Fix (pronounced fiks)
(1) To repair or mend; to rectify a fault.
(2) To put in order or in good condition; to adjust or
arrange.
(3) To make fast, firm, or stable; to place definitely
and permanently.
(4) To settle definitely; to determine (place, value etc);
to make rigid; to mount or secure in place.
(5) To direct (the eyes, one’s attention, one’s gaze etc)
steadily; To attract and hold (the eye, one’s attention, one’s gaze etc).
(6) To put into permanent form.
(7) To put or place the responsibility or blame for
something upon a person or institution.
(8) To assign or refer to a definite place, time, event etc.
(9) To provide or supply with something needed or wanted,
especially popular in narcotics transactions; the quantity supplied in that
transaction; to inject oneself with a narcotic.
(10) In informal us, to arrange or influence the outcome
or action of, especially privately or dishonestly (juries, sporting events,
stock prices etc).
(11) To prepare a meal, snack, drink etc.
(12) In informal use, to put in a condition or position
to make no further trouble.
(13) In informal use, to get even with; to visit
vengeance upon (often as “fix right up).
(14) In informal use, to castrate an animal (used usually
of domestic pets).
(15) In slang, to prepare or plan (followed usually by an
infinitive as in “fixing to go”, (mostly US, south of the Mason-Dixon Line).
(16) In informal use, a position from which it is
difficult to escape; a dilemma; a predicament (typically “in a fix”).
(17) In informal use, a repair, adjustment, or solution,
usually of an immediate nature (sometimes in the form “quick & dirty fix”,
expressed also in IT as “a Q&D”).
(18) In navigation, a charted position of a vessel or
aircraft, determined by two or more bearings taken on landmarks, GPS location,
stars etc.
(19) In navigation, the determining of the position of a
ship, plane etc, by mathematical, electronic, or other means.
(20) A clear determination (often as “get a fix on”).
(21) A compulsively sought dose or infusion of something
(such as “one’s morning caffeine fix”).
(22) In slang, a euphemism for the state of pregnancy (such
as “she’s fixed-up”).
(23) In chemistry, to make stable in consistency or
condition; reduce from fluidity or volatility to a more stable state.
(24) In photography, to render (an image) permanent by
removing light-sensitive silver halides; in digital imaging, any form or
correction.
(25) In microscopy, to kill, make rigid, and preserve for
microscopic study.
(26) In cytology to kill, preserve, and harden tissue, cells
etc for subsequent microscopic study.
(27) In industrial production, to convert atmospheric
nitrogen into nitrogen compounds, as in the manufacture of fertilizers or the
action of bacteria in the soil.
(28) In biology, to convert carbon dioxide into organic
compounds, especially carbohydrates, as occurs in photosynthesis in plants and
some microorganisms.
(29) In foreign exchange (forex) trading, a benchmark
exchange rate used to settle or fix the value of certain financial instruments
or transactions.
1350–1400: From the Middle English fixen, from the Middle French fixer
or the Medieval Latin fixāre, from
the Latin fixus (fixed), past
participle of fīgere (to fasten). The sense of “to repair” may first have been
used in the US in the eighteenth century but the first recorded used in England
was in the early 1800s although, in the way of such things, it’s likely already
to have been in oral use for some time.
The use to mean “to prepare” to plan ” is a uniquely American use, now heard
mostly south of the Mason-Dixon Line (“feel like I’m fixing to die” etc)
although linguistic anthropologists note that until the mid twentieth century was
a common form throughout the US eastern seaboard states. Forms (sometimes hyphenated) like overfix,
defix & refix are created as required and fixt (an archaic form of fixed) is still sometimes used in SMS messaging,
advertising etc. Fix & fixer are
nouns & verbs, fixed, fixated & fixing are verbs, fixable is an
adjective, fixative is a noun & adjective and fixability, fixer, fixator
& fixation are nouns; the noun plural is fixes.
Depending on the context the synonyms can include dilemma,
plight, quandary, mess, install, secure, set, settle, stabilize, define,
establish, limit, resolve, solve, specify, work out, adjust, correct, overhaul,
patch, rebuild, regulate, amend, fasten, stabilize. In idiomatic use the word often appears. To “fix someone right up” means to visit vengeance
upon them (including killing them, sometime on behalf of others). A “fix up” can mean (1) wrongly to implicate
someone in a crime or other wrong-doing, (2) corruptly to interfere with a
jury, the outcome of a sporting event, the operation of a market, the level of
an interest-rate etc. “Been fixed up”
can refer to a young lady with child (in or out of wedlock), often with the
implication the state may be unplanned or undesired. To say “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” is
cautionary advice hinting that if something functionally fulfils its purpose,
attempting to improve it may make things worse.
To be in a fix (often as “a bit of a fix”) is to find one’s self in a position
from which it is difficult to escape; a dilemma; a predicament. For someone to be “a fixture” is to be
seemingly a permanent part of something (a squad, a sporting team etc); it’s
used also of institutions. The
“fixer-upper” is something (typically a house or car) in dilapidated condition
but usually still in a fit state to inhabit, drive etc so thus suitable for
those able to make their own repairs.
Finger fix: In October 2016, during an Aegean cruise, Lindsay Lohan suffered a finger injury. In this nautical incident, the tip of one digit was severed by the boat's anchor chain but details of the circumstances are sketchy. It may be that upon hearing the captain give the command “weigh anchor”, she decided to help but, lacking any background in admiralty terms and phrases, misunderstood the instruction. The detached piece was salvaged from the deck and soon re-attached by a micro-surgeon ashore. Digit and the rest of the patient apparently made a full recovery and despite the gruesome injury Ms Lohan later managed to find husband and recently announced she’s “fixed up” in the sense of being with child so all’s well that ends well.
The human race has a long tradition of fixing broken
stuff but in the twentieth century manufacturers devoted much attention to try
to dissuade consumers from fixing things, preferring instead they purchase a
new one. The origins of this were
identified by historians in the inter-war years (1918-1939) but the economic
conditions of the 1930s limited the effects and it was in the long economic
boom of the post-war years that the trend developed in conjunction with the
concept of “planned obsolescence”, the beginnings of an era in which it became
typically less expensive to replace a broken something than have it fixed, a
phenomenon influenced by factors such as increasing unit labor costs, the
substitution of parts made from metal, wood, leather etc with plastics and
designs deliberately intended to make fixes difficult to effect. In recent years, particularly in the field of
consumer electronics, the tricks have included “sealing for life” (said to be a
water-proofing measure) and the use of screws or other fasteners which can be
opened only with a special tool (either unavailable to the public or sold as a
prohibitively expensive part-number).
One interesting reaction to this has been the “right to repair”
movement, an on-line cooperative community which publishes manuals, repair
guides and tricks & tips for those who wish to fix.
Fluctuations: Eurodollar LIBOR rates 1 July 1989-28 April 2023 (chart by FedPrimeRate.com). The LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) is the average interest rate at which (a basket of major) banks borrow funds from other banks in the London market (as defined). Globally, the daily LIBOR fix is a widely used benchmark (or reference) rate for short term interest rates.
In foreign exchange (forex) trading, the term “a fix” most
often used to refer to a benchmark exchange rate used to settle (or fix) the
value of certain financial instruments or transactions and it’s commonly heard in
the context of determining the daily or hourly exchange rates for major
currency pairs. The rate is used as a
standard for settling various transactions, such as corporate hedging,
portfolio valuation, or derivatives contracts and there are also interest-rate
fixes such as the LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) which gained infamy following
revelations of the insider-trading some used to manipulate to point at which it
was fixed. Reflecting the city’s history
as a financial centre, the “London 4 pm fix” (known also as the “WM/Reuters” or
“London” fix) is probably still the best-known daily fix; used as a benchmark
against which many forex-related instruments are valued, it’s calculated from
the aggregate of physical trades executed during a specific time-window and, as
the name implies, that’s usually some defined period either side of 16:00 London
time. As a general principle fixes are
set by aggregating and averaging the transactional traffic generated by major
banks and financial institutions which, in theory, should ensure a fair and
transparent process but there have been instances of malpractice (of which the
one associated with the LIBOR was merely the most publicized) which have seen
fines imposed and regulatory scrutiny increased. The principle of the fix as used in forex
markets is typical but in other areas of finance, the mechanisms can differ.
The colonial fix
The term “colonial fix” is used to describe the various
trick and techniques the European colonial powers used to maintain and extend
control in their empires, all of which, sometimes for centuries, used a
relative handful of personnel to rule over millions and the best remembered are
those practiced under the Raj. Raj
refers to British rule in India prior to 1947 (historians debate just when it
can be said to have begun because the project predated the legal construct
which formalized things in 1858-1859 although some, for convenience, have
applied it to the whole empire. Raj was
a proprialisation of the Hindi noun raj
(reign, rule), from the Hindustani राज & راج (rāj), (reign, rule; empire, kingdom; country, state; royalty), from
the Pali & Prakrit rajja, from the Sanskrit राज्य (rājyá) (empire,
kingdom, realm; kingship, royalty, sovereignty; country), from rājati (he rules), ultimately from the
primitive Indo-European h₃reǵ- (to right or straighten
oneself; to govern, rule; just; right (with
derivatives meaning “to direct in a straight line” and thus “to lead, to rule”)), source also of the German Reich.
