Guinea

Guinea (pronounced guin-ee)

(1) In geography, a coastal region in western Africa, extending from the Gambia River to the Gabon estuary.

(2) As Republic of Guinea (since 1958), an independent state in western Africa, on the Atlantic coast, formerly French Guinea, a part of the French colonial empire.

(3) In geography, as the Gulf of Guinea, a part of the Atlantic Ocean that projects into the western coast of Africa and extends from Côte d'Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) to The Gabonese Republic (the Gabon).

(4) A gold coin of Great Britain issued from 1663 to 1816, with a nominal value of 20 shillings until 1717 when, until the adoption of decimal currency in 1971, it was standardised at a value of twenty-one shillings.

(5) In horse racing, a person who does miscellaneous work in or around a horse stable (initial lower case).

(6) In historic admiralty use, as guinea-men, a trading ship of the seventeenth century used in the Atlantic trade.

1663: The coin was in use between 1663-1816, the name derived from it being the colony of Guinea which provided most of the gold used in its production.  Descendants include the Irish gine, the Scottish Gaelic gini, the Spanish guinea and the Welsh gini.  It’s also the basis for the Arabic word for the Egyptian pound الجنيه el-Genēh / el-Geni, calculated as 100 qirsh (one pound) and, circa 1900, worth approximately 21 shillings.  The guinea was, predictably, part of the British class system.  It was thought more gentlemanly than the pound so the artist would pay for his paint and canvas in pounds but charge for his portraits in guineas.  One quirk of the valuation was that a third of a guinea equaled exactly seven shillings, thirds and things in sevens highly unusual in currencies until the planet’s only $7 banknote was issued by the Central Bank of Fiji to commemorate the gold medal the rugby sevens team won at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.  There was no currency symbol for the guinea, 1 guinea written either a “1g” or “1gn”.

The name of the colony Guinea (since 1958 the Republic of Guinea) came from the Portuguese word Guiné, a fifteenth century formation created to describe the geographical area inhabited by the Guineus, a generic term for the black African peoples south of the Senegal River (and thus distinguished from the "tawny" Zenaga Berbers to the north whom the Portuguese called Azenegues or Moors).  Some sources also cite a connection to the (north African) Tuareg word aginaw (black people).  New Guinea was named in 1546 by the Spanish explorer Inigo Ortiz de Retes in reference to the natives' dark skin and tightly curled hair and the Guinea hen is a domestic fowl first imported from there in the 1570s.

Linguistically, the guinea pig must have seemed as strange to geographers and biologists as the Holy Roman Empire appeared to Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet; 1694–1778) for it does not come from Guinea and is unrelated to any pig.  A rodent native to South America, beginning in the 1660s, it was brought back to Britain aboard Guinea-men, ships that plied the triangle trade routes between England, Guinea, and South America.  That’s the standard view of the origin of the name but there are alternative etymologies, one suggesting a link to its resemblance to the young of the Guinea-hog "river pig" and another from possibly illiterate sailors confusing Guinea with the South American region of Guyana.  All agree however that it came to be dubbed a pig because of the similarity of its grunting sounds to its unrelated porcine namesake.  The use "one subjected to an experiment" dates from 1920, the adoption (al la lab rat) because they were a favorite animal for animal experimentation in science and industry.

A one guinea coin (1663, Charles II (1630–1685; King of Scotland 1649-1651, King of Scotland, England and Ireland 1660-1685)).

The guinea was a coin of approximately one quarter ounce of gold, issued in Great Britain between 1663 and 1816.  It was the first English machine-struck gold coin and was originally worth one pound sterling (twenty shillings) but rises in the price of gold relative to silver caused the value of the guinea to increase and reach as much as thirty shillings and between 1717-1816, its value was officially fixed at twenty-one shillings and when the gold standard was adopted, guinea became a colloquial or specialised term although it continued as a measure of exchange.  In the great recoinage of 1816, the guinea was replaced as the major unit of currency by the pound and in coinage with a sovereign.

A one guinea promissory note issued 2 May 1796.

Even after the coin ceased to circulate, the name guinea was long used to indicate the amount of one pound and one shilling.  The guinea had an aristocratic overtone; professional fees and payment for land, horses, art, bespoke tailoring, furniture and other luxury items are still sometimes quoted in guineas even after decimalisation in 1971, the practice continued also in Australia and New Zealand even after they decimalized in 1966 & 1967 respectively although transactional use soon died in the antipodes.  In England and Wales, it’s still quoted in the pricing and sale of livestock at auction and racehorses, where the purchaser will pay in guineas but the seller will receive payment in an equal number of sterling. The difference (5p in each guinea (£1.05=105p)) is traditionally the auctioneer's commission (which thus is the usual 5% buyer's fee typically levied at auctions).  Many major horse races in Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and Australia bear names such as The Thousand Guineas although though the purse will be much higher and may even be in a foreign currency.

Raffish (left) vs respectable (right): 1963 Jaguar Mk 2 3.8.  (Stg£1561 including purchase tax) and 1963 Daimler 2.5 V8 (Stg£1568 including purchase tax).  The Jaguar was produced between 1959-1969 but the 3.8 litre engine was in 1967-1968 available only to special order, the 3.4 continuing until 1968 while the 2.4 (by then badged 240) was made until 1969 because price reductions had made it the "bargain basement Jaguar" and demand was strong.  The Daimler was made between 1962-1969 and with almost 18,000 sold, it remains the marque's most-produced model.

