Fug

Fug (pronounced fuhg)

(1) Stale air, especially the humid, warm, ill-smelling air of a crowded room, kitchen etc; a hot, stale or suffocating atmosphere (mainly British).

(2) A type of flying boot (fug boot) worn by World War One British Royal Flying Corps (RFC) aviators.

1885–1890: Of obscure origin although there was the earlier English slang fogo (stench) and links have been suggested to both fog and ugly, fug perhaps a blend which emerged from these sources.  The adjective is fuggy.

Royal Flying Corps (RFC) Fug boots, 1918.

The aviator boots were officially known as “Boots, Thigh”, based upon the item’s listing in retail catalogues and first appeared in December 1916.  Devised to replace earlier attempts at equipping flying personnel with footwear was suitable for the conditions they encountered at altitude, fug boots were fleece-lined, brown suede boots with outer adjustable straps at the top and other straps and buckles at the foot and lower calves.  Sold originally with buff leather toe caps and heels with orange-coloured rubber soles, they were made by by Harrods, which labeled them the Charfor boot, they soon became universally known as “fug boots”, the military legend being the name came from the description pilots gave to any room in which recently worn pair was left.  The more recent suggestion that fug was a shortened version of “flying ugg boots” is thought commercial opportunism.  It received no scholarly support although etymologists note “ugh” (a commonly used interjection of disgust or dislike) dates from 1837 but add there’s no evidence to suggest any connection.

Lindsay Lohan (b 1986) in Ugg Boots and puffer vest with faux fur-edged hoodie.

The origin of the term "ugg" is also unclear. The trademark "Ugh-Boots" was registered in Australia in 1971 but others claimed to have named them “Ugg” as long ago as 1958, literally as something suggestive of “ugly” and the original may even have been the contraction “ug”.  By the 1990s, "ugg boot" was a generic term for sheepskin boots and the source of trademark disputes with contradictory rights granted in several jurisdictions.  There are recorded accounts of sheepskin boots recognizably uggish since the late nineteenth century but the ubiquity of the sheep in many places suggests doubtlessly the warmth offered by the fleece for thousands of years been thought something good for clothing and footwear.  The earliest documented commercial manufacturing of the boot was in 1933 by the Blue Mountains Ugg Boot Company in Australia, followed by the Mortel’s Sheepskin Company in the 1950s which operates still today.  Mortel’s claim that the name “Ugg Boot” was chosen because the company founder’s wife suggested they were “"ugly" isn’t supported by the evidence.

Britney Spears (b 1981) in Ugg boots with Fanta.

In 1971, noting their popularity with Australian surfers, one of their number applied for and was granted a local trademark for “Ugh-Boot”.  The product spread world-wide, firstly through surfing communities and later to the general market.  In the way of such things, in 1995 the US registration of the trademark ended up, after many twists and turns, in the hands of a US holding company which, beginning in 1999, secured registration in many countries and began asserting claims of right through cease and desist letters to manufacturers in many jurisdictions including Australia.  Thus began the dispute which would drag on until 2006 when the Federal Court of Australia ruled against the US rights holder in their action against a local manufacturer, based on the trademark’s history of ownership.  The US producer continues to enjoy an exclusivity of rights in many other countries but can no longer challenge use of the term within Australia.  However, in 2021 the US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from a lower court which ruled that the Australian manufacturer must pay a fine of some millions on the basis of a half-dozen Australian Uggs being purchased by US customers.

Pamela Anderson (b 1967) in Ugg boots with Baywatch script.

Its waterproof relative, the wellington (or gumboot), because of the association with the smart set on country jaunts, had long been classless but the ugg boot never enjoyed the same critical leeway, labelled helpfully by some detractors as the “slag wellie”, the reputation probably not enhanced by recent commercial success said to have been prompted by Pamela Anderson’s imprimatur in 1994.  Despite that, they endure with an appeal across classes, retailers happy to service every price-point.  Neither a status symbol nor conventionally attractive, the ugg survives (and thrives) because it offers a comfort which must seem blissful to someone just liberated from a day in stiletto heels.

Paris Hilton (b 1981) in Ugg Boots with Louis Vuitton Marie cloth travel bag, Heathrow Airport, London, February 2006.

It's presumably a trick of shadow and light but the bag does look well-used.  Interestingly, a secondary market does exist for obviously worn, high priced accessories such as bags because there are those who wish to convey the impression of long-term ownership of such assets.  Such segmentation of markets is familiar in many fields including among car collectors, some of who will buy "driver quality" cars with higher mileage and some wear & tear because such machines can actually regularly be driven, unlike a low-mileage original or something immaculately restored to as-new-condition, both of which need to be pampered and stored if their value is not to diminish.  In the snobby (and still extant) world of the English class system, "buying old" (houses, furniture etc) can be an attempt not to appear "recently rich" but it rarely fools the people the buyer is attempting to ape who use the phrase "the sort of fellow who has to buy his own chairs".  The establishment of course inherit their chairs.  

