Rule

Rule (pronounced rool)

(1) A principle or regulation governing conduct, action, procedure, arrangement etc.

(2) In Christianity, the code of regulations observed by a religious order or congregation.

(3) Control, government, or dominion; tenure or conduct of reign or office; to control or direct; exercise dominating power, authority, or influence over; govern.

(4) A prescribed mathematical method for performing a calculation or solving a problem.

(5) In astronomy, the constellation Norma (initial capital letter).

(6) In printing, a thin, type-high strip of metal, for printing a solid or decorative line or lines.

(7) In law, a formal order or direction made by a court, as for governing the procedure of the court (general rule) or for sending the case before a referee (special rule); a legal principle; a court order in a particular case.

(8) In penology, formerly a fixed area in the neighborhood of certain prisons within which certain prisoners were allowed to live; the freedom of such an area.

(9) An alternative name for behavior (obsolete).

(10) To mark with lines, especially parallel straight lines, with the aid of a ruler or the like; to mark out or form (a line) by this method; any of various devices with a straight edge for guiding or measuring.

(11) To be superior or preeminent in (a specific field or group); dominate by superiority; hold sway over.

(12) In linguistics, a formal expression of a grammatical regularity in a linguistic description of a language.

(13) In astrology (of a planet), to have a strong affinity with certain human attributes, activities etc, associated with one or sometimes two signs of the zodiac.

(14) A generalized statement that describes what is true in most or all cases; a standard; The customary or normal circumstance, occurrence, manner, practice, quality etc.

1175–1225: From the Middle English riule & reule from the Old French riule from the Latin rēgula (straight stick, pattern).  The verb was first noted circa 1200 from the Middle English riwlen, reulen & rewellen, from the Old French riuler, rieuler & ruler from the Late Latin rēgulāre (derivative of rēgula).  The sense of "principle or maxim governing conduct, formula to which conduct must be conformed" is from the Old French riule & the Norman reule (rule, custom, (religious) order) which, in Modern French, has been partially re-Latinized as règle.  The Vulgar Latin regula was derived from the Classical Latin regula (straight stick, bar, ruler), figuratively "a pattern, a model" related to regere (to rule, straighten, guide).  The Middle English form displaced the Old English wealdan.

The familiar meaning "strip used for making straight lines or measuring" (ie a ruler) has existed since the fourteenth century and the specific application to typography is attested from 1680s.  The meaning "regulation governing play of a game” is from 1690s. The notion of a rule of law (supremacy of impartial and well-defined laws to any individual's power), as a phrase, emerged surprisingly recently, dating only from 1883.  The sense "to control, guide, direct" came from the Old French riuler (impose rule) from the Latin regulare (to control by rule, direct) from the Latin regula (rule, straight piece of wood) from the primitive Indo-European root reg- (move in a straight line) with derivatives meaning "to direct in a straight line," thus "to lead, rule."  The legal sense "establish by decision" is recorded from the early fifteenth century.  The meaning "mark with lines" is from 1590s; the sense of "to dominate, prevail" is from 1874.

The Chatham House Rule

Often erroneously referred to in the plural, the Chatham House Rule states:

When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.

The rule was created with the aim of encouraging openness of discussion and facilitating the sharing of information, used now by many organizations around the world as an aid to free discussion of sensitive issues.  It provides a way for speakers openly to discuss their views in private while allowing the topic and nature of the debate to be made public and contribute to a broader conversation.

Chatham House, 10 St James's Square, London, SW1.

The Royal Institute of International Affairs, known universally as Chatham House, was formed in London in 1920 at the same time as the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, both organizations created in reaction to the failings in international relations which led to the First World War.  The popular name is derived from the Royal Institute’s headquarters since 1923, Chatham House, previously home to three prime ministers including William Pitt (1st Earl of Chatham, 1708–1778; prime-minister 1766-1788 and now usually referred to as Chatham or Pitt the Elder to distinguish him from his son William (Pitt the Younger, 1759-1806, also a prime-minister).

Lindsay Lohan in Georgia Rule (2007).

Pixelate

Pixelate (pronounced pik-suh-leyt)

(1) In digital graphics and photography, to cause (an image) to break up (in whole or in part) into pixels, by complete or selective over-enlargement, resulting in blocky blurs.