It's apparently an urban myth that raffish Jaguars were advertised in pounds while prices for the similar but somehow more respectable Daimlers were listed in guineas.  Historical records do suggest there were dealers who advertised prices in guineas but it was rare and they seem to have done it for everything they sold.  The factory listed both only in £Stg.  The addition of the lively 220 bhp 3.8 litre XK-six engine to the Mark 2 on what was a dated chassis meant that on the road it could sometimes be a little too entertaining but in early 1960s saloon car racing it was dominant for years until rendered uncompetitive by the new generation of “total performance” fast Fords, the 427 Galaxie, the Lotus Cortina and later the Mustang.  One of the classic engines of the era, the jewel-like, Daimler's 2½ litre hemi-head V8 lent an air of refinement and exclusivity to the small Jaguar.  Remarkably, the performance almost matched the Jaguar 3.4 and it’s remembered too for the quality of the exhaust note, a burble which for over sixty years, few have matched.  The Daimler (in 1967 renamed V8-250 when the Mark 2 range was revised and (sort of) rationalized) was Jaguar's rare intelligent use of one of the two V8 engines it gained upon absorbing Daimler in 1960 but both the 2½ & 4½ litre versions were under-utilized because of Jaguar's corporate fixation on six and twelve cylinder powerplants, something which doomed the big Mark X (1961-1970 and in 1967 renamed 420G) which would probably have been a great success in the US market if so equipped. 

Connecticut Humane Society employee Rachel McCabe in 2012 introducing guinea pigs Britney Spears & Lindsay Lohan who were in need of a good home but couldn't be separated.  On X (then known as Twitter), what the tweeters wanted to know was: "What became of Paris Hilton?" 

The point about them not being separated was serious, Switzerland even having passed a law that people are not permitted to own a single guinea pig (or parrot), the rationale being they're a social species and it's thought a form of animal abuse if they're not able regularly to interact with others of their species.  Curious and inquisitive by nature, guinea pigs are timid explorers who become very attached to both their partners & owners and Swiss law further provides that if one dies, the survivor must be provided with a new friend.  That can be as much a challenge as it is for humans to find a mate which is why Swiss animal lover Priska Küng runs a matchmaking service for guinea pigs who find themselves alone.  The service is said to be “in high demand”.

Deep fried: Cuy Peruano (Peruvian Guinea Pig) with roast potato, corn, red onion salad and salsa.

What can be assumed is Ms McCabe would not with favour have responded to enquiries about Lindsay & Britney had the source been identified as a restaurant specializing in South American cuisine.  Peruvians rarely keep guinea pigs as pets but are most familiar with them on restaurant menus as picante de cuy, a delicacy often served with potatoes and salsa and known to have been a part or regional cuisine since Inca times.  The ones which appear on plates are not wild-caught creatures, being reared in captivity purely for food, most production undertaken by farmers (large-scale and small) in the Andes Mountains.  Most often roasted or fried, it’s said, like many meats, to taste something like chicken, critics usually describing the Cuy Peruano (Peruvian Guinea Pig) as having a deeper, “fattier” flavour, some using the familiar term “gamey”.  The unfortunate rodents are ideal for chefs because, weighing-in typically between 0.5-1.2 kg (1-2.5 lb) and with a length between 200-400 mm (8-16 inches), the equipment required and techniques used in preparation are much the same as for chicken.

The dish is served also in Ecuador and Bolivia and can be found (most often as cuy asado (roasted guinea pig) in outlets in US cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Miami where there’s a sizable community of South American origin.  However, although low in fat & cholesterol, high in protein and nutritionally above average, most folk in the West are for reasons of cultural association unlikely to be persuaded to try one, the little creatures thought of by most as their daughter’s friendly pet, the same sort of connection which makes most appalled at the idea of eating cats, dogs or even horses although there’s a long history of consumption of the latter in parts of Europe.  Peruvian chefs advising that while the intestines are removed, the head is edible and for many said to be “their favourite part” probably doesn’t add to the attraction.  What meat delights some and appals others is a product of history, culture and sometimes religious tradition.  Most in the West would think it dreadful to eat cats, dogs and guinea pigs whereas for Hindus the cow is sacred and for Jews and Muslims the meat from pigs is proscribed, the latter restriction dating from old Jewish rules (from the pre-refrigeration and preservation age) which were essentially a “food safety code”, shellfish also banned.  Those rules were based on experience of what foods were most prone to inducing illness but in time became articles of religious observance.

Loop

Loop (pronounced loop)

(1) A portion of a cord, ribbon, etc., folded or doubled upon itself so as to leave an opening between the parts; the opening so formed.

(2) Anything shaped more or less like a closed curve, as a line drawn on paper, a part of a letter or other symbol, a part of a path, or a line of motion.

(3) A curved piece or a ring of metal, wood, or the like, used for the insertion of something, as a handle, etc.

(4) In clinical slang, an intrauterine device (IUD), so named for the “loop” shape.

(5) In aeronautics, a maneuver executed by an airplane in such a manner that the airplane describes a closed curve in a vertical plane.

(6) In urban mass-transportation, a circular area at the end of a trolley line, railroad line etc, where cars turn around; (transport); a public transport (bus, rail, tram etc) route that starts and ends at the same point.

(7) In highway design, an arm of a cloverleaf where traffic may turn off or onto a main road or highway.

(8) In road design, a ring road or beltway.

(9) In physics, the part of a vibrating string, column of air or other medium, etc, between two adjacent nodes.

(10) In electricity, a closed electric or magnetic circuit.

(11) In computing, the reiteration of a set of instructions in a routine or program (which can be intentional or an error); a sequence of instructions repeated until or while a particular condition is satisfied.

(12) In biological science, a wire, usually of platinum, one end of which is curved to form a loop, used for transferring microorganisms from one medium to another.

(13) In biochemistry, a flexible region in a protein's secondary structure.

(14) A sandbar enclosing (or nearly enclosing) a body of water.

(15) In figure skating, a school figure in which a skater traces a large half circle, a small oval within its arc, and another large half circle to complete the figure while remaining on the same skating edge.

(16) As “The Loop”, the main business centre in the CBD of Chicago, Illinois.

(17) A small or narrow opening in a wall; a loophole (archaic).

(18) In metalworking, a hot bloom of pasty consistency, to be worked under a hammer or in rolls (the old alternative spelling was loup (mass of iron)).