Sometimes however, the recently rich start to believe their own publicity.  Alan Clark (1928–1999) was a military historian and Conservative MP now best remembered for his acerbic diaries (covering 1972-1999 and published in three volumes (1993, 2000 & 2003)) and in one entry noted a Tory of bourgeois background saying of then deputy prime-minister Michael Heseltine (Baron Heseltine, b 1933): "The trouble with Michael is that he had to buy all his furniture".  Such views of those in the Tory party not of quite the "right" background are still known but one of Clark's enemies (and there were a few) enjoyed pointing out with some glee that that Clark's father (Kenneth Clark (Baron Clark 1903–1983, the art historian remembered for the TV series and book Civilisation (1969)) "had to buy his own castle".

Dunce

Dunce (pronounced duhns)

(1) A dull-witted, stupid, or ignorant person; a dolt.

(2) In educational systems, a person slow to learn (obsolete).

(3) As dunce’s cap, a conical hat once used as a form of shaming and punishment in some educational systems.

1520–1530: Named after the Dunses, Dunites or Dunsmen, term of ridicule applied to the devotees of Scottish Franciscan friar, John Duns Scotus (circa 1265-1308).  The use of SCotUS as the initialism of Supreme Court of the United States is wholly coincidental; cool people anyway prefer “the supremes”.  The many synonyms of dunce include clodpoll, ass, birdbrain, blockhead, bonehead, buffoon, dimwit, dolt, donkey, dope, dork, dullard, dunderhead, fool, goof, half-wit, idiot, ignoramus, imbecile, jerk, numbskull, ignoramus, simpleton, nincompoop & ninny but dunce has a special place because of the historic association with schoolrooms and the utility of the dunce’s cap for cartoonists and, latterly meme-makers.   Dunce is a noun, duncical, duncelike & duncish are adjectives and duncishly is an adverb; the noun plural is dunces.

The first dunces

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1648), oil on canvas by Antoine Nicolas (circa 1606-1661).

The shock of the Reformation, the sixteenth century movement within Western Christianity that mounted a theological and political challenge to the Roman Catholic Church and especially papal authority seems to have colored the popular view of the era and it’s often not appreciated that early in the century, both Church and papacy were in good shape and enjoyed popular support.  Far from being a rigid, unchanging institution, the Medieval Church was inventive and energetic and while it couldn’t be said to be tolerant of dissent, it certainly welcomed regional diversity and after the end of the papal schism (between 1378-1417 popes in France and Italy both asserted their authority over the Church) and the centralization of the institution in Rome, things really were looking good.  It was in this atmosphere that the Church played a part in the great cultural movement which began in Europe in the fifteenth century: The Renaissance (rebirth).

Print by Valentine Green following Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) and reputedly inspired by William of Ockham.

The Renaissance re-energized fields as diverse as literature, history, linguistics, mathematics, art, political theory and architecture.  One far-reaching effect (which would take centuries to unfold) was the re-discovery of the works and histories of the Greco-Roman world of antiquity, pursued with a method which resonates still in the modern academic method: Ad fontes (back to the sources).  Those sources (Galen, Cicero, Seneca, Plato et al), transformed study in western Europe, something made possible largely because of the wealth of documents arrived from the libraries, monasteries and palaces of the Byzantine Empire after Constantinople fell to Islamic conquest in 1453.  The scholars and scribes who immersed themselves in these texts came to be known as “the humanists” (from studia humanitatis (the classic curriculum of the academy and related not at all to the modern use of humanist to describe the particularly chauvinistic sect within secular, western intellectual life)).  What the Renaissance humanists did however was uncover the Greek texts of the original Bible and detected in them words a phrases which imparted meanings with theological implications at variance with what had come to be regarded as orthodoxy, based on the Vulgate, translation in Latin of the Bible dating from the late fourth century.

John Duns Scotus (circa 1475), oil on panel by Justus van Gent (1460-1480) & Pedro Berruguete (1450-1504).

The differences imparted by those variations were essentially about whether an individual’s relationships with Christ and God required only that they followed what was written in scripture or whether it depended on the institution of the Church, its ritual, its rules, its priests and of course its taxes and its pope.  In that debate lies the root of so many of the disputes which exist in Christianity still and, interestingly, are not dissimilar to the core of the theological dispute between the Sunni and Shi'a in Islam.  What the humanists did was lay siege to the old dominance in theology of the “scholastics”, themselves divided by an intellectual schism between the via antiqua (the old way) school and the via moderna (the new way), something which must seem familiar to anyone who has cast a glance at the squabbles which have disfigured the Lambeth Conferences since 1968.  Those who thought the old ways were still the best traced their lineage from Italian Dominican friar Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) & Scottish Franciscan friar John Duns Scotus (1265-1308) while the modernists were inspired by English Franciscan friar William of Ockham (circa 1287-1347; he of "Ockham's razor").  It was the still influential Aquinas who in Summa Theologica (1265–1274) created what came to called the “medieval synthesis of faith and reason”, a reconciliation of the teachings of Aristotle (384-322 BC) with scripture and for that he was canonized.  Ockham dismantled the great synthesis and the Church condemned him as a heretic, excommunicating and exiling him although, in an example of having two theological bob each way, never declared his work a heresy.