(2) To blur parts of a digital image by creating unclear, pixel-like patches, for purposes of censorship or to maintain the anonymity of the subject (informal use of the word; technically need not be done by means of pixelation):

1965:  The construct was pixel + -ate.  Pix was a casual form of the abbreviation “pics”, the plural of “pictures”, the spelling with the x in use (initially in magazines and periodicals) since the 1880s.  Pixel dates from 1965 and was a portmanteau word, the blend being pix + el(ement).  It seems first to have been used by taking advantage of advances in the technology of magnification which enabled artists to manipulate images down to the levels of the individual, identifiable, two-dimensional (dots) components.  As the technology moved to screens and the dots became square, single-colored display elements, the word pixel continued to be used.  The noun pixelation (also as pixellation) in the sense of “creation of the effect of animation in live actors" was used first in motion-picture post-production and editing in 1947 and it appears not to have entered general use until the 1990s.  Prior to then, when pixelation was used (typically in newspapers to conceal identities or to obscure body parts or acts thought offensive), the effect was usually described a “blurred” or “blurred-out”.  The suffix -ate was a word-forming element used in forming nouns from Latin words ending in -ātus, -āta, & -ātum (such as estate, primate & senate).  Those that came to English via French often began with -at, but an -e was added in the fifteenth century or later to indicate the long vowel.  It can also mark adjectives formed from Latin perfect passive participle suffixes of first conjugation verbs -ātus, -āta, & -ātum (such as desolate, moderate & separate).  Again, often they were adopted in Middle English with an –at suffix, the -e appended after circa 1400; a doublet of –ee.  Pixelate, pixelize & pixelating are verbs, pixelization & pixelation are nouns, pixelated is a verb & adjective and pixelized is an adjective.

It shouldn’t be confused with the similar but completely unrelated (and usually whimsical) term pixilated, the construct of that being pixi(e) + (titill)ated, the blend of pixie and titillated suggesting an individual behaving in an eccentric manner, as though led by pixies (although it was used for a while by the news media as a euphemism for “drunk” until “tired and emotional” became preferred.  It’s always been rare but in the sense of the eccentric the synonyms include abnormal & eccentric while whimsically it implies the idiosyncratic, outlandish, peculiar, playful, quirky or unconventional.  It dates, as a dialectical form of US English, from the New England region in 1848 but entered general use in 1936 when used in a popular movie.  A pixie in this context was a figure from mythology, fantasy literature & fairy tales and was a playful sprite, elf-like or fairy-like creature.  In slang, it referred to a young, petite girl with a certain short-cut hair-style (or the style itself as “the pixie-cut).  In the technical language of astronomy & meteorology, pixie is the name of an upper-atmospheric optical phenomenon associated with thunderstorms, a short-lasting pinpoint of light on the surface of convective domes that produces a gnome.  Titillate was from the Latin tītillātus, from tītillō & tītillāre (to tickle) and was used usually to suggest acts which stimulated desire or excited sensually.

Loewe’s “pixelated glitches”, Paris Fashion Week, October 2022.

In a more convention vein, Loewe also list a crew neck sweater in wool with pixel intarsia in multi-tone brown with ribbed collar, cuffs and hem at Stg£750 (US$905).

Displayed at Paris Fashion Week in October 2022, Loewe's Metaverse Fashion Works IRL (an initialism of “in real life”, borrowed from literary criticism which, in internet slang imparts, “as opposed to online”) was the latest take on the pixelated look and the most obvious attempt yet to emulate IRL the look as it appears on screens.  Although catwalks are noted as a place designers can show pieces which generate much publicity without being likely to attract many buyers, Loewe confirmed the pixelized clothing items (a hoodie, dress, and pair of pants) will be part-numbers and appear in the Spring 2023 collection.  The show notes described the look as "a pixelated glitch" and, photographed sympathetically, the effect was well-executed although there are limitations in the extent to which an inherently 2D look can translate into 3D (IRL).  Whether many of the Minecraft generation are used to paying the prices Loewe’s customer base can afford is unlikely but the way the industry works is that when a thing trends, the sweatshops east of Suez quickly are commissioned to do runs of cheap knock-offs and Meta might actually be grateful the look has generated so many clicks, Loewe’s toe in the metaverse’s stylistic water one of the few supportive gestures which suggests there might be people interested in digital-style clothes.

Pixelation by Anrealage at Japan Fashion Week, 2011 

Shoes (by Kunihiko Morinaga san, out of Picasso).

The idea has though been around for a while.  Japanese designer Kunihiko Morinaga san’s (b 1980) fall/winter 2011/2012 collection for Anrealage at Japan Fashion Week included some pixelated fabrics in what was a deliberately nostalgic showcase for those who remembered, with a fondness inexplicable except as a memory of a dissolute youth, 8-bit graphics.  The look extended to the heels on shoes but that did display the limitations imposed IRL when a 2D effect is seen in 3D, morphed into cubism circa 1908.

Lindsay Lohan, pixelated.

Loewe's Spring 2023 collection on the catwalk.  Catwalk models are famously the most gloomy-looking souls on the planet but one who must have looked at one of the more bizarre pieces couldn't suppress a smile.  She may have been sent to the fashion gulag.

