-cylinder engine as a "husky brute" might seem a stretch but it was rugged and dependable so maybe a case could be made.

What in the US did find a receptive audience among women was the new generation of smaller (the "compacts", "pony cars" & "intermediates") automobiles introduced in the early 1960s, women sensibly drawn to something smaller than the standard-size machine which after 1957 grew to an absurdly inefficient size (to which men would continue to be attracted until economic reality bit in the 1970s).  FoMoCo (Ford Motor Company) in 1966 took advantage of the shift in the tastes of some with its “Six and the Single Girl” campaign, promoting to a suddenly numerous sub-set of the female demographic the virtues of the six cylinder version of its Mustang which wildly had been successful since introduction in 1964.  That subset was “the young white women of the baby boom”; many had jobs which meant they had either the capital or credit rating required to buy a new car and the Mustang, stylish, small (in US terms) and affordable could have been designed with them in mind which, to some extent, it was.  Coincidently, at the time, FoMoCo was struggling to meet demand for V8-powered Mustangs but had the capacity to produce more sixes so in 1966 the planets aligned nicely and “Six and the Single Girl” played a part in stimulating demand, the fitment rate of the "six-pot" engine at times approaching 50%, the same phenomenon experienced by the main competition, the Chevrolet Camaro, introduced that year.  Because the survival rate of the era’s six-cylinder pony cars is so low, the general perception of the breed overwhelmingly is of V8-powered, tyre-smoking muscle cars but many were built as modest commuters (the so-called “secretary’s car”) purchased by those more interested a car’s gas (petrol) consumption than its ET (elapsed time) over a drag strip’s ¼ mile (400 metres).

Sex and the Single Girl: The first edition hardback published by Bernard Geis (1909–2001) had a plain cover with just the title in text (the “S1NGLE” was a gimmick) but after huge sales, the re-print rights were on-sold and some editions (including the 1963 paperback by Cardnal) featured pink-themed artwork.

In a form of “ambush marketing”, FoMoCo picked up “Six and the Single Girl” from the title of Sex and the Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown (1922–2012), a book which sold by the million (more quickly than even the Mustang managed) and spent more than a year on the NYT (New York Times) best seller list.  In a sense, Sex and the Single Girl was a product of pharmacological determinism, published as it was some two years after the first oral contraceptive pill (even then famously known as “the pill”) was approved for prescription use in the US by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).  Without women gaining some degree of autonomous control over their fertility, the premise of the book would have been absurd because as well as arguing the importance of them being financially independent of men, she advocated pre-marital sex, if need be with multiple partners and, obviously, without benefit of marriage.  Women with their own money was an idea subversive enough but the notion of unrestrained promiscuity upset the priests and politicians even more and although in the era a number of books (including Rachel Carson’s (1907–1964) Silent Spring (1962), Anthony Burgess’s (1917–1993) A Clockwork Orange (1962), William S. Burroughs’ (1914-1997) Naked Lunch (1962), Edward Albee’s (1928–2016) Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1962), Betty Friedan’s (1921–2006) The Feminine Mystique (1963) and James Baldwin’s (1924–1987) Another Country (1963)) appeared which appalled many in the conservative establishment, there was something about S&theSG which seemed especially threatening.  The protests of course made it a succès de scandale (from the French and literally “success from scandal”) which is the literary or artistic term encapsulating the dictum Dr Joseph Goebbels (1897-1945; Nazi Minister for Propaganda and Public Enlightenment 1933-1945) followed when dealing with the press in the difficult years before the party was handed power (like the consequences of Benito Mussolini's (1883-1945; Duce (leader) & Prime-Minister of Italy 1922-1943) "March on Rome" the Nazi's "seizure" of the state is something of a myth): “Let them abuse us and let them damn us but let them say something about us”, a variant of Oscar Wilde’s (1854–1900): “It doesn’t matter what people are saying about you as long as they’re saying something”.  Goebbels truly was evil but his point was well made and among a prolix crowd, he was succinct, the acerbic thumbnail sketches of his Nazi colleagues he noted in his diaries in some ways reveal in a few words as much about them as their inch-thick biographies.

