Murmuration

Murmuration (pronounced mur-muh-rey-shuhn)

(1) An act or instance of murmuring (now rare and mostly jocular).

(2) In ornithological use, the standard collective name for a flock of starlings although sometimes (controversially according to the ornithologists) extended to bees.

(3) In sociology and zoology, an emergent order in a multi-agent social system.

1350–1400: From the Middle English, from the Old French murmure (which endures in modern French) from the Medieval Latin murmurātiōn (stem of murmurātiō (murmuring, grumbling)), from the Latin murmur (humming, muttering, roaring, growling, rushing etc).  The wealth of words related to the onomatopoeic murmur includes rumble, buzz, hum, whisper, muttering, purr, undertone, babble, grumble, mutter, susurration, drone, whispering, humming, mumble, rumor, buzzing and susurrus (the last handy for poets).  The construct was murmur + -ation.  Murmuration is a noun and murmurating & murmurated are verbs; the noun plural is murmurations.

The verb murmur was from the late fourteenth century Middle English and was used in the sense of “make a low continuous noise; grumble, complain”, from the twelfth century Old French murmurer (to murmur, to grouse, to grumble) from murmur (rumbling noise), the transitive sense of “say indistinctly” dating from the 1530s.  As a noun meaning “an expression of (popular) discontent or complaint by grumbling”, the form emerged in the fourteenth century and was from the twelfth century Old French murmure (murmur, sound of human voices; trouble, argument), a noun of action from murmurer, from the Latin murmurare (to murmur, mutter) from murmur (a hum, muttering, rushing), probably from a primitive Indo-European reduplicative base mor-mor, of imitative origin (and the source also of the Sanskrit murmurah (crackling fire), the Greek mormyrein (to roar, boil) and the Lithuanian murmlenti (to murmur).  The meaning in describing sounds from the natural environment (a low sound continuously repeated (of bees, streams, the wind in the trees et al)) was in use by the mid-late 1300s while that of “softly spoken words” dates from the 1670.  The use in clinical medicine to describe “sound heard during auscultation” (the action of listening to sounds from the heart, lungs, or other organs, typically with a stethoscope) has been in the literature since 1824.  A “heart murmur” is an abnormal sound heard during a heartbeat (most often described as a “whooshing or swishing” are the result of turbulent blood flow within the heart or its surrounding vessels.  Such murmurations can be ominous if classified as “pathologic” (or abnormal) but those regarded as “innocent” (or benign) are common (especially in children) and often resolve without treatment.  A diagnosis of a pathologic murmur can indicate an underlying heart condition, the most common causes of which are congenital defects, valve abnormalities (such as stenosis or regurgitation) and infections.  The suffix -ation was from the Middle English -acioun & -acion, from the Old French acion & -ation, from the Latin -ātiō, an alternative form of -tiō (thus the eventual English form -tion).  It was appended to words to indicate (1) an action or process, (2) the result of an action or process or (3) a state or quality.

The New Yorker: Shouts & Murmurs

The New Yorker’s “Shouts & Murmurs” section is dedicated to humorous essays and satirical pieces; the topic range is wide (essentially unlimited) and the whimsical content can be discursive.  It’s reported by many as being the first section turned to when their copy arrives (The New Yorker’s print sales have held up better than most), the takes on everyday situations, cultural phenomena & current events handled in the magazine’s typical way.  In a (vague) sense, “Shouts & Murmurs” is The New Yorker’s “TikTok”: punchy, short form pieces that touch more on popular culture than most of the editorial content.  It’s called “Shouts & Murmurs” rather than “Shouts and Rumors” presumably because (1) it’s a “light & dark” sort of title and (2) The New Yorker really doesn’t do gossip (well it does but usually it’s well-glossed).  While a murmur is “a soft and even indistinct sound made by a person or a group of people speaking quietly or at a distance (ie the opposite of “a shout”)”, a rumor (rumour in British English) is “speculative information or a story passed from person to person but which is just hearsay”.

Birds, sociology & social credit

The adoption of murmuration as the collective noun for starlings is thought almost certainly derived from the sound made when very large numbers of starlings gather in flight, the behaviour most obvious at dusk.  The ornithologists did not approve of the apiarists borrowing the word to describe their bees, saying they’ve already co-opted bike, charm, erst, game, grist, hive, hum, nest, rabble (which seems misplaced given the efficient structure of their industrious societies) & swarm.  There are however no “rules” which govern all this and an alternative collective noun for starlings is a chattering, this applied also to chicks, choughs and goldfinches.