Those of the via moderna faction however wanted more than ever for the synthesis to be realized but wanted it based on the understanding of scripture (and thus the word of Christ) that their study of the documents from Constantinople had revealed.  Those tied to the old ways of Aquinis and John Duns Scotus (who had for some time been derisively dismissed as the “Dunses”, “Dunites” or “Dunsmen”) they decided deserved the collective “dunce”, those well-schooled and expert in orthodox philosophy but wholly ignorant of the authentic message of Christianity.

Intelligence is famously difficult to measure and even standardized intelligence tests, while they can provide a comparative index of performance of the sub-set taking the test, ultimately measure only a proficiency in answering certain question at a certain time, in a certain place and even then need to be understood in terms of the bias selection in both content and participation.  Based on conventional measures however, the consensus view probably would hold George W Bush (b 1946; US president 2001-2009) was (1) of somewhere above average intelligence and (2) one of the less intelligent US presidents.  However, his halting delivery (except in informal settings), deliciously mangled syntax and frequent malapropisms certainly made him appear a bit of a dunce and he was a gift to the meme-makers in the early days of the form.  The one from 2002 showing him in an elementary school, holding a book upside down circulated widely but was a fake as analysis of some of the detail revealed; book and dunce’s cap both photoshopped.  The book was America: A Patriotic Primer, by Dr Lynne Cheney (b 1941), wife of Dick Cheney (b 1941; US vice-president 2001-2009).  The first evidence of the dunce’s cap seems to date from the early eighteenth century although the earliest known use of the term appears to be 1791 and by the middle of the next century it was used in English literature and appeared in the work of cartoonists.  Actually used in many educational systems as a device both to assist pedagogy and inflict punishment, they had substantially been abandoned by the 1960s but in some of the more remote regions of the British Isles, dunce’s caps were said still to be in use early in the twenty-first century.

Brace

Brace (pronounced breys)

(1) Something that holds parts together or in place, as a clasp or clamp.

(2) Anything that imparts rigidity or steadiness (sometimes called a bitbrace or bitstock).

(3) In drilling, a hand tool for drilling holes, with a socket to hold the drill at one end and a cranked handle by which the tool can be turned in full (also called a bitstock).

(4) In building trades, a piece of timber, metal, etc., for supporting or positioning another piece or portion of a framework.

(5) In Admiralty use, on a square-rigged ship, A rope reeved through a block at the end of a yard, by which the yard is moved horizontally (also as the rudder gudgeon).

(6) In nautical use, to swing round the yards of a square rigged ship (using braces), to present a more efficient sail surface to the direction of the wind.

(7) In music, the leather loops sliding upon the tightening cords of a drum to change their tension and the drum's pitch.

(8) In dentistry, a system of wires, brackets, and elastic bands used to correct crooked or irregularly arranged teeth or to reduce overbite, placed directly against the surfaces of the teeth.

(9) In orthopaedic surgery, a device or appliance that supports or holds a movable part of the body in correct position while allowing motion of the part.

(10) In fashion, an alternative name for suspender (almost always in the plural as braces).

(11) A pair; a couple, used originally of dogs, and later of animals generally (eg a brace of grouse) and then other things, but rarely people.  Now usually used in the context of hunting or (in sport) scoring a pair of goals, tries etc (though not related to the “pair” in cricket, the unhappy record of being dismissed twice without scoring in each innings of a first class or test match.

(12) In typography, one of two characters { or } used to enclose words or lines to be considered together.  Also called a bracket, though not recommended because technically, they’re [ and ]. 

(13) In mathematics, as { or } used for connecting lines of printing or writing or as a third sign of aggregation in complex mathematical or logical expressions that already contain parentheses and brackets.

(14) In musical composition, as { or } also called accolade, a line or bracket connecting two or more staves of music

(15) A protective band covering the wrist or lower part of the arm, especially a bracer.

(16) In military parade drill, a position of attention with exaggeratedly stiff posture.

(17) Literally and figuratively, to prepare for an impact or an event.

(18) In informal slang, to become resolute; to stimulate or freshen.

(19) A form of armor for the arm, also called vambrace (obsolete).

(20) In mining, the mouth of a shaft (apparently a localism restricted to Cornwall).

(21) A medical device, a kind of compression fitting used on joints (ankles, knees etc) to provide support during the healing process.

(22) A measurement of length, originally representing a person's outstretched arms (obsolete).

(23) In engineering, a piece of material used to transmit, or change the direction of, weight or pressure; any one of the pieces, in a frame or truss, which divide the structure into triangular parts.  It may act as a tie, or as a strut, and serves to prevent distortion of the structure, and transverse strains in its members.

(24) A kind of riding equipment or horse tack (in historic reference only).

(25) A peninsula; a cape or slice of land jutting into the sea (in historic reference only).

(26) A perch (unit of measure) (in historic reference only).

(27) A point of a cross or rood (in historic reference only).

1300–1350: From the Middle English brace & bracen and the Anglo-French bracier borrowed from the from the Old French brace (arm), derived from the Latin brāchia & brācchia (the nominative and accusative plural (taken as feminine singular)) of brāchium & brācchium (arm) drawn from the Ancient Greek βραχίων (brakhíōn), most influenced by the plural Latin form bracchia (two arms).  The variety of spellings from the medieval period are extinct, the usual forms now bracchium or bracchia in the plural.  The prior etymology is wholly speculative, may have come from Gothic brasa (glowing coal), Proto-Germanic brasō (crackling coal) or the primitive bhres (to crack, break, burst).  It was cognate was the French braise (embers), Swedish brasa (to roast) and Icelandic brasa (to harden by fire), all thought related to the Sanskrit भ्रज bhraja (fire).  Brace & bracing are nouns & verbs and braced is a verb & adjective; the noun plural is braces.

Highly qualified content provider Busty Buffy (b 1996) wearing leather braces (without belt).

In idiomatic use, the phrase “belt and braces approach” is used to describe the inclusion of redundancy in design, ensuring mutual backups in the event of one system failing.  The phrase is from the notion of the use of either a belt or set of braces to prevent one’s trousers falling down and although both accessories are now (at least to some extent) decorative fashion items, in the era before tighter fitting clothes, they were essential and the especially cautious wore both, avoiding the dreaded SPF (single point-of-failure).  In the US, the equivalent form is “belt and suspenders approach”, “suspenders” (also as “suspender belt”) elsewhere usually understood as the device used by women to hold up their stockings, a device in US English styled as a “garter belt”. 

The original, early fourteenth century meaning was “an item of armor for the arms (and also “a thong or strap for fastening”), reflect the link to the Old French brace (arms) and it was from here that emerged brace as “a length measured by the span of a man’s two arms”.  The meaning "that which holds two or more things firmly together" (derived originally on the notion of clasping arms) emerged in the mid-fifteenth century and came to be applied to an array of fastening and tightening devices in a wide range of endeavours including art, engineering, carpentry, agriculture etc.  The specific meaning as a “prop, supporting strut” began in architecture in the 1520s and came to be applied to just about anything involving physical objects, the figurative use noted from the late sixteenth century.  The idea of things in pairs (first dogs, later game such as ducks, grouse etc) dates from circa 1400 and was later applied to various pairs (pistols, carriages etc); the use in sport to describe scoring twice in the one game (goals, tries etc) was a twentieth century coining, apparently by print journalists wanting something different from “pair” or “two”.  Braces in the sense of “straps passing over the shoulders to hold up the trousers” was from 1798, used after 1945 to describe the hardware used for wires for straightening the teeth.  In the English tradition, to say the weather is "bracing" means it's "damnably cold".

Knocking back a bracer: Crooked Hillary Clinton enjoys a quick belt of Crown Royal Bourbon Whiskey, Bronko's restaurant, Crown Point, Indiana, Saturday 12 April, 2008.

Lindsay Lohan’s injured right ankle in foot-brace, Mykonos, Greece, 2018.  It’s believed she made a good recovery but may never play rugby again.

The verb brace emerged in the mid-fourteenth century meaning both “to seize, grasp, hold firmly” & “wrap, enshroud; tie up, fetter”, something gained from the Old French bracier (to embrace), again the idea of grasping by the arms.  The meaning "make tense, render firm or steady by tensing" was noted from the mid-fifteenth century although decades earlier it had been used in the figurative sense of "strengthen or comfort someone”.  From this, by the 1740s, developed the later extension to tonics which "brace" the nerves (the bracer a "stiff drink"), a throwback to the original bracer (the early fourteenth century piece of armor protecting the arm) and by 1826 a bracer had assumed the specific use as “an alcoholic drink taken early in the morning”.  From the 1580s, a bracer was also “any sort of stay or clamp which braces or makes firm”, used typically in engineering or construction.  To brace oneself (place oneself in the position of a brace in anticipation of some shock or impact) is documented by 1805 but there is peripheral evidence the phrase may have been in use as early as circa 1500, probably in relation to horse-drawn transport and now familiar to many from the safety demonstration dutifully conducted by flight attendants before every take-off.  Because braces are designed and used for many purposes, there are a large number of derived terms including angle brace, curly brace, neck brace, ankle brace, tower brace, tower brace etc.

General Ulysses S Grant (1822–1885; US president 1869-1877) being photographed in uniform as General of the Army (four star), a rank to which he was appointed in 1866, New York, circa 1866.

Behind the general is a “posture brace”, used by photographers to prevent their subjects moving (the projecting prongs holding the head steady), any movement during the long exposure time risking blurring of the image.  The photo session was conducted in the Huston and Kurtz studio and can properly be called a “session” because, in addition to being time-consuming, the technique in use was called “photosculpture” (developed in 1859 by French artist François Willème (1830–1905)) which involved taking up to 24 photographs of a subject from various angles, the original concept being the creation of a montage which was effectively a 360^o view to assist sculptors carving busts or creating statures.  The perpendicular lines & numbers (1-24) on the platform were references for the photographer who would use them to align the camera’s lens, ensuring an exact series of images.  The studio was a partnership between German born Wilhelm Kurz (1833–1904) and a certain Mr Huston who appears to have vanished from history.  The business was dissolved within two years and Mr Kurz reverted to operating as a sole-trader, later establishing a studio in Madison Square, New York and going on to make notable innovations in the then novel color photography.

