Lipstick

Lipstick (pronounced lip-stik)

(1) A crayon-like oil-based cosmetic used in coloring the lips, usually in a tubular container.  Lip-gloss & lip-liner (hyphenated and not) are the companion products whereas lip balm is a non-cosmetic product to prevent drying & cracking of the skin.

(2) As “lipstick tree”, the shrub Bixa orellana, native to Mexico and northern South America.  The common name is derived from (1) the arils (tissue surrounding the seed) being the orange-red colourant annatto and (2) the texture & consistency of the arils recalling that of commercially manufactured lipstick.

(3) In slang, the canine penis.

(4) In certain LGBTQQIAAOP circles, as “lipstick lesbian”, a lesbian who displays traditional, conventional feminine characteristics (opposed to a “butch lesbian”).  Some guides to such things note (1) the term can be a slur if used in the wrong context and (2) in some sub-groups a “lipstick lesbian” is one attracted to “other feminine women”, as opposed to a “femme” (a feminine lesbian attracted to butch lesbians).  The alternative to “lipstick lesbian” is “doily dyke” but both alliterative forms should be used with care because in most contexts they are probably now at least microaggressions.

(5) In economics, as “lipstick effect”, a theory which suggests that during economic downturns, consumers display a greater propensity to purchase low cost luxury goods (such as premium lipsticks).

(6) To apply lipstick to; to paint with lipstick.

1875-1880: A coining in US English, the construct being lip + stick.  Lip was from the Middle English lippe, from the Old English lippa & lippe (lip; one of the two sides of the mouth), from the Proto-West Germanic lippjō (lip), from the Proto-Germanic lepjan & lepô, from the primitive Indo-European leb- (to hang loosely, droop, sag).  The Germanic forms were the source also of the Old Frisian lippa & West Frisian lippe, the Middle Dutch lippe, the Dutch lip, the Old High German lefs, the German Lippe & Lefze, the Swedish läpp, the Norwegian leppe and the Danish læbe.  However, some etymologists have questioned the Indo-European origin of the western European forms and the Latin labium, though it’s said they agree the Latin and Germanic words “probably are in some way related” and the Latin may be a substratum word.  The French lippe was an Old French borrowing from a Germanic source.  Stick was from the Middle English stikke (stick, rod, twig), from the Old English sticca (twig or slender branch from a tree or shrub (also “rod, peg, spoon”), from the Proto-West Germanic stikkō, from the Proto-Germanic stikkô (pierce, prick), from the primitive Indo-European verb stig, steyg & teyg- (to pierce, prick, be sharp).  It was cognate with the Old Norse stik, the Middle Dutch stecke & stec, the Old High German stehho, the German Stecken (stick, staff), the Saterland Frisian Stikke (stick) and the West Flemish stik (stick).  The word stick was applied to many long, slender objects closely or vaguely resembling twigs or sticks including by the early eighteenth century candles, dynamite by 1869, cigarettes by 1919 (the slang later extended to “death sticks” & “cancer sticks).  The first known use of “lipstick” in advertizing was in 1877 (although some sources claim this was really a “lip balm” and lipstick (in the modern understanding) didn’t appear for another three years.  “Liquid lipstick” was first sold in 1938 and by the mid 1960s variations of the substance in a variety of liquid and semi-solid forms was available in pots, palettes and novel applicators.  Lipstick is a noun & verb and lipsticking & lipsticked are verbs; the noun plural is lipsticks.

Dior Rouge Lipstick #999.

In economics, the “lipstick effect” is a theory which suggests there is an identifiable phenomenon in consumer behavior in which there’s an increased propensity to purchase small, affordable luxury goods (“designer lipsticks” the classic example) during economic downturns as an alternative to buying larger, more expensive items.  The idea is that as a consumer’s disposable income contracts, the lure of luxury goods remains so although the purchase of the $4000 handbag may be deferred, the $50 lipstick may immediately be chosen, an indulgence which to some extent satisfies the yearning.  The theory is not part of mainstream economics and has been criticized for being substantially impressionistic although more reliable data such as the volume of chocolate sold by supermarkets had been mapped against aggregate economic indicators and this does suggest sales of non-essential items can increase during periods of general austerity.

Beauty Bakerie Lip Whip Matte Liquid Lipstick in Mon Cheri.