(19) In graph theory, an edge that begins and ends on the same vertex.

(20) In topology, a path that starts and ends at the same point.

(21) In algebra, a quasi-group with an identity element.

(22) In North American use, a sports league (now rare).

(23) In dactylography (the study of fingerprints), one of the three primary shapes assumed by the ridges (arches, loops, and whorls).  (Dermatoglyphics is the broader scientific study of the patterns of ridges on the fingers, palms, toes, and soles).

(24) To form into a loop.

(25) To make a loop in.

(26) To enfold or encircle in or with something arranged in a loop.

(27) To fasten by forming into a loop, or by means of something formed into a loop (often followed by up).

(28) In ballistics, to cause a missile or projectile to trace a looping or loop-like trajectory while in flight.

(29) To fly an airplane in a loop or series of loops.

(30) In electronics, to connect conductors in the shape of a loop within a closed electric or magnetic circuit.

(31) In film, television etc production, to complete by recording dialogue, sound effects, etc onto an existing film track or soundtrack; an endless strip of tape or film allowing continuous repetition.

(32) In zoology, to move by forming loops (certain worms, caterpillars etc).

1350–1400: From the Middle English loupe & loup (loop of cloth; loophole; noose), from the earlier lowp-knot (loop-knot), of North Germanic origin, from the Old Norse hlaup (a run), used in the sense of “a running knot”, from hlaupa (to leap), ultimately from the Proto-Germanic hlaupaną (to leap, run) (and related to the Swedish löp-knut (loop-knot), the Danish løb-knude (a running knot) and the Danish løb (a course)..Etymologists are divided over whether loop has any connection with the Middle Irish & Old Irish lúb (bend, fold, loop) and perhaps akin to “leap”; nor is it clear if there was any relationship with the Middle Dutch lūpen (lie in wait, peep, peer).  The special use in metalworking dates from 1665-1675 and was etymologically unrelated; it was from the French loupe, a special use of loupe (wen, knob, gnarl), ultimately from a Germanic source.  The verb was derived from the noun.  Loop & looping are nouns & verbs, looper is a noun, looped is a verb & adjective and loopable & loopy are adjectives; the noun plural is loops.

Inner hippie: Lindsay Lohan likes the peace sign and made it her signature gesture but in an age when high definition photography makes possible, even at a distance, the precise capturing of the arches, loops, and whorls of fingerprints, it’s now a potential risk.  AI (artificial intelligence) engines are now reported as achieving a success rate in excess of 50% in generating fake fingerprints so accurately they can “fool” biometric scanners.

As an acronym, LOOP can mean (1) loss of offsite power, (2) Listed on Other Page (online marketplaces), (3) Law of One Price (finance; economic theory) and Long-Range Open Ocean Patrol (admiralty jargon).  In dactylography (the study of fingerprints), the three primary shapes assumed by the ridges (arches, loops, and whorls) were first formerly defined in 1880.  It was first used of magnetic recording tape or film in 1931 while in computer programming in the sense of “a sequence of instructions, executed repeatedly”, the first known reference dates from 1947.  The noun looper (plural loopers) can mean (1) someone who loops (in various contexts, (2) an instrument or tool, such as a bodkin, for forming a loop in yarn or cord etc, (3) A moth having a caterpillar which arches its body into a loop in order to bring the back part of the body forward as it walks due to having fewer prolegs (an appendage of the abdomen of some insect larvae), (4) a (no almost always electronic) tool for creating music loops, (5) a golf caddy and (6) in baseball, a synonym of blooper (a fly ball that is weakly hit just over the infielders).  The adjective loopy can describe (1) something in such a shape or (2) (in slang) someone thought crazy or deranged.  The latter meaning dates from as late as 1923 but a century earlier it had entered English in the sense of “crafty or deceitful) in the novels of Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832).

Lindsay Lohan in Loop magazine.

There are literally dozens of derived “loop” phrases and idiomatic forms, some of the better known being: “infinite loop” (also as endless loop) (in computer programming a series of instructions which repeats until interrupted), “feedback loop” (a self-reinforcing or self-weakening effect which was used in the language of the military, political science, psychology, physics and other fields before becoming popular in discussions of global warming, “close the loop” (in managerial jargon, to follow up; to tie up loose ends; to resolve), “in the loop” (being well-informed; up to date; having current knowledge; being part of the discussion; the companion antonym being “out of the loop”, “fruitloop” (someone thought crazy or deranged (Fruit Loops originally a brand of sugary breakfast cereal), “death loop” (in video gaming the situation in which a player is killed and then respawns in the exact same time and place, destined thus endlessly to be killed, usually in a gruesome way, “belt loop” (the fittings on trousers & skirts through which one’s belt passes), “Lebanese loop” (in slang the “skimming device” fitted to an automatic teller machine (ATM or “cash dispenser”) used by criminals to collect personal information (such as pin numbers), “loophole” (in figurative use an ambiguity or exception in a rule or law that can be exploited in order to avoid the usual consequences (and originally "a slit in a castle wall used for observation or mounting a weapon)) and “loop quantum gravity” (a mysterious theory which attempts to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity, according to which space can be regarded as an extremely fine fabric of finite loops).

In the loop: MECCA MAXIMA, Bondi Junction, Sydney, Australia.

MECCA Cosmetica is an Australian cosmetics house with a presence in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the PRC (People’s Republic of China), its private label brands including Mecca Cosmetica, Mecca Max, Kit and Mecca-ssentials.  It runs a programme (a kind of hybrid of a loyalty & reward scheme) called “Beauty Loop”, organized into layers, the parameters of which are based on one’s annual spend; as one spends more, one ascends to a higher level and, the higher one’s level, the greater the rewards (ie an effective discount).  The MECCA Beauty Loop has four levels of recognition (1, 2, 3 & 4) and purchases made online or in-store contribute to one’s annual total.  MECCA labels the customer profile in the Beauty Loop layers progressively as (1) Beauty Discoverer, (2) Beauty Devotee (3) Beauty Aficionado and (4) Beauty Connoisseur, explaining the Beauty Loop mechanics thus:

Beauty Loop Level 1: Aus$300.00–Aus$599.99 spend per year: As a Beauty Discoverer, every day is a beauty adventure: exploring new products, new brands, new categories and experiencing them for the very first time.  Come with us on this beauty journey where we will share with you our love of beauty with four rewards each year, including Beauty Loop Boxes (a curation of special samples) and Beauty Loop Bonuses (extra beauty products we just need to share!).  Plus, a gift to celebrate your birthday, when you spend $300 AUD per year (12 months).