Mercator

Mercator (pronounced mer-key-ter or mer-kah-tawr (Flemish))

Noting, pertaining to, or according to the principles of a Mercator projection, a type of cartographical projection used to render the spherical globe as a flat map.

1568: From the Latin Mercator (from mercor (trade or deal in goods)) from merx from the Proto-Italic merk, possibly from Etruscan, referring to various aspects of economics (and the source of the English merchant).  The map was named after Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594), a Flemish geographer and cartographer whose name was Gerhard Kremer until his adoption of the Latinized form which translates as "dealer” or “tradesman".  In 1585 he began work on a book of maps of Europe, a project later completed by his son and published in 1595.  On the book’s cover was a drawing of the titan Atlas (from Greek mythology) carrying the globe on his shoulders and the word atlas has since been applied to any book of maps.

The Mercator Map.

The Mercator projection was developed in 1568 by Gerardus Mercator as a navigation tool with spherical planet earth depicted on a flat rectangular grid with parallel lines of latitude and longitude.  Its functionality was such that in the west, it became the standard technique of projection for nautical navigation and the de facto standard for maps and charts.

Flat map rendered with actual dimensions.

However, the Mercator map is a most imprecise representation of the precise shapes and relative sizes of land masses because the projection distorts the size of objects as the latitude increases from the Equator to the poles, where scale becomes infinite.  That’s why land-masses such as Greenland and Antarctica appear much larger than they actually are, relative to equatorial areas such as central Africa.

Mercator v actual.

In the twentieth century, that distortion attracted criticism on the grounds the projection tended to increase the size of the land-masses of the European colonial powers while reducing those in the colonized south.  However, neither Gerardus Mercator nor cartographers had social or political axes to grind; the geographical distortion was an unintended consequence of what was designed as a navigational device and it's anyway impossible accurately to depict the surface of a sphere as a two-dimensional rectangle or square (the so-called "orange-segment" renditions are dimensionally most accurate but harder to read).  The Mercator map is no different from the map of the London Underground; a thing perfect for navigation and certainly indicative but not to exact scale.  Modern atlases generally no longer use the Mercator map (except for historical or artistic illustrations) but they’re still published as wall-maps.

Antediluvian

Antediluvian (pronounced an-tee-di-loo-vee-uhn)

(1) In biblical scholarship, of or belonging to the period before the biblical flood of Noah (Genesis chapters 6-9); a person who lived before the biblical great flood, particularly one of the biblical patriarchs (in some translations used as "prediluvian" which for all purposes is synonymous.

(2) In figurative use, anyone with attitudes though old-fashioned, or out of date, antiquated, primitive, outdated, outmoded, ancient, archaic, antique, superannuated, anachronistic, outworn, behind the times, medieval, quaint, old-fangled, obsolescent, obsolete, prehistoric, passé, fossilized etc; those views as held or expressed.

(3) In figurative use, someone very old (in use, an alternative to "Methuselian". 

(4) By extension (used loosely), of animals and plants: long extinct; prehistoric. 

1640-1650: The construct was the ante- (before (in the sense of "prior to in time")) +‎ dīluvium (a flood) so understood as "the time before the great flood".  The ante- prefix was from the Latin preposition and prefix ante, from the primitive Indo-European hénti, locative singular of the root noun hent- (front, front side).  It was cognate with the Ancient Greek ἀντί (antí) (opposite, facing), the Old Armenian ընդ (ənd), the Tocharian Bānte, the English and, the Sanskrit अन्ति (anti), the Gothic and- & (in compounds) anda- & ōnd- and the German ant- & (in compounds) ent-.  The word was coined by English physician Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682).  Dīluvium was from dīluō (to wash away), the construct being dis- (the prefix here used in the sense of "apart; tear asunder; in two) + lavō (to wash), from the primitive Indo-European lewh- (to wash) + -ium (the suffix used to form abstract nouns).  The use to refer to long extinct animals & plants began in orthodox science because it was once held all must have perished under the waters of the biblical flood.  The spelling antedeluvian is obsolete.  Antediluvian is a noun & adjective, antediluvianism is a noun, antediluvial is an adjective and antediluvially & antediluvianly are adverbs; the noun plural is antediluvians.

Handy adjective: politicians and others

Though sometimes casually treated as such, prehistoric and antediluvian are not synonyms.  Prehistoric has a precise (though culturally and geographically variable) meaning.  It means "before history was written down", hence before writing which emerged some five millennia ago in Mesopotamia.  Historians note the pivot has to be the creation of writing with some historic meaning and that earlier (usually financial) records don’t fulfil this criterion.  Representational forms predated writing, most famously as cave paintings, but these, while helpful in the interpretation of the archaeological record, don’t impart meaning and record events with the detail or accuracy inherent in the use of a written text.

Literal: The Subsiding of the Waters of the Deluge (1829), oil on canvas by Thomas Cole (1801-1848).

Antediluvian (before the flood) is a word from biblical scholarship.  Historically, it referred to the time prior to the biblical flood of Noah but in modern use it's used also of the notion of a monumental flood preserved in the folklore of a remarkable number of cultures although there is nothing in the geological record to suggest there was ever a global flood quite as described in the Old Testament.  Although usually used figuratively, for biblical-literalists (many of them south of the Mason-Dixon line), antediluvian means the actual time before the flood described in chapters 6–9 in the Book of Genesis.  The literalists invented their own field of study called "diluvial geology" (also labelled the "flood or creation geology") and regard the text in Genesis 6–9 as a scientific record; they date the great flood to within the last five thousand years.  The term is used also in the field of Assyriology for kings (those, according to the Sumerian king list, supposed to have reigned before the great flood).

Figurative: Scott Morrison (b 1968; Australian prime-minister 2018-2022, right ) showing an admiring Barnaby Joyce (b 1967; thrice (between local difficulties) deputy prime minister of Australia 2016-2022, left) a lump of coal (varnished by a dutiful staffer to avoid any dust from the little store of carbon), Parliament House, Canberra, February 2017.  Mr Morrison and Mr Joyce, for a variety of reasons, were doughty advocates of the burning of fossil fuels and great supports of the mining industry.

As a pejorative adjective, antediluvian is sometimes used figuratively although the choice is not always most appropriate.  "Ancient" is probably better to describe something old or "antiquated" if so old as to lack functionality; "Methuselan" (an allusion to Methuselah, the oldest person in the Hebrew Bible who lived an impressive 969 years) works best for those who seem perilously old.  The 2024 US presidential election looks Methuselaic because, in the style of 1964 when it was "crooked old Lyndon vs crazy old Barry, we'll be able to enjoy "sleazy old Donald vs senile old Joe".  Antediluvian is best reserved to describe the archaic or outdated views and opinions held by people, regardless of their age.  Mr Morrison (a fundamentalist Christian who, presumably, believes the flood happened exactly as described in the Book of Genesis) and Mr Joyce maintained their antediluvian attitudes to the burning of fossil fuels even when buried under the weight of their own absurdity.  In 2024, the Liberal party, now under new management, switched tactics and began to advocate the construction of multiple nuclear power-plants, opening a new theatre in the culture wars of energy policy.

Supporting the move away from burning fossils: Lindsay Lohan in Russia for the Formula R ePrix race, Moscow, June 2015.

On paper, while not without challenges, the country does enjoy certain advantages in making nuclear part of the energy mix: (1)  With abundant potential further to develop wind and solar generation, the nuclear plants would need only to provide the baseload power required when renewable sources were either inadequate or unavailable; (2) the country would be self-sufficient in raw uranium ore (although it has no enrichment capacity) and (3) the place is vast and geologically stable so in a rational world it would be nominated as the planet's repository of spent nuclear fuel and other waste.  The debate as it unfolds is likely to focus on other matters and nobody images any such plant can in the West be functioning in less than twenty-odd years (the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) gets things done much more quickly) so there's plenty of time to squabble and plenty of people anxious to join in.  Mr Joyce has with alacrity become a champion of all things nuclear (electricity, submarines and probably bombs although, publicly, he's never discussed the latter) and the National Party has never approved of solar panels and wind turbines because they associate them with feminism, seed-eating vegans, homosexuals and other symbols of all which is wrong with modern society.  While in his coal-black heart Mr Joyce's world view probably remains as antediluvian as ever, he can sniff the political wind in a country now beset by wildfires, floods and heatwaves and talks less of the beauty of burning fossil fuels.

Apotheosis

Apotheosis (pronounced uh-poth-ee-oh-sis (U) or ap-uh-thee-uh-sis (non-U))

(1) The elevation or exaltation of a person to the rank of a god.

(2) An example of an ideal; epitome; quintessence.

(3) The highest achievement of a person or institution.

(4) The highest point in the development of something; a culmination or climax.

(5) A glorified ideal; the realization of the apex or pinnacle (of a concept, construction or belief).

(6) In some Christian writings, a (sometimes blessed) release from earthly life, ascension to heaven; death; a technical synonym for the earthy death which precedes the soul rising to Heaven; the abbreviation in the texts was apoth.

(7) In psychology, the latent entity which mediates between a person's psyche and their thoughts (best known in the example of the id, ego and superego in Freudian psychology.

1570-1580: From the Late Latin apotheōsis (deification (especially of an emperor or royal personage)), from the Ancient Greek ἀποθέωσις (apothéōsis), from the verb ἀποθεόω (apotheóō) (to deify”).  The surface analysis apo- +‎ theo- +‎ -sis may be deconstructed as a factitive verb formed by the intensive prefix ἀπο- (apo-) + θεός (theós) (God) + -σις (-sis) (the suffix which formed nouns of action), the popular form in later Medieval texts being apotheoun (deify, make someone a god) and all forms were related to the primitive Indo-European root dhēs -, forming words for religious concepts which may have been an extension of the root dhe- (to set, put).  The verb apotheosize (exalt to godhood, deify) emerged circa 1760 and begat the inevitable apotheosized & apotheosizing, the extinct earlier (1670s) version being apotheose.  From the Late Latin & Church Latin other European languages picked up the word, the variations including the Catalan apoteosi, the French apothéose, the Galician apoteose, the Italian apoteosi, the Occitan apoteòsi, the Portuguese apoteose and the Spanish apotheosis.  Apotheosis is a noun, apotheosize is a verb and apotheotic is an adjective; the noun plural is apotheoses.

In the Roman Empire, apotheosis was a process whereby a dead ruler was declared divine by his successor.  Usually, the Senate passed a decree in accordance although, even at the time, it was often regarded a tawdry political trick by a new Emperor attempting to identify with a popular predecessor.  Time has not lessened the attraction for politicians and names like Reagan and Churchill are often invoked by those who'd like some of the lustre to reflect on them (although Mr Trump seems happy to mention only the more distant Washington and Lincoln).  Worse still was declaring divine a deceased dill: a work of satire attributed to the Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca, circa 4 BC–65 AD) was The Apocolocyntosis (divi) Claudii (literally “The Pumpkinification of the divine Claudius”) which details the death of the Roman emperor Claudius and his judgement before the gods, the list of his crimes and failings so long that he’s cast down to the underworld.  Among scholars of Antiquity, there has been debate about whether Seneca really wrote the piece because among his many essays on politics, morality and philosophy, it’s the solitary satire and it’s thought he may have lent his name to give the piece some intellectual respectability.

Divas: Maria Callas (1923-1977), Chicago, 1955 (left), Lindsay Lohan (b 1986), Los Angeles, 2009 (centre) & Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (b 1981), London, 2018 (right).

An expired emperor's deceased loved ones could also be deified and posthumously, they were awarded the title Divus (or Diva if a women).  Classic Roman religion distinguished between a real god (of which the Romans had many) called deus and mortals defied through apotheosis who were called divus.  The label diva has long been used to describe highly-strung sopranos but in the modern age it’s applied also to pop-singers, reality-TV stars and the odd “difficult duchess”.  In Greek mythology there were mortals who became gods and many cultures embraced the idea, Hinduism by the million and most famously, until 1945 the Emperor was a “living God and the most honorable son of heaven”.  The three great monotheist faiths differ somewhat.  Islam is the clearest in that there is but one God in heaven and his greatest and final prophet was Muhammad (circa 570–632) who spoke through divine guidance but was flesh & blood.  In Judaism there is only one God and he has a special relationship with the Jews because of the covenant with them, the Jews believing (there are a few heretics however) that their Messiah has yet to appear on Earth but that day will come.  Christianity, predictably perhaps, is the most open to interpretation because of the notion of Jesus Christ as both earthy flesh & the second divine being of the Trinity (the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit).  Thus, among Christian sects and cults which have come and gone, there's always been a bit of theological wriggle-room.

The Gullwing’s apotheosis

In the churning world of the collector car market, the ecosystem of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (W198) is noted for the benchmarks set in the prices for which they sell.  They were produced as both a coupé (1954-1957) with the memorable gullwing doors and a roadster (1957-1963) and in the context of the multi-million dollar used car business, were actually made in quite substantial numbers, some 1400 Gullwings and 1858 roadsters made.  One quirk of the 300 SL has always been that unusually, it’s the roadster which has always sold for less, such is the allure of those exotic doors.

1963 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster: US$3.7 million.

Unexpectedly, the orthodoxy was almost overturned.  In 2018, a 1963 300 SL Roadster with just 1372 km (852 miles) on the odometer attracted US$3.7 million at auction in France, making it the most expensive roadster ever sold, nudging the record (US$4.2) set in 2012 by a 1955 aluminum Gullwing.  It was well above expectations but even apart from it being barely used, it was an exceptional example because it came with both the factory hardtop and soft-top (still untouched in its original shipping crate) and, as one of the few dozen made in the last year of production, it included the all-aluminum engine and the notable (and overdue) addition of four-wheel disc brakes.  Another thing which would have attracted collectors is that based on the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number), just ten more were built before the line ended.

1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (Weckerlé Alloy) : US$6.825 million.

However, the record didn’t last long because early in 2022, one of the twenty-nine aluminum-bodied Gullwings sold at auction in the US for US$6.825 million which does sound impressive but in what may be a sign of these troubled times, the bids actually failed to reach the estimates of US$7-8 million.  Long known as the Weckerlé Alloy because it was originally ordered by Joseph Weckerlé, the factory’s agent in Casablanca, the provenance of chassis 5500332 was close to impeccable, the 1955 car retaining its Sonderteile (special parts (NSL)) engine with tweaked fuel-injection and a more aggressive camshaft, gaining fifteen horsepower.  Additionally, it was fitted with the much admired Rudge knock-off wheels, the only deviations of note from the original Leichtmetallausführung (light-alloy design) specification being a replacement (1957) gearbox and glass windows which at sometime had replaced the thinner plexiglass units.  A newly trimmed, fitted-luggage set (something of a fetish in the Gullwing world) was also included.

1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR (Uhlenhaut coupé): US$143 million.

Trumping all these results however was a world-record which not only set the mark for Gullwings but became the most expensive car ever sold.  In June, 2022, at a private auction conducted in the Mercedes-Benz factory museum in Stuttgart, one of the two 1955 300 SLR (W196S “Uhlenhaut”) coupés went under the hammer for US$143 million.  The 300 SLR (W196S) was a sports car, nine of which were built to contest the 1955 World Sportscar Championship.  Essentially the W196 Formula One car with a body and the straight-eight engine enlarged from 2.5 to 3.0 litres (152 to 183 cubic inches), the roadster is most famous for the run in the 1955 Mille Miglia in Italy which was won over a distance of 992 miles (1597 km) with an average speed of almost 100 mph (160 km/h); nothing like that has since been achieved.  There's infamy too attached to the 300 SLR; one being involved in the catastrophic crash and fire at Le Mans in 1955.  The two 300 SLR Gullwings were intended to be run in the 1955 Carrera Panamericana Mexico but were rendered instantly redundant when both the event and the Mercedes-Benz racing programme was cancelled after the Le Mans disaster.  The head of the competition department, Rudolf Uhlenhaut (1906-1989), added an external muffler to one of the coupés, registered it for road use (such things were once possible when the planet was a happier place) and used it for a while as his company car.  It was then the fastest road-car in the world, an English journalist recording a top speed of 183 mph (295 km/h) on a quiet stretch of autobahn but Uhlenhaut paid a price for the only partially effective muffler, needing hearing aids later in life.  So the relationship to the W198 road cars is distant but such is the resemblance the Uhlenhaut coupés have always been thought the Gullwing’s apotheosis.

Pizza

Pizza (pronounced peet-suh)

A flat, open-faced baked pie of Italian origin, consisting of a thin layer of bread dough topped with spiced tomato sauce and cheese, often garnished with anchovies, sausage slices, mushrooms etc and baked in a very hot oven; also called pizza pie.

Pre 1000: From the Modern Neapolitan Italian pizza (a variant of pitta (a flat bread)), the origin of which is uncertain.  Although unattested, it may be related to the Vulgar Latin picea, from the Classical Latin piceus (relating to pitch).  An alternative, and more likely, etymology traces it back to the Byzantine Greek πίτα (pita) (cake, pie) which exists in Modern Greek as pitta (cake), the ultimate root being the Ancient Greek pḗtea (bran) and pētítēs (bran; bread).  More speculative is the suggested link with the Langobardic (an ancient German language in northern Italy), from a Germanic source akin to the Old High German pizzo or bizzo (mouthful; morsel; bite) from the proto-Germanic biton (bit).

The first documented use of the word pizza appears to have been AD 997 in Gaeta and then later in different parts of Central and Southern Italy although it’s unclear whether it refers to something which would now be called a pizza.  The official Italian view remains that published in 1907 in the two volume Vocabolario Etimologico della Lingua Italiana (Etymological Vocabulary of the Italian language) that the origin lies in the dialectal pinza (clamp) from the Latin pinsere (to pound or stamp).  The word appears not to have entered general use in English use until the early 1800s although it was known, English linguist, poet & lexicographer John Florio (1552-1625; aka Giovanni Florio) included an entry in his Italian-English Dictionary (A Worlde of Wordes, or Dictionarie of the Italian and English tongues (1598)) defining pizza as “a small cake or wafer”.

Lindsay Lohan with slice of pizza.

The concept of a flat piece of bread dough, covered with savory toppings, is so obviously a convenient and economical way of preparing a meal using pre-modern technology that pizza-like dishes were probably included in the meals of many cultures, the cooking method doubtless quite ancient.  From Greek and Roman records it’s apparent it was known in antiquity a doubtless pre-dates even those civilizations, the Armenians famously having staked a claim to its invention but as part of modernity, it’s long been regarded as one of Italy’s many gifts to the world.  Within Italy, it’s the Neapolitans who most regard it as their own and some are quite proprietorial, appalled by some of the variations (especially those favored by English-speaking barbarians) which appear around the planet, the most infamous probably the ham and pineapple pizza, apparently a Canadian innovation from 1962.  The Neapolitans have allies in their battle for culinary hygiene, Iceland's president, Guðni Jóhannesson (b 1968, President of Iceland since 2016) in 2017 saying he’d like to ban pineapple on pizza.  He later confirmed to do so wasn’t within the constitutional authority of his office and admitted it wasn’t a desirable power of a head of state to possess.  Thinking it an abomination, the Neapolitans are probably more dictatorial and would ban it if they could, insisting that all may appear atop a pizza base is:

Plum tomatoes
Tomato puree (optional)
A sprinkling of table or sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Fresh Mozzarella balls
Parmesan cheese
A drizzle of Olive Oil
A hand-full of fresh basil leaves

The pizzeria (shop where pizzas are made, sold, or eaten) seems to have been a US coining, noted from 1928 in New York City, the number of restaurant using the name proliferating quickly there before spreading in the US and beyond.  In the 1920s and 1930s, “pizzeria” was used also to describe the dish itself.  The shortened for “za” was US student slang for pizza, two syllables just too much for the hippies of the time.

Crooked Hillary Clinton eating pizza: crookedly.

Pizzagate was a conspiracy theory that circulated during the 2016 US presidential campaign, sparked by WikiLeaks publishing a tranche of emails from within the Democrat Party machine.  According to some, encoded in the text of the emails was a series of messages between highly-placed members of the party who were involved in a pedophile ring, even detailing crooked Hillary Clinton’s part in the ritualistic sexual abuse of children in the basement of a certain pizzeria in Washington DC.  The named pizzeria didn’t actually have a basement but the story for a while caused a stir, later integrated (though with less specificity) into the cultural phenomenon which would next year emerge as QAnon.  QAnon may have started as satire in the wake of pizzagate, an absurdist parody of conspiracy theories with claims only simpletons would take seriously but it turned out there were a lot of them about and QAnon soon gained critical mass, assuming a life of its own.  What its rapid traction did suggest was those asserting something unbelievably evil or bizarre need only to claim crooked Hillary Clinton is in some way involved to make it sound creditable.  Had it not been for the perception of crooked Hillary's crooked crookedness, the whole QAnon thing may never have become a thing.

Donald Trump with Sarah Palin (b 1964; 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee), eating pizza with knife & fork.

The Italians (who should know), maintain the correct way to eat pizza is with a knife & fork, starting at the triangular tip and working towards the crust.  Only when what remains is a small remanent of crust, resistant to the prod of the fork, is it thought good form to pick it up with the fingers.  Folding, a popular recommendation among those concerned with cheese-loss, is also frowned upon.  In Italian a folded slice of pizza is known as a calzone (literally “stocking; trouser”) and even those should be eaten with knife & fork.

Donald Trump eating pizza, tip first.

Pizza etiquette is an inexact science but in the West there are few prepared to argue the correct technique is anything but some variation on holding it at the crust-end and eating from the tip although there are some bases so thin and floppy they defy any method short of being rolled into a sushi-like cylinder: for these it’s whatever works.  Generally though, hold the pizza by the crust and begin.  If it’s a thin base and droops towards the tip, lift it higher and lower the tip to the mouth; as the width of what’s left increases, structural integrity will improve and by at least half-way through, it’ll be rigid enough to be eaten horizontally.  Using the thumb, index and middle finger, the slice can slightly be curved (the edges raised) to prevent cheese or other topping sliding off.  In New York City, locals often insist this is called the “New York fold” but, having claimed authorship of the Martini (disputed) and the club sandwich (probably true), many assume if it’s in NYC, they own it.

Advertising agency BBDO's concept paper (3 August 1995) for Pizza Hut’s Stuffed Crust campaign (Donald & Ivana Trump).

Proving that Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021) will do just about anything for money, in 1995 he and ex-wife (#1; the divorce granted in 1990) Ivana (née Zelníčková, 1949–2022)  starred in a commercial for Pizza Hut’s new “Stuffed Crust” pizza, encouraging consumers to eat the things “crust first”.   He knew it was wrong but did it anyway, something some critics suggest is an element in much of Mr Trump's conduct.

Recommended pizza toppings

Silverbeet, broccolini & mozzarella
Sweet potato, goat's cheese & pine nuts
Crab, roasted capsicum & pesto
Grilled aubergine (eggplant) & parmigiana
Blue cheese & roast pumpkin
Polenta, cheese & mushroom
Asparagus & artichoke pesto
Turkey, sticky onion & tart cranberry relish
Grilled aubergine (eggplant) & artichoke
Caramelized pineapple & bacon
Smoked salmon & brie
Pumpkin & zucchini with basil
Zucchini, capsicum & cashew
Gorgonzola, potato & bacon

Phage

Phage (pronounced feyj)

In microbiology & virology, a virus parasitic towards bacteria; a truncation of bacteriophage.

1917: from the Ancient Greek φάγος (phágos) (eater), from φαγ (phag), aorist (the tense of Greek verbs that most closely corresponds to the simple past in English) stem of ἐσθίω (esthíō) & ἔδω (édō) (to eat, to consume) and thus a combining form meaning “a thing that devours,” used in the formation of compound words, especially the names of phagocytes.  The noun bacteriophage (virus that parasitizes a bacterium by infecting it and reproducing inside it) was adopted in English in 1921, from the 1917 French original bactériophage, the construct being bacterio- (a combining form of bacteria) + -phage.

Some viruses can be helpful: A depiction of phages phaging.

Not all viruses are bad like SARS-CoV-2.  A bacteriophage, known almost always as a phage, is a virus which infects and replicates within bacteria.  Phages are composites of proteins that surround a DNA or RNA genome and may encode any number of genes from a handful to many hundreds.  Phages replicate within the bacterium following the injection of their genome into the target cytoplasm.  Phages exist naturally in the environment and are among the most common and diverse entities on earth.  Serious research began in several parts of Europe during the late nineteenth century and have been used for almost a century as anti-bacterial agents the former USSR and Central Europe.  In the West, phage therapy (using specific viruses to fight difficult bacterial infections) has been of interest for some time, attention heightened as the problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (superbugs in the popular imagination) began to grow in severity (the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) attributes one death every 15 minutes in the US to superbugs).  Since the discovery of penicillin, antibiotics have been used as a reliable cure for those suffering from once lethal bacterial infections but, over decades, a handful (compared with the trillions and trillions killed) of bacteria have proved resistant to antibiotics and as these survivors multiply, new infections emerge.  Historically this had prompted the development of revised or new antibiotics but the biological arms race has reached the point where some infections caused by called antibiotic resistant bacteria cannot be treated and for many other serious infections, the number of potent “last resort” antibiotics is dwindling.

Hence the interest in phages, a type of “friendly virus” which can be weaponized to fight even the most virulent and persistent bacterial infections.  Phages work as well as they do because viruses like the tiresome SARS-Cov-2 that makes humans sick, phages can infect only bacteria and are selective about which they target, a vital aspect of their role in medicine because human survival depends on the billions of bacteria in our bodies.  These phages are far from rare, existing in the natural environment almost everywhere on the planet and scientists conducting research find dirty waterways or damp, aerated, warm, decaying soil (both areas where high bacterial growth might be expected) are good places to collect samples.  The advantages phages offer are well known but there are also drawbacks and indeed some of the features of phages manifest as both.  For example, the great specificity of phages helpful in that they can be administered safely with the knowledge that no other organisms will be harmed but this can be a practical disadvantage in clinical medicine when it’s not known exactly which bacteria need to be targeted, which is why broad-spectrum antibiotics proved so effective at scale.  Being wholly natural, the shelf-life of phages is highly variable and there’s little experience in their administration beyond some communities in Eastern Europe where they’ve been part of medical practice for over a century.  Additionally, bacteria can develop resistance even to phages and one practical impediment to deployment not well recognized until recent years is that compared to chemical molecules, phages are quite big and there are sites in the human body which will be inaccessible.

Potential phage research subject:  In 2014, while on holiday in French Polynesia, Lindsay Lohan was infected with chikungunya, a virus spread by mosquitoes which causes debilitating joint pain and flu-like symptoms.  The World Health Organization (WHO) notes it was first identified in Africa in the 1950s and has since spread to the Indian Ocean region, southeast Asia and the Pacific islands, cases emerging for the first time in the Caribbean in 2013 while a small number have been reported in the US and Europe, mostly in travelers from affected areas.  The role of climate change in the geographical spread of Chikungunya has not been discounted and the symptoms include severe joint pain, headache, fever, nausea, fatigue and rash.  There is no cure or vaccine, and the illness can last from several days to as long as a few weeks, Ms Lohan advising all in susceptible regions to use bug spray and posted on Instