Limelight

Limelight (produced lahym-lahyt)

(1) In the lighting systems of live theatre, prior to the use of electricity, a lighting unit for spot-lighting the front of the stage, producing illumination by means of a flame of mixed gases directed at a cylinder of lime and having a special lens for concentrating the light in a strong beam.

(2) The light produced by such a unit (and subsequently by lights using other technology.

(3) In theatre slang (1) a lighting unit (also clipped to “limes”), especially a spotlight & (2) by extension, attention, notice, a starring or central role, present fame (source of the general use of the word).

(4) The centre of attention, interest, observation, or notoriety.

(5) As “limelight dress”, a designed to make the wearer the “centre of attention”.  Of late, “limelight” has been applied also in high street fashion to refer to garments made with neon-like fabrics which resemble a color under a bright light.

1826:  The construct was lime + light.  Lime (in this context) was from the Middle English lyme, lym & lime, from the Old English līm, from the Proto-Germanic līmaz, from the primitive Indo-European sley- (smooth; slick; sticky; slimy).  It was cognate with the Saterland Frisian Liem (glue), the Dutch lijm, the German Leim (glue), the Danish lim (from the Old Norse lím) and the Latin limus (mud).  In chemistry, the word described any inorganic material containing calcium (usually calcium oxide (quicklime) or calcium hydroxide (slaked lime).  In literary or poetic use, it was used of any gluey or adhesive substance, usually in the sense of “something which traps or captures someone” and sometimes as a synonym for birdlime.  It was used as a verb to mean (1) to apply to some surface a coasting of calcium hydroxide or calcium oxide (lime) & (2) to smear with birdlime or apply limewash.

Lime (chemical formula: CaO) is composed primarily of calcium oxides and hydroxides (typically calcium oxide and/or calcium hydroxide) and the origin of the word lies in its early use as building mortar (because of its qualities of sticking or adhering).  It was the interaction of lime with other substances which lent the concrete mixed in Ancient Rome (known to engineers as “Roman concrete”) unique properties that made it remarkably durable and long-lasting (though despite the legend, it was no more “sticky” that other concrete using the same quantity of lime).  A critical ingredient in Roman concrete was a type of volcanic ash called pozzolana (abundant in the environs of Rome) which was mixed with lime and small rocks or rubble to create a paste that could be molded into various shapes and sizes.  What created uniqueness was the chemical reaction between pozzolana and lime when the mix was exposed to water, this creating a mineral called calcium silicate hydrate, the source of Roman concrete’s durability and strength.  Unusually, it was able to harden underwater and for centuries resist the effects of saltwater (indeed such exposure triggered a kind of “self repair” reaction), making it ideal for building structures like harbors and aqueducts and, in a happy coincidence, the easy accessibility of pozzolana meant Roman concrete could be produced at a lower cost than other building materials.  Engineers note the chemistry but maintain the slang “sticky concrete” remains appropriate because its durability meant the stuff is still “sticking around”, centuries after other forms of concrete have crumbled to dust. 

Light (in this context) was from the Middle English light, liht, leoht, lighte, lyght, & lyghte, from the Old English lēoht, from the Proto-West Germanic leuht, from the Proto-Germanic leuhtą, from the primitive Indo-European lewktom, from the root lewk- (light).  It was cognate with the Scots licht (light), the West Frisian ljocht (light), the Dutch licht (light), the Low German licht (light) and the German Licht (light) and related also to the Swedish ljus (light), the Icelandic ljós (light), the Latin lūx (light), the Russian луч (luč) (beam of light), the Armenian լույս (luys) (light), the Ancient Greek λευκός (leukós) (white) and the Persian رُخش‎ (roxš).  The early uses (in this context) all were related to the electromagnetic radiation in the spectrum visible to the human eye (ie what we still commonly call “light”).  Typically, the human eye can detect radiation in a wavelength range around 400 to 750 nanometres and as scientific understanding evolved, the shorter and longer (ultraviolet light and infrared light) wavelengths, although not visible, were also labeled “light” because, as a matter of physics, they are on the spectrum and whether or not they were visible to the naked eye was not relevant.  “Light” in the sense of illumination was literal but the word was also productive in figurative and idiomatic generation (the “Enlightenment”; “leading light”; “negative light”; “throw a little light on the problem”; “bring to light”; “light the way” etc).  Limelight is a noun & verb, limelighting is a verb, limelighted & limelit are adjectives and limelighter is a noun; the noun plural is limelights.

Three exemplars of the art. 

The term “limelight dress” was coined to describe a garment designed to attract the eye (or a photographer's lens), making the wearing the “centre of attention” in the manner of a stage performer in the limelight: Rita Ora (b 1990, left), Ariel Winter (b 1998, centre) and Lindsay Lohan (b 1986, right) illustrate the idea; while there are often commonalities in the way designers do these things, there are many variants.  It has in recent decades become less easy to achieve the “limelight dress effect” because of the mainstreaming of the “nude dress” and it may be that a more modest cut, if well executed, might work better for clickbait purposes, just because of the novelty.  Rita Ora with some aplomb wore the dramatic gown designed by Donna Karan (b 1948) at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards in 2014 and while it was much admired, a similar creation in the same scarlet by Alexandre Vauthier (b 1971) Couture created a sensation when worn by Bella Hadid (b 1996) at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.  Perhaps the ultimate “limelight dress”, it remains still probably the dress of twenty-first century.     

In the limelight: In a marquisette gown, Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) sang Happy Birthday Mr President to John Kennedy (JFK, 1917–1963; POTUS 1961-1963) at a Democratic Party fundraiser at New York's Madison Square Garden on 19 May, 1962, ten days before his actual birthday.  Within three months, she would be dead.

The dress became one of the best-known garments of the Marilyn Monroe cult and it re-appeared at the 2020 Met Gala in New York City, worn by Kim Kardashian (b 1980) complete with blonde hair for the occasion.  It couldn’t be expected to cause quite the same stir as sixty years earlier because, cut from a sheer, silk marquisette that almost exactly matched Ms Monroe’s skin-tone, the 2,500 hand-sewn rhinestones intricately were positioned to respond to the particular gait she chose that evening and, under the limelight in the darkened amphitheatre, as she moved, the crystals sparkled and the dress came alive.  It was quite a design.  In the hard, white light of the Met Gala’s red carpet, it couldn’t be expected to work the magic it did all those years ago; not shimmering in the darkness, it seemed lifeless and perhaps it would have benefited from the contrast her lustrous natural hair would have lent but Ms Kardashian wore it well, attracting admiration (and criticism from the usual suspects) too for the reasonable achievement of in three weeks shedding a reputed 16 lbs (7¼ kg) to ensure a (close to) comfortable fit.

Limelight was the common name for the Drummond light (or calcium light), a lamp of then unprecedented luminosity created by the burning of calcium oxide (lime).  The process of creating light by burning lime augment by oxygen & hydrogen had been invented in the early 1920s and, generating an intense white light, it was developed in 1925 for use in mining and surveying by Scottish army engineer Captain Thomas Drummond (1797-1840) and soon adopted for lighthouses although it became famous from the use in live theatre where directional spot-lights were used to illuminate the principal actors on stage and although the technology has moved on, in theatre, film & television production, catwalks etc, “limelight” is still often used to describe both the physical lighting equipment and the effect produced.  In popular entertainment, limelight came into use in the UK in the mid-1830s and, cheap to produce and easily exported, were soon in use around the world, even the military finding them useful, the army to assist the targeting of artillery (an early example of applying technology to fire-control systems) and the navy found they were vastly more effective than any other spotlight.  Limelights remained in widespread use until replaced by electric devices in the late nineteenth century but in some far-flung outposts of the British Empire, they were still in use even after World War II (1939-1945).

Lindsay Lohan (1) "in the limelight", on stage with Duran Duran, Barclays Center in New York, April 2016 (left) and (2) "in the glare", arriving at LA Superior Court, Los Angeles, February 2011 (right) during her "troubled Hollywood starlet" phase.  

Although "glare" isn't vested with quite the cachet of "limelight", Ms Lohan illustrated how the catwalk was but a state of mind, pairing a white bandage dress (it’s not clear if wearing the color the Bible associates with purity influenced the judge but channelling the fashion choice of the 24 elders in Revelation 4:4 and the Roman Catholic pontiff may have helped) with a pair of Chanel 5182 sunglasses.  Speculatively, it’s at least possible a strut under the limelight on the catwalk wouldn’t have had the same simulative commercial effect as the stroll to a hearing, the the US$575 Glavis Albino dress from Kimberly Ovitz's (b 1983) pre-fall collection selling-out worldwide that very day.

New York Post, 11 February, 2011: Rupert Murdoch's (b 1931) editors always have a feeling for a good headline.  On X (then known as Twitter), Ms Lohan observed of the coverage: “What I wear to court shouldn't be front page news.  It’s just absurd.”  However, as a studious student of the modern media, she would have understood the place of absurdity in tabloid journalism and doubtlessly accepted it was best to work with the world as it is than worry too much about how it ought to be.

From the idea of the character on stage being highlighted by the limelight came the figurative use of the phrase “in the limelight” (noted since 1877) to refer to anyone on whom attention is focused.  From this evolved the related and self-explanatory phrases “steal the limelight”, “bask in the limelight” & “hog the limelight”, all from the world of theatre but later adopted as required just about anywhere (sport, corporate life etc).  “In the limelight” tends to be used only positively; those who are the focus of attention for reasons such as being accused of committing crimes or some transgression which might lead to cancellation are usually said to be “in the glare”.