Beauty Loop Level 2: Aus$600.00–Aus$1,199.99 spend per year: As a Beauty Devotee, you are immersed in the world’s best in beauty. And just like us, you love to hear about the latest beauty trends, breakthroughs and products.  As a Level 2 member you will receive seven rewards each year, including Beauty Loop Boxes (a curation of special samples) and Beauty Loop Bonuses (extra beauty products we just need to share!).  Plus, a gift to celebrate your birthday, when you spend $600 AUD per year (12 months).

Beauty Loop Level 3: Aus$1,200.00–Aus$3,499.99 spend per year: As a Beauty Aficionado, you live and breathe all things beauty: you know all about the tried-and-trusted classics but also love to explore what’s fresh and new. We’ll bring you more of the world you love with eight rewards each year, including Beauty Loop Boxes (a curation of special samples) and Beauty Loop Bonuses (extra beauty products we just need to share). Plus, one complimentary makeup application, a gift to celebrate your birthday, pre-launch access to new and limited-edition products and events by invitation – and more! All this when you spend $1200 AUD per year (12 months).

Beauty Loop Level 4: Aus$3,500.000+ spend per year: As a Beauty Connoisseur, your passion for beauty is unmatched. You would go to the ends of the earth for beauty’s most coveted (as would we!). As our most beauty-obsessed members, you can expect our most exciting, luxurious rewards. You will receive nine rewards each year, including Beauty Loop Boxes (a curation of special samples) and Beauty Loop Bonuses (extra beauty products we just need to share). Plus, one complimentary makeup application, pre-launch access to new and limited-edition products, access to exclusive invitation-only events, and of course, a birthday gift from us to you with love. All this and more when you spend $3,500 AUD per year (12 months).

Although the Murdoch press in April 2025 published a long critique of the scheme (their "inside information" obtained on this occasion without having to resort to phone hacking), Beauty Loop remains popular, said now to enjoy a membership in excess of 4½ million Beauty Discoverers, Devotees, Aficionados & Connoisseurs (MECCA doesn’t publish a breakdown) but in 2023 there emerged on-line speculation there may be an exclusive, secret layer of the loop (presumably known as Level 5) for those who spend much more.  It all sounded quite Masonic and there was speculation at least some MECCA staff must know about the mysterious Level 5 but were not permitted to discuss it and, if asked, were instructed to deny the existence of such a thing.  What Level 5 Beauty Loop members would be called attracted speculation and the most popular suggestions were “Beauty Addict”, “Beauty Obsessive” & “Beauty Cultist”, the consensus being floor staff would be able to confirm the identity of Level 5 members by some unobvious and ambiguous flag in the MECCA database rather than something Masonic like a secret handshake.

Fueling the conspiratorial atmospherics, MECCA adopted the Pentagon's "neither confirm nor deny" policy (invoked usually when questioned about the existence of nuclear weapons in certain places) so the hunt for a MECCA "deep throat" began and in mid 2024 it was revealed one had been found (apparently called “Jillie” according to the Alex Hourigan and Sally McMullen, hosts of the podcast Two Broke Chicks)  What “Jillie” disclosed was the mystical “Level 5” really existed and it was an “exclusive, invitation-only” stratum atop the loop and it was called the “Magic Circle”.  While the exact metrics have never been confirmed by a reliable source, the implication was Magic Circle members received tailored gifts, exclusive access to events, and a deeper level of personalization from MECCA.  Quite how high one’s annual Mecca-spend need to be to enter (and presumably retain) one’s place in the Magic Circle isn’t known but the consensus among the MECCA congregation is it will be in excess of Aus$10,000.  The secret out, a MECCA representative did respond to media requests and issued a statement: “Through Magic Circle we provide personalised service and access to exclusive events and opportunities to a select group of our most passionate and loyal Level 4 customers.  Our Magic Circle customers are those who regularly shop with Mecca, engage with our team and are active members of our beauty-loving community.”  Now we know.

KGB identity card, issued in 1982 for British SIS defector Kim Philby (1912–1988).

In his sometimes reliable memoirs, the English Soviet spy Kim Philby (1912–1988 and one of the “Cambridge Five”) wrote “One does not look twice at an offer of enrolment in an elite force”, a comment which reveals a state of mind probably still prevalent among a certain class in the UK: that somewhere, close but not quite within reach, there exists an exclusive group in which resides the “real” power and influence.  Paradoxically, it was among those conventionally though part of “the establishment” that the longing to be part of this “inner ring” was strongest.  The English writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) in an essay published in 1944 noted the phenomenon and claimed: “Of all the passions, the passion for the inner ring is most skilful in making a man who is not yet a bad man do very bad things.”  Philby of course came to do very bad things  Whether MECCA cultists would, in their quest to be part of the Magic Circle, be prepared to resort to what the KGB’s double agents did can’t be predicted but Kim Philby certainly would have understood their obsession.