Tussy Cosmetics promotion, 1966.

The Tussy Cosmetics company in 1966 offered three 1967 Mustangs as prizes for contest winners, each finished in a shade of pink which matched the lipsticks Racy Pink (“A pale pink”), Shimmery Racy Pink Frosted (“Shimmers with pearl”) & Defroster (“Pours on melting beige lights when you wear it alone, or as a convertible top to another lip color”).  The fate of the cars is unknown but nerds might note the three prizes were 1967 models while the model (as in the Mustang) in the advertisement was from the 1966 range.  That's because the advertising copy had to be made available before the embargo had been lifted on photographs of the 1967 range.  The men on Madison Avenue presumably dismissed the suggestions that might be what would now be called “deceptive and misleading” content with the familiar “she'll never know”.  Ten years on from Dodge’s La Femme debacle, old habits were dying hard.

Single girl Sydney Sweeney (b 1997) amply filling the cover of Cosmopolitan's “Love Edition”, January 2026.

When in 1965 of Helen Gurley Brown was appointed editor of the glossy women’s magazine Cosmopolitan, the title switched focus to a publication aimed almost exclusively at the emerging and growing demographic with disposable income in which FoMoCo would become interested.  In what proved a perfect conjunction: a target market with (1) economic independence, (2) social freedom, (3) an embryonic feminist awareness and (4) the birth control pill, the magazine thrived, surviving even the rush of imitators its success spawned.  It’s a bit of a long bow to suggest Cosmopolitan for decades reproduced variations of 1962’s best seller advice manual in a monthly, glossy package but clearly, there was a gap in the market and there were more similarities than differences.  The approach was a success but there was criticism.  Conservatives disliked the choices in photography and the ideas young women were receiving.  Second wave feminists were divided, some approved but others thought the themes regressive, a retreat from the overtly political agenda of the early movement into something too focused on fun and fashion, reducing women yet again to objects seeking male approbation.  FoMoCo, neutral on the squabbles, sold women six-cylinder Mustangs by the truckload, feminism's S&theSG and capitalism's 6&theSG proving symbiotic.

Eminence

Eminence (pronounced em-uh-nuhns)

(1) A position of superiority; high station, rank, or repute.

(2) The quality or state of being eminent; Prominence in a particular order or accumulation; esteem.

(3) In topography, a high place or part; a hill or elevation; height.

(4) As a color, a dark or deep shade of purple.

(5) In anatomy, a protuberance.

(6) In the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, a title used to address or refer to a cardinal (in the form “eminence”, “your eminence”, “his eminence” or “their eminences”).

(7) As “gray eminence” (the usual spelling of éminence grise), a “power behind the throne”.

1375–1425: From the late Middle English eminence (projection, protuberance (and by the early fifteenth century a “high or exalted position”)), from the Anglo-French, from the Old French eminence, from the Latin ēminēntia (prominence, protuberance; eminence, excellence; a standing out, a distinctive feature, most conspicuous part), the construct being equivalent to ēmin- (base of ēminēre (to stand out) + -entia (-ence) (the noun suffix), from eminentem (nominative eminens) (standing out, projecting (and figuratively “prominent, distinctive”)), from an assimilated form of the construct ex- (out) + -minere (related to mons (hill), from the primitive Indo-European root men- (to project).  The adjective eminent dates from the early fifteenth century and was used in the sense of “standing or rising above other places; exceeding other things in quality or degree” and was from the thirteenth century Old French éminent (prominent) or directly from the Latin eminentem.  From the 1610s, it came be used of those “distinguished in character or attainments”.  The noun pre-eminence (also as pre-eminence) was known as early as the twelfth century and then meant “surpassing eminence; superiority, distinction; precedence, a place of rank or distinction”.  It was from the Late Latin praeeminentia (distinction, superiority), from the Classical Latin praeeminentem (nominative praeeminens), the present participle of praeeminere (transcend, excel (literally “project forward, rise above”)) the construct being prae (before) + eminere (stand out, project).  The alternative for eminency is listed usually as archaic or obsolete.  Synonyms include conspicuousness, distinction, prominence, renown, celebrity, note & fame in the context of status and elevation or prominence when applied to topography.  Eminence & eminency are nouns, eminently is an adverb and eminent is an adjective (and a non-standard noun); the noun plural is eminences or eminencies.

The use in anatomy is to describe certain protuberances including (1) hypothenar eminence (plural hypothenar eminences) (the ulnar side of the human hand; the edge of the hand between the pinky and the outer side of the wrist, (2) ileocecal eminence (plural ileocecal eminences) (the ileocecal valve), (3) median eminence (plural median eminences) (part of the inferior boundary for the hypothalamus in the human brain and (4) frontal eminence (plural frontal eminences) (either of two rounded elevations on the frontal bone of the skull (known also as the “tuber frontale”).

Extract from xona.com's color list.

As a name for a deep or dark shade of purple, name eminence has been in regular use since the nineteenth century and there have always been variations in the shades so described; on the color charts of different manufacturers, this continues.  In digital use however, eminence as a shade of purple has been (more or less) standardized since 2001 when xona.com promulgated their influential color list.  Although “eminence” is the form of address for a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, it’s presumable this has no relationship with the color eminence because cardinals wear red and it’s the monsignors who don a purple which does look like the shade typically described as eminence.  As far as is known, the name “monsignor” has never been applied to any shade.  Monsignor is one of the honorary titles Popes for centuries granted to priests within their Papal Court and there were many degrees of these, conferred usually on priests worked closely with the Holy Father in Rome.  Over time, the use of monsignor was expanded and could be granted to priests beyond Rome on the recommendation of a bishop.  Recently, Pope Francis (b 1936; pope since 2013) has restricted this, returning to the older ways and this will have please some bishops, not all of whom were anxious to see too much purple in their diocese.  The monsignor’s purple (which most would probably call a magenta) was connected to the tradition in the Roman empire to vest new dignitaries with a purple toga and in medieval heraldry the color symbolized justice, regal majesty and sovereignty although not so much should be made of this in the context of the Vatican’s choices in ecclesiastical fashion: Originally, it was never envisaged monsignors would wander far from the Holy See.

Pope Francis (1936-2025; pope 2013-2025) passes the coffin (casket) at the funeral of Cardinal George Pell (1941-2023), St Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican, January 2023.

Within the Roman Curia (a place of Masonic-like plotting, intrigue and much low skulduggery), Cardinal Pell's nickname was “Pell Pot”, an allusion to Pol Pot (1925–1998, dictator of communist Cambodia 1976-1979) who announced the start of his regime was “Year Zero” and all existing culture and tradition must completely be destroyed and replaced.  

Until the sixteenth century bishops wore green and this use persists on the traditional coat of arms that each bishop chooses when elected.  In the 1500s, the switch was made to “amaranth red,” named after the amaranth flower although, despite the name, the actual hue is more like fuchsia but, being similar to a purple, church historians maintain there’s some symbolic value linking with the bishop being charged to govern his local diocese.  Technically, the Holy See describes the color worn by cardinals as “scarlet” and their eminences are described as “princes” of the church although part of the mystique of the place is that the red symbolizes the blood they’re all supposed to be prepared to spill to defend the pope.  When the Pope places the biretta (the hat with 3 or 4 stiffened corners worn as part of liturgical dress) on top of the cardinal’s head, he says, “(This is) scarlet as a sign of the dignity of the cardinalate, signifying your readiness to act with courage, even to the shedding of your blood, for the increase of the Christian faith, for the peace and tranquility of the people of God and for the freedom and growth of Holy Roman Church.”  As a title of honor within the church, eminence was in use as early as the 1650s although apparently since the 1720s, the honorific has been exclusive to cardinals.