A classic colonial fix was the Great Council of Chiefs (Bose Levu Vakaturaga) in Fiji which the British administrators created in 1878. While it's true that prior to European contact, there had been meetings between tribal chiefs (turaga) to settle disputes and for other purposes, all the evidence suggests they were ad-hoc appointments with little of the formality, pomp and circumstance the British introduced. Still, it was a successful institution which the chiefs embraced, apparently with some enthusiasm because the cloaks and other accoutrements they adopted for the occasion became increasingly elaborate and it was a generally harmonious form of indigenous governance which enabled the British to conduct matters of administration and policy-making almost exclusively through the chiefs. The council survived even after Fiji gained independence from Britain in 1970 until it was in 2012 abolished by the military government of Commodore Frank Bainimarama (b 1954; prime minister of Fiji 2007-2022), as part of reform programme said to be an attempt to reduce ethnic divisions and promote a unified national identity. The commodore's political future would be more assured had he learned lessons from the Raj.
Colonial fixes took many forms, all designed to “fix” some tiresome local problem but they really can be reduced to two themes: (1) In any dispute between factions/tribes/families etc in the local population, always back the weakest, politically and militarily and (2) the most effective and efficient method of control is to align with a recognized and accepted local elite and strengthen their authority and status (knighthoods, visits to London to meet the queen, their own Rolls-Royce etc). The idea of the colonial fix comes to mind when watching the squabble going on in Australia about the creation of a “Voice”, a institution of some kind (the structure uncertain, the details unclear) which would provide representatives (elected somehow, the details unclear) of the indigenous peoples of the continent (First Nations) now the preferred term) with a mechanism whereby they can make submissions to both the national parliament and executive government (where that begins and ends undefined, the details unclear) about matters which in any way involve or affect indigenous peoples (which is presumably everything, the details are unclear). There will be a national referendum on the Voice late in 2023, required because of the desire to include the institution in the constitution. That’s the only way to amend the constitution and the success rate of such referenda is low, only 8 of the 44 submitted gaining the necessary “double majority” of an absolute majority of “yes” votes nationally and a majority in each of the six states. Because of the distribution of population, it’s possible to succeed in one but not the other in which case the proposal is rejected. If the details of what’s proposed remain unclear, it’s possible still to predict the likely form a Voice will assume.
In the abstract it’ll be something like feminism in that
most of the benefits will accrue to a small, urban, educated elite. In the same way most female CEOs don’t give a
lot of thought (or a pay rise) to the working-class women who serve their
coffee and empty their trash bins compared with their efforts to secure quotas
for women to be appointed to corporate boards, be given winnable seats in
legislatures or seats in cabinet, those who serve on the voice will be most
interested in cementing their own power and status and the most disadvantaged
among the indigenous can expect little.
The phrase “First Nations” at least partly explains the dynamics of this
because viewed from the comfort of the Voice, they’ll appear as inconveniently disparate
as Karl Marx (1818-1883) found peasants who he compared to a sack of potatoes:
“all the same, yet all different”.
Although the word is no longer fashionable (and is probably proscribed),
the structure of the First Nations remains that of competing tribes with
interests and priorities which sometimes conflict with others and the Voice
cannot simultaneously advocate for both.
At that point, the government will back the weakest. Practically, it will be a bureaucracy which
the government will be sure richly to endow with the trappings of office (big
cars, fancy titles, much business class travel and a dutiful secretariat which
will produce mountains of reports few will read and those who do will ignore).
Quite why there’s such agitation in certain right-wing
circles against the Voice is curious because the very existence of the body
seems likely only to be one of their assets.
Although some are cautious, the constitutional lawyers have taken the
view that there’s nothing in the amendment which would require a
parliament or government to act upon the submissions a Voice might make, it
saying only that the right to make them exists; they need to be heard and can
be acted upon or ignored on a case-by-case basis. Nor does there seem great potential that the
Voice could seek judicial review if their proposals are declined although
presumably the possibility does exist if a case can be made that the Voice is
not even being listened to. The concern
about appeals to the courts was based on an earlier period in the life of the
High Court of Australia (HCA; the nation’s final court of appeal which might
in matters involving the relationship between the voice and the parliament
& government be a court of first instance) when some judges were inclined
to find that although some concepts weren’t written in the constitution, there
was a construction under which they could be said to be “implied” and the court
could thus proceed as if they were ink on paper. That moment of judicial activism seems now to
have passed although, even if it reappears, it would be quite a leap for a
court to find a parliament or government is compelled to adopt a recommendation
of an advisory body. At the most, they
would probably require a process which indicates the matter has been duly
considered. For the right-wing fanatics,
the run-up to the vote has actually started well. Already there’s dissention among the
self-appointed elite of the First Nations, the view of the dominant faction
being there’s only one permissible view and anyone who dares to express another
view must be put down. Politically that
makes sense but it’d be better done behind closed doors. Hopefully, the referendum will pass with a substantial
majority so political junkies can enjoy watching the shark-feeding which will
follow. Unfortunately for the most
disadvantaged of the indigenous peoples, the latest generations of those who
have been marginalized and appallingly treated since white settlement, they can
expect that a decade hence, things are likely to be much the same. Still for those who can hop aboard the Voice gravy
train, there’ll be expense accounts, five-star hotels and celebrity status when
addressing the United Nations (UN) General Assembly so there’s that.