The phrase “put lipstick on a pig” is a clipped version of “even if you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig” and it means that cosmetically altering something in the hope of making it seem more appealing than it is doesn’t alter its fundamental characteristics and flaws.  It’s a saying in the vein of “you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear”, “you can’t polish a turd”, “mutton dressed as lamb” & “old wine in a new bottle” and is often used of products which have been updated in a way which superficially makes them appear “improved” while leaving them functionally unchanged; it’s often used of cars and political platforms, both products which have often relied on spin and advertising to disguise the essential ugliness beneath the surface.  It’s been part of American political rhetoric for decades and usually passes unnoticed but did stir a brief controversy when Barack Obama (b 1961; US president 2009-2017) used: “You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig.” as part of his critique of the “change” theme in the campaign of John McCain (1936–2018), his Republican Party opponent in the 2008 presidential election.  The reason Mr Obama’s use attracted was that earlier, Sarah Palin (b 1964) had said during her acceptance speech as Mr McCain’s running mate: “You know the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?  Lipstick.”  It turned out to be the best line of their lackluster campaign.  Because of her well-publicized speech and the fact Ms Palin was the only one of the four candidates on that year’s ticket actually to wear lipstick (as far as is known), it was immediately picked up as a potentially misogynistic slur.  However, the outrage lasted barely one news cycle as the fact-checkers were activated to comb the records, revealing Mr McCain the previous year had used it when deriding the abortive healthcare proposal developed by the equally doomed crooked Hillary Clinton (b 1947; US secretary of state 2009-2013) while installed as FLOTUS (First Lady of the United States).

Lindsay Lohan in applying red lipstick (left) and smoking a "stick" (right), from a photo-shoot by Terry Richardson (b 1965) for Love Magazine, Spring/Summer Edition, 2012.

Use turned out to be a long “across the aisle” thing. Thomas Harkin (b 1939; US senator (Democratic-Iowa) 1985-2015) applying it in 1989 to George HW Bush’s (George XLI, 1924-2018; US president 1989-1993) plan to send military aid to the El Salvador government and Ann Richards (1933–2006; governor (Democratic) of Texas 1991-1995) in 1992 added a flourish when she said of the administration’s call for the Democratic-controlled congress to move on a constitutional amendment to force the government to keep a balanced budget: “This is not another one of those deals where you put lipstick on a hog and call it a princess.”  The line received much attention and she added a new variation in 1990 when criticizing the administration for using warships to protect oil tankers in the Middle East (which she labeled a “hidden subsidy for foreign oil”): “You can put lipstick on a hog and call it Monique, but it is still a pig.”  At least in Texas, that may have achieved some resonance because in her failed 1994 gubernatorial race against George W Bush (George XLIII, b 1946; US president 2001-2009), her campaign used the slogan “Call it Monique” as a way of disparage her opponent’s proposals.  The use of “Monique” was apparently random; as far as is known there was no “Monique problem” in the White House of George XLI in the way there was a “Jennifer with a ‘J’ problem”. Commendably, Governor Richards did stick to the theme, unlike Mr Obama in 2008 who couldn’t resist a further metaphor in case his audience was too dim to understand the first, adding: “You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called ‘change’.  It's still going to stink.”  That was laboring the point by gilding the lily.

Sarah Palin and Barack Obama, 2008.  Sarah Palin was wasted in politics and was a natural for Fox News and such.

Helpfully, the industry has defined the math of "perfect lips" and even more helpfully (for imperfect women), a lip pencil can be used to apply lip liner to make one's shape tend towards the perfect, providing the definition lines within which lipstick can be applied.  When using a lip pencil, a pencil sharpener is an essential accessory.

Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Dragon Girl.

People have been expressing the idea in different ways for at least centuries.  In 1732 the English physician and lay-preacher Thomas Fuller (1654–1734) published Gnomologia: Adagies and Proverbs; wise sentences and witty saying, ancient and modern, foreign and British which included “A hog in armour is still but a hog.”  The English antiquary & lexicographer Francis Grose (circa 1725-1791) included an entry for “hog in armour” in his A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785) which he explained was “an awkward or mean looking man or woman, finely dressed.”  So, something like “mutton dressed as lamb”, a put-down rendered more cutting still by what used to be called the Fleet Street tabloids coining “mutton dressed as hogget”, a classic example of what used to be called bitchiness, a genuine red top speciality.  Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) was an English Particular Baptist preacher (with all that implies) and although most of his prodigious writing was concerned with defending his sect against the encroachments of liberal & pragmatic theology and ritual, he did publish odd secular work including The Salt-Cellars (1887), a compendium of proverbs in which he noted: “A hog in a silk waistcoat is still a hog” meant “Circumstances do not alter a man’s nature, nor even his manners.”

Dior Addict Lip Gloss Glow Oil in 007 Raspberry.

But it was pigs & lipstick which became the most common form but apparently only after the mid 1980s although the incongruity of the juxtaposition of pigs and lipstick had appealed earlier appealed to some.  In 1926 the “colorful” journalist Charles Lummis (1859-1928) had a piece in the Los Angeles Times which included: “Most of us know as much of history as a pig does of lipsticks.” but the first known appearance of the modern phrase is thought to have been in the Washington Post in 1985, quoting a San Francisco radio host who suggested plans for renovating Candlestick Park (instead of building a new downtown stadium for the Giants “…would be like putting lipstick on a pig.”  After that it’s never gone away, an anti-abortionist in 1992 quoted as saying of legislative amendments of which he did not approve: “You don't want to put lipstick on a pig” and Rick Santorum (b 1958; US senator (Republican-Pennsylvania 1995-2007) added spelled it out, telling the chamber legislative reforms to government subsidies for southern peanut and sugar farmers were the lipstick while the pig was the subsidy programme itself.  In 1998, the often lachrymose Republican John Boehner (b 1949; Speaker of the US House of Representatives 2011-2015), apparently while dry-eyed, bemoaned what he called a “rudderless Republican congress”: "When there's no agenda and there's no real direction, what happens is you really can't have a message; you can put lipstick on a pig all day long, but it's still a pig.”