In modern commerce the posture brace (marketed also as “posture corrector”) is a specialized form of underwear garment designed to help improve one’s posture, typically by aligning the spine and shoulders into a more upright (or “correct”) position. Advertised as devices which can counteract poor posture habits (especially those resulting from prolonged sitting or slouching), the claims include a reduction in neck, back & shoulder strain.  The designs and methods of construction vary but many of the most popular are made from elastic or neoprene, wrapping around the back & shoulders, acting gently to “pull the shoulders back”.  Others are really straps or harnesses which combine a lightweight form which can exert the required force on the shoulders without excessively restricting movement and a recent development has been the “passive brace”: wearables which buzz or vibrate when slouching is detected, acting as a reminder rather than physically forcing alignment and thus analogous with seat-belt or speed waring chimes in cars.

Brace of single-shot duelling pistols in hardwood case, featured by Hallowell, the design from England and in vogue circa 1770-1850.

Many items were produced in pairs for many reasons but with duelling pistols it was obviously culturally deterministic.  Most used either flintlock or percussion ignition, and were supplied with the cleaning and loading accessories (the cleaning kit still something to ensure is supplied when one buys (or otherwise obtains) one’s AK47).  Duelling pistols tended to be lighter than contemporary service pistols and were often made with a finer finish, reflecting the upper-class market for which they were produced.  The ballistics techniques varied and although most appear to have been smooth-bored, some were scratch-rifled and there were octagon (or octagon-to-round) barrels, all around 9-10 inches (228-254 mm) long.  Almost all were forged from some form of Damascus steel, with bores slightly larger than a half-inch (50 mm) and supplied with ramrods, rudimentary sights front and rear, single-set triggers, roller-bearing frizzens and curved grips integral with full or half-stocks.  Although usually of high quality construction (sometimes with silver furniture), unlike the boxed braces produced for display or ceremonial purposes, duelling pistols tended to be relatively plain and unembellished.

Noted pheasant plucker Boris Johnson (b 1964, UK prime-minister 2019-2022) after bagging a brace of pheasants.

DPRK’s military parades.  The 2010 event (left) during the era of the Dear Leader and the 2015 event (right) after the accession of the Supreme Leader.

Although in production for almost two decades, Mercedes-Benz built only 2677 600s and of those, 428 were the long-wheelbase Pullmans.  Of those, 59 were the Landaulets with a convertible roof extending either over the rearmost seats or the whole passenger compartment.  Just 12 of the latter were built and the only one known to have bought a brace was Kim Il-sung (Kim I, 1912–1994; Great Leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (the DPRD, North Korea)) who ordered two in 1968.  Just as the DPRK and its grateful population passed to his descendents, Kim Jong-il (1941–2011; Kim II, Dear Leader of the DPRK 1994-2011) and Kim Jong-un (Kim III, b 1983; Supreme Leader of the DPRK since 2011), they also inherited the Landaulets which for decades were a fixture at state occasions like military parades.  Buying a brace ensured an unusual distinction of rarity; the parades are said to be the only occasions when two 600 long-roof Landaulets were seen in the same place at the same time.  The Supreme Leader updated in 2015 to the new S600 Pullman Landaulets but they’re mass-produced compared with the original, lack gravitas and look something like a very big Hyundai (made in the "puppet state" of South Korea).  For this reason, the old 600s are retained for occasions when there’s a need really to impress folks and maintain the dynasty’s image of continuity which stretches back to the Great Leader.

1970 Dodge Hemi Challenger with strut brace (also called strut bar), triangulated against the firewall.  Strut braces are stiff metal bars which connect the strut towers (front or rear), the purpose being enhanced structural rigidity.  Depending on the vehicle, the difference can be anything from transformative to non-existent and manufacturers of high-end machinery are aware of their appeal.  There have in recent decades been enormous advances in structural engineering and engineers admit that on some exotic machinery, the torsional rigidity is so high that strut braces add nothing except a little additional weight but they’re installed anyway, simply for the visual effect and to meet buyer expectation.  They’re a popular retro-fit to many of the machines from the 1960s and 1970s which, frankly, were over-powered when new and more so when modified.

Macro

Macro (pronounced mak-roh)

(1) Anything large in scale, scope, or capability.

(2) In the colloquial language of economics, of or relating to macroeconomics.

(3) In computing, an instruction that represents a sequence of instructions in abbreviated form (also rarely called macroinstruction) or a statement, typically for an assembler, that invokes a macro definition to generate a sequence of instructions or other outputs.

(4) In photography, producing larger than life images, often a type of close-up photography or as image macro, a picture with text superimposed.

(5) As the acronym MACRO, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome (Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Roma).