1970 Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda in Limelight (left) and 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye Jailbreak in Sublime (right).  Although today much prized, Chrysler's E-body pony cars (Plymouth Barracuda (& 'Cuda) and Dodge Challenger (1970-1974) were a financial disaster but, as Dodge's (2008-2023) revival proved, the styling was spot-on.   

Like other US car manufacturers in the strange, cultural twilight zone that was the dying days of the Johnson administration (Lyndon Johnson (LBJ, 1908–1973; VPOTUS 1961-1963 & POTUS 1963-1969)) and the first term of Richard Nixon (1913-1994; US VPOTUS 1953-1961 & POTUS 1969-1974), Chrysler had some history in the coining of fanciful names for colors dating from the psychedelic era.  What came from the once staid corporation included “Plum Crazy”, “In-Violet”, “Tor Red”, “Limelight”, “Sub Lime”, “Sassy Grass”, “Panther Pink”, “Moulin Rouge”, “Top Banana”, “Lemon Twist” & “Citron Yella”.  Although it may be an industry myth, the story told is that “Plum Crazy” & “In-Violet” (lurid shades of purple) were late additions because the killjoy board refused to sign-off on “Statutory Grape”.  Plymouth labelled their lime green “Limelight” while Dodge used “Sub Lime”.  The acid-themed shades so associated with the era vanished from the color charts in the early-1970s, not because of changing tastes but in response to environmental & public health legislation which banned the use of lead in automotive paints; without the additive, production of the bright colours was prohibitively expensive.  Advances in chemistry meant that by the twenty-first century, the look could again be achieved without the addition of lead so Dodge revived psychedelia for a new generation although “Sub Lime” became “Sublime”.  There was however, still a price to be paid, the new, environmentally less lethal, “Sublime”, “Red Octane”, “Sinamon Stick” and “Go Mango” all costing an additional US$395 while the less vivid shades listed at US$95.

Sanpaku

Sanpaku (pronounced san-pach-ew)

An eye in which the sclera (white of the eye) is visible on three sides of the iris rather than the usual two (left & right).

Pre 1700s: A borrowing from the Japanese 三白 (sanpaku) (three whites) or 三白眼 (sanpaku gan) (three-white eyes).  Sanpaku is a noun and sanpakuish is an adjective; the noun plural is sanpakus.

Sanpaku (三白) (three whites) & Sanpaku gan (三白眼) (three-white eyes) are Japanese terms from traditional Chinese & Japanese medicine and they describe the “condition” in which the white of the eye is visible either above or below the iris when looking straight ahead.  Although the word was popularized by Japanese educator and nutritionist Nyoichi “George” Ohsawa (1893–1966) when he published the book You Are All Sanpaku in 1965, the idea had existed in oriental medicine probably for centuries although it’s impossible accurately to determine its origin.  It was mentioned in the diaries of at least one nineteenth century US Navy physician but attracted no interest in the West until the release of Ohsawa san’s book.  In Western medicine the phenomenon is described as “lower scleral show” or “inferior scleral show”, terms which are merely descriptive because (1) it’s something thought within the range of normality, (2) is indicative of no other mental or physical states and thus (3) is generally not considered a medical condition requiring treatment and is attributed variously to (3a) normal variation in eyelid anatomy, (3b) transient facial expression or gaze direction, (3c) traumatic injury or (3d) age-related tissue changes.  There are orbital or eyelid conditions (the best known being a thyroid-related eye disease causing lid retraction) which can induce a sanpaku-like appearance but instances are vanishingly rare.  In short, the medicalization of sanpaku is thought a product of superstition so predictably, on social media, sanpaku eyes seem to have a cult following.

Sydney Sweeney (b 1997) displaying her Sanpaku inferior (sclera (white of the eye) visible below the iris), Met Gala, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan, New York City, May 2025.  Lovely though her eyes are, it may be not many have long focused on them.

In You Are All Sanpaku, Ohsawa san described sanpaku as a condition which indicated physical and mental imbalances and discussed its significance in relation to diet and overall well-being.  Historically, sanpaku is believed to have entered oriental medicine from the Japanese practice of “face-reading” and those with eyes observed thus were considered ill-fated and destined for a life filled with misfortune, culminating often with an early demise.  It gained a following on social media by the usual means: celebrity association.  Diana, Princess of Wales, President John Kennedy & Marilyn Munroe, all of whom died young, were all sanpakus and as Ohsawa san warned in You Are All Sanpaku: the eyes indicate someone's fate, signifying imminent danger or an “early and tragic end.”

Diana, Princess of Wales (1961-1997, far left), Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962, centre left), Billie Eilish (b 2001. centre right) and John Kennedy (JFK, 1917–1963; POTUS 1961-1963, far right).  Three died young in tragic circumstances but Ms Eilish remains fit and well.