Éminence écarlate and éminence grise: Cardinal Richelieu (1636), oil on canvas by Philippe de Champaigne (1602–1674) (left) and Engraving of Francois Leclerc du Tremblay (circa 1630) by an unknown artist.

The term gray eminence was from the French éminence grise, plural éminences grises or éminence grises (literally “grey eminence” and the French spelling is sometimes used in the English-speaking world).  It was applied originally to François Leclerc du Tremblay (1577–1638), also known as Père Joseph, a French Capuchin friar who was the confidant and agent of Cardinal Richelieu (1585–1642), the chief minister of France under Louis XIII (1601–1643; King of France 1610-1643).  The term refers to du Tremblay’s influence over the Cardinal (who bore the honorific of Eminence), and the colour of his habit (he wore gray).  Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) sub-titled his biography of Leclerc (L'Éminence Grise (1941)): A Study in Religion and Politics.  Huxley discussed the nature of both religion & politics, his purpose being to explore the relationship between the two and his work was a kind of warning to those of faith who are led astray by proximity to power.

Use of the term éminence grise suggests a shadowy, backroom operator who avoids publicity, operating in secret if possible yet exercising great influence over decisions, even to the point of being “the power behind the throne”.  In this a gray eminence differs from a king-maker or a svengali is that those designations are applied typically to those who operate in the public view, even flaunting their power and authority.  Probably the closest synonym of the gray eminence is a “puppet-master” because of the implication of remaining hidden, and although never seen, the strings they pull are if one looks closely enough.  The svengali was named for the hypnotist character Svengali in George du Maurier’s (1834–1896) novel Trilby (1894).  Svengali seduced, dominated and manipulated Trilby who was a young, half-Irish girl, transforming her into a great singer but in doing so he made her utterly dependent on him and this ruthlessly he exploited.

The brown eminence

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945) followed by his "brown eminence", Martin Bormann (1900–1945).

Bormann attached himself to the Nazi Party in the 1920s and proved diligent and industrious, rewarded in 1933 by being appointed chief of staff in the office of Rudolf Hess (1894–1987; Nazi Deputy Führer 1933-1941) where he first built his power base.  After Hess bizarrely flew to Scotland in 1941, Hitler abolished the post of Deputy Führer, assigning his offices to Bormann and styling him Head of the Parteikanzlei (Party Chancellery), a position of extraordinary influence, strengthened further when in 1943 he was appointed Personal Secretary to the Führer, a title he exploited to allow him to act as a kind of viceroy, exercising power in Hitler’s name.  Known within the party as the der brauner Schatten (the brown shadow) which was translated usually as “Brown Eminence” (an allusion to an éminence grise), he maintained his authority by controlling access to Hitler to whom his efficiency and dutifulness proved invaluable.  The "brown" refers to the Nazi's brown uniforms, a color adopted not by choice but because when the cash-strapped party in the 1920s needed uniforms for their Sturmabteilung (The SA, literally "Storm Division" or Storm Troopers and known as the "brownshirts"), what were available cheaply and in bulk was the stock of brown army clothing intended for use in the tropical territories the Germans would have occupied had they won World War I (1914-1918).  Bormann committed suicide while trying to make his escape from Berlin in 1945 although this wasn't confirmed until 1973.

Lindsay Lohan's inner eminence on film.

Lindsay Lohan (2011) by Richard Phillips & Taylor Steele.

Screened in conjunction with the 54^th international exhibition of the Venice Biennale (June 2011), Lindsay Lohan was a short film the director said represented a “new kind of portraiture.”  Filmed in Malibu, California, the piece was included in the Commercial Break series, presented by Venice’s Garage Center for Contemporary Culture and although the promotional notes indicated it would include footage of the ankle monitor she helped make famous, the device doesn't appear in the final cut.

At the festival, co-director Richard Phillips (b 1962) was interviewed by V Magazine and explained: “Lindsay has an incredible emotional and physical presence on screen.  “[She] holds an existential vulnerability, while harnessing the power of the transcendental — the moment in transition. She is able to connect with us past all of our memory and projection, expressing our own inner eminence.”

Directed by: Richard Phillips & Taylor Steele
Director of Photography: Todd Heater
Creative Director: Dominic Sidhu
Art Director: Kyra Griffin
Editor: Haines Hall
Color mastering: Pascal Dangin for Boxmotion
Music: Tamaryn & Rex John Shelverton
Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick

Boss

Boss (pronounced bos or baws)

(1) A person who employs or supervisors workers; a manager; a person in charge of a business or company.

(2) A politician who controls the party organization, as in a particular district (historically most associated with the Democrat & Republican party “machines” in US cities from the mid-nineteenth to the late twentieth centuries and notorious for devious, corrupt or illegal practices and still used in many countries where the US influence was strong, notably the Philippines.

(3) To be master of or over; manage; direct; control; to be a boss.

(4) To order about (used especially if conducted in an officious manner.

(5) To be too domineering and authoritative (often as “bossy”).

(6) To ornament with bosses; to emboss.

(7) In slang, first-rate; the best.

(8) In botany & zoology, a protuberance or roundish excrescence on the body or some internal organ of an animal or on a plant.

(9) In geology, a knob-like mass of rock, especially an outcrop of igneous or metamorphic rock, applied particularly to the uppermost part of an underlying batholith.

(10) An ornamental protuberance of metal, ivory, etc; a stud.

(11) In architecture, an ornamental, knob-like projection, as a carved keystone at the intersection of ogives.

(12) A stone roughly formed and set in place for later carving.

(13) In bookbinding, one of several pieces of brass or other metal inset into the cover of a book to protect the corners or edges or for decoration.

(14) In engineering, a small projection on a casting or forging appearing on a machine or fitting; an area of increased thickness, usually cylindrical, that strengthens or provides room for a locating device on a shaft, hub of a wheel etc

(15) In nautical use, a projecting part in a ship's hull or in one frame of a hull, fitting around a propeller shaft.

(16) In plumbing, to hammer (sheet metal, as lead) to conform to an irregular surface.

(17) In dialectal (northern English) use, a familiar name for a calf or cow.

(18) In dialectal (Scots) use, hollow.

(19) As the abbreviation BOSS, the Bureau of State Security; an apartheid-era branch of the South African security police which existed 1969-1980.

(20) In informal use (particularly in India and in Multicultural London English (MLE)), a term of address to a man, not of necessity related to employment, status or other relationships but also as an alternative of “guv” or “guvnor”.

(21) In video gaming, an enemy, often at the end of a level, that is particularly challenging and must be beaten in order to progress (from the Far East), from the Japanese ボス (bosu).  In Swedish, the related form is slutboss (the construct being slut (end) +‎ boss (boss) and synonymous with sista bossen).

(22) In (allegedly) humorous use, one’s wife.

(23) In archery, a target block (now constructed usually of hard foam but historically made of hay bales), to which a target face is attached.

(24) In building, a wooden vessel for the mortar used in tiling or masonry, hung by a hook from the laths, or from the rounds of a ladder.

(25) In hydrology, a head or reservoir of water.

(26) A hassock or small seat, especially made from a bundle of straw (obsolete).

1250–1300: From the Middle English bos, bose & boce, from the Anglo-French boce (lump, growth, boil), from the Old French boce (lump, bulge, protuberance, knot), from either the Frankish bottja or the (unattested) Vulgar Latin bottia, both of uncertain origin but probably related to the Italian bozza (metal knob, swelling) and the Proto-Germanic bautaną (to hit, strike, beat).  By the turn of the fifteenth century, it was used in the sense of “to swell out; to beat or press into a raised ornament” and by the 1620s as “to furnish with bosses”.  The word survives as the Modern French bosse.

The (highly nuanced) use to mean “a supervisor” dates from the 1640s and was a creation of US English, from the Dutch baas (master, foreman).  The Dutch baas was from the Middle Dutch baes (master of a household, friend), from the Old Dutch baso (uncle, kinsman), from the Proto-West Germanic baswō, from the Proto-Germanic baswô (uncle) which may have been from the Proto-Germanic ba- or bō- (father, older male relative), the source also of the English terms babe, boy, bub & bully. It was cognate with the Middle Low German bās (supervisor, foreman), the Old Frisian bas (master), hence the Saterland Frisian Boas (boss) and the Old High German basa (father's sister, cousin) from which German gained Base (aunt, cousin) (although not all etymologists are convinced there’s a link with the Old High German basa).  The etymology seems to suggest the word originally was a term of respect used to address an older male relative (usually an uncle but also even others considered “honorary uncles”).  Later, in New Amsterdam (the old name for New York), it came to mean “a person in charge who is not a master (in the legal sense of ownership) and the representation of the Dutch -aa- by the English -o- is attributed to the older, unrounded pronunciation of this letter, which remains prevalent in North America and parts of Ireland, but in the colonial era existed also in some British accents.  The Dutch form baas is in English from the 1620s as the standard title of a Dutch ship's captain and the rapid adoption in the US may have reflected the popularity of a word which avoided the slavery implications of “master”, something never necessary in England where the terms master & servant were included in legislation into the twentieth century.

Lindsay Lohan released the track Bossy in May 2008.  It was classified as electropop & dance-pop and was about a bolshie woman; it’s thus considered autobiographical.

The slang adjective meaning “excellent; first rate” was in use at least by the 1880s although it faded from use before being revived (perhaps independently) in the 1950s, in the slang of US youth and jazz musicians.  The adjective bossy was developed from the noun and in the 1540s meant “a swelling, projecting and rounded, decorated with bosses” The meaning “domineering, fond of ordering people about” was first noted in 1882.  The use as the Scots adjective meaning “hollow; empty” dates from the early sixteenth century and is of obscure origin.  The northern English dialectal form which was a familiar name for a cow or calf was first documented in 1844 and was from the earlier dialectal form buss (calf) which is of uncertain origin but is thought almost certainly from the Latin bōs cow (ox), from the primitive Indo-European root gwou- (ox, bull, cow).  The verb emboss (to ornament with raised work) dated from the late fourteenth century and was from the Old French embocer (and thus a similar form to embocieure (boss, stud, buckle), from an assimilated form of the construct en- (in, into) + boce (knoblike mass).  The synonyms, depending on context includes administrator, chief, chieftain, director, employer, executive, leader, owner, supervisor, capital, champion, fine, fly, top, controller (or comptroller), executive, foreman, foreperson, head, honcho, head honcho, overseer & superintendent.  Boss is a noun, verb & adjective, bosser & bossiness are nouns, bossed is a verb, bossing is a verb & adjective, bossily is an adverb and bossy is an adjective; the noun plural is bosses.

The Boss Mustangs

During the initial development phase in 1968-1969, the project code for Ford’s Boss Mustang programme was the bland “SKO” (Special Mustang, Kansas City Operation).  According to industry legend, secrecy was maintained by instructing the staff working to the prototype to respond to any questions about the vehicle by saying “it’s the boss’s car.”  Whether or not that’s true, it was the project's boss (the chief engineer) who suggested the “BOSS” name formerly be adopted as the official model designation and although the management team initially responded with restrained enthusiasm, the production cars emerged as 1969 models as the “Boss Mustang” and the response was so good it was continued for three seasons and the corporation has over the decades revived the name, both in the US and Australia.

1969 Ford Mustang Boss 302.

The first of the line was the Boss 302, introduced in 1969.  The Boss 302 existed solely to ensure Ford would have a competitive entry for the SCCA’s (Sports Car Club of America) Trans-Am series which was conducted in two classes, one for cars with engines up to 2.0 litres (122 cubic inch) and one with a five litre (305 cubic inch) limit, the Mustangs campaigned in the latter.  Ford had enjoyed early success in the series but Chevrolet’s Camaro had prevailed in 1968, its Z/28 package optimized for the road circuits on which the events were conducted and Ford’s initial response had been the “Tunnel Port” engine, developed with cylinder heads cleverly designed for top end power at the expense of just about everything else.  The tunnel ports certainly delivered the power but the high-revving engines proved chronically unreliable although the debate about whether this was a fundamental flaw in the design or some laxness in the preparation has never been resolved and their performance in competition over the decades since does suggest that if assembled and maintained with the appropriate care, they’re a robust unit.