Curiously (and presumably coincidentally), the term “magic circle” was used of the mechanism by which a leader of the UK’s Conservative and Unionist (Tory) Party “emerged”, the system still in place as recently as 1963.  Tory Party leaders have been elected by a formal vote only since 1965 and even then, until 2001, it was only MPs who voted.  Prior to that, a leader was said to “emerge” from what was known as a “magic circle” and although never as mysterious as some suggested, it was an opaque process, conducted by party grandees.  The classic example was in 1957 when the choice was between Harold MacMillan (1894-1986; UK prime-minister 1957-1963) and Rab Butler (1902-1982).  To his office in the House of Lords, the lisping (fifth) Lord Salisbury (1983-1972) summoned those he thought good chaps (women at this point hadn’t yet become chaps) and asked “Hawold or Wab?”  Hawold prevailed.

The change in process in 1965 came about at the insistence of Sir Alec Douglas-Home (1903-1995 and the fourteenth Earl of Home before in 1963 disclaiming his peerage to become prime-minister (1963-1964)).  Since 1957, the country had changed and there was much criticism of the murky manner by which Sir Alec had become party leader with a clamour, even within the party, both to modernize and appear more transparently democratic.  From this point, unleashed were the forces which would in 1975 see Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013; UK prime-minister 1979-1990) elected leader but the first beneficiary of the wind of change was Edward "Ted" Heath (1916-2005; UK prime-minister 1970-1974), a grammar school boy who replaced the quondam fourteenth earl.  Notably, to appear more modern, Heath in 1965 didn't repair (as he had with MacMillan when he emerged in 1957), to the Turf Club for a celebratory meal of oysters, game pie and champagne which “…might have made people think a reactionary regime had been installed”.  

A beltless Lindsay Lohan’s daring display of naked belt loops; note the fetching hooking of the thumbs (right).  A belt will usually include a loop next to the buckle, used to keep the end of the belt in place.  This is called the "keeper".

It can be hard now to understand quite what a change Heath's accession in 1965 flagged; the Tory Party previously had leaders from the middle class but never the lower middle class.  The significance of what emerged in 1965 was less the new leader than a changed Tory Party in a changed country.  Whether a more democratic process than the magic circle means much of a change in the character of the figure chosen seems doubtful because whatever happens, the extent of the variation probably is still something like that once described by Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929; Prime Minister of France 1906-1909 & 1917-1920) as the difference between: "a politician who would murder their own mother and one prepared to murder only someone else's mother".  Nor has the change in process likely to have discouraged those anxious to make it to the top of the “greasy pole”.  When the office beckoned Lord Melbourne (1779-1848; UK prime-minister 1834 & 1835-1841), he was disinclined to accept, fearing it would be “…a damned bore” but his secretary persuaded him, saying “…no Greek or Roman ever held the office and if it lasts but three months it’ll still be worthwhile to have been Prime Minister of England”.  That thought remains to console Liz Truss (b 1975; UK prime-minister Sep-Oct 2022) who, despite it all, can still remember and be glad.

Nerf

Nerf (pronounced nurf)

(1) A device, traditionally metal but of late also rubber or plastic, attached to the front or corners of boats or road vehicles for the purpose of absorbing impacts which would otherwise damage the device to which they’re attached.

(2) A slang term in motorsport which describes the (intentional) use of part of a vehicle to nudge another vehicle off its course; used also to describe the almost full-length protective bars used in some forms of dirt-track (speedway) racing (although the term may have be retrospectively applied, based on the use on hot-rods).

(3) As a trademark, the brand name of a number of toys, often modeled on sports equipment but made of foam rubber or other soft substances.

(4) In video gaming, a slang term for reconfigure an existing character or weapon, rendering it less powerful.

(5) By extension from the original use at the front and rear of 1950s hot rod cars and in motorsport, the name adopted (as nerf bar) for a step to ease entry and exit on pickup trucks or sport utility vehicles (SUV) and known also as step rails, step tubes, step bars or truck steps; also sometimes used to describe the extended foot-rests used on some motorcycles.

(6) As "nerf gun", a toy which fires foam darts, arrows, discs, or foam balls; the class is based on the original "Nerf Blaster" by Hasbro.

Circa 1955: Apparently an invention of US (specifically 1950s Californian hot-rod culture) English, the source of the word being speculative.  The later use, in computer-based gaming, etymologists trace (though there is dissent) from the primitive Indo-European mith- (to exchange, remove) from which Latin gained missilis (that may be thrown (in the plural missilia (presents thrown among the people by the emperors)), source (via the seventeenth century Middle French missile (projectile)) of the English missile ((1) in a military context a self-propelled projectile whose trajectory can sometimes be adjusted after it is launched & (2) any object used as a weapon by being thrown or fired through the air, such as stone, arrow or bullet).  Nerf is a noun & verb, nerfed is a verb & adjective, nerflike is an adjective and nerfing is a verb; the noun plural is nerfs.  The adjectives nerfish & nerfesque are non-standard.

In English, the meaning of words has much been influenced by them being re-purposed or adapted.  It was a democratic form of linguistic evolution and like the animal and vegetable species which have inhabited Earth, some meanings flourished, some survived only in a tiny niche and others went extinct; it was all determined by popular use.  Being historically an oral process, much of the churn over the centuries was lost but a still unappreciated aspect of the Urban Dictionary project is that it’s creating a record of how people are using words in novel ways.  The definitions are submitted by users and while some variously are (1) fanciful, (2) speculative or (3) an attempt to make a slang meaning “happen” (in the “fetch” sense), as in biological evolution, a small number will “catch on” and, at least for a while, enter the vernacular of a sub-set of the population.  Urban Dictionary’s definitions of “nerf” includes the many related to gaming but users claim the word can also mean (1) an individual is “hot”, (2) an individual is “cool” (those can mean much the same), (3) an individual is ugly or socially undesirable, (4) to make worse or weaken (apparently from the use in gaming (especially of weapons) but extended now to “mechanical devices, or personal powers within a business framework”, (5) the act of “cumming up your partner's nostrils after anal copulation” and (6) an individual “sexually attracted to turtles”.  Time will tell how many nerf’s more recent definitions will survive but for sociologists and students of the language, Urban Dictionary will one day be a valuable database. 