Murmurating eponymously: Tempting though it is to believe, ornithologists assure us that individually or collectively, birds almost certainly make no attempt to form specific shapes when murmurating and are unaware of what shape the formation has assumed.  Such is the variety of shapes achieved, if enough cameras are filming enough murmurations, just about any shape will emerge although, unlike the pareidolias people find in slices of toast, rock formations and such, a specific image summoned by a murmuration is fleetingly ephemeral.

The discipline of sociology relies sometimes on the methods of behavioralism developed in zoology and the term murmuration is co-opted to describe the coordinated, collective behavior of people, an allusion to the movements in unison of flocks of birds which appear both spontaneous and harmonious.  The concept has proved a useful analytical tool when dealing with phenomena where individuals in a group synchronize their actions or thoughts in a fluid and cohesive manner without any apparent centralized direction.  Sociologists tend to group the dynamics of murmuration into four categories:

(1) Self-Organization: The group organizes itself in a dynamic way, adapting to changes in the environment or within the group.

(2) Emergent Behavior: The collective movement or actions arise from the interactions among individuals, rather than from a single leader or directive.

(3) Non-verbal Coordination: Just as birds in a murmuration do not communicate verbally but through subtle cues and reactions, humans in a sociological murmuration often coordinate through indirect signals, such as body language, shared norms, or common awareness.

(4) Complex Patterns: The resulting behavior or movement of the group can form intricate and complex patterns, reflecting a high level of coordination and mutual (and ultimately common) adjustment among the participants.

The seemingly chaotic aerial choreography of starlings murmurating, Sassari, Sardina.  The music is a fragment from the aria Nessun dorma from Giacomo Puccini’s (1858–1924) last opera, the flawed Turandot (1926).

Sociologists were most interested in understanding how individuals within groups create complex social dynamics and outcomes through decentralized interaction but in the last decade, advances in the processing power of computers and the capability of artificial intelligence have enabled the mechanics of murmuration to deconstruct phenomena such as flash mobs, protests, crowds at events, or even online social movements where large numbers of people synchronize their actions through shared information and collective consciousness.  That has been helpful in developing predictive models of behaviour in situations such as evacuations from fire or terrorist incidents but the dystopian implications have been much discussed and, as some sinologists have observed, in the CCP’s (Chinese Communist Party) China’s mass public surveillance machine (integral to the generation of a citizen's "social credit" score), possibly to some extent realized.

Dart

Dart (pronounced dahrt)

(1) A small, slender missile, sharply pointed at one end, typically feathered (or with the shape emulated in plastic) at the other and (1) propelled by hand, as in the game of darts (2) by a blowgun when used as a weapon or (3) by some form of mechanical device such as a dart-gun.

(2) Something similar in function to such a missile.

(3) In zoology, a slender pointed structure, as in snails for aiding copulation or in nematodes for penetrating the host's tissues; used generally to describe the stinging members of insects.

(4) Any of various tropical and semitropical fish, notably the dace (Leuciscus leuciscus).

(5) Any of various species of the hesperiid butterfly notably the dingy dart (of the species Suniana lascivia, endemic to Australia).

(6) In the plural (as darts (used with a singular verb), a game in which darts are thrown at a target usually marked with concentric circles divided into segments and with a bull's-eye in the center.

(7) In tailoring, a tapered seam of fabric for adjusting the fit of a garment (a tapered tuck).

(8) In military use, a dart-shaped target towed behind an aircraft to train shooters (a specific shape of what was once called a target drone).

(9) An act of darting; a sudden swift movement; swiftly to move; to thrust, spring or start suddenly and run swiftly.

(10) To shoot with a dart, especially a tranquilizer dart.

(11) To throw with a sudden effort or thrust; to hurl or launch.

(12) To send forth suddenly or rapidly; to emit; to shoot.

(13) In genetics, as the acronym DarT, Diversity arrays Technology (a genetic marker technique).

(14) Figuratively, words which wound or hurt feelings.

(15) In slang, a cigarette (Canada & Australia; dated).  The idea was a “lung dart”.

(16) In slang, a plan, plot or scheme (Australia, obsolete).

(17) In disaster management, as the acronym DART, variously: Disaster Assistance Response Team, Disaster Animal Response Team, Disaster Area Response Team, Disaster Assistance & Rescue Team and Disaster Response Team

1275–1325: From the Middle English dart & darce, from the Anglo-French & Old French dart & dard (dart), from the Late Latin dardus (dart, javelin), from the Old Low Franconian darōþu (dart, spear), from the Proto-Germanic darōþuz (dart, spear), from the primitive Indo-European dherh- (to leap, spring);.  It was related to the Old English daroth (spear), daroþ & dearod (javelin, spear, dart), the Swedish dart (dart, dagger), the Icelandic darraður, darr & dör (dart, spear), the Old High German tart (dart) and the Old Norse darrathr (spear, lance).  The Italian and Spanish dardo are believed to be of Germanic origin via Old Provençal.  The word dart can be quite specific but depending on context the synonyms can include arrow or barb (noun), dash, bolt or shoot (verb) or cigarette (slang).  Dart & darting are nouns & verbs, darted & dartle are verbs, darter is a noun, verb & adjective, dartingness is a noun, darty is a verb & adjective, dartingly is an adverb; the noun plural is darts.

Between the eyeballs: Crooked Hillary Clinton dart board.

The late fourteenth century darten (to pierce with a dart) was from the noun and is long obsolete while the sense of “throw with a sudden thrust" dates from the 1570s.  The intransitive meaning “to move swiftly” emerged in the 1610s, as did that of “spring or start suddenly and run or move quickly” (ie “as a dart does”).  The name was first applied to the small European freshwater fish in the mid-fifteenth century, based on the creature’s rapid, sudden (darting) movements (other names included dars, dase & dare, from the Old French darz (a dace), the nominative or plural of dart, all uses based on the fish’s swiftness.  The alternative etymology in this context was a link with the Medieval Latin darsus (a dart), said to be of Gaulish origin.  The name dart is now also used of various (similar or related) various tropical and semitropical fish.  It was in Middle English Cupid's love-arrows were first referred to as Cupid's dart (Catananche caerulea).  The modern dart-board was unknown until 1901 although similar games (the idea of archery with hand-thrown arrows) long predated this.  In zoology, the marvelously named “dart sac” describes a sac connected with the reproductive organs of certain land snails; it contains the “love dart” the synonyms of which are bursa telae & stylophore.  In archaeology, the term “fairy dart” describes a prehistoric stone arrowhead (an elf arrow).  A “poison dart” may be fired either from a dart gun or a blow-pipe (the term “dart-pipe” seems never to have been current) while a tranquilizer dart (often used in the management of large or dangerous animals) is always loaded into a dart gun.  The terms “javelin dart”, “lawn jart”, “jart” & “yard dart” are terms which refer to the large darts used in certain lawn games.  In the hobby of model aircraft, a “lawn dart” is an airframe with a noted propensity to crash (although it’s noted “pilot error” is sometimes a factor in this).  In military history, the “rope dart” was a weapon from ancient China which consisted of a long rope with a metal dart at the end, used to attack targets from long-range.

Making smoking sexy: Lindsay Lohan enjoying the odd dart.

The Dodge Dart

The original Dodge Dart was one of Chrysler's show cars which debuted in 1956, an era in which Detroit's designers were encouraged to let their imaginations wander among supersonic aircraft, rockets and the vehicles which SF (science fiction) authors speculated would be used for the interplanetary travel some tried to convince their readers was not far off.  The Dart was first shown with a retractable hardtop but when the 1956 show season was over, it was shipped back to Carrozzeria Ghia in Turin to be fitted with a more conventional convertible soft top.  After another trans-Atlantic crossing after the end of the 1957 show circuit (where it'd been displayed as the Dart II), it was again updated by Ghia and re-named Diablo (from the Spanish diablo (devil)).

1957 Dodge Diablo, the third and final version of the 1956 Dodge Dart show car.

Although a length of 218 inches (5.5 m) now sounds extravagant, by the standards of US designs in the 1950s it fitted in and among the weird and wonderful designs of the time (the regular production models as well as the show cars) the lines and detailing were actually quite restrained and compared with many, the Darts have aged well, some of the styling motifs re-surfacing in subsequent decades, notably the wedge-look.  Underneath, the Diablo’s mechanicals were familiar, a 392 cubic inch Chrysler Hemi V8 with dual four-barrel carburetors delivering power to the rear wheels through a push-button TorqueFlite automatic transmission.  Rated at 375 horsepower, the Hemi ensured the performance matched the looks, something aided by the exceptional aerodynamic efficiency, the CD (coefficient of drag) of 0.17 state of the art even in 2023.  Some engineers doubt it would return such a low number under modern testing but it doubtlessly was slippery and (with less hyperbole than usual), Chrysler promoted the Diablo as the “Hydroplane on Wheels”,  During Chrysler’s ownership of Lamborghini (1987-1994), the name was revived for the Lamborghini Diablo 1990-2001 which replaced the Countach (1974-1990).  Visually, both the Italian cars own something of a debt to the Darts of the 1950s although neither represented quite the advance in aerodynamics Chrysler had achieved all those years ago although the Lamborghini Diablo was good enough finally to achieve 200 mph (320 km/h), something which in the 1970s & 1980s, the Countach and the contemporary Ferrari 365 GT4 BB (Berlinetta Boxer) never quite managed, disappointing some.

The memorable 1957 Chrysler 300C (left) showed the influence of the Diablo but a more rococo sensibility had afflicted the corporation which the 1960 Dart Phoenix D500 Convertible (right) illustrates.  Things would get worse. 

Dodge began production of the Dart in late 1959 as a lower-priced full-sized car, something necessitated by a corporate decision to withdraw the availability of Plymouths from Dodge dealerships.  Dodge benefited from this more than Plymouth but the model ranges of both were adjusted, along with those sold as Chryslers, resulting in the companion DeSoto brand (notionally positioned between Dodge & Chrysler) being squeezed to death; the last DeSotos left the factory in 1960 and the operation was closed the next year.  Unlike its namesake from the show circuit, the 1959 Dodge Dart was hardly exceptional and it would barely have been noticed by the press had it not been for an unexpected corporate squabble between Chrysler and Daimler, a low volume English manufacturer of luxury vehicles which was branching out into the sports car market.  Their sports car was called the Dart.

Using one of his trademark outdoor settings, Norman Parkinson (1913-1990) photographed model Suzanne Kinnear (b 1935) adorning a Daimler Dart (SP250), wearing a Kashmoor coat and Otto Lucas beret with jewels by Cartier.  The image was published on the cover of Vogue's UK edition in November 1959.

With great expectations, Daimler put the Dart on show at the 1959 New York Motor Show and there the problems began.  Aware the little sports car was quite a departure from the luxurious but rather staid lineup Daimler had for years offered, the company had chosen the pleasingly alliterative “Dart” as its name, hoping it would convey the sense of something agile and fast.  Unfortunately for them, Chrysler’s lawyers were faster still, objecting that they had already registered Dart as the name for a full-sized Dodge so Daimler needed a new name and quickly; the big Dodge would never be confused with the little Daimler but the lawyers insisted.  Imagination apparently exhausted, Daimler’s management reverted to the engineering project name and thus the car became the SP250 which was innocuous enough even for Chrysler's attorneys and it could have been worse.  Dodge had submitted their Dart proposal to Chrysler for approval and while the car found favor, the name did not and the marketing department was told to conduct research and come up with something the public would like.  From this the marketing types gleaned that “Dodge Zipp” would be popular and to be fair, dart and zip(p) do imply much the same thing but ultimately the original was preferred.

Things get worse: The 1962 Dodge Dart looked truly bizarre; things would sometimes be stranger than this but not often.

Dodge got it right with the 1967-1976 Darts which could be criticized for blandness but the design was simple, balanced and enjoyed international appeal.  Two Australian versions are pictured, a 1971 VG VIP sedan (left) and a 1970 VG Regal 770 Hardtop (right).  

If Daimler had their problems with the Dart, so did Dodge.  For the 1961 model year, Dodge actually down-sized the “big” range, a consequence of some industrial espionage which misinterpreted Chevrolet’s plans.  Sales suffered because the new Darts were perceived as a class smaller than the competition, thus offering “less metal for the money”.  This compelled Chrysler to create some quick and dirty solutions to plug the gap but the damage was done and it was another model cycle before the ranges successfully were re-aligned.  However, one long-lasting benefit was the decision to take advantage of the public perception “Dart” now meant something smaller and Dodge in 1963 shifted the name to its compact line, enjoying much success.  It was the generation built for a decade between 1967-1976 which was most lucrative for the corporation, the cheap-to-produce platform providing the basis for vehicles as diverse as taxi-cabs, pick-ups, convertibles, remarkably effective muscle cars and even some crazy machines almost ready for the drag strip.  Being a compact-sized car in the US, the Dart also proved a handy export to markets where it could be sold as a “big” car and the Dart (sometimes locally assembled or wholly or partially manufactured) was sold in Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Europe, East Asia, South Africa and South America.  In a form little different the Dart lasted until 1980 in South America and in Australia until 1981 although there the body-shape had in 1971 switched to the “fuselage” style although the platform remained the same.

How a Dodge Hemi Dart would have appeared in 1968 (left) and Hemi Darts ready for collection or dispatch in the yard of the Detroit production facility.

The most highly regarded of the 1967-1976 US Darts were those fitted with the 340 cubic inch (5.6 litre) small-block (LA) V8 which created a much better all-round package than those using the 383 (6.3) and 7.2 (7.2) big-block V8s which tended to be inferior in just about every way unless travelling in a straight line on a very smooth surface (preferably over a distance of about a ¼ mile (400 m) and even there the 340 over-delivered.  The wildest of all the Darts were the 80 (built in 1968) equipped with a version of the 426 cubic inch (7.0 litre) Hemi V8 tuned to a specification closer to race-ready than that used in the “Street Hemi” which was the corporation’s highest-performance option.  Except for the drive-train, the Hemi Darts were an extreme example of what the industry called a “strippers”: cars “stripped” of all but the essentials.  There was thus no radio and no carpeting, common enough in strippers but the Hemi Darts lacked even armrests, external rear-view mirrors, window winding mechanisms or even a back seat.  Nor was the appearance of these shockingly single-purpose machines anything like what was usually seen in a showroom, most of the body painted only in primer while the hood (bonnet) and front fenders, rendered in lightweight black fibreglass, were left unpainted.  Seeking to avoid any legal difficulties, Dodge had purchasers sign an addendum to the sales contract acknowledging Hemi Darts were not intended not as road cars but for use in “supervised acceleration trials” (ie drag racing).  Despite that, these were the last days that in the US one could find a jurisdiction prepared to register such things for street use and some owners did that, apparently taking Dodge’s disclaimer about as seriously as those in the prohibition era (1920-1933) observed the warning on packets of “concentrated grape blocks” not add certain things to the mix, “otherwise fermentation sets in”.

The warning: What not to do, lest one's grape block should turn to wine.

Erection

Erection (pronounced ih-rek-shuhn)

(1) The act of erecting.

(2) The state of being erected.

(3) Something erected, as a building or other structure.

(4) In physiology, a distended and rigid state of an organ or part containing erectile tissue, especially of the penis when filled with blood.

1495–1505: From the Late Latin ērēctiōn- (stem of ērēctiō), the construct being erect + -ion.  The Late Latin erectionem (nominative erectio) was the noun of action from the past participle stem of erigere (to set up, erect).  Erect was from the Middle English erect, from the Latin ērectus (upright), past participle of ērigō (raise, set up), the construct being ē- (out) + regō (to direct, keep straight, guide).  The suffix –ion was from the Latin -iō (genitive -iōnis) and was appended to a perfect passive participle to form a noun of action.  Erection & erector are nouns, erect & erected are adjective & verbs, erecting is a verb, erectable is an adjective (and a noun in commercial use) and erectile is an adjective; the noun plural is erections. 

The meanings "the putting up" (of a building of other structure) and the "stiffening of the penis" are both from 1590s (the common acronym in physiology is flaccid).  In the early-modern medical literature, it was applied also when describing turgidity and rigidity of the clitoris but this use has faded.  The condition priapism (morbidly persistent erection of the penis) is from the Late Latin priapismus, from Greek priapismos (also "lewdness"), from priapizein (to be lewd) from Príāposi (in Greek mythology, a minor rustic fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens and male genitalia and most noted for his over-sized, permanent erection).  Priapism is not the desirable condition it sounds; if untreated, it will cause permanent muscle damage.  The rare forms nonerection, preerection & reerection are now generally restricted to technical documents and since the late nineteenth century have tended increasingly to be hyphenated, the other most commonly seen forms are erectile (often as an adjective applied to dysfunction), an 1822 borrowing from the French érectile and erected, the simple past tense and past participle of erect.

Modern ballistics

In astronautics, a transporter erector is a vehicle used to (1) support a rocket for transportation and (2) place a rocket in an upright position within a gantry scaffold from which they are launched.  They differ from transporter launchers which are mobile platforms from which (usually smaller, shorter-range, surface-to-air (SAM) and surface-to-surface (SSM)) missiles can be launched without the need of an external gantry scaffold or other structure.

Transporter launcher: Still in service, the 2K11 Krug is a Soviet-era medium-range, medium-to-high altitude surface-to-air missile (SAM) system.  The NATO reporting name is SA-4 Ganef (after a word of Yiddish origin meaning "thief" or "rascal").  The antiquity of much of the materiel used by the Russian military often attracts comment but military hardware sometimes hits a "sweet spot" in the search for the compromise between functionality, economy of production & operation and an admirable shelf life.  In the US inventory, both the Boeing B52 bomber (1955) and the Sidewinder air-to-air (AAN) missile (1956) remain in service and it's not impossible they may enjoy a hundred year life.

Transporter erector: Known internally at NASA as a “crawler” a transporter erector moves to Pad 39A the Saturn V rocket used for the Apollo 14 Moon mission, January 1971.

Getting it up: Kim Jong-un (Kim III, b 1982; Supreme Leader of DPRK (North Korea) since 2011) supervises the erection of his big Hwasong-14 inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM), July 2017.

For the Hwasong-14, the DPRK used an eight-axle version of the WS51200 transporter, the largest of the WS series built by Wanshan Special Vehicles in China.  Interestingly, as far as is known, the Korean People's Army (KPA) is the only military using the WS51200, none appearing to be in service with the Chinese PLA (People’s Liberation Army) and it’s believed the DPRK obtained eight WS51200s in 2011, supplied as timber and logging transporters to evade UN sanctions.  The Supreme Leader also has a fondness for expensive German cars, the importation of which by the DPRK is also banned but a number have appeared in his garage.

The Supreme Leader's big missiles: Hwasong-14 ICBM with 8-axle transporter erector (left), Hwasong-15 ICBM with 9-axle transporter erector (centre) and Hwasong-16 ICBM with 11-axle transporter erector (right).

All else being equal, as the range of a missile increases, it becomes bigger and heavier.  Transporter erectors are thus built on an extendable chassis, permitting additional length and more tyres to support longer and heavier missiles.  Whereas in 2017 an eight-axle chassis was sufficient for the Hwasong-14, by the time the Hwasong-16 was on parade in 2020, eleven were needed.

Size matters: Mock-up of The Supreme Leader with 24 axle transporter erector. 

Like his grandfather Kim Il-sung (Kim I, 1912–1994; Great Leader of DPRK (North Korea) 1948-1994) and father Kim Jong-il (Kim II, 1941-2011; Dear Leader of DPRK (North Korea) 1994-2011), the Supreme Leader thinks big and had his ICBM programme continued to use liquid fuels, he would have been compelled to add more and more axles as size and range grew.  However, following the development path of both the US and USSR, the DPRK switched from liquid to solid-fuel propulsion which permits (1) downsizing, a reduction in the size & weight of the missile required for a given warhead, (2) a longer range, (3) the use of a shorter transporter erector, (4) a smaller number of support vehicles and staff during deployment and (5) a much reduced launch time because the several hours it takes to "fill 'er up" a liquid-fueled device are removed from the cycle.  The Supreme Leader had teased observers in 2021 when he revealed the development of a solid-fuel ICBM was "well-progressed" as part of the military's five-year plan.  A spokesman for the Pentagon said at the time they "were aware" of the project.  There's something about the term "five-year plan" which seems to attract dictators.   

First shown in February 2023 at the platinum jubilee (75^th anniversary) parade marking the formation of the KPA in 1948, the Hwasong-18 three-stage, solid-fuelled ICBM was launched on a test flight the following April, a second undertaken in July, the highlight of which was promotional film clip issued by the foreign ministry.  Much as the technology of his big missiles has improved over the years, the Supreme Leader's video production crew have also honed their techniques and have evolved from James Bond style circa 1965 to something close to 1990s Hong Kong action movies with the addition of drone cameras.  The critics were generally impressed with the improvement although some suspected digital editing may have been involved but that's hardly a trick unique to the DPRK and a nice touch was the continued use of a narrator speaking with the same excited urgency of a DPRK newsreader.  One obvious hint of the advantage of solid-fuel configuration was the  being launched from the same 9-axle transporter erector as the shorter-range Hwasong-15 whereas the Hwasong-16 had demanded an 11-axle chassis.  Analysts note the DPRK's Pukguksong-5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) were solid-fueled and its assumed the ground-launched technology will be similar.

Hwasong-18 launch video.  All that can be hoped is that the next release includes multi-lingual sub-titles because the narrator is a star and his words deserve to be understood by all. 

