Snoot

Snoot (pronounced snoot)

(1) In slang, the nose (of humans, animals, geological formations, distant galaxies and anything else with a feature even vaguely “nose-like”).

(2) In slang, an alcoholic drink.

(3) In slang, a police officer (especially a plain-clothed detective, the use explained by the notion of police “sticking their noses into” things).

(4) In clothing, the peak of a cap.

(5) In photography and film production, a cylindrical or conical e-shaped fitment on a studio light to control the scene area illuminated by restricting spill light.

(6) In informal use, a snob; an elitist individual; one who looks down upon those “not of the better classes”.

(7) In linguistics, a language pedant or snob; one who practices linguistic elitism (and distinct from a “grammar Nazi”).

(8) In engineering, as “droop snoot”, a design in which the nose of a machine is lowered (temporarily or permanently) for reasons of visibility or to optimize aerodynamics.

(9) To behave disdainfully toward; to condescend to (usually as “snooty”).

(10) To apply a snoot attachment to a light.

1861: From the Scots snoot (a variation of snout (nose or projecting feature of an animal), from the Middle English snowte, from the Middle Dutch snute, ultimately from the Proto-West Germanic snūt, from the Proto-Germanic snūtaz, source also of the German Schnauze (the basis of schnauzer, a name for a type of dog) and it’s presumed the slang schnoz (a nose, especially if large) is probably related.  Snoot is a noun & verb, snootiness, snooter & snootful are nouns, snooting & snooted are verbs, snooty, snootier & snootiest are adjectives and snootily is an adverb; the noun plural is snoots.

Lindsay Lohan's snoot.

The noun snootful dates from 1885 and was a synonym of skinful (to have imbibed as much liquor as one could manage).  It was based on the use of snout to mean “an an alcoholic drink” whereas skinful was an allusion to the time when wine was transported in containers made from animal skin (ie in original use skinful meant “the container is full”).  The adjective snooty (proud, arrogant) was first noted as university student slang in 1918 and presumably was in some way related to the earlier snouty (insolent, overbearing) which was in use by at least 1857, doubtlessly on the basis of “looking down one's nose at someone or something”.  In dialectal or slang use a snout (in the sense of “nose” is not of necessity derogatory and in fields like engineering, cosmology, geography, geology, cosmology or zoology, it is merely descriptive.  However, when used as a slang term for a snob (a snooty person), the sense is almost always negative although there are some elitists who are proud of their snootiness.  Those who don’t approve of barbarisms such as country & western music sometimes make sure their snootiness is obvious but as a general principle it’s usually better just to ignore such things.  The adjective snooty is in much more common use than the noun snoot and it appears often with a modifier such as “a bit snooty”.  That may seem strange because one is either snooty about someone or something or one isn’t but there are degrees of severity with which one can allow ones snootiness to manifest (the comparative “snootier”, the superlative “snootiest”.

In engineering, “droop snout” is used to describe a design in which the nose of a machine is lowered (temporarily or permanently) for reasons of visibility or to optimize aerodynamics.  The term was apparently first used between engineers in the late 1950s while working on the first conceptual plans for the Anglo-French supersonic airliner which became the Concorde although the first known use in print dates from 1963 (“droop nose” appearing in the same era).  The idea wasn’t developed for use on the Concorde.  An experimental British supersonic test-bed with a droop-nose had flown as early 1954 and proved the utility of the concept by being the first jet aircraft to exceed 1000 mph (1600 km/h) in level flight, later raising the world speed record of to 1132 mph (1822 km/h), exceeding the previous mark by an impressive 310 mph (500 km/h).  In aviation, the basic idea of a sloping nose had been around for decades and one of the reasons some World War II (1939-1945) Allied fighter pilots found targeting easier in the Hawker Hurricane than the Supermarine Spitfire was the nose of the former noticeably tapered towards the front, greatly enhancing forward visibility.

How the Concorde's droop snoot was used.

On the Concorde, the droop snoot wasn’t a mere convenience.  The combination of the engineers slide-rules and wind tunnel testing had proved what the shape had to be to achieve the combination of speed and fuel economy (the latter an under-estimated aspect of the development process) but that shape also meant the pilots’ view was so obstructed during take-offs, landings and taxiing that safety was compromised.  The solution was the “droop nose” mechanism which included a moving transparent visor which retracted into the nose prior to being lowered.  At supersonic speeds, the temperatures are high and so are the stresses so much attention was devoted to “fail-safe” systems including the droop snoot because a structural failure at Mach 2 would potentially be catastrophic for the entire airframe (and obviously every soul on board).  Thus, the hydraulic systems controling the droop snoot’s movement was duplicated and, as a last resort, the pilots had access to a simple mechanical lever which would disengage the pins holding the structure in place, the apparatus afterwards gracefully (hopefully) descending into its lowered position by the simple operation of gravity.  Droop snoots appeared also on Soviet supersonic aircraft including the short-lived Tupolev Tu-144 (visually close to a Concorde clone) and the Sukhoi T-4 strategic bomber which never entered production.  Interestingly, the USAF’s (US Air Force) North American XB-70 Valkyrie (a Mach 3 experimental bomber) didn’t use a droop snoot because it was developed exclusively for high-altitude, high-speed strategic bombing missions and, being a military airplane, would only ever operate from large, controlled airbases where additional ground support systems (monitoring and guidance) negated the need for the mechanism.

1955 Ford Customline (left) and the 1967 “droop snoot” “Custaxie” (right), the construct being Cust(omline) + (Gal)axie, the unusual hybrid created by merging (some of) a 1955 Customline with a 427 cubic inch (7.0 litre) Ford Galaxie V8.  The bizarre machine won the 1967 New Zealand Allcomers (a wonderful concept) saloon car championship, the modifications to the nose reckoned to be the equivalent of an additional 40-50 horsepower.

At sub-supersonic speeds, throughout the 1960s race-cars proved the virtue of the droop snoot (though a fixed rather than a moveable structure.  While sometimes weight-reduction was also attained, overwhelmingly the advantage was in aerodynamics and the idea began to spread to road cars although it would be decades before the concept would no longer be visually too radical for general market acceptance.

1972 Vauxhall Firenza coupé promotional material for the Canadian launch, a market in which the car was a disaster (left) and 1975 High Performance (HP) Firenza "dropsnoot".  GM in South Africa actually made a good car out of the Firenza coupé, building 100 (for homologation purposes) with the 302 cubic inch (4.9 litre) V8 used in the original Z/28 Chevrolet Camaro.  In South Africa, they were sold as the "Chevrolet Firenza".  

In 1973, officially, Vauxhall called their new version of the Firenza coupé the “High Performance (HP) Firenza” but quickly the press, noting the Concorde (then still three years from entering commercial service), dubbed it the “droopsnoot”, the reference obviously to the distinctive nosecone designed for aerodynamic advantage.  The advantages were real in terms of performance and fuel consumption but Vauxhall had the misfortune to introduce the model just as the first oil crisis began which stunted demand for high-performance cars (BMW’s 2002 Turbo another victim) and triggered a sharp recession which was a prelude to that decade’s stagflation.  Vauxhall had planned a build of some 10,000 a year but in the difficult environment, a paltry 204 were built.

A Ford Escort Mark 2 in the 1977 Rally of Finland (left) and a 1976 Escort RS2000  with the droop snoot (right).

In 1976, Ford launched their own take on the droop snoot, the Mark 2 Escort RS2000 featuring a similar mechanical specification to that of the Mark 1 but with a distinctive nosecone.  Ford claimed there was an aerodynamic benefit in the new nose but it was really a styling exercise designed to stimulate interest because the Escort was the corporation’s platform for rallying rather than something used on high-speed circuits and it certainly achieved the desired results, the model proving popular.  Ford Australia even offered it with four doors as well as two although emission regulations meant the additional horsepower on offer in Europe was denied to those down under.  Interestingly, although the range’s high-performance flagship, the factory rally team didn’t use the droop snoot version, those in competition using the standard, square-fronted body.

Godox Pro Snoot S-Type Mount SN-05

Endurance

Endurance (pronounced en-doo r-uhns or en-dyoo r-uhns)

(1) The fact or power of enduring or bearing pain, hardships, etc.

(2) The ability or strength to continue or last, especially despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions; stamina.

(3) Lasting quality; duration.

(4) Something endured, as a hardship; trial.

1485-1495: From the Middle English enduren from the Old French endurer, from the Classical Latin indūrō (to make hard).  Enduren displaced the pre-900 Old English drēogan (congnate with the Gothic driugan (to serve in arms) which survives dialectally as dree (tedious; dreary)).  The meaning "ability to endure suffering" was first noted in the 1660s. The older forms, enduraunce, indurance, induraunce are all long obsolete.  Construct was endure + ance; the suffix –ance (a process or action) added to the stem of verbs to form a noun indicating a state or condition, such as result or capacity, associated with the verb, this especially prevalent with words borrowed from French.  Many words ending in ance were formed in French by alteration of a noun or adjective ending in ant; ance was derived from the Latin anita and enita.

Endurance Racing

There’s no precise definition of endurance racing, it's just a form of competition of greater duration of length than most.  It’s bounced around over the years but events now regarded as endurance races tend to be over a distance of 625 miles (1000 km) or twelve or twenty-four hours long.  Long races existed from the early days of motorsport, the first twenty-four hour event being on an oval circuit at Dayton, Ohio in 1905, followed soon by the opening event at the purpose-built Brooklands circuit in 1907.  One of the epic races was the Targa Florio, first run in 1906.  Held originally on public roads in the mountains of Sicily near the capital Palermo, it was for decades the oldest event for sports cars and a round of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955-1973.  The first few races were a lap of the whole island but as the volume of traffic and competitors increased, it became too disruptive and the track length was reduced to the 72 kilometre (45 mile) Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie, each Targa Florio run over eleven laps.  Safety concerns and the oil crisis conspired to remove it from the world championship after 1973 and it was finally cancelled in 1977.  A much toned-down event is now run annually as a round of the Italian Rally Championship.

Further north, the thousand-mile Mille Miglia, also run on public roads, was first staged in 1927 and although soon one of the classic events on the calendar, it's the 1955 race to which a particular aura still attaches.  Won by Stirling Moss (1929-2020) and  Denis Jenkinson (1920-1996), they used a Mercedes 300SLR, a car which technically complied with the sports car regulations but was actually the factory's formula one machine (W196) with a bigger engine and a streamlined body with seats for two.  It wasn't exactly a "grand prix car with headlights" as some claimed but wasn't that far off.  Officially the W196S (Sports) in the factory register, for marketing purposes it was dubbed (add badged) as the 300SLR to add lustre to the 300SL Gullwing coupé then on sale.

Mercedes-Benz W196S (300SLR), Mille Miglia, 1955.

The race was completed in 10 hours, 7 minutes and 48 seconds, a average speed of 157.650 km/h (97.96 mph) (the course was never exactly 1000 miles and that year was 1,597 km (992 miles) and at times, the 300SLR touched almost 305 km/h (190mph) which enabled Moss to cover the last 340 km (211 miles) at an average speed of 265.7 km/h (165.1) mph.  The record set in 1955 will stand for all time because the Italian government banned the Mille Miglia after two fatal crashes during the 1957 event, one of which killed nine spectators and a cursory glace at the photographs showing crowds clustered sometimes literally inches from the speeding cars might suggest it's surprising not more died.  Today, the name of the Mille Miglia endures as a semi-competitive tour for historic racing cars which, run since 1977.  By contrast, events run on closed courses have survived, the most famous of which is the 24 Heures du Mans (the Le Mans 24 Hour) and well-known 1000 km, 12 & 24 hour races have been run at Sebring, Laguna Seca, Daytona, Bathurst, the Nürburgring and Spa Francorchamps.

Endurance racing: Porsche 917Ks sideways in the wet; Vic Elford (1935-2022, right #11) and Pedro Rodriguez (1940-1971, left #10), BOAC 1000km, Brands Hatch, April 1970.  The race was the third round of the 1970 World Sports Car Championship.  Chris Amon (1943–2016) put a Ferrari 512S on pole but the 1000 was won (by 5 laps) by Pedro Rodríguez & Leo "Leksa" Kinnunen (1943–2017) in a Porsche 917K entered by John Wyer (1909–1989).  Amon was impressed by the speed maintained by Rodríguez in atrociously wet conditions (although much improved from the lethally unstable version seen a year earlier, even by 1970 the 917 could be difficult to handle even on a dry surface) and is said to have remarked to his pit crew: "Can somebody tell Pedro it's raining?"

Some endurance required: In 2023, the Dowse Art Museum in Wellington, New Zealand, staged the exhibition exploring the 2014 installation at Fort Delta, Melbourne in July 2014 in which New Zealand based artist Claire Harris (b 1982) watched Ms Lohan's entire filmography back to back in a live performance art work over 28 hours.  The issues discussed included “how” and “why” and there were practical tips on developing the stamina required for such feats of endurance.  The companion 34 page illustrated book Happy birthday Lindsay Lohan, 2011-2014 is available on request from the National Library of New Zealand.  The pages are unnumbered, the rational for which is not disclosed.

As a general principle, an "endurance event" tends to be a longer version of something so it’s thus a relative as well as an absolute term.  In sport, something like the Marathon, run over 42 kilometres (26 miles) is the endurance event of running where as the shorter contests are sprints (such as the 100 or 200 meters) or “distance” races (such as the 5,000 or 10,000 metres).  However, were the Marathon not to exist, then the 10,000 would be the “endurance” event of the Olympic Games, the tag attaching to whatever is the longest form.  In other fields, “endurance” can be more nuanced because what some find an “act of endurance” to sit through, others relish and long for more.  Richard Wagner’s (1813–1883)'s Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung, 1876 (usually referred to as “The Ring Cycle”)) is an opera of epic length in cycle consisting of four separate pieces, each of the composer regarded as “an opera”:

Das Rheingold: (The Rhinegold; some 2½ hours with no intermission)
Die Walküre: (The Valkyrie; some 4½-5½ hours with intermissions)
Siegfried: (some 5-5½ hours with intermissions)
Götterdämmerung: (Twilight of the Gods; some 5-6 hours with intermissions)

So, a performance of the Ring Cycle absorbs between 15-17 hours and is thus usually spread over several days, some productions staging the event across a month, each performance (usually three or four) held on a weekend.  Grand Opera really is the West’s greatest artistic achievement and among the aficionados, the Wagnerian devotees are the most dedicated and passionate, some travelling the world to compare and contrast different productions of the Ring.  For them it’s not usually a test of endurance (although a production of which they don’t approve will be a long 17 hours) because they relish every moment but for others it’s probably unthinkable.  Although it’s long been attributed to him, the US humorist Mark Twain (1835-1910) may never have said: “Wagner’s music isn’t as bad as it sounds”, the back-handed compliment reflects the view of the majority, brought up on shorter, more accessible forms of entertainment.  For them, one hour of Wagner would be an endurance test.

The three later individual pieces of The Ring are themselves epic-length operas and Wagner wrote a number in this vein including Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Master-Singers of Nuremberg, 1868; 5-6 hours), Parsifal (1882; 4-5 hours), Lohengrin (1850; 4 hours), Tannhäuser (1845; 4 hours) and the incomparable Tristan und Isolde (1965; 4-5 hours).  What came to define “epic length” in Opera was: (1) the typical length of other works and (2) the powers of endurance of those on stage, in the orchestra pit or in the audience.  Other composers did tend to write shorter operas although Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791–1864), Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901), Richard Strauss (1864–1949), Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868) and Hector Berlioz (1803–1869) all produced works running over four hours and it was not unusual for there to be two or even three intermissions.  For profligacy with time however, none match Wagner although some modern composers have written very long operas although their length seems other to be their only memorable feature.

Epics: On vinyl, tracks did lengthen and if the physical limits of vinyl were exceeded, the piece could be spread over more than one disk.  Iron Butterfly’s In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968, left) was 17:05 in length, Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick (1972, centre) was 43:46 (over two disks) while Rush’s 2112 (1976, right) was 20:33.

Cast adrift from the moorings of endurance by internet streaming making available infinite playing time, “songs” in the twenty-first century can last literally hours and an illustrative example is The Rise and Fall of Bossanova by PC III (Michael J Bostwick) which weighs in at a Wagarian 13 hours, 23 minutes, and 32 seconds.  It seems between 2016-2020 to have held the Guinness World Record as the longest song officially released although whether this should be thought a proud boast or admission of guilt will be up to those who listen.  Ominously, one of the implications of AI (artificial intelligence) is that in theory, someone could release a song which, without hesitation, deviation or repetition, goes on forever.

Andy Warhol's Empire is occasionally screened but always on the basis that viewers may "come and go" at any point in its eight hour run-time.

In pop music, the “epic length piece” was shorter by virtue of technological determinism.  Modern pop music (as the term is now understood) began in the 1950s and the standard form of distribution by the 1960s was the LP (long-playing) vinyl album, first released in 1948.  Because the technology of the time limited the duration of music which could fit on the side of a LP disk to about 27 minutes, that became the upper limit for a single song and at that length, it could be called “epic length” or just “an epic”.  Some bands and individuals did produce “epics” with varied results and some were probably better enjoyed (or endured) with drugs.  Not discouraged by the limitations of vinyl, others noted the possibilities offered by double (2 disks) or even triple (3 disks) albums and penned “rock operas”, the need to change disks a convenient operatic touch in that it provided a intermission.  Andy Warhol (1928–1987) took the idea of the endurance test to celluloid, in 1965 releasing Empire, a silent film shot in black & white showing New York’s Empire State Building at night (form a single aspect).  Running for some eight hours and designed to be viewed in slow-motion, it received critical praise from the usual suspects and little interest among even those who frequented art-house cinemas.  Warhol issued as statement saying the purpose was “to see time go by” and it can’t be denied he succeeded, perhaps even more convincingly than his earlier five hour epic Sleep (1964) which was an edited collection of takes of a man sleeping.  Similar scenes may have been found among those who found watching Empire beyond their powers of endurance.

Coup

Coup (pronounced koo)

(1) A highly successful, unexpected stroke, act, or move; a clever action or accomplishment; a brilliant and successful stroke or action

(2) As count coup, a brave or reckless deed performed in battle by a single warrior, as touching or striking an enemy warrior without sustaining injury oneself (believed specific to the Plains Indians of North America); a blow against an enemy delivered in a way that shows bravery.

(3) A short form for coup d'état, used (1) literally, in the context of a political takeover or overthrow (a putsch) and, (2) by extension, in business, sport, academia etc.

(4) A rubbish tip.

(5) In Scots, to barter; traffic; deal

(6) As (the unrelated) chicken coop (pronounced koop), a construction made up of an outdoor area, a roosting box, a roosting box support, a nesting box, and a garden above the outdoor area.

(7) In roulette, a single roll of the wheel.

(8) In the French card game rouge et noir, a deal.

(9) In the card-game bridge, one of various named strategies employed by the declarer to win more tricks (such as the Bath coup & Vienna coup).

(10) In billiards, the direct pocketing of the cue-ball, which is a foul stroke.

(11) To perform a coup; to recount or relate the coups one has performed.

1350–1400: From the Middle English coupe (to pay for), from the Old Norse kaupa (to buy, barter) and cognate with the Old English cēapian and the German kaufen.  The use in the modern sense of “blow; strike against” emerged in the 1640s and was from the French coup (literally “blow, stroke”) from the twelfth century Old French colp (a blow, strike), from the Medieval Latin colpus, from the Latin colaphus (blow with the fist; a cuff, box on the ear), from the Greek kólaphos (a blow, buffet, punch, slap) of uncertain origin.  In Modern French the word is regarded as a “workhorse”, used variously to describe physical blows from “a pat on the back” to “a serious assault”, gunshots, sudden, dramatic weather events such as claps of thunder or gusts of wind and moves in games including cards & chess.  Depending on the context, the synonyms include action, plot, revolt, revolution, overthrow, stratagem, accomplishment, upset, stroke, exploit, stunt & deed.  Coup, coupist & coupism are nouns; the plural is coups (pronounced kooz (or koo in French)).

A coup de grâce is a “mercy killing”, a final blow or shot delivered to kill a wounded person or animal, the rationale being it "puts them out of their misery".  Some have been notable: When it became clear to the coup plotters that Unternehmen Walküre (Operation Valkyrie, the 20 July 1944 attempt to overthrow Nazi rule, the success of which was predicated on the assassination of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; Führer (leader) and German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945) had failed, a number of the plotters decided to anticipate the inevitable by committed suicide.  Most succeeded but Colonel General Ludwig Beck (1880–1944), pencilled in as head of state in the provisional government, given permission by his captor to take his own life, shot himself in the head (twice according some accounts) but managed only to wound himself.  That might sound like an indictment of the marksmanship in the senior ranks of the Wehrmacht but it transpires not to be unknown in suicide attempts, especially when the weapon is a small calibre pistol loaded with the steel-jacketed bullets used by the military.  An army sergeant delivered Beck the coup de grâce with a single shot.

The meaning “a sudden decisive act” was first used in 1852 as clipping of coup d'etat.  The linguistic gift was the consequence of the coup d'état of 2 December 1851, staged by Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (1808–1873; first president of France (1848-1852) and (as the Emperor Napoleon III) the last monarch (1852-1870)).  In the narrow technical sense, political scientists often list the event as a “self coup” because he was at the time serving as President of France (the Second Republic) and the appropriately-named Operation Rubicon was a way to ensure his continuation in office, the president, under the constitution, compelled to relinquish office in 1852.  Charles-Louis was a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821; leader of the French Republic 1799-1804 & Emperor of the French from 1804-1814 & 1815) who would become known as Napoleon I.  Just to emphasize the imperial connection, the coup was timed to coincide with the anniversary of Napoleon I's victory at the Battle Austerlitz (2 December 1805, the so-called “Battle of the Three Emperors”), one of the great set-piece engagements of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815).

Emperor Donald I in his coronation robes, post coup d'etat (digitally altered image).

The sense of history was real but the motive was more Machiavellian.  Le President liked being head of state, was frustrated his agenda had yet to be implemented and the coup took the course familiar in dozens since, dissolving the parliament & vesting the office of president with the power to rule by decree.  Giving a lesson which would be well-learned by later dictators, within days of the coup the president had conducted a constitutional referendum which (carefully counted) approved his actions and by 14 January 1852 a new constitution had been promulgated (replacing the document of 4 November 1848 which had been the founding text of the Second Republic).  However, even enhanced powers (strengthened still further over the next few months) proved insufficient and, with the concurrence of the Sénat (the unelected upper chamber of the national assembly) and another referendum (one in which who counted the votes was of more importance than who voted), on 2 December 1852, Bonaparte proclaimed himself “Emperor of the French” as Napoleon III.  In the French monarchical tradition, he now thought he had a job for life.  Things didn’t quite work out that way but he was for a while a real emperor which is something few presidents get to be.  When he turns off the light at night, it may be that Donald Trump’s (b 1946; US president 2017-2021) early-morning thoughts turn not to memories of Stormy Daniels (the stage name of Stephanie Gregory, b 1979 with whom nothing ever happened) but to Napoleon III.  Were he to follow the business model of 1852, he could be crowned Donald I.

The coup d'état (pronounced koo dey-tahz or ku-deta (French)) is the sudden, unlawful (although this is often retrospectively “fixed”) often violent, decisive action in politics, especially one resulting in a change of government illegally or by force.  In French, unlike English, the word État (sovereign political entity) is capitalized.  As a political tactic, coup d'état has existed probably since the first forms of government emerged but the phrase is recent, apparently unknown in English prior to 1802 when, finding no better phrase in English to convey the idea, the French form was adopted.  Neither coup d'état nor putsch have ever been defined in international law and tend to be used interchangeably, any variation in use tending to occur according to the linguistic traditions of the country in which the event happens rather than any differences in practice.  Technically, both are any sudden, decisive political act but are usually used to describe an attempt, successful or not, to overthrow a government or leader.  In contrast to a revolution, a coup d'état (sometimes truncated to coup) or putsch, does not involve a mass uprising, being instead usually an action where a small group arrests, executes or in some way disposes of incumbent leaders, seizing the institutions of the state and proclaims themselves in power.  That’s the essence of the coup d'état, it’s the takeover of the state, usually by one or more of the constituent institutions of the state.  Debate continues about whether Nacht der langen Messer ((Night of the Long Knives, also called Unternehmen Kolbri (Operation Hummingbird), the bloody purge between 30 June-2 July 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a number of extrajudicial executions, ostensibly to crush what was referred to as “the Röhm Putsch”) should be called a “pre-emptive” or “preventative” strike.  All the evidence suggests there was no likelihood of a coup in the immediate future but that it wasn’t something which could in the future be thought impossible.  Most settle on “preventative”.

Nice day for a coup d'état.  Air Marshal Perence Shiri (1955-2020, left) and the late Robert Mugabe (1924–2019; prime minister of Zimbabwe 1980-1987, president 1987-2017, right).

Occasionally, there’s the curious case of the military coup where both the soldiers and the deposed deny it was any such thing.  In 2017 the Zimbabwe Army’s high command engineered the “retirement” of Robert Mugabe and most unusually, it was greeted with almost universal local and international approval, despite a consensus that military overthrows are pretty bad form and not to be encouraged.  This was a special case, everyone preferring to welcome the outcome and not dwell too long on the process.  As military coups go, it wasn’t too bad and to smooth the process, Mr Mugabe’s was granted a “severance package” along the lines of that Mr Putin offered to some annoying types: “We know what you’ve stolen over the years but you stole it fair and square so you can keep it but you have to go away and keep quiet.”  Despite the generosity of that, within a few months he was complaining he’d been the “victim of a coup d'état.”

Coups d'état (coup d'états the alternative plural in English) also attract modifiers.  A “colonels' coup” is a military coup in which the dominant players are not from the most senior ranks (ie not the Generals or Admirals).  The classic example was the Greek coup of 21 April 1967 which was staged by literally a number of colonels, the resulting right-wing military dictatorship often dubbed the “Regime of the Colonels”.  In 1973, the generals got their revenge, overthrowing the colonels and in the jargon of political science, a “generals’ coup” is one considered to have been instigated by the military establishment rather than a faction meaning a coup led by only a couple of generals is not a “generals’ coup” but a “military coup” which happens to have been staged by generals.  Political scientists enjoy distinctions like this and they really like “soft-coup” which describes an overthrow which is essentially administrative.  The political demise of both Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013; UK prime-minister 1979-1990) and Jim Bolger (b 1935; prime-minister of New Zealand 1990-1997) were achieved by way of soft-coup, a pack of colleagues assembled to tell the leader they “no longer have the numbers”.  The number of failed soft-coups is legion but, when the first fails, the second often succeeds.  The soft-coup is also a favorite of conspiracy theorists who see in all that is wrong in the world the hand of the “deep state” (or else the Freemasons, the Jews, the Jesuits or the Secret Society of the Les Clefs d’Or).  They're probably right about the Freemasons.

Lindsay Lohan never forgave dictator Hosni Mubarak (1928–2020; president of Egypt 1981-2011) for shouting at Bill Clinton (b 1946; US president 1993-2001).  When told in 2011 he’d fallen from power as one of the victims of the Arab Spring, she responded: “Cool.”  When told it was brought about by a military coup she replied: “Gross!”  Lindsay Lohan doesn’t approve of coups d'état and believes soldiers should "stay in the barracks", allowing due constitutional process to be followed.   

A “palace coup” is one staged by those who were already part of the group in power (the word “palace” is thus used here as a synecdoche and there’s not necessarily a physical palace involved).  It’s really the ultimate factional power-play and often used of the (figurative) back-stabbing which tended to be the culmination of the low skulduggery which is a feature of modern democratic politics.  The “self-coup” (also called the auto-coup) is better thought of as a power-grab and involves someone lawfully in power seizing (by non-constitutional or by some means of dubious lawfulness) power from other branches or institutions of government.  Typically, this will involve dissolving legislatures or removing judges.  There are also “failed coups” which often are notable for the bloody (sometimes literal, sometimes figurative depending on where it happens) aftermath, revenge visited upon the plotters (and sometimes their friends, family and other “usual suspects”).  Done properly, the vengeance should be short and sharp (though not necessarily with a low-body count).  In that it differs from a successful coup because in those the settling of scores and elimination of enemies (real and imagined) can drag on from weeks, or in extreme cases, such as the 1973 military coup in Chile, years.

A coup d'essai (literally “stroke of trial”) is a first attempt at something.  A coup de force (literally “stroke of force”) is a sudden violent action.  A coup de foudre (literally “stroke of lightning” is a sudden unforeseen event, the most attractive use of which is the peoetic “love at first sight”).  A coup de glotte (a glottal stop) is a term from phonetics which describes a plosive sound articulated with the glottis (the opening between the true vocal cords which is located in the larynx and affects voice modulation through expansion or contraction).  A coup de main ( literally “stroke of hand”  is a military term meaning “surprise attack” but is sometimes used in other contexts; if successfully executed, it could be said to be a coup de maître (a master stroke).  A coup de poing (literally “stroke of fist”) is persuasion by means of violence (sometimes used loosely of coercion or implied violence); in archaeology it describes a hatchet or hand-axe.  A coup de soleil is an attack of sun-stroke.  A coup de theatre is (1) a sudden or unexpected event in a play (the work either of the author, director or performer) or (2) a theatrical trick, twist or gesture staged for dramatic effect.  A Coup de vent (literally “stroke of wind”) is a whirlwind or other gust of unusual strength.  A coup d'œil (literally “stroke of eye”) is “a comprehensive glance; a general view” which in military use refers to a “rapidly sizing up of a position and estimating its strategic advantages and drawbacks”.

Socle

Socle (pronounced sok-uhl or soh-kuhl)

(1) In architecture, a low, plain part forming a base for a column, pedestal, or the like; a plinth or pedestal.

(2) In architecture, A plain face or plinth at the foot of a wall.

(3) In furniture design, as applied to tables, a large, full-width support used as an alternative to table legs.

(4) In cooking, the use of bread, rice, potato or similar as a (sometimes only decorative) base onto which other ingredients are laid.

(5) In algebraic ring theory (a branch of abstract algebra that studies rings, which are algebraic structures that generalize the properties of integers) the sum of the minimal normal sub-modules of a given R-module of a given ring R.

(6) In group theory, the sub-group generated by the minimal normal subgroups of a given group.

1695–1705: From the French socle, from the Italian zoccolo (wooden shoe; base of a pedestal) from the Latin socculus (small shoe (literally "small sock" (soccus)).  Socle is a noun; the noun plural is socles.

The Valkyrie plot: 20 July 1944

The Valkyrie Plot was an attempt, one of many but one also of a handful actually brought to fruition, to kill Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945).  The conspirators were mostly Prussian aristocrats, senior army officers (a bit of overlap there) and a smattering of liberal politicians, all of whom ultimately demonstrated their ineptitude at staging a coup d'état but, on 20 July 1944, they did succeed in detonating an explosive device they had smuggled into the Wolfsschanze (the Wolf’s Lair, one of the Führer's heavily guarded military headquarters on the Eastern Front).  Previous opportunities to use a bomb for this purpose had been aborted because the conspirators had wanted as many leading Nazis as possible also killed and those circumstances never arose but after the Allies successfully established a beachhead in Normandy (the 6 June 1944 D-Day landings), it was decided to delay no longer.  The bomb used at the Wolf's Lair was actually of British origin, obtained by the Abwehr (literally "resistance" or "defence" but in a military context used by Germans to mean "counterintelligence"), the military-intelligence service for the Reichswehr & Wehrmacht between 1920-1945 (ironically it was for most of the war one of the centres of anti-Nazi activities) and chosen because its fuse operated with complete silence device.  Ultimately the blast four, seriously injuring another thirteen but Hitler survived for three reasons (although he would claim it was "providence").

(1) Hot, sultry weather.  The plan was for the assassination to be carried out by planting explosives in an underground bunker built with reinforced concrete which had just one steel door and no windows.  Designed to be bomb-proof in that it was built expressly to protect occupants from the energy of outside explosions, in an inside explosion, the occupants would be hit by several blast waves as a consequence of the resonant conditions of high-energy fluid dynamics; ideal conditions to stage an explosion with lethal intent.  However, with unpleasantly high temperature and humidity on the day, the meeting was moved to an above-ground building with several windows which offered ventilation to provide relief.  Thus, when the device exploded, both energy from the blast wave and shrapnel, instead of being contained and ricocheting around the room, dissipated partially outside.

(2) The furniture: The table under which the bomb was planted was supported by two stout, heavy socles rather than legs.  This wouldn’t have been critical except that minutes before detonation, the briefcase containing the device was moved from one side of the socle to the other so that the heavy timber stood between Hitler and the bomb, the structure now at the perfect angle to absorb much of the blast before it reached him.  Had the briefcase been left in its original position, the socle which ultimately absorbed or re-directed much of the energy would instead have increased the lethality of the energy directed towards Hitler. 

(3) Bad luck: Because of circumstances on the day, the plotters were able to arm only one of the two bombs they had intended to use.  Had both been detonated, in either room, the blast would have been much greater although opinion remains divided over whether even this would have been enough to guarantee Hitler’s death.  As it was, he escaped with non-life threatening injuries (curiously for some time after the blast, the shaking of his limbs (symptoms which may have indicated Parkinson's Disease) vanished) and was well enough to conduct social activities the same afternoon (after changing his trousers which had been shredded by the blast), meeting with the by now much diminished Duce (Benito Mussolini,1883-1945; Duce (leader) & prime-minister of Italy 1922-1943).  After that, they would never meet again.  

Aftermath: The Führer shows the Duce the effects of the blast, telling him he'd been saved "by providence".  Mussolini agreed with Hitler but of course, he always said he did, even when suffering his not infrequent doubts.

The popular television show Mythbusters, run by past masters at blowing-up stuff, did test whether the blast, if using both devices instead of one, would have killed Hitler in either the above-ground conference room or the sealed, underground bunker.  Their tests were conducted using full-scale emulations of both the conference room in which the attack took place and the the underground bunker from which the meeting had been moved.  In both, the intended explosive power was deployed rather than that generated by the single device used on the day.  Explosives experts who examined the data tended to agree that while not definitive, it was plausible Hitler could have survived even a more powerful blast in the conference room but that everything was still dependent on the placement of the briefcase.  However, because the second test didn't exactly replicate the sealed, underground bunker (the test structure was only partially buried) with its walls of think, reinforced concrete, the experts were less convinced by the Mythbusters' conclusion that too would have been survivable.  They further noted the significance of the socle in deflecting the blast, this something which happened only by chance on the day and all agreed that had the bomb been placed close to Hitler, as intended, the blast in either room probably would have killed or severely injured him.

Tables with soles (for prosecution and defence counsel), Lindsay Lohan in court, Los Angeles, January 2013. 

Rune

Rune (pronounced roon)

(1) Any of the characters of certain ancient Germanic alphabets (derived from the Roman alphabet), as of a script used for writing the Germanic languages, especially of Scandinavia and Britain, circa 200-1200 AD, or a script used for inscriptions in a Turkic language between the sixth and eighth centuries from the area near the Orkhon River in Mongolia.  Each character was ascribed some magical significance.

(2) Something written or inscribed in such characters.

(3) An aphorism, poem, or saying with mystical meaning or for use in casting a spell; any obscure piece of writing using mysterious symbols; a spell or incantation.

(4) In literary use, a poem, song, or verse.

(5) A Finnish or Scandinavian epic poem, or a division of one, especially a division of the Kalevala.

(6) A roun (secret or mystery) (obsolete).

(7) In computing, in the Go programming language, a Unicode code point.

1675–1685: From the Old Norse rūn & rún (a secret, writing, runic character), cognate with the Old English rūn, the Middle English rune, the obsolete English roun and the Finnish runo (poem, canto).  All were related to the Old Saxon, Old High German and Gothic runa which, like the Old Norse rūn & rún is from the Proto-Germanic rūnō (letter, literature, secret), which is borrowed from either the Proto-Celtic rūnā or from the same source as it.

Of the Runic

Runologists squabble over details of the historical origins of runic writing but there’s a general consensus runes were derived from one of the many Old Italic alphabets in use among the Mediterranean peoples of the first century AD, those who lived to the south of the Germanic tribes.  Earlier Germanic sacred symbols, such as those preserved in northern European rock carvings, also may have influenced the development of the script.  The transmission of writing from southern to northern Europe appears to have been spread by Germanic military formations which would have encountered Italic writing during campaigns amongst their southerly neighbours.  This hypothesis is supported by the association runes have always had with the god Odin, who, in the Proto-Germanic period (under his original name Woðanaz), was the divine model of the warrior leader. The Roman historian Tacitus noted Odin (Mercury in the interpretatio romana) was already established as the dominant god in the pantheons of many Germanic tribes by the first century AD although whether the runes and the cult of Odin arose together or one predated the other remains in dispute.  In Norse mythology however, the runes came from nothing as mundane as an old alphabet.  The runes were never invented or a product of evolution but are eternal, pre-existent forces Odin himself discovered by undergoing a tremendous ordeal.

The Hávamál

The Hávamál (Sayings of Hár, Sayings of the high one) is one of the poems of the Poetic Edda.  A kind of survival guide to for those seeking to live a good life, the form of verse varies, the most notable being where the text shifts to discuss how Odin (Odhins) gained the secret of the magical runes and came to learn the spells.  A work thus both pragmatic and philosophical, the poem’s only known source the Codex Regius, thought to date from circa 800.

The Rúnatal (Rúnatáls-tháttr-Odhins or Odins Rune Song) contains the stanzas in which Odin reveals the secret of the Runes.

I know that I hung on a windy tree

nine long nights,

Wounded with a spear, dedicated to Odin,

myself to myself,

on that tree of which no man knows

from where its roots run.

No bread did they give me nor a drink from a horn,

downwards I peered;

I took up the runes, screaming I took them,

then I fell back from there.

The Hávamál concludes with the mystical Ljóðatal, which dwells on knowledge and the knowing of the Odinic mysteries.  A kind of dictionary which lists and provides a legend creating keys to a sequenced number of runic charms, there are linkages with the Sigrdrífumál (known often as Brynhildarljóð, a section of the Poetic Edda text in Codex Regius) in which the valkyrie Sigrdrífa details a number of the runes at her command.  In stanza 151, there’s an allusion to the sending of a tree root carved with runes, a noted motif in Norse mythology and the cause of death of Grettir the Strong.

I know a sixth one if a man wounds me

with the roots of the sap-filled wood:

and that man who conjured to harm me,

the evil consumes him, not me.

The runic-themed imagery used for the cover art of Lindsay Lohan's A Little More Personal (Raw) (2005).

Historians and archivists have devoted much attention to the Codex Regius, reconstructing its timeline from the many fragmentary sources.  The earliest writings appear to have been collections of proverbs, sayings and advice attributed to Othin, probably in the manner so much in the Bible is said to have been the words of Solomon; other dubious claims of connection exist in the texts of the Buddha, Confucius, the Prophet Muhammad and others where the documentary record can never be conclusive.  The collection was thus, probably from its earliest times, elastic in content though always known as "The High One's Words", others taking advantage of the authority Othin’s imprimatur conferred to add such poems or other sayings of wisdom they thought appropriate.  In the nature of such things, the style of writing displays a consistency, important when seeking to imply that the speaker was Othin, a process which is something of a gray area in the history of literary forgery, the later authors perhaps assured what they were adding was what Othin might have said or with which he would anyway have concurred.  So, a catalogue of runes, or charms, was later bolted-on, along with new sets of proverbs, differing in content but not in style from those in the original document.  There are some stylistic variations in form in that some verses verge upon the narrative but the structure of the whole is loose, accommodating the odd innovation without jarring effect.  It’s agreed that structurally the text exists in five parts:

(1) The Hovamol proper (stanzas 1-80): The sayings and proverbs to guide the living of life, a kind of early self-help manual.

(2) The Loddfafnismol (stanzas 111-138): Another collection similar to the first, but these more a discourse on ethics and morality and addressed specifically to a young man known as Loddfafnir.

(3) The Ljothatal (stanzas 147-165): A listing of charms.

(4) The love-story of Othin and Billing's daughter (stanzas 96-102): The love story is something of a cautionary tale, beginning as it does with a dissertation on the faithlessness and general unreliability of women (stanzas 81-95).  Scholars suggest the warning words were the first written with the rest of the poem created as an apt illustration.

(5) This is the story of how Othin got the mead of poetry, the draft document which delivered to him the gift of tongues, an indulgence from the maiden Gunnloth (stanzas 103-110).  Added to this (and obviously later) is the brief passage (stanzas 139 146) recounting Othin’s winning of the runes.  Structurally, the poem needs this section as an introduction to the Ljothatal and any good editor would have insisted on its inclusion.

Of the authorship or even the dates of the accretions, nothing can for sure be known.  All than can be said is that some is very old and some more recent which isn’t a great deal of help but anything else is merely speculative.  The text instead needs to be read as it is: a gnomic collection of the wisdom a violent race living in a brutish world written to help people survive in an unforgiving time when, days when wherever one went, one would be ill-advised to assume one was among friends.  Tellingly, women are not mentioned in the non-narrative sections of the poem, not even a nod to the advantage of having someone to cook and clean for this is very much a work about the world of men on earth, the threats and their consequences.  There’s no discussion of heaven and hell or any after-life, no judgement beyond that of one's fellow men.