1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302.

However, noting the care with which the Z/28 had been configured, Ford decided to follow their example and conceived the Boss 302 Mustang with a bucket of money in one hand and plans of the Trans-Am’s circuits in the other.  Added to the robust 302 cubic inch (4.9 litre) Windsor block were more modern cylinder heads with canted valves, emulating the approach adopted for the new Cleveland (335) series V8.  Unlike the highly strung tunnel ports, the Boss 302 had a wider power band and more low-speed torque, characteristics more suited to the race tracks.  To comply with the homologation rules, 1000 identical examples had to be sold but such was the demand 1628 were built, all fitted with the modifications to the brakes and suspension required to provide the basis of a successful race car.  Despite it all, the Camaro again won the series in 1969 but the Boss 302 returned to take the title in 1970 and that year's model proved even more popular with 7013 sold.

1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429.

The homologation of the Boss 302 for competition was a simple matter in that it was a complete package, as required under SCCA rules.  The Boss 429 Mustang was different in that it was only the engine which was required to be built is sufficient numbers, 500 required for them to be used on the NASCAR (National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing) ovals & circuits and with 850 built in 1969 (a further 500 1970 models following), the threshold was reached.  The Mustang was not used in the main NASCAR events but such was the symbiotic relationship between the sanctioning body and the manufacturers that Ford was granted permission separately to homologate the platform and the powerplant, the intermediate Torino Talladegas (actually to be used) with their aerodynamic enhancements produced in their run of 500 (which may or may not have been produced in time) but fitted with ordinary engines.  So cooperative was NASCAR that they even nudged their capacity limit to 430 cubic inches to accommodate Ford’s new engine which was just slightly larger than the previous 7 litre mark.  Ford's approach sounds needlessly complicated (as well as being expensive) but market research suggested that while demand would exist for at least 500 Boss 429 Mustangs, 500 Ford Torinos & Mercury Cyclones (the models actually used in NASCAR competition) with the big engine might be hard to shift.

Boss 429 in 1969 Mercury Cyclone, 1971 Daytona 500.

The decision was thus taken to put the Boss 429 in the pony car but it was not a simple task and one certainly not appropriate for Ford’s high volume, mass-production lines so the job was out-sourced to a third party which received a series of deliveries in two parts, (1) batches of complete cars and (2) crates containing engines.  The task was to remove the existing engine (to be returned to the factory), make the necessary modifications to the body and suspension, fit the Boss 429 and attend to all the small details which made the cars into regular production models.  The concept was simple but the wide engine wouldn’t fit without significant changes and although Ford never revealed how much of a loss it made on each Boss 429, estimates by "normally reliable sources" figured it in the low four figures (ie more than US$1000) per unit.  Still, they must have been pleased with the investment because the engine did the job in NASCAR and the aura surrounding the Boss 429 Mustang has grown over the years.  That however took a while because it wasn’t wholly suited to life on the street or the drag-strip and was at its happiest only when on a racetrack at full throttle, breathing in through a very big carburetor and out through free-flowing tubular headers.  On the street, the problem was the same as that which plagued the tunnel port 302: the huge intake ports meant a lack of low-speed responsiveness (ie low-speed torque) because there was insufficient pressure for the fuel/air mix.  The professionals however learned quickly, the pioneers of the then still novel business of turbo-charging finding the Boss 429 took to forced aspiration like few others.

The one-off, mid-engined Mustang Boss 429 (left) and the adapted drivetrain package (right).  Unusually (although in 1969 anything mid-engined was "unusual"), the gearbox was in front of the engine with the differential behind, the same arrangement which two years later Lamborghini would display when the prototype Countach LP500 made its debut at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show.   