Lipstick, lip gloss, lip liner & lip balm

Lipstick is primarily for style, there to add color (and they are produced in just about every shade imaginable) but it also protects and to some extent hydrates the lips, indeed, some have additives for just this purpose.  The texture can be creamy, matte, satin, or glossy and lipsticks have included glitter and even a swelling agent for those who want a plumper-lipped look although it applied with some expertise, even an unadulterated lipstick can provide the visual effect of greater fullness. 

Lip Gloss can be used either as a stand-alone product or as a finisher over lipstick, somewhat analogous with a “clear coat” over paint, providing a “varnishing” effect.  What lip gloss does is add shine and often a hit of color to the lips.  As the name implies, the texture is glossy and although usually lightweight, the finish can be sticky, models often applying lip gloss sever times during a photo-shoot to ensure the luster is constant.  They’re mostly sheer or translucent, though some have shimmer or glitter added, thus they can produce a (sort-of) natural, shiny look or add visual depth to lipstick.

Fenty Beauty Stunna Lip Paint Longwear Fluid Lip Color in Uncensored.

Lip Liners (applied with a lip pencil) are a maintenance tool.  What a lip liner does is define the edge of the lips, providing a protective barrier which prevents feathering or bleeding of lip color (ie from a lip stick or lip gloss.  Almost always matte, lip liners are essentially pencils for the lips and their use requires the same firm consistency in application that an artist adopts when putting graphite to paper.  Specialists caution it does take practice to master the art and their golden rule is “less is more”: begin with several light applications until technique is honed and arcs can be described in one go.  Done well, a lip liner can be outline the lips, fill them in for longer-lasting color and to a remarkable extent, change the appearance of their shape.

Lip Balm is only incidentally a beauty aid; they’re used to moisturize, soothe, and protects lips from dryness or chapping so are used by those playing sport, sailing rock-climbing and such.  Most are creamy and waxy, designed to endure for several hours of outdoor use (and often include a sunscreen) although some intended for those in indoor, dry-air environments (such as air-conditioned offices) are lightweight and glossy; aimed at the female market these are often flavored (mandarin, cherry, strawberry etc).  The indoor variety typically are transparent or lightly tinted and while some can be used as a base under other products, not all lipsticks or lip glosses are suitable; it depends on the composition.

Cultural practices mean “lipstick” is associated mostly with shades of red although (depending on the manufacturer) just about any color is available including some which sparkle.  Goths and emos of course like black and purple but a few manufacturers do have white in their range but it doesn’t suit everyone or every occasion.  Apart from looking remarkably like one's recent application of zinc cream just prior to spending time in the summer sun, to use white lipstick requires more than the usual attention to the surrounding colors (outfit, hair, skin tone, eyeliner et al).  Paired with dyed gray hair, white-framed spectacles or the right clothing it can work but the most dramatic contrast is of course available to those with dark skin who should probably use white lipstick as a stand-alone highlight, however tempting may be the accessories.

The "Lipstick Mark": 1976 Lincoln Continental Mark IV, with Lipstick and White Luxury Group in Lipstick Red with White Normande grain vinyl roof in Landau style (left) and white on white (right).

The Ford Motor Company’s Lincoln Continental Mark IV (1971-1976) was a classic “land yacht”, a class of car which was a feature of the US motoring scene of the 1960s & 1970s; it was an exemplar of the “personal luxury car”, a subset of the breed.  Although an exercise in packaging of wonderous inefficiency which today seems remarkable, the Mark IV was a great success for the corporation and was highly profitable because it was built on the same platform as the Ford Thunderbird with which it shared both a mechanical specification and a substantial part of the structure with only some panels, interior fittings and additional bits & pieces distinguishing the two.  The pair was among the industry’s most profitable lines and in 1976, Lincoln released the first of its “designer” series Mark IV’s, “trim & appearance” packages which included touches from the associated designers (Bill Blass, Cartier, Givenchy & Pucci) and to ensure those watching knew just which design house’s bling a buyer had chosen, the C-Pillar “opera window” (a much-loved affectation of the age) was etched with the signature of the relevant designer.  More profitable even than the standard line, of the 56,110 Mark IVs produced in 1976, 12,906 were one or other of the designer editions.

Extract from 1975 Lincoln Continental Mark IV brochure.