Lindsay Lohan holding Herbie's nerf bar, Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005) premiere, El Capitan Theater, Hollywood, Los Angeles, 19 June 2005.

In the US, nerf bars were often fitted to cars with bumper bars mounted lower than were typically found on domestic vehicles.  What these nerf bars did was provide a low-cost, sacrificial device which would absorb the impact the bodywork would otherwise suffer because the standard bumper would pass under the bumper of whatever was hit in an accident.  On a large scale, the idea was in the 1960s implemented on trucks as the "Mansfield Bar", a (partial) solution to the matter (understood since the 1920s) of cars crashing into the rear of trucks, tending increasingly (as bodywork became lower) to “pass under” the rear of a truck's chassis, meaning it was the passenger compartment (at the windscreen level) which suffered severe damage.  The death toll over the decades was considerable and Jayne Mansfield (1933–1967) the most famous victim, hence the eponymy.  Design rules and regulations began to proliferate only in the late 1960s and remarkably as it must seem in these safety conscious times, in the US it wasn't until the early 1970s that cars were required to be built with standardized bumper-bar heights, front & rear.

Nerf bars on a hot-rod.

The suggested etymology is said to account for the application of nerf to gaming where it means “to cripple, weaken, worsen, deteriorate or debuff” (“debuff” a linguistic novelty attributed to gamers) a character, a weapon, a spell etc.  The idea is apparently derived from the proprietary “Nerf” guns, large-scale (often realized in 1:1) toys which fire extremely soft (and therefore harmless) projectiles (al la missilis from the Latin); the Nerfball in 1970 apparently the first.  It doesn’t however account for the use either in motorsport or on hot-rods but the evidence suggests it was the hot-rod crew who used it first, based on an imperfect echoic, thinking the dirt-track (speedway) drivers using the protective bars running along the outside of the bodywork of their vehicles to nudge other competitors off the track and onto the grass were saying “to nerf” whereas they were actually saying “to turf”.  Because the hot-rods became widely known as part of the novel “youth culture” of the 1950s, the specifics of their slang also sometimes entered the wider vocabulary and the bars of the speedway cars, in an example of back-formation, also became “nerf bars”.

A replica AC Shelby American Cobra 427 with naked nerf bars (top) and a real one with over-riders fitted (bottom).

The ultimate hot-rod was the AC Shelby Cobra (1962-1967) of which fewer than a thousand were made, a number exceeded more than fifty-fold by the replica industry which has flourished since the bulge-bodied original was retired in 1967, looming regulations proving just to onerous economically to comply with.  The first Shelby Cobra street cars used nerf bars as attachment points for chrome over-riders but, as a weight-saving measure, the latter were usually removed when the vehicles were used in competition, leaving the raw nerf bars exposed.  The raw look has become popular with customers of the replica versions and, surprisingly, the authorities in some jurisdictions appear to allow them to be registered in this state for street use.

Bumperettes, top row left to right: 1970 MGB Roadster, 1972 De Tomaso Pantera L, 1974 Ford (England) Capri RS3100 and 1968 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 N.A.R.T. Spider.  Bottom row: 1963 Jaguar E-Type Coupé, 1973 Ford (England) Escort RS2000, 1968 Chevrolet Corvette L88 Coupe and 1964 Mercedes-Benz 230 SL.

On production vehicles, what are sometimes mistakenly called nerf bars are actually “bumperettes”, cut-down bumpers which in their more dainty iterations were sometimes little more than a decorative allusion to the weight-saving techniques used on genuine competition cars.  In the days before there were regulations about just about everything, bumperettes were often fitted because they were lighter than full-width units, indeed, Ferrari on some cars built for competition had “fake” bumperettes, thin structures which emulated the appearance of those used in road-going models but which attached directly to the bodywork with no supporting structure beneath.  Ford was one of a number of manufacturers which fitted bumperettes to high-performance variants; they were as much as a styling feature as a genuine weight-saving measure.

Front & rear nerf bars on 1965 Jaguar E-Type in Carmen Red.

The bumperettes on the E-Type were of course attractive but left the curvaceous bodywork vulnerable and the steel fittings were a popular accessory.  The factory never fitted nerf bars to the Series 1 (S1, 1961-1968) cars but a full-width rear bumper appeared on the S2 (1968-1971) and in 1973, for the final seasons in North American (NA) models,  large rubber "dagmars" were grafted (rather unhappily) to the the S3 (1971-1974) but, fortunately for the aesthetic memory, production ceased before British Leyland further disfigured the thing with the sort of battering-ram like structures used for the last years of the MGB and Triumph Spitfire. 

1970 NA model MGB Roadster in BRG (British Racing Green) with after-market 14″ Minator wheels.

The 1970 MGB & MGB GT were unusual in that models exported to NA featured a unique “split” rear bumper (as opposed to purpose-built bumperettes).  The change was a Q&D (quick & dirty) way to comply with new US rules requiring  the license plate (and its lights) be raised to a certain height above the road but on the MGB, the standard, full-width chrome bumper sat exactly where the plate needed to be.  Rather than resign the rear body pressing (an expensive business) British Leyland (then in control of MG) fitted two bumperettes, leaving a gap at the right height for the plate.  The RoW (rest of the world) MGBs continued to use the full-width bumper and NA models in 1971 reverted to one when a solution was devised.  Things would get worse for the MGB for in 1974, globally it was fitted with heavy, ungainly black-rubber faced bumpers, the only (cheap) way the car could be made to comply with US front & rear impact standards.  Because the MGB was by then more than a decade old it was thought it wouldn't remain in production long enough to amortize the investment which would have been required to engineer a more elegant solution but although after 1974 the MGB was heavier, slower and uglier, it remained remarkably popular and the end didn't come until 1980 after more than half-a-million had been built.