Skunk

Skunk (pronounced skuhngk)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Skunk hair.

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

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

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

Skunkworks

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works logo.

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

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

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

Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star.

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

Lockheed Martin SR-72 conceptual rendering.

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

Hollywood

Hollywood (pronounced hol-ee-wood)

(1) A locality name shared by some two-dozen locations in the US, most associated the neighborhood in north-west Los Angeles, the historic centre of the US motion-picture industry.

(2) A locality name used by several places in England and Ireland.

(3) As a metonym, the US motion-picture industry (not necessarily restricted to LA) or the various cultural constructs associated with the business.

(4) Of or characteristic of a motion picture which tends to the type most associated with the mainstream US industry.

(5) In the beauty industry, a technique of waxing which removes all of the pubic hair, contrasted usually with the “Brazilian” which leaves a narrow strip.

Pre-1200 (in Ireland): In England and Ireland, Hollywood was used as a place name, based on the existence of established holly plantations in the region and it was adopted for dozens of settlements in North America although it’s not clear if the presence of holly plants was a prerequisite.  The use of Hollywood as a metonym for the US film industry (and by film nerds specifically the “studio system”) dates from 1926, some three years after the big sign on the hills was erected.

Lindsay Lohan photoshoot in the Hollywood hills for Vogue Espana, August 2009.

Standing 45 feet (13.7 m) high and 350 feet (106.7 m) in length, the sign originally spelled-out HOLLYWOODLAND and was intended as a temporary advertisement to promote a real estate development but became so identified with the place it was decided to allow it to remain.  As a temporary structure exposed to the elements, damage or deterioration was inevitable and in 1949, after the “H” had collapsed, restorative work was undertaken, the “LAND” letters demolished.  This work actually endured well but by the 1970s it was again quite dilapidated, a rebuild completed in 1979 and periodic maintenance since has ensured it remains in good condition.  There have been instances of vandalism so perimeter fencing of the site has over the years been increased but, as far as is known, only one soul has ever committed suicide by throwing themselves from one of the letters.  The first known instance of the name being used is in local government planning documents filed in 1887.  Quite why the name was chosen is obscure but there are a number of suggestions:

(1) Of the heteromeles arbutifolia.  It’s said the early residents in the region so admired the prolific holly-like bush (heteromeles arbutifolia, then commonly called the toyon) which grew in the Santa Monica Mountains they fondly re-named it the “California holly” and it was as this the plant lent its name to the neighborhood.  Easy to cultivate, tolerant of the Californian sun and demanding only occasional water, the toyon can grow as high as 18 feet (5½ m) high, the white summer flowers in the fall & winter yielding red berries.  The branches were a favorite for floral centerpieces and during the 1920s their harvesting as Christmas decorations became so popular the State of California passed a law (CA Penal Code § 384a) forbidding collection on public land or any land not owned by the person picking the plant unless with the the landowner’s written permission.

Heteromeles arbutifolia (the toyon or California holly)

(2) More in the spirit of the American dream is that the name was a marketing exercise.  In 1886, Harvey Wilcox (1832–1891) and his wife Daeida (1861-1914) purchased farmland and fruit groves near the Cahuenga Pass, his intention being to sub-divide the land, selling the plots for profit.  A year later, Mrs Wilcox met a passenger on a train who mentioned owning an Illinois estate named Hollywood and she was so enchanted by the name she convinced her husband to use if for his development, sitting on the land now known as Hollywood.

(3) A variation of this story is that Mrs Wilcox met a woman who told her of her home in Ohio named after a Dutch settlement called Hollywood and, without telling her husband, she bestowed the name on the recently purchased land.  Mr Wilcox apparently didn’t demur and had a surveyor map out a grid for the sub-division which was lodged with the county recorder's office on 1 February 1887, this the first official appearance of the name "Hollywood".

Lindsay Lohan photoshoot in the Hollywood hills for Vogue Espana, August 2009

(4) Year another twist to the tale maintains a friend of Mrs Wilcox hailed from a place called Holly Canyon and it was this which induced her to pick the name.  This included the area we now know as Hollywood which was purchased as part of a larger package by land developer Hobart Whitley (1847–1931) although there are sources which give some credit to Los Angeles businessman Ivar Weid, this linked also to the toyon tree.