As well as the “branded” designer edition cars, beginning in 1973, Lincoln made available its LGO (Luxury Group Option), trim package which offered a color-coordinated exterior, vinyl roof, and interior with the color mix changed each season.  The Lipstick and White Luxury Group first appeared on the Continental Mark IV option list for the 1975 range but in its first season, externally, the cars exclusively were white, the choice for the “White Normande grain” (code LW) vinyl roof between a full covering of the optional “Landau” style which spread only over the rear section; there was also an alternative vinyl called “Cayman” (designed to resemble the skin of the tropical American crocodilian which is similar to an alligator).  The red was limited to the interior, the accent stripes across the button-tufted white leather upholstery (code DN), the cut-pile carpets and other fittings such as the dashboard, steering wheel and highlights on the doors.  In 1975 the package listed at US$400 but it was an era of high inflation and by 1976 this had risen to US$477; in the same season Ford offered a similar “Lipstick Luxury Group” on the Thunderbird which was listed at US$337-546 depending on the configuration.  It’s the 1976 editions which are most memorable because of the choice of red paint and for maximum effect red vinyl side moldings could be added for those who thought the ensemble otherwise too subtle.  Just how many were built (an often quoted number is 1250) isn’t known but while most seem to have opted for white paint, it’s the red ones which are most associated with the option and the shade appears closest to Dior's lipstick #744 (Party Red). 

1976 Lincoln Continental Mark IV, Lipstick Edition.

So a 1976 Continental Mark IV with the Lipstick and White Luxury Group (known among the Lincoln cognoscenti as “The Lipstick Mark”) could be painted White (code 9D) with optional red pinstripes (code 3) or Lipstick Red (code 2U) with optional white pinstripes (code 2) and either could be paired with the red or white vinyl roof coverings.  In the brochure, like the side moldings, the custom pin stripes were “recommended”.  All that meant from the outside one’s Lipstick Mark could appear either as a typical “white on white” land yacht of the era or really make a lipstickesque statement in red & white or all red; it was a matter of what one wanted from life.  Such a splash did the Continental’s visual choices make in 1975 that for many buyers, the significant feature of four wheel disk brakes probably passed unnoticed and it's not known if Ford ever attempted (al la the Bill Blass, Cartier, Givenchy & Pucci associations) to partner with Dior or any other cosmetics house for the Lipstick edition.

1993 Rolls-Royce Corniche IV in "Ferrari Red" (“red, on red, on red”).

The Lipstick Marks must have made an impression but there was a least one person who would have found them understated because in 1991 Rolls-Royce issued a work-order (WO) for a Corniche IV Convertible (by the 1990s even Rolls-Royce no longer called such things DHCs (drophead coupé)) ordered by a customer in Switzerland who had specified a number of what the factory called “production deviations and special features”.  Stating the obvious, the theme clearly was “red” and the WO specified everything was to be finished in what was described as “Ferrari Red 9520120” and it certainly appears to emulate the Italian factory’s famous Rosso Corsa (racing red).  There may have been technical reasons why a timber like rosewood wasn’t used but the effect was achieved with the WO instruction: “Veneer to be birdseye maple to match Ferrari Red” although there must be something different about the leather used for steering wheels because the WO included the proviso: “Steering wheel to be in red hide dyed to match Ferrari Red if possible.  Otherwise St James Red”.

These days, high-end manufacturers all run “bespoke” divisions which exist to accommodate just about any billionaire’s whim within what physics and engineering permit but by the standards of the early 1990s, this “Ferrari red” Corniche was an exceptional build; the closest matches in the Dior lipstick color chart are #999 Velvet and #080 Red Smile (#754 Pandore being slightly more subdued).  The industry term used to describe the color scheme of convertibles is “paint, on upholstery, on roof”.  Between 1971-1995, the factory produced 6823 Corniches (including the equivalent Bentley model), of which 244 were the Corniche IV (1992-1995) and while not a few were “black, on black, on black” or “white, on white, on white” (the latter in the 1960s & 1970s also a favorite among Cadillac owners), this “red, on red, on red” one truly is unique, a genuine “one-of-one”.

In a promotion, the Tussy Lip Stick Company offered three 1967 Mustangs as prizes for contest winners, each finished in a shade of pink which matched the lip sticks Racy Pink, Shimmery Racy Pink Frosted & Defroster.  Defroster sounds particularly ominous but to set minds at rest, Tussy helpfully decoded the pink portfolio thus:

Racy Pink: "A pale pink".

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 is 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 suggestion of what might now be thought "deceptive and misleading" content with the familiar "she'll never know".

Cartnaping

Cartnaping (pronounced kahrt-nap-ing)

(1) In retail industry slang, the act of customers taking a shopping cart (in some markets a “shopping trolley, buggy, trundler etc”) beyond the designated confines (usually a car-park).

(2) In slang, a customer (now presumed to be a “Karen”) who purloins another’s (empty) shopping cart for their own use, usually when no others conveniently are to hand.