1933: A word-forming element from the Ancient Greek μακρός (macros), a combining form of makrós (long), cognate with the Latin macer (lean; meagre) and from the primitive Indo-European root mak (long, thin); now a general purpose prefix meaning large.  The English borrowing from French appears to date from 1933 with the upsurge in writings on economics during the great depression.  It subsequently became a combining form meaning large, long, great, excessive etc, used in the formation of compound words, contrasting with those prefixed with micro-.  In computing, it covers a wide vista but describes mostly relatively short sets of instructions used within programs, often as a time-saving device for the handling of repetitive tasks, one of the few senses in which macro (although originally a clipping in 1959  of macroinstruction) has become a stand-alone word rather than a contraction.  Other examples of use vis-a-vis include macrophotography (photography of objects at or larger than actual size without the use of a magnifying lens (1863)), macrospore (in botany, "a spore of large size compared with others (1859)), macroeconomics (pertaining to the economy as a whole (1938), macrobiotic (a type of diet (1961)), macroscopic (visible to the naked eye (1841)), macropaedia (the part of an encyclopaedia Britannica where entries appear as full essays (1974)), macrophage (in pathology "type of large white blood cell with the power to devour foreign debris in the body or other cells or organisms" (1890)).

Dieting and the macro fad

In the faddish world of dieting, the macrobiotic (macro- +‎ -biotic (from the Ancient Greek βιωτικός (biōtikós) (of life), from βίος (bios) (life)) diet is based on the precepts of Zen Buddhism.  It’s said to seek to balance what are described as the yin & yang elements of food and even the cookware used in its preparation.  The regime, first popularised by George Ohsawa san (1893-1966) in the 1930s, suggests ten food plans which, if followed, will achieve what is said to be the ideal yin:yang ratio of 5:1.  Controversial, there’s no acceptance the diet has any of the anti-cancer properties its proponents often claim beyond that expected if one follows the generally recommended balanced diets which differ little from the macrobiotic.  It was Ohsawa san's 1961 book Zen Macrobiotic which introduced the word to a wider audience although he acknowledged the system had been practiced in Germany in the late eighteenth century.

In macro: Lindsay Lohan's left eye.

A later fad, macronutrients, is distinct from macrobiotics and describes another form of a balanced diet, the three classes of macronutrients being the familiar proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.  The macro diet puts a premium on whole rather than processed foods and requires calorie counting because of the need to track intake and maintain the metrics within a certain range.  Where the macro diet differs is that the metrics vary between individuals rather than requiring conformity to the unchanging yin:yang ratio .  Depending on factors such as body type, life-style, age and health, a nutritionist will construct a target macro ratio (eg 40% carbohydrates, 40% protein and 20% fat) although that may change depending upon outcomes achieved.  The pro ana community seems to view the macrobiotic diet with uninterest rather than scepticism, noting it’s optimised around a concept of balance rather than weight-loss and, while perhaps useful in some aspects, is just another fad diet and that’s fine because, if followed, all diets probably work but for pro ana purposes there are better, faster, more extreme ways.

Macrophotography (also known as photomacrography, macrography or macro-photography) is a specialised niche in imagery, usually in the form of close-up photographs of small subjects, typically living organisms like insects, the object being to create an image greater than life size.  The word is used also by processing technicians to refer to the creation of physically large photographs regardless of the size of the subject or the relation between subject size and finished photograph.

When macro photography depended on a camera with a macro lens committing images to film stock, it was a genuinely specialised skill.  Now, advances in the sensor technology used in small, general purpose digital cameras mean anyone can produce raw images very close to those attainable using a DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) or SLR (single-lens reflex) with a true macro lens and editing software exists to enhance the images.  The emergence of very high definition (8K+) OLED (organic light-emitting diode) televisions in sizes larger than human beings has introduced a new subset to macrophotography for home use.  The 8K devices are currently available in sizes up to 150" (3.8m) and the technology exists to join together edgeless screens to create one vast panel, the size limited only by the software support.

Insoluble

Insoluble (pronounced in-sol-yuh-buhl)

(1) A substance which cannot be dissolved, broken down or dispersed.

(2) That which cannot be solved; unsolvable; insolvable.

(3) That which cannot be explained; mysterious or inexplicable.

(4) In chemistry, a substance incapable of dissolving in a solvent.

1350-1400: From the Middle English insoluble (indestructible, unable to be loosened), from the Old French insoluble or the Latin insolūbilis (that which cannot be loosened), the construct being in (not) + solubilis (soluble) which replaced the Middle English insolible; Middle French borrowed the word from the Latin as insoluble.  In the sciences, the noun insolubility in the sense of “incapability of dissolving in a liquid” dates from 1754 (insoluble having conveyed that since 1713), the Late Latin insolubilitas having previously been used and from 1791 it replaced the Latin insolubilis (that cannot be loosened) although in the early seventeenth century it’d been used of the marriage vow to mean "that cannot be dissolved".  The curious (and in many way annoying as such thing in English are) parallel meaning "that which cannot be solved" dates from 1722 and etymologists think it likely a separate formation from the earlier senses.  The related adjective irresolvable was from the 1650s and was from an assimilated form of in- (not, opposite of), the meaning "that which cannot be resolved into parts" emerging after 1785.  Insoluble is a noun & adjective, insolubility is a noun and insolubly is an adverb; the noun plural is insolubles.