The original basis of “face reading” isn’t known but as a diagnostic tool it focused on the matter of “balance”, something important also to the physicians of Antiquity who identified the “four humors”: flegmat (phlegm), sanguin (blood), coleric (yellow bile) & melanc (black bile) which were the causative agents of the four personality types, the phlegmatic, the sanguine, the choleric & the melancholic.  In the East, signs of sanpaku meant a man’s whole system (physical, physiological and spiritual) was out of balance, something caused by sins committed against the order of the universe, accounting for his sickness, unhappiness or insanity.  Ohsawa san noted that in the West, such folk had come to be called “accident prone” and they were the ones who should take note of the warning from sanpaku, nature’s tap on the shoulder.  A practical author of self-help texts, Ohsawa san recommended sanpaku eyes should be treated with a macrobiotic diet, focusing on brown rice and soybeans, something on which he had real expertise as the founder of the macrobiotic diet.

By their sanpaku you shall know them: Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; Führer (leader) and German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945, left), crooked Hillary Clinton (b 1947; US secretary of state 2009-2013, centre) and cult-leader Charles Manson (1934-2017, right).

Interestingly, the beliefs about sanpaku are culturally variable although universally it’s held the condition determines one's fate.  In the Japanese tradition those consequences are ill fate and misfortune while the Chinese associate sanpaku with good luck and wealth and this divergence has interested cultural anthropologists who study the symbolism and mythologies of different societies.  The tradition divides the eyes into "yin sanpaku" and "yang sanpaku", the roots of this the ancient Chinese concept of yin & yang, representing the duality of opposing yet complementary forces in the universe.  Yin and Yang are fundamental concepts in Chinese philosophy and represent complementary and interconnected aspects of the universe. Yin is associated with qualities such as darkness, femininity, passivity, and coldness, while Yang is associated with light, masculinity, activity, and warmth. They’re seen as opposing forces that are in a constant state of dynamic balance and they exist within all phenomena, including human physiology, nature and society.  In this they differ from the (wholly un-related) concept in particle physics of matter and anti-matter.  Matter is the familiar stuff which is much of the physical universe (particles such as protons, neutrons, and electrons) while anti-matter consists of particles with the same mass as their matter counterparts but carrying an opposite charges.  When matter and anti-matter particles come into contact, they can annihilate each other, releasing energy.  Ying and Yang, mutually dependent, live in peaceful co-existence.

The Mean Girls (2004) crew demonstrate the range:  Rachel McAdams (b 1978, far left) & Lindsay Lohan (b 1986, centre-left) are in the part of the population who are either not sanpakus or the effect is imperceptible.  Lacey Chabert (b 1982, centre-right) is in the group with a separation around 1 mm while Amanda Seyfried (b 1985, far right) displays up to 2 mm depending on her expression.

A quadrilateral meeting to discuss German war guilt reparations and allied debts accumulated during World War I (1914-1918): Raymond Poincaré (1860–1934; President of France 1913-1920, far left), Andrew Bonar Law (1858–1923; Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1922-1923, centre-left), Benito Mussolini (1883-1945; Duce (leader) & Prime-Minister of Italy 1922-1943, centre right) and Georges Theunis (1873–1966; Prime Minister of Belgium 1921-1925 & 1934-1935, far right), 10 Downing Street, London, December 1922.

Before it became a meme, this was an obscure photograph which until the twenty-first century had appeared only in some specialist history texts but as the internet achieved critical mass, memes became a thing and Mussolini’s sanpaku eyes were a gift for the meme-makers, most captions suggesting the Duce may have had a sudden premonition of his own unfortunate end although others offered: “I feel naked without a moustache”, “I think I have imposter syndrome”, “Oh God, I just pooped my pants”, “I know one of these men is a Freemason but I don't know which” and “I wonder if they can tell I've smoked some weed”.  However, although not noted as a mystic, he may have sensed another's impending death, “sitteth at the right hand”, Andrew Bonar Law then having only months to live.

A colorized image of the lovely Hedy Lamarr (stage name of Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, 1914-2000).  Bare shoulders and sanpaku eyes have an allure.

Once best known as a Hollywood film star, Ms Lamar’s twenty-first century fame comes from her contribution early in World War II (1939-1945) to an early version of “jamming-resistant” radar-guidance.  The idea came to her while playing an ad-hoc piano duet with a composer as they attempted a synchronized “note-hopping” piece, something used in avant-garde compositions but effected mechanically by recording four “player pianos” (instruments modified with electromechanical or pneumatic mechanisms that activated the keys by instruction from perforated paper or metallic rolls) fitted with matching rolls.  From this example, the pair came to understand radio frequencies also could be switched, the wartime utility being this would make signals less susceptible to being jammed.  Even then, “frequency hopping” was not a new idea but the implementation Ms Lamar suggested was sufficiently novel to be granted a patent although the technology didn’t then exist to minimize sufficiently the size of the components which could be used in torpedos or rockets so use of the concept didn’t become widespread until the 1960s.  The “spread spectrum” later became familiar in WiFi and secure networking.