1990s: First recorded in California on the model of “kidnapping”, the construct being cart + nap + -ing.  In most non-US use, the spelling would usually be “cartnapping”.  Historically, a cart was a small, open, wheeled vehicle, drawn or pushed by a person or animal and used usually for transporting goods (although many passenger transports (often towed) have been described thus.  Go-carts (also as go-kart), the small motor vehicles, powered by lawn-mower or motorcycle engines remain one of the most popular platforms in entry-level motorsports although the sport no prefers they be called “karts”.  Cart was from the Middle English cart & kart, from the Old Norse kartr (wagon; cart), akin to the Old English cræt (chariot; cart), from the Proto-Germanic krattaz, krattijô & kradō, from the primitive Indo-European gret- (tracery; wattle; cradle; cage; basket), from ger- (to turn, wind).  It was cognate with the West Frisian kret (wheelbarrow for hauling dung), the Dutch krat & kret (crate; wheelbarrow for hauling dung), the German Krätze (basket; pannier); the most obvious wider cognate was the Sanskrit ग्रन्थ (grantha) (a binding).

In English the familiar meaning of “nap” is “to sleep for a brief time, especially during the day”.  In that sense, nap was from the Middle English nappen, from the Old English hnappian (to doze, slumber, sleep), from the Proto-West Germanic hnappōn (to nap) and was cognate with the Old High German hnaffezan & hnaffezzan (from which Middle High German gained nafzen (to slumber), source of the German dialectal napfezen & nafzen (to nod, slumber, nap).  In this sense, “nap” is used figuratively, often in the phrase “caught napping” which suggests being “caught off guard (in military conflicts, sporting competitions etc.  However, one of the other meanings of “nap” was “to grad; to nab”) and while the use is long extinct as a stand-alone word, as an element it endures in “kidnap” (and the derived “cartnap”, “catnap” etc).  In that sense the source of “nap” is murky but it was probably of North Germanic origin, from the Old Swedish nappa (to pluck, pinch).  The suffix –ing was from the Middle English -ing, from the Old English –ing & -ung (in the sense of the modern -ing, as a suffix forming nouns from verbs), from the Proto-West Germanic –ingu & -ungu, from the Proto-Germanic –ingō & -ungō. It was cognate with the Saterland Frisian -enge, the West Frisian –ing, the Dutch –ing, The Low German –ing & -ink, the German –ung, the Swedish -ing and the Icelandic –ing; All the cognate forms were used for the same purpose as the English -ing).  Cartnaping & cartnap are nouns & verbs, cartnaper is a noun and cartnaped is a verb; the noun plural is cartnapings and although also rare, cartnapers is more widely used, usually on internet “shaming” sites which document the devices abandoned or dumped in streets, waterways, parks etc.

How it all began: US Patent 2,196,914.

Although it’s clear such things had been used in many cultures for millennia, as a mass-produced commodity, the modern shopping cart was “invented” by Sylvan Goldman (1898-1984) an Oklahoma-based supermarket mogul.  It was in 1936, during the Great Depression, that Mr Goldman built his first prototypes and the following year, he began a trial of the devices in his chain of Humpty Dumpty grocery stores.  Although the early take-up rate was “sluggish”, by 1938, when he filed a patent application for his original design (“a combination basket and carriage”) the things had becoming popular with customers and in April 1940 the US Patent and Trademark Office granted US Patent 2,196,914 (Folding Basket Carriage for Self-Service Stores).

The utility was so obvious that shopping carts rapidly became features of large shopping centres throughout the nation and he soon added features, most famously as “baby seat” although the implementation of that would probably shock & appal today’s H&S (health & safety) regulators.  In the post-war years the shopping carts multiplied by the million because of a then unique combination of circumstances in the US economy: (1) widespread prosperity, (2) a shift of population from town centres to (often newly developed) remote suburbs, (4) clusters of those suburbs being serviced by large shopping centres & supermarkets and (4) multi-vehicle households which meant women had begun to drive to shop.  What the shopping centres tended to do was provide a space in which all a week’s shopping could be done in one place, purchases collected by customers who parked their car in a vast car park and it was the shopping cart which made this structural model possible.

1964 GM Runabout show car with obligatory white, happily married, middle-class woman with one of her 2.8 children (who were always well-behaved).  Note the child's white gloves, a wise parental precaution (even pre-COVID-19) given the volume of pathogens found on the typical supermarket shopping cart.

One refinement to the concept was the GM Runabout, displayed at the General Motors Futurama Exhibit the 1964 New York World's Fair.  The three-wheeled car was able to seat two adults and three children (approximately the size projected for the “average” white, middle-class US family of the late 1960s) and was optimized for ease of handling, the single front wheel able (at low speeds) to turn through 180^o.  The target market was made obvious by its most innovative feature: two fitted shopping carts which slotted into the rear bodywork, the wheels and lower assembly folding away when locked into position.  That might seem superfluous given supermarkets provided such things but the advantage was the carts could also be used at home, obviating the need to make several trips between car and kitchen.  The retail industry presumably would have liked to have seen the idea catch on because, having already off-loaded onto the customer the task of carrying the groceries to the car, it would have meant they could do away with most of their own stock of carts, needing only a few for those who needed to take their goods as far as a taxi.  The poor, able to afford neither cab nor car would just have to work it out.