One quirky footnote in Boss 429 statistics is that although the orthodoxy is all were fitted with four-speed manual gearboxes, three were built with Ford's C6 automatic transmission.  One was a "proof of concept" mid-engined car which is believed to have been crushed once the evaluation was process was complete while the other two were part of a fleet of seven (the other five powered by the 428 CobraJet engine) built for the "1970 Military Performance Tour", a program run in response to the alarming finding the death toll of soldiers buying muscle cars after returning from tours of duty in Vietnam was close to battlefield losses.  One of the automatic Boss 429 Mustangs survived and the unique machine is still in private hands.  The mid-engined car was built under the program code LID (Low-Investment Drive-train), an allusion to things being done "on the cheap", using as many off-the-shelf components as possible.  As a car, the thing worked well but despite the weight-distribution shifting from a nose-heavy 60/40 (front-rear) to 40/60, surprisingly, there was no significant improvement in performance.       

1971 Ford Mustang Boss 351.

Times had changed by 1971.  It was obvious to all the crazy era of the muscle cars was in its last days and both the Boss 302 and 429 were retired, the tasks of homologation done.  There was however a Boss 351 Mustang, a machine with no pretensions to any real link with competition although it was dressed up to look the part.  A development of Ford's 335 (Cleveland) series, it's an engine at which the purists have sometimes looked askance because it lacked the comprehensive lubrication system enjoyed by the Windsor which underlay the Boss 302s but for street use it's certainly more than adequate.  The lack of pedigree has meant the Boss 351 has never enjoyed the stellar reputation of its predecessors and its lines doubtlessly contributed to that, the new body bigger and heavier, lacking the litheness of the earlier years.  Even when standing still however the thing undeniably had a presence although the dramatic roofline (Ford called this implementation of the fastback motif the "sportsroof" and, with its correctly executed "Kammback", the claims to aerodynamic efficiency are plausible) did restrict rearward visibility, the glass close to horizontal.  Testing one in 1971, Car & Driver magazine observed: "It's like sitting in a bunker; You can hardly see out. The windows are gun slits, the belt line comes up almost to your chin and the nearly horizontal rear deck and wide roof pillars block off all but a shallow field of vision directly to the rear. You have a poor view of the road ahead of you as well. The long, level front fenders and the bulged up hood, block off an enormous area immediately in front of the car, and right turns, particularly those onto a section of road that falls away, are virtually blind."

1971 Ford Mustang Boss 351.

It may not have enjoyed the racing history of the Boss 302 or possessed the thoroughbred lineage of the Boss 429 but lurking behind all the thunder, the Boss 351 ranks with the best of the Chrysler 340s as one of the most under-estimated street engines of the era.  A glance at the specification sheet would certainly have impressed because the big valves and ports were serviced by a solid-lifter camshaft which provided more lift than anything in the industry apart from the duo of 427 cubic inch (7.0 litre) V8s (the L88 (1968 & 1969) and all aluminum ZL1 (1969)) which could be ordered in the Corvette and Chevrolet cautioned neither was "recommended for street use" (ie they were meant for drag strips and race tracks).  The Boss 351 wasn't that extreme and appeared in advertisements, unlike the the L88 which rated only a few words in the small print of the brochure while the ZL1 wasn't even mentioned, Chevrolet correctly concluding anyone who would buy such a thing already knew about it and those who did not would never buy one.  At the time, testers were impressed with Boss 351's performance, noting it could run with machines fitted with engines sometimes 100 cubic inches (1.6 litres) larger while at the same time delivering a better driving experience, the smaller, lighter weight over the front wheels making it rather more nimble although that phrase was relative; the Boss 351 was no Lotus Elan.  The engine technically was Ford’s short-lived 351 HO which in 1972 would be detuned for a final (non-Boss) season before falling victim to the increasingly restrictive emission regulations but demand was anyway falling; having sold over 7000 Boss 302s in 1970, only 1806 Boss 351s were made.  Things would get worse for the Mustang before they got better.