Princess Beatrice, Mrs Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi (b 1988).  Until she appeared at a royal wedding in the fascinator she made famous (some humorless souls would have said infamous), she was most noted for her lovely sanpaku eyes.

In Japanese face reading, yang sanpaku eyes (white part visible above the iris) reveal a person's dark and sinister nature, the eyes indicating the unstable mental state suffered by individuals exhibiting uncontrollable aggression, such as psychopathic murderers or serial killers.  Yin Sanpaku Eyes (sclera visible below the iris) signify a different physical or mental imbalance, one caused by the abuse of drugs, alcohol, and sugar which disrupt the body's equilibrium.  Although discouraged by all in the profession except the odd, entrepreneurial cosmetic surgeon, treatment options are available to “correct” scleral show and the most effect treatment is aesthetic plastic surgery, specifically the procedure called blepharoplasty, which can correct the appearance of the eyes.  The construct of blepharoplasty was blepharo- +‎ -plasty.  Blepharo- was from the New Latin, from the Ancient Greek βλέφαρον (blépharon) (eyelid; a feature resembling an eyelid) and -plasty was from the Ancient Greek πλαστός (plastós) (molded, formed) which now has the special meaning in medicine meaning "repair, restoration or re-shaping of part of the body with a surgical procedure".

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC, b 1989, US Representative (Democrat-New York) since 2019 and one of "the squad") displaying her Sanpaku superior (sclera visible above the iris).  Some other of her body parts are also well-documented.

Casual observation suggests sanpaku eyes are far from rare and there are said to be three classes: (1) those with at least a .25 mm (.0098 inch) space between the iris and the upper and lower eyelids, (2) those with a separation of 1 (.0394 inch) mm and (3) those with a gap of 2 mm (.0787 inch) or more.  The concition need not manifest as something symmetrical (in the vertical axis), the two elements being (1) Sanpaku inferior: white visible below the iris and (2) Sanpaku superior: white visible above the iris, the latter said often induced when a subject is frightened or physiologically stressed).  However although “estimates” have been published, neither the prevalence of the condition nor the distribution within the three (unofficial) groups have ever been the subject of a reputable epidemiological study; because “sanpaku eyes” is not a recognised medical or anthropometric category; funding would thus be hard to secure although, as a purely observational and statistical exercise, presumably not many ethics departments would much be troubled.  So, lacking a defined diagnostic entry, there is no standardised measurement threshold and estimates of prevalence are thus almost certainly speculative and thus unreliable.  Those with sanpaku eyes should not too much dwell on the numbers and instead flutter their eyelashes and enjoy the admiring glances.

Mean Girls four-way phone call: Eye-rolls (Amanda Seyfried, top right) don't count, a sanpaku defined only by separation maintained when looking ahead or to the side.

Humans are not the only species with a sclera but we are untypical in it being so visible.  That humans even have white scleras has interested linguistic anthropologists, evolutionary biologists and other researchers, some offering the Cooperative Eye Hypothesis which suggested the distinctive appearance evolved as a mechanism with non-verbal communication could be enhanced.  According to this conjecture, the high visibility of the iris & pupil against the white background allows an interlocutor more easily to track eye movements, helping individuals to understand where others are looking during interactions.  Observational studies revealed the way humans and other great apes move their heads and eyes in different ways, humans relying more on eye movements than head movements to see where someone else is looking.  Apes, without the white component in their eyes, tend more to move the whole head.  Not all support the "cooperative eye" faction but it’s an interesting approach to understanding the evolutionary significance of the human eye's appearance and the sophistication of communication is certainly a noted difference between humans and apes.

Seeing the whites of the eye: a gree-eyed cormorant taking lunch.

The phrase “don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes” comes of the military and was an instruction to infantry in the age of the musket to delay firing until the target was within close range, the rationale being (1) accuracy would be enhanced and (2) the projectile (musket ball) would strike with greater energy, thus increasing the effectiveness (measured in the casualty & death rates).  It’s often attributed to Colonel William Prescott (1726–1795) shouting it to his troops at the Battle of Bunker Hill (1775) during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) but according to Phrase Finder, the origins lie at least 32 years earlier.  On 27 Jun, 1743, during the Battle of Dettingen (fought in Bavaria as one of the "footnote engagements" of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748)), the resourceful Scot Lieutenant-Colonel (later Lieutenant General) Sir Andrew Agnew of Lochnaw (1867-1761) 5th Baronet) departed from military orthodoxy when, responding to a French cavalry charge, adopted a novel tactic he’d devised, keeping his men not in the conventional square formation to meet the charge head on but having the two centre companies divide from the centre, falling back from the outer markers, thereby compelling the French to gallop through a withering crossfire.  It was potentially a high-risk strategy but he’d trained his troops well the French cavalrymen obediently threaded the needle, suffering heavy losses.  Tacitly acknowledging the danger presented by his innovation, Sir Andrew’s succinct instruction to his brigade had been: “Dinna fire till ye can see the whites of their e' en . . . if ye dinna kill them they'll kill you.”