Mitt Romney (b 1947; Republican nominee in the 2012 US presidential election, US senator (Republican-Utah) since 2019) (left), buying 12-packs of Caffeine Free Diet Coke and Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi, Hunter's Shop and Save, Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, August 2012.  Mormons are not allowed to do anything “evil” (though it's rumored some do) and the Doctrine and Covenants (the D&C (1835); referred to usually as the Word of Wisdom) is the scriptural canon of the Church of the Latter Day Saints (the Mormons), section 89 of which provides dietary guidelines which prohibit, inter-alia, the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and hot drinks (ie tea & coffee).  This index of forbidden food accounts not only for why noted Mormon Mitt Romney usually looks so miserable but also why manufacturers of chocolate, candy & soda have long found Utah a receptive and lucrative market; other than joyful singing, the sugary treats are among their few orally enjoyed pleasures.  Although buying caffeine-free soda, Mitt still knows how to have a good time.  Lindsay Lohan, shopping in Beverley Hills in December 2007 (right), uses a shopping cart because a half-dozen 500 ml (16.9 fl oz) bottles of Evian water are heavier than they look.  Neither have ever been accused of cartnapping.

Dumped in the wild: victims of cartnaping. 

But carts built into cars never reached the market so the shopping cart remained ubiquitous, thus the emergence of the crime of “cartnaping”, a poorer demographic (such as university students with carts loaded with beer & frozen pizzas) sneaking from the store, using their cart all the way home.  So the students got their beer and pizza but now had the problem of disposing of an unwanted cart and waiting for dark to fall before dumping the things in local parks, waterways or underpasses was a popular solution.  Because there were so many cartnaping students, it became a real problem (1) for the environment and (2) for the stores which paid several hundred dollars for each cart.  One early response was to pay third-party contractors a “fee per cart recovered” but more recently there have been measures to prevent cartnaping including electronic devices which make it difficult to push the things beyond a certain point and a deposit scheme in which a low-denomination coin is inserted to gain use; the money refunded when the cart is returned.  The latest approach is to require a swipe with a credit card or phone, not to extract a payment but to register the name of the user and local authorities have a variety of schemes t address the problem including a "report-a-cart hotline" and regimes under which stores are fined for each of their carts found "in the wild".

Choke & Choker

Choke (pronounced chohk)

(1) To be unable to breathe because of obstruction of the windpipe (solid & semi-solid objects such as food or fumes or particles in the air which cause the throat to constrict); asphyxiate, strangle, suffocate, throttle.

(2) Full to the point of obstruction (usually as “choked with”); block up, bung up, clog, congest, jam, obstruct, stop up.

(3) In forestry, to seize a log, felled tree etc with a chain, cable, or the like, so as to facilitate removal.

(4) In engineering, any mechanism which, by narrowing or blocking a passage, regulates the flow of air, gas etc.

(5) In fluid mechanics (of a duct), to reach a condition of maximum flow-rate (immediately before the choke-point), due to the flow at the narrowest point of the duct becoming sonic.

(6) In electronics, an inductor having a relatively high impedance, used to prevent the passage of high frequencies or to smooth the output of a rectifier (also called the choke-coil.

(7) In combat sports (wrestling, karate etc), a type of hold (of the throat) which can result in strangulation.

(8) A constriction at the muzzle end of a shotgun barrel which varies the spread of the shot.

(9) To enrich the fuel mixture of an ICE (internal-combustion engine) by diminishing the air supply to the carburetor (a choke a specific component of a carburetor althouh the term is used loosely).

(10) To make or install a choke in a device.

(11) To stop by or as if by strangling or stifling:

(12) To stop by filling; obstruct; clog

(13) To suppress a feeling, emotion, etc (often as “choke up”, choke down” or “choke back”).

(14) In sport, to grip a bat, racket, club etc) farther than usual from the end of the handle (to shorten the grip).

(15) To suffer from or as from strangling or suffocating.

(16) To become obstructed, clogged, or otherwise stopped.

(17) To become too tense or nervous to perform well (used most often in competitive sport, specifically in the sense losing by performing badly at a critical point, when in a winning position).

(18) In slang, the inedible centre of the head of an artichoke.

1150–1200: From the Middle English choken & cheken, a variant of achoken & acheken, from the Old English ācēocian (to suffocate), from the Old English ċēoce & ċēace (jaw, cheek) and cognate with the Old Norse kōk (gullet) and the Icelandic kok (throat) & koka (to gulp).  The transitive verb emerged in the late thirteenth century and by the late 1300s was being used in the sense of “to stop the breath by preventing air from entering the windpipe”; “to make to suffocate, deprive of the power of drawing breath” and that was used of persons as well as swallowed objects.  In that. It was a shortened form of the twelfth century acheken, from Old English ācēocian, probably from the root of ċēoce & ċēace (the spelling ceoke was also used).  In the narrow technical sense “choking” has been the cause of death of a number of rock stars including the guitarist Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970), Led Zeppelin’s drummer John Bonham (1948-1980) and AC/DC’s vocalist Bon Scott (1946-1980) although in all cases the critical “inhalation of vomit” which induced them to choke to death was caused by substance abuse.  In the same vein, the singer Janis Joplin suffered a fatal head injury in a fall while affected by drugs and alcohol; all these deaths may be regarded as “death by misadventure”.  The alternative forms choak & choake are obsolete; chock is dialectal.  Choke is a noun & verb, chokage & choker are nouns, choking is a noun & verb, chokeable is an adjective and choked is a verb & adjective; the noun plural is chokes.