(5) Some of the stories seem imaginative.  One involves divine intervention with Mrs Wilcox naming the area after attending a Mass of the Holy Wood of the Cross on the site though if that’s the case, Hollywood may subsequently have disappointed God.  There’s also a version with a phonetic flavor and it’s said to come from Hobart Whitley's diary: In 1886, while in the area, Whitley came across a man with a wood-hauling wagon and they paused to chat.   The carrier turned out to be Scottish who spoke of "hauling wood" which sounded to Whitley like "Hollywood" and Whitley was attracted by the combination of holly representing England and wood, Scotland; the tale reached Harvey Wilcox, and the name stuck.  An Irish version of this says the name was based on an immigrant's nostalgic memories of his home town: Hollywood in Wicklow, Ireland.  The immigrant was Mathew Guirke (1826-1909) who arrived in the US in 1850 and became a successful Los Angeles businessman, owning even a racetrack.  It’s said he named his new homestead Hollywood in honor of his hometown.

Henry Kissinger (b 1923; US National Security Advisor 1969-1975 & Secretary of State 1973-1977) meets Dolly Parton, 1985.

The noun Bollywood dates from 1977 and was based on the construct of Hollywood.  It references the Indian film industry, the construct being B(ombay) +‎ (H)ollywood, because the city of Bombay was where the bulk of the industry was located’ it’s sometimes truncated as B'wood.  Although the Raj-era name Bombay has formerly been gazetted as Mumbai and the name-change seems to be adhered to in the West, among Indians Bombay continues often to be used and Bollywood is so well entrenched it has assumed an independent life and nobody has suggested Mollywood.  Historically, Bollywood was a reference to (1) the Hindi-language film industry in Bombay and (2) a particular style of motion picture with a high song & dance content but of later it (3) refered to the whole industry in India.  Thus, as use has extended, the specific meaning has been diluted.  By extension, slang terms to describe motion pictures produced in India in languages other than Hindi include Kollywood (Tamil film industry located in Kodambakkam in Chennai, southern India.), Tollywood (Film Nagar, the Telugu film industry located in Hyderabad, Telangana) and Urduwood (anything using the Urdu language), the last often used in a derogatory sense by Hindu Indians after the fashion of substituting “I am going to the loo” with “I am going to Pakistan”.  Predictably, Nollywood (the construct being N(igeria) +‎ (H)ollywood) was coined when a industry of scale became established there.  Located in the Knoxville metropolitan area in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, Dollywood is a theme park co-owned by country & western singer Dolly Parton (b 1946) and Herschend Family Entertainment (HFE).

Lindsay Lohan, Vogue Espana cover, August 2009.

Other linguistic inventions include hollyweird (said often used by respectable folk in the flyover states to decry the decadent lifestyles and liberal opinions held by those who live close to America's corrupting coastlines (ie not restricted to a condemnation just of a part of LA) and hollywoke, a more recent coining which links the liberal views held by the hollyweird with political correctness and wokeness in general.  The "Hollywood bed" was a marketing invention of the 1950s which described a mattress on a box spring supported by low legs and fitted with an upholstered headboard, so-named because it resembled the beds which often appeared in Hollywood movies although, the term has also been used in the context of Harvey Weinstein's (b 1952) nefarious activities.  Hollywoodian and Hollywoodish are both adjectival forms, applied usually disapprovingly.  Beyond mainstream use, the ever-helpful Urban Dictionary lists a myriad of creations including hollywood hot-pocket, hollywood wife, hollywood hair, hollywood drone, hollywood douchebag, Hollywood zombie, hollywood vitamins, pull a hollywood, hollywood Nap, hollywood snow, hollywood republican & hollywood handler.  Some are self-explanatory (at least to those who enjoyed a misspent youth) while others Urban Dictionary can flesh-out.

Hollywoodland, 1923.

Hollywood is of course inherently associated with glitzy renditions of fiction though it seems a bit rough that on-line dictionaries include as synonyms: bogus, copied, false, fictitious, forged, fraudulent, phony, spurious, affected, assumed, bent, brummagem, crock (as in “…of shit”), ersatz, fake, feigned, framed, imitation, misleading, mock, pirate, plant, pretended, pseudo, put on, queer, sham, wrong, deceptive, delusive, delusory, fishy, not genuine, not kosher (that one a nice touch), pretentious, snide, soft-shell, suppositious and two-faced.  Presumably the Republican National Committee (RNC) didn’t write the list but it’s doubtful they'd much change it.  In the same spirit, the antonyms include actual, authentic, factual, genuine, honest, real, sincere, true, truthful & valid.