In chemistry, insoluble has the precise technical meaning “incapable of dissolving in a solvent” and while it’s actually rare for absolutely no solute to dissolve at all, many substances are poorly soluble although a compound may be insoluble in one solvent yet fully miscible in another.  There’s also the influence of external factors, most notable temperature; increasing temperature frequently improves the solubility of a solute.  The figurative sense (that which cannot be solved; unsolvable; insolvable) is actually used less than other words or phrases which convey the idea, doubtlessly because of the parallel meaning.  Some claim that in Medieval scholarship, it was a tacit conviction among the learned that the insoluble question did not exist and that all that was ever required was to find the right man whose studies were so deep that he would eventually deduce the answer.  It’s a modern-sounding idea and recalls some of the optimistic phases the United States went through in the twentieth century; probably few think like that now.

Dr Rowan Williams (b 1950; Archbishop of Canterbury, 2002-2012) and Benedict XVI (1927–2022; pope 2005-2013, pope emeritus 2013-2022), discussing insoluble problems during the papal visit to the UK, Lambeth Palace, London, September 2010

One who probably never felt quite like that but may at times have allowed himself the odd, brief moment of optimism was former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, a literary critic and one-time Professor of Divinity at Oxford although his decade in Lambeth Palace seems to have cured him of that.  In late 2008, Dr Williams took a two month summer sabbatical to finish a book about his literary hero, the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) which was published as Dostoevsky: Language, Faith and Fiction.  Those few weeks may have been among the happiest of his life, later reflecting that “It was a wonderful experience actually, just being able to get up in the morning and write instead go to committees and answer letters and try to solve insoluble problems in the church.”  To the suggestion that prayer might provide answers to at least some of those insoluble problems he replied “I'll do just that.”  Ten years on, there little indication his prayers were answered.

Architectonic

Architectonic (pronounced ahr-ki-tek-ton-ik)

(1) Of or pertaining to the principles of architecture, design and construction.

(2) In figurative use in the social sciences (especially political science and sociology), those things foundational or fundamental; supporting the structure of a morality, society, or culture.

(3) As a descriptor outside the field of architecture, denoting, relating to, or having architectural qualities, especially in its highly organized manner or technique of structure.

(4) In metaphysics, of or relating to the systematic classification of the totality of knowledge.

(5) In artistic composition, having a clearly defined structure, especially one artistically pleasing.

1635-1645 From the Latin architectonicus (of architecture), from the Ancient Greek ἀρχιτεκτονικός (arkhitektonikós) (pertaining to a master builder), from ἀρχιτέκτων (arkhitéktōn) (architect).  Interestingly, in surviving Greek texts, the most commonly-used forms appears to be arkhitekton (chief workman).  As technology improved it became possible to observe physical objects at smaller scales, even down to the sub-atomic level.  What was seen was of course inherently structural so architectonic was co-opted by many fields which created their own words including receptorarchitectonic (in anatomy & biology, relating to the architectonics of receptors, neuroarchitectonic (the architectonics of nerves and the nervous system) and nanoarchitectonic (the design of nanotechnology devices or the architectonic of nanoscale architecture) and politico-architectonic (in structuralism and urban planning, the analysis of purpose of individual elements).  The adjective architectonical dates from the 1590s.  Architectonic is a noun & adjective, architectonically is an adverb and architectonical is an adjective; the noun plural is architectonics.

In English, use in the metaphysical sense (pertaining to systematization of knowledge) dates only from 1801, the allusions to the origins in Antiquity something of a retrospective Enlightenment discovery.  The division of what in Antiquity tended to be called “the sciences” (ie about any field of knowledge to which any form of method could be applied) into ancillary and architectonic is often described as Aristotelian because it was in the surviving texts of Aristotle (384-322 BC) that the concept is both so prevalent and obvious but it was Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) who, in Critique of Pure Reason (1781), provided framework in its modern understanding, architectonics being the study both of a system and the processes of its construction.  Kant’s contemporary, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), was a philosopher who contributed much to the understanding of the implications of the architectonic, perhaps because as well as his interest in metaphysics, he was a composer and something of a critic of architecture.

Six of the Painterly Architectonic set (1916-1918) in oil by Lyubov Popova (1889-1924).

Painterly Architectonic was a series of works by Russian & Soviet avant-garde artist Lyubov Popova.  Thematically, she explored the effects of color and shape on individual parts of a whole, overlaying the representations of the objects after the manner of collage.  The paintings distort space within the square and rectangular frames, right angles, vertical and horizontal lines almost all shunned in seas of slants and diagonals.  Travelling in Western Europe in the years before World War I (1914-1918), Popova was stunned by the Cubist and Futurist works she saw in France & Italy and these ideas she took back to Moscow, her focus on the interrelationships between individual parts.  In 1916 Popova declared herself a "Suprematist", a term coined a year earlier by Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935) another member of the Russian avant-garde who explained it described an art which rejected painting’s historic devotion to representation, focusing instead on the supremacy of pure artistic feeling.  After the October Revolution in 1917, it became a movement, many artists believing a revolutionary society demanded a radically new artistic language. In that they were probably right but in comrade Stalin’s (1878-1953; Soviet leader 1924-1953) time, they would find the vocabulary was limited.