The intransitive verb dates from the early fifteenth century when it was used to mean “gasp for breath”, in line with the figurative use in agriculture & horticulture (the Biblical notion of weeds stifling the growth of useful plants a Biblical image).  The term “choked up” (overcome with emotion and unable to speak) seems first to have been documented in 1896, the use possibly related to the earlier use of the word (choke-pear (1530s), crab-apple (1610s), choke-cherry (1785)) of fruits with an untypical degree of astringency and it’s thought the botanical link inspired Dr Johnson (Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)) to define the figurative use as “any aspersion or sarcasm, by which another person is put to silence”.  The noun chokage emerged in the 1840s while the term chokehold (tight grip around a person's neck to restrict breathing) was first used in 1962. The idea of a “choke” in sport in the sense of “losing by performing badly at a critical point, when in a winning position” dates from 1907 and comes from baseball where it referred to a “clutch hitter” (the hitter at the plate upon whom winning depended) “choking up” and failing to perform; the phrase “to fail in the clutch” similar in meaning.

Interchangeable choke for shotgun.

Although (except in the odd, curious niche), rendered obsolete by fuel injection, the carburetor is a device which continues to exert a fascination in those with a fondness for mechanical intricacy and an inclination to tinker.  Carburetors are devices used on ICEs (internal combustion engine) to produce the mix of fuel (typically petrol (gas)) & air required for combustion and in mainstream use they lasted into the twenty-first century.  Most carburetor were fitted with a choke, an instrument controlled by the driver and what the choke did was provide an enriched mixture (ie more fuel, less air) to make starting easier from cold.  The term “choke” was already known in engineering but the most direct comparison was probably from ballistics, chokes (some types described as “adjustable chokes”) fitted to shotguns as early as 1875.  A shotgun’s choke is a device (or constriction) at the muzzle end of the barrel which controls the spread (or pattern) of the shot as it exits the barrel.  By altering the spread, chokes allow shooters to customize their gun's performance for different purposes (ie hunting, target shooting, home defense et al).  When a shotgun cartridge is discharged, the begin to spread out immediately upon leaving the barrel (in slang they’re sometimes called “scatter guns” and a choke modifies this spread by narrowing or widening the diameter of the barrel at the muzzle.  This affects the density and size of the shot pattern at different distances.

Pellet field streams using various chokes.

In the industry, the classification of chokes is determined by the extent to which they narrow the barrel and the most common types are: (1) Cylinder: these are not fitted with a choke and thus there’s no constriction; they’re most suitable for short-range shooting. (2) Improved Cylinder: These have a slight constriction, thereby offering a moderately wide spread suitable for short and medium range targets. (3) Modified: A variation of the Improved with more constriction, lengthening the effective range.  (4) Full: Thos provides a narrow bore, creating a tight pattern for long-range accuracy, (5) Extra full: As the name implies, an even smaller bore, popular for turkey hunting or precision shooting.  There are also (1) fixed chokes (integral with the barrel and thus unchangeable) and (2) interchangeable chokes which are detachable inserts a shooter can swap according to the shooting to be done.

1971 Chrysler (Australia) Valiant Charger R/T E38 (choke knob arrowed).

Confusingly, although it was almost always the case a choke would be part of a carburetor (cable activated by a control in the driver’s cabin), the word “choke” was also used of carburetors in a different context and potentially more confusingly still, when used thus, it was often synonymous (and sometimes used interchangeably) with “throat”, “barrel” and “venturi”.  In the now arcane world of carburetors inhabited by those familiar with the things, this casual use isn’t a problem because the four words are known to refer to different components, although even experts rarely dwell on the details: (1) The throat is the main passage (there can be as many as four in a single carburetor, not necessarily all of the same bore (although if there are four they are usually sized in pairs)) through which air flows and a throat encompasses the entire internal air pathway.  (2) The barrel is the cylindrical tube that houses the throat, venturi and in many cases the throttle valve; the barrel is the structural element through which the air and fuel are mixed and delivered.

Weber-style IDF twin choke downdraft carburettor with chrome ram tubes (left), pair of Weber 40 IDA triple barrel carburetors (centre) and Holley Dominator 4500 1150 CFM Square Bore four barrel carburetor with fitting kit.