The concept of nerf bars as used on hot-rods existed long before the term became popular and can be found in depictions of Greek and Roman ships from antiquity and remain a common sight today, either as a specifically-designed product or simply as old car-tyres secured to the side of the hull and used especially on vessels such as tug-boats which need often to be maneuvered in close proximity to others.  The correct admiralty term for these is "fender" (ie in the sense of "fending-off" whatever it is the vessel has hit).  Manufactured usually from rubber, foam or plastic, there are also companion products, “marine fenders”, which are larger and permanently attached to docks on quay walls and other berthing structures.  Much larger than those attached to vessels, they're best thought of as big cushions (which often they resemble).  The construct was fend + er (the suffix added to verbs and used to form an agent noun); fend was from the Middle English fenden (defend, fight, prevent), a shortening of defenden (defend), from the Old French deffendre (which endures in modern French as défendre), from the Latin dēfendō (to ward off), the construct being dē- (of, from) +‎ fendō (hit, thrust), from the primitive Indo-European ghen- (strike, kill).

Deodand

Deodand (pronounced dee-uh-dand)

(1) In English law (prior to 1846), an animal or a personal chattel (the scope later extended) that, having been the immediate, accidental cause of the death of a human being, was forfeited to the Crown to be sold with the money gained applied originally to pious uses.

(2) In English law (prior to 1846), A fine paid to the Crown, equal to the value of a deodand, paid by the owner of the object and subsequently applied originally to pious uses.

1520–1530: From the late thirteenth century Anglo-French deodande, from the Medieval Latin deōdandum (a thing) to be given to God, the construct being the Classical Latin deō (to God (dative singular of deus (god)) + dand(um) to be given (neuter gerund of “dare to give”) from the primitive Indo-European root do- (to give).  Deus was from the primitive Indo-European root dyeu- (to shine and (in derivatives” “sky, heaven, god”).  Deodand is a noun; the noun plural is deodands.

That the doctrine of deodand was a medieval legal relic (the earliest recorded instances of use in England dating from the eleventh century) is not that remarkable because in that it was one of a number; what’s remarkable is it remained part of the common law until the mid-1800s.  The concept was first well documented in thirteenth century legal texts and historians have concluded this “semi-codification” reflected the earlier religious tradition which held an object which caused a death was “tainted” and should be removed from profane use.  In that, it inherited older notion from Roman civil law of noxae deditio (literally “surrender for the wrongdoing” and in English law written usually as “noxal surrender”), the construct being noxae (harm, injury, wrongdoing) + deditio (surrender, giving up).  Noxae deditio was a legal mechanism (in response to what would now be called a writ) with which the owner of an animal or slave (The Romans really did make a distinction) could avoid liability for delicts (wrongs) committed by them by surrendering the animal or slave to the injured party as an alternative to paying damages.  Intriguingly, at certain times, the doctrine was extended to sons (though apparently not daughters) in circumstances where an action was brought against a paterfamilias (the head of a household), on the basis he was held to be responsible for the son’s acts.  Literally, the son could be “handed over”, either until they attained statutory adulthood or for a specified period, depending on the damages assessed.  A similar idea was the Old English wergeld, from the Proto-West Germanic werageld, the construct being wer (man) +‎ ġield (payment).  It was a form of compensation paid by a transgressor to a victim, or (as “blood money) to the victim's family if the victim were dead (the quantum decided by social rank).  The concept is familiar in many societies and is sometimes formalized in Islamic systems using the Sharia Law where the victim’s family can be involved in determining not only how much blood money should be paid but also whether there should be a payment as an alternative to a death sentence.

What evolved in English common law was the rule under which, if a person was killed by an animal, vehicle, tool or other inanimate object, that object was declared a “deodand” to be forfeited to the Crown.  Reflecting the theological basis for this, notionally the surrender was “to God”, but quickly the standard practice became to appraise the value of the beast or object and levy a fine in that sum.  Although the documentary evidence is patchy, it appears originally the forfeited property (or cash from the fine) was devoted to pious uses such as alms (ie charity for the poor) or (as was the usual trend when a revenue stream was identified) ecclesiastical purposes such as building churches or stained glass windows.  Later (another trend being squabbles between church & state), deodans became a source of consolidated royal revenue.  The rationale was partly religious (atonement), partly superstitious (removing the dangerous object), and partly fiscal (Crown revenue).

The school bus scene: In Mean Girls (2004), had Regina George (Rachel McAdams (b 1978)) been killed by the school bus, the vehicle would have been declared a deodand and forfeited to the state although the usual practice was for its value to be assessed and an order for a payment in that sum to be served on the owner.

It was a simple concept but because there was much variation in the circumstances in which a deodand could be declared, the case law reveals inconsistencies in the verdicts.  Were someone to be killed by being run over by a horse-drawn cart, depending on this and that, the deodand might be found to be the cart and horse, the cart or horse alone or even just the particular wheel which crushed the unfortunate deceased.  One of the reasons for the variance is that in many instances the matter was determined not by a judge or magistrate working from precedent but (at coroners’ inquests) by juries which would both define the deodand and assess its value.  Given that, on what appear to be similar facts (a sailor who drowned after being struck by a mast), the deodand might be found to be the whole vessel or merely the mast.  In such cases, the issue was which object (or part of an object) should be held to be the “guilty instrument” and that was a process not simple to define, things made more difficult still by the opinions of jury members being so diverse and prone to be influenced by the identity of both the victim(s) and the owner of the object(s).

Aftermath of the explosion of a locomotive’s steam boiler.  If reduced to scrap by the event in which someone died, the jury could assess the value of the object in its "pre-event" condition.