If the human eye lacked a white sclera it would mean the “messaging” in facial expressions (a non-verbal clue in communication) would have evolved a little differently; Paris Hilton (b 1981) illustrates (digitally altered image).  Ms Hilton has brown eyes but often wears blue contact lens.

As far as is known, all living creatures on Earth came ultimately from a single event which can be said to be the origin of life because at this time, there is no evidence of other living things anywhere in the universe.  Everything else is speculative; life may have started (or arrived) here many other times but for whatever reason not thrived and around the universe there may be many forms of life; some may be more advanced than us or we may be unique in our scientific and technological mastery.  The single point of origin is why we share elements of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid, the so-called “building-blocks of life”) with our cats, dogs, goldfish and bananas so, unsurprisingly, in living creatures, eyes are common, often in pairs but unlike those in humans, not all are out-growths of a brain although, in many of the lineages of the Metazoa they are neurally derived and remain tightly integrated with the central nervous system.

A nice pair of boobies.  Charmingly, blue-footed boobies are known to be monogamous, pairs often staying together for life.  Like us, birds are two eyed vertebrates although except for the old outlier (like owls) their eyes, for good reasons, shifted to the sides.  Note how the booby’s eye differs from that of a human.

As a general principle it all depended on the developmental origin and phylogeny (the evolutionary history of groups of organisms).  In vertebrates (mammals, birds, fish etc), the eye evolved as an evagination (a growth outward) of the forebrain during embryogenesis (the process by which an embryo is formed and develops).  Cephalopods (octopus, squid etc) differ in that while the optic lobes of the brain are large and closely connected, the eye is not literally a brain protrusion; thus, while neurally integrated, the eyes are not brain outgrowths.  Arthropods (insects, crustaceans and such) have compound eyes formed from ectodermal (of the The outermost of the three tissue layers in the embryo of a metazoan animal) tissues which connect to the brain via optic nerves and are thus also neurally connected but not developmental extensions of the brain itself.  Many cnidarians (such as the box jellyfish) possess complex lens eyes but lack a centralized brain, their eyes peripheral sensory structures connecting to nerve rings rather than a true brain.  Many invertebrates have relatively simple photoreceptors which can be thought of as “eyespots” which can be distributed across body tissues, the best contemporary comparison probably the sensors now so ubiquitous in electronic devices.

Boobies, one step at a time.

A booby is a seabird in the genus Sula, part of the Sulidae family.  Boobies are closely related to the gannets (Morus), which were formerly included in Sula, the genus created in 1760 by the French naturalist Mathurin Jacques Brisson (1723-1806).  The name was derived from súla, the Old Norse and Icelandic word for the other member of the family Sulidae, the gannet.  The English name booby was based on the Spanish bobo (stupid) as the tame birds often landed on board sailing ships, where they were easily captured and eaten.  As well as a popular addition to the diet of sailors for whom meat other than fish was a rarity, it was fortuitous for many, the Admiralty's archives revealing boobies often mentioned as having been caught and eaten by shipwrecked sailors.

Mr Andrew Mountbatten Windsor in police car, under arrest, February, 2026.

If humans had eyes free of a white sclera (like the booby and many birds), our appearance would be quite different, illustrated by a digitally edited image of a green-eyed (former prince/duke/admiral etc) Andrew-Mountbatten Windsor (b 1960), rendered as a line drawing by Vovsoft.  However, the use of that image to demonstrate the point may not have been the best choice because, in the original, his expression didn’t appear greatly different.

As well as charming eyes, boobies also have interesting feet.  The distinctive blue feet (the result of pigments ingested from their diet of fish) also play a part in the bobby’s mating ritual although not exactly in the podophilic sense familiar in a sub-set of humans.  In the spring mating season, the bird’s feet become a bright turquoise blue and, to demonstrate their health and vitality, conspicuously they will display them to potential partners.  The job done, as their eggs hatch, the blue hue fades to something less vivid.  One aspect of their behaviour which amused the ornithologists who first observed it was that if among fishers unloading their catch, it tossed a small fish from the by-catch, a booby will take it and waddle off somewhere to enjoy it in solitude rather than gulping it down as in common in many species.  Like penguins, although ungainly on land, they are skilled plunge divers which used their streamlined bodies and air sacs “fly” through the water, catching their prey at high speed and they hunt in "packs", coordinating their movement to maximize the catch.  Boobies have been recorded diving from as high as 90 m (300 feet), their speed upon entry estimated at around 100 km/h (60 mph).

Acersecomic

Acersecomic (pronounced a-sir-suh-kome-ick)

A person whose hair has never been cut.