In US use, “barrel” is the most common way of describing carburetors (two barrel, four barrel) and the standard abbreviation is “bbl”.  That seems inexplicable by the usual conventions of English but is a historic legacy from the petroleum industry where it was used to denote a barrel of oil.  The specification and paint scheme of early oil barrels were standardized by Standard Oil, and the abbreviation “bbl” became widely used to signify a “standardized blue barrel”, hence the apparently superfluous “b”; over time, “bbl”, became the universal shorthand for barrel, even outside the oil industry. (3) The venturi is a specific narrowing of a carburetor's throat or barrel, the primary purpose of which is to create a pressure drop due to the “venturi effect” (a phenomenon of fluid dynamics) in which as air flows through the narrowed section, its velocity increases and its pressure decreases (surface friction at this scale not significant).  The pressure drop induced by the venturi effect draws fuel from the fuel bowl into the air stream for mixing and atomization.  (4) Choke in this context is simply another way of saying “barrel” and the choice is dictated by local conventions of use; In Europe it was common to speak of a “two choke” carburetor whereas if used by a US manufacturer this would be a “two barrel”.  There was trans-Atlantic respect for this tradition and in both communities tend to use the correct terminology of each other’s devices although hot-rodders in the US did like slang such as the evocative “four-holer”.  Despite that, Ford did for a while muddy the waters by using the terms to 2V and 4V (ie 2 venturi & 4 venturi) to refer both to two & four barrel carburetors but also the two different cylinder heads designed for each.  People got used to that but it did latter induce confusion elsewhere when 2V & 4V came to be understood as “two valve” & “four valve” (ie per cylinder).

Model Tessa Fowler (b 1992) wearing fabric chokers.

Choker (pronounced choh-ker)

(1) In fashion, a piece of jewelry or ornamental fabric, worn as a necklace or neckerchief, snug around the throat (use based on the “choker chain” used to restrain dogs).

(2) One who, or that which, chokes or strangles.

(3) A person administering a choking device (depending on context, either a class or machine operator or a murderous strangler).

(4) A neckcloth or high collar.

(5) As choker chain, a dog collar designed to pinch or squeeze the dog or other animal when the leash is pulled.

(6) In forestry, a chain or cable used to haul logs to a transportation point.

(7) In slang, any disappointing or upsetting circumstance.

(8) In slang, the traditional clerical collar worn by Christian clergy.

(9) In slang, a cigarette.

(10) A person who pratices autoerotic asphyxiation or paraphilia, a practice where someone temporarily cuts off their own air supply by means of a ligature or some other sort of self-asphyxiation device during sex or masturbation.

(11) In sport, one who “chokes” (losing by performing badly at a critical point, when in a winning position).

1550s: The construct was choke + -er.  The –er suffix was from the Middle English –er & -ere, from the Old English -ere, from the Proto-Germanic -ārijaz, thought most likely to have been borrowed from the Latin –ārius where, as a suffix, it was used to form adjectives from nouns or numerals.  In English, the –er suffix, when added to a verb, created an agent noun: the person or thing that doing the action indicated by the root verb.   The use in English was reinforced by the synonymous but unrelated Old French –or & -eor (the Anglo-Norman variant -our), from the Latin -ātor & -tor, from the primitive Indo-European -tōr.  When appended to a noun, it created the noun denoting an occupation or describing the person whose occupation is the noun.  The noun emerged in the 1550s in the sense of “one who chokes” an agent noun from the verb and from 1848 it was used to mean “large neckerchief”.  The use to mean “a kind of necklace worn against the throat” dates from 1928.  Choker is a noun; the noun plural is chokers.

Lindsay Lohan with choker at Moschino Fashion Show, London, June 2014.  A choker is a decorative accessory worn around the neck and differs from a necklace in that it sits higher (typically mid-way up the neck) and fits snugly.

In fashion, choker is a clipping of “choker chain”, a dog collar designed to pinch or squeeze the dog or other animal when the leash is pulled.  Chokers can be for any material (fabric, leather (studded varieties popular), metal etc), and are sometimes adorned with jewels or logos.  There are also chokers with LED (light-emitting diodes) displays in a variety of colors which are powered by a small button-battery, rechargeable via a USB (universal serial bus) port.  According to a normally reliable source (Urban Dictionary), a choker is (1) a symbol used by emos to convey a desire to engage in self-harm or even suicide or (2) a way certain young ladies advertize their especial fondness for and skill in performing fellatio (this should be treated as a gaboso (Generalized Association Based On Single-Observation).  In the BDSM (Bondage, Discipline (or Dominance) & Submission (or Sadomasochism) community, chokers are sometimes used as the “submissive collar”, given by dominants as a symbol of possession and sometimes augmented with a leash for purpose of public display.

Anna Teshu (b 1994, right), in choker and on leash with ex-boyfriend Nathan Riely (b 1988. left) while role-playing as a dog and handler.  If consensual, the "leashed partner" thing is a kink and a genuine ALC (alternative lifestyle choice), albeit one which has attracted some criticism, some suggesting the "leashed" are suffering from "false consciousness", an idea explored in other contexts by both Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Sigmund Freud (1856-1939).