By the eighteenth century, deodands had become largely devices of reference in that actual confiscation of objects was rare with an assessment of their monetary value to set the fine to be paid the standard practice.  Lawyers, politicians and (especially) those in commerce were critical of the system as irrational and even then there were traces of what would evolve as the modern notions of negligence and responsibility; critiques of deodand came both from what would now be described as “the right” and “the left”.  Those who owned the objects which became lethal instruments argued it was unfair they be punished so severely for what were, however tragic, “mere accidents”, pointing out the system discouraged industrial enterprise while those advocating for victims pointed out it was the state which gained the proceeds of the fines while victims’ families (many of which had lost their sole breadwinner) gained nothing.  What finally brought about the end of deodand was it being overtaken by the industrial age in which deaths came routinely to occur in clusters.  It was the multiple fatalities in marine and train accidents (infamously the Hull Tragedy (1838) and the Sonning Cutting Disaster (1840)) which attracted press coverage and public debate; in each case a “certificate of deodand” was attached to the machinery and, given the cavalier attitude of railway operators towards safety, it was hardly surprising coroners’ juries had little hesitation in declaring a locomotive and its rolling-stock a deodand.  That was obviously an expensive threat to capitalism and the lobbying by these vested interest resulted in parliament abolishing deodands by the Deodands Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c.62).

Tallahassee Democrat, 13 October 1991.

The Daytona Yellow 1969 Chevrolet Corvette ZL1 coupé is the rarest and most valuable C3 Corvette (1968-1982) made, the “other ZL1” a Monaco Orange Roadster having a less pure pedigree (although at auction in January 2023 it realized US$3.14 million.  The yellow ZL1 last changed hands in October 1991 when it was sold in a government forfeiture auction for US$300,000 (then a lot of money) after being seized by the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency).

The Act however was part of a reform process and the early initiatives included the statutes which would by the mid twentieth century evolve into modern negligence and compensation law, the most significant of the early steps being the Fatal Accidents Act 1846 (Lord Campbell’s Act) which for the first time codified the idea of the “wrongful death claim” and permitted families to sue on this basis.  Although now largely forgotten, the 1846 act was a significant marker of the transition of English law from a medieval, semi-religious system of atonement to a modern, rationalized law of tort, product liability and compensation.

Echoes do however remain in certain legal doctrines of forfeiture (such as state seizures of the proceeds of crime) and the US practice of civil asset forfeiture does, at least in a philosophical sense, sometimes treat property as “guilty”.  The US law provides for property (cars, boats, money etc) connected with the commission of a crime to be seized by the state even if the owner, personally, wasn’t “guilty”; it’s a modern interpretation of the medieval view the object itself bore responsibility.  What this means is the legal rationale is structurally similar to what once was the religious justification: What once was “given to God” as expiation as atonement for sin translates now into deterrence as an expression of public policy (removing dangerous tools or preventing criminals from profiting).  As a kind of “legal fiction”, under both regimes the object is treated as if it possesses some kind of independent agency.  Intriguingly, as an administrative convenience, that idea survived in Admiralty Law under which vessels can in suits be “personified”, thus cases like “The SS <ship name> v. Cargo”, the model for civil asset forfeiture procedures in which the object is the defendant (such as “United States v. One 1969 Chevrolet Corvette”).

Building from Biblical tradition, the idea of independent agency had a curious history in the legal systems of Christendom and in Europe from the Middle Ages through the early modern period, animals could be put on trial (in both secular courts and ecclesiastical courts) for murder.  These trials followed legal procedures similar to those in which a human was the accused although, obviously, cross-examination was somewhat truncated.  The most commonly tried animals were pigs, simply because it wasn’t uncommon for them freely to roam in urban areas and attacks on babies and infants were frequent.  In Normandy in 1386, a sow was dressed in human clothing and publicly executed for killing a child while at Châlons in 1499, a sow and her six piglets were tried; the sow was executed for killing a man, while the piglets were acquitted due to “lack of evidence.”  Nor were the defendants exclusively porcine, bulls and horses occasionally executed for killing people and in ecclesiastical courts there are many records of rodents and insects being charged with damaging crops.  Presumably because every day of the week rodents and insects were killed just for “being guilty of being rodents and insects”, ceremonial executions wouldn’t have had much symbolic value so the usual result handed down was excommunication(!) or a demand (from God, as it were) the creatures vacate the fields in which they were consuming the crops.

Perpetually hungry weevils enjoying lunch in a granary.

Sometimes the ecclesiastical courts could be imaginative.  In the Italian region of Tyrol in 1713, the priests ordered the hungry weevils to leave the vineyards where they were such a plague but in compensation granted their occupation of a barren piece of land as an alternative habitat.  The reaction of the insects to the ruling would have been rather as King Cnut (better known as Canute, circa 990–1035; King of England 1016-1035) would have predicted but despite that, there’s no record of the weevils being held in contempt of court.  Regrettably, there's no generally accepted collective noun for weevils but weevilage (a portmanteau word, the blend being weevil + (vill)age) seems more compelling than Adelognatha (the scientific term referring to a group of Curculionidae (a family of weevils) characterized by a specific anatomical feature).  There was at least some theological basis for the ecclesiastical courts claiming entomological jurisdiction because in scripture it was written beasts are God’s creatures like all others and over them God granted dominion to man (Genesis 1:26-28 (King James Version of the Bible (KJV, 1611)):

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Bovine trial in progress, rendered as a line drawing by Vovsoft.

The principle was animals could be held accountable for causing harm and this was taken especially seriously when the harm caused was something like that of a crime a human might commit (like murder) and in the secular courts, if the victim was someone of some importance, the proceedings could involve defense lawyers, witnesses, and formal sentencing.  In the ecclesiastical courts, it was more symbolic or ritualistic: insects and rodents might be “summoned” but of course they never turned up so excommunication or other curses were invoked.  By the eighteenth century, the thinkers of the Enlightenment had prevailed and the idea of animals as moral agents was so ridiculed the practice of charging them was almost wholly abandoned although in certain circumstances an owner could be held liable for the damage they caused.  There was though the odd, rural holdout.  In Normandy in 1845 a sow was executed for killing a child (in the legal archives listed as the last “classic pig trial” (the last in the US held in New Hampshire in 1819)) and in Switzerland in 1906 a dog was sentenced to death for a similar offence (this believed to be Europe’s last “animal trial”).