1623: From the Classical Latin acersecomēs (a long-haired youth) the word borrowed from the earlier Ancient Greek form ἀκερσεκόµης (with unshorn hair), constructed from komē (the hair of the head (the source of the –comic)) + keirein (to cut short) + the prefix a- (not; without).  The Latin acersecomēs wasn’t a term of derision or disapprobation, merely descriptive, it being common for Roman and Greek youth to wear their hair long until manhood.  Acersecomic appeared in English dictionaries as early as 1656, the second instance noted some 30 years later.  Although of dubious linguistic utility even in seventeenth century English, such entries weren’t uncommon in early English dictionaries as editors trawled through lists of words from antiquity to conjure up something, there being some marketing advantage in being the edition with the most words.  It exists now in a lexicographical twilight zone, its only apparent purpose being to appear as an example of a useless word.  The -comic element of the word is interesting.  It’s from the Ancient Greek komē in one of the senses of coma: a diffuse cloud of gas and dust that surrounds the nucleus of a comet.  From antiquity thus comes the sense of long, flowing hair summoning an image of the comet’s trail in the sky.  The same -comic ending turns up in two terms that are probably more obscure even than acersecomic: acrocomic (having hair at the tip, as in a goat’s beard (acro- translates as “tip”) and xanthocomic (a person with yellow hair), from the Greek xanthos (yellow).  Acersecomic & acersecomism are nouns and acersecomically is an adverb; the noun plural is acersecomics.

Lindsay Lohan as Rapunzel, The Real Housewives of Disney, Saturday Night Live (SNL), 2012.

Intriguingly, even if someone is acersecomic, that does not of necessity mean they will have really long hair.  As explained by Healthline, there are four stages in hair-growth: (1) Growing phase, (2) Transition phase, (3) Resting phase and (4) Shedding phase; the first three phases (anagen, catagen & telogen) encompass the growth & maturation of hair and the activity of the hair follicles that produce individual hairs while during the final (exogen), the “old” hair sheds and, usually, a new hair is getting ready to take its place.  Each phase has its own dynamics but the behavior can be affected by age, nutrition and health conditions.

A possible acersecomic although there is some evidence of at least the odd trim.  This od one of the less confronting images at People of Walmart which documents certain aspects of the American socio-economic experience in the social media age.  Users seem divided whether People of Walmart is a celebration of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), a chronicle of decadence or a condemnation of deviance.

The anagen phase has the longest duration but is variable depending on the location of the follicles; the hair on one’s scalp has the longest anagen and it can last anywhere between 2-8 years.  During the anagen, the follicles “push out” hairs that will continue to grow until they’re cut or reach the end of their life span and fall out.  Over the population, typically, at any moment, as many as 90% of the hairs on the scalp will be in the anagen phase.  Trichologists (those who study the hair or scalp) list the catagen as the “transitional stage” because it lasts only some two weeks, during which follicles shrink and hair growth slows; it’s in this process the hair separates from the bottom of the hair follicle yet remains in place during the final days of growth.  At any point, no more than 3% of the hairs on the scalp will be in the catagen.  The telogen, lasting 2-3 months is called the “resting stage” and gains the description from the affected (some 10%) hairs not growing but nor do they tend to fall out and it’s at this point new hairs begin to form in follicles that have just released hairs during the catagen.  Historically, the exogen (shedding stage) was regarded as the later element of the telogen but the modern practice in trichology is to list it as the fourth stanza in the cycle.  Didactically, that does make sense although technically, the exogen is an extension of the telogen, being the point at which hair is shed from the scalp, the volume affected by washing, brushing and even the wearing of tightly fitted headwear.  Losing as many as 100 hairs per day is typical and the exogen can least several months, new hairs growing in the follicles as old fall away.

Genuinely, 15 year old Skye Merchant was acersecomic until July 2021 when she had her first haircut, part of her fund-raising efforts for cancer research.  The trimmed locks were donated to perruquiers (wigmakers) making wigs for cancer patients who'd suffered hair-loss after chemotherapy.

What all that means is that whether or not acersecomic, the maximum length one’s hair can attain is determined wholly by one’s genetics; in other words, its determined well before birth and while it’s possible to increase the rate of growth by attention to nutrition and maintaining a “healthy lifestyle”, nothing can (yet) change one’s DNA and that means some can grow hair to their ankles while for others it will never extend beyond the shoulders. While, all else being equal, the state of one’s hair depends on genetics and hormone levels (mechanisms largely locked in before birth), trichologists recommend (1) maintaining protein intake (hair being composed largely of protein), (2) ensuring nutriant intake is at the recommended daily level (vitamin D, vitamin C, vitamin B12, zinc, folic acid most associated with hair growth although iron is especially important for women) and (3) reducing physical and mental stress, something sometimes easier said than done.  There are also a variety of medical conditions which can affect hair including a misbehaving immune system but in mental health the two most documented are trichotillomania (an irresistible urge to pull hairs from the follicles) and the pica (a disorder characterized by craving and appetite for non-edible substances, such as ice, clay, chalk, dirt, or sand and named for the jay or magpie (pīca in Latin), based on the idea the birds will eat almost anything) trichophagia (the compulsion to eat hair, wool, and other fibres).  A noted feature of the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5 (2013)), was the more systematic approach taken to eating disorders, variable definitional criteria being defined for the range of behaviours within that general rubric.

Suspected acersecomic, US suffragist and women's rights activist Maud Wood Park (1871–1955), photographed circa 1896 (the subject thus in her mid-twenties) in the studio of Frank W. Legg, at 18 Montvale Avenue, Woburn, Massachusetts.

These prints in sepia were mounted in a cardboard surround called a “cabinet card”, a popular format for commercial photographers which had first gone on sale in the mid-nineteenth century.  Because the cardboard was effective in protecting the photograph from damage, many cabinet cards have survived in museums or private collections and they’re an interesting part of the historic record, representing the way the middle-class wished to be presented.  In the Victorian era (1837-1901), long, luxuriant hair was valued as a symbol of feminine beauty and not until the 1920s did shorter styles become truly popular.  These images are untypical of the genre because the hair is unbound whereas most were photographed with their tresses restrained in the way stereotypically it’s imagined Victorian women were compelled to adopt; she was after all a proto-feminist and, as it would be for decades afterwards, hair could be a symbol of defiance against social convention.  Many of the surviving cabinet cards are the work of the obviously prolific Mr Legg and the site of his studio in Woburn, Massachusetts is now the Woburn Bowladrome which, off and on, has operated since 1940 although there’s now a large “JESUS” painted on the roof, presumably a recent addition by an owner or perhaps the hand of God.  Now again under new management, the Woburn Bowladrome hosts Candlepin, a variant of ten-pin bowling most popular in the Canadian maritime regions and the north-east of the US.  The game uses tall, narrow pins and a small, palm-sized ball with a scoring system allowing players three chances per frame to knock down all ten pins with the fallen pins remaining on the lane to be used in subsequent shots within the active frame.

In recent interviews, Russian model and singer Olga Naumova didn't make clear if she was truly an acersecomic but did reveal that in infancy her hair was so thin her parents covered her head, usually with a "babushka" headscarf (ie the style typically associated with Russian grandmothers).  It's obviously since flourished and her luxuriant locks are now 62 inches (1.57 m) long, a distinctive feature she says attracts (1) requests for selfies, (2) compliments, (3) propositions decent & otherwise, (4) public applause (in Thailand), (5) requests for technical advice (usually from women asking about shampoo, conditioner & other product) while (6) on-line, men sometimes suggest marriage, often by the expedient of elopement.

Olga Naumova and hair in motion.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Moscow-based model says she doesn't do "anything extraordinary" to maintain her mane beyond shampoo, conditioner and the odd oil treatment, adding the impressive length and volume she attributes wholly to the roll of the genetic dice.  Her plaits and braids are an impressive sight and their creation can take over two hours, depending on their number and intricacy.  She did admit she wears the "snatched high ponytail" made famous by the singer Ariana Grande (b 1993) only briefly for photo-shoots because the weight of her hair makes it "too painful" to long endure.

Greta Thunberg B&A: BB (before-bob) and AB (after-bob).

What's not clear is whether, in the age of global warming, acersecomism will remain socially acceptable and Greta Thunberg (b 2003), something of a benchmark for environmental consciousness, in 2025 opted for a bob (one straddling chin & shoulder-length).  Having gained fame as a weather forecaster, the switch to shorter hair appears to have coincided with her branching out from environmental activism to political direct action in the Middle East.  While doubtlessly she means well, it’s something that will end badly because while the matter of greenhouse gasses in the atmospheric can (over centuries) be fixed, some problems are insoluble and the road to the Middle East is paved six-feet deep with good intentions.  Ms Thunberg seems not to have discussed why she got a bob (and how she made her daily choice of "one braid or two" also remained mysterious) but her braids were very long and she may have thought them excessive and contributing to climate change.  While the effect individually would be slight, over the entire population there would be environmental benefits if all those with long hair got a bob because: (1) use of shampoo, conditioner and other product would be lowered (reduced production of chemicals & plastics), (2) a reduction in water use (washing the hair and rinsing out all that product uses much water), (3) reduced electricity use (less water would need to be heated (an energy-intensive process), hair dryers, styling wands & straighteners would be employed for a shorter duration) and (4) carbon emissions would drop because fewer containers of shampoo & conditioner would be shipped or otherwise transported (ships, trains, aircraft & trucks all part of the supply chain and many are powered (directly or indirectly) by the burning of fossil fuel).