Hijab

Hijab (pronounced hi-jahb, hi-jab, hee-jahb or hee-jab)

(1) A traditional scarf or veil worn by Muslim women to cover the hair and neck and sometimes the face.

(2) The traditional dress code of Muslim women, calling for the covering of the entire body except the face, hands, and feet (except in places where the interpretation is more strict and all or some of the hands, face and feet must be concealed).

1885–1890: From the Arabic حِجَاب‎ (ḥijāb) (veil, cover, curtain), from ḥajaba (to cover).  It first appeared in this sense in bilingual dictionaries in 1906 whereas in classical Arabic it meant both "partition, screen, curtain," and also generally "rules of modesty and dress for females.  One (1800) English lexicon of the “Hindoostanee language" suggested hijab was used to mean "modesty or shame," and other similar dictionaries (circa 1800) noted the connotations of "to cover, hide or conceal" and the 1906 publication (qv) also listed "modesty".  The alternative forms hejab, hijaab, hijāb; hajib & hijabi are all now regarded as non-standard, globalisation and the internet making hijab the preferred global spelling; the noun plural is hijabs.

Asif Ali Zadari and the late Benazir Bhutto, pictured on their wedding day, discussing head fashions.

The hijab is the most minimal of the Islamic veils.  Classically a square scarf of any color which covers the head and neck but leaves the face exposed, it can be of any shape, color or fabric but styles and shades tend to be more somber in more conservative cultures.  It can be used as just another fashion accessory, and, where local circumstances permit, some do drape it in a rather perfunctory way, exposing just as much as can be gotten away with.  Politicians attempting simultaneously to placate the local Mufti and assert their feminist credentials adopt this trick; former Pakistani prime-minister, the late Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007), was an expert.

Lindsay Lohan, wearing an al-amira, pictured here with aid worker Azize in Antep refugee camp, Gaziantep, Turkey, October 2016.

The al-amira and shayla are variations on a theme.  The former is two-piece, consisting of a close-fitting cap and a tube-like scarf, the latter a long, rectangular scarf, wrapped around the head and tucked or pinned in place at the shoulders.  Both are more closely-fitting than a hijab and are used when it’s important to ensure no hair is left exposed.

Lindsay Lohan, pictured here wearing a burka by Gucci while shopping in Dubai during her self-imposed exile from US while Donald Trump was president.

The almost identical niqab and burka are the highest evolution of the form.  The burka (also variously as burqa, burkha, burqua, boorka, bourkha (obsolete) & bourqa (rare)) is an all-enveloping garment, almost always in dark, solid colours which covers the entire body with a small (sometime mesh-covered) aperture through which to see.  The niqab is the same except it leaves the eyes exposed.  Until 2022, of the many “morality police” forces which have existed in countries with a majority Islamic population, the best known was Afghanistan's Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice which actually pre-dated the Taliban takeover in 1996 but they certainly deployed it with an enthusiasm which went much beyond it functioning as “burka police” and in one form or another, it actually operated for most of the (first) post-Taliban era.  When the Taliban regained power in 2021, immediately they created the "Ministry of Invitation, Guidance and Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" and, in a nice touch, allocated as its headquarters the building formerly used by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs.  The protests in Iran which in September 2022 began over the conduct of their hijab police rapidly became a movement chanting "Death to the Dictator!". 

The khimar is a long, cape-like veil that hangs down to just above the waist. It covers the hair, neck and shoulders completely, but leaves the face clear. The chador, worn by many Iranian women when outside the house, is a full-body cloak that is favored over the similar looking burka because it is more easily put on and taken off.  A cloak, it's especially suited for wearing in cooler months when the clothing underneath tends to be bulkier.

Celebrated since 2013 on the first day of February, World Hijab Day is all encompassing in that it’s not restricted just to hijabs and includes other styles.  The day notes the long tradition attached to head-coverings mandated for religious purposes, the history pre-dating Islam by hundreds of years and the garment was anyway probably created out of necessity, those living under a hot Mesopotamian sun using linens to protect their heads from the sun and wind.  It seems head coverings were first written into law during the thirteenth century BC, in an ancient Assyrian text mandating women, daughters and widows cover their heads as a sign of piety. Notably, headscarves were forbidden for prostitutes and women of the lowest classes, an edict enforced by social ostracization or even arrest.  From this origin, the practice was adopted by the religions which emerged from the region, Judaism, Christianity & Islam and the bible (1 Corinthians 11:6-7) contains a typical injunction:

For it shall be a disgrace for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head.  For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man.

Although the tradition has faded, even in some parts of the Islamic world, conservative sections still maintain the rule.  Even some post Vatican II Roman Catholic nuns continue to wear the habit, Orthodox Jewish women will don either the tichel (a type of headscarf) or sheitel (a wig) and in Islam, the Quran's verses about modesty have been interpreted in different ways, some insisting head covering is obligatory while others say it’s a choice.  Political systems, geography and ethnicity also interact with tradition in the politics of head coverings and several countries, including France, Germany and Austria, have limited women from wearing full-face coverings such as the niqab and burka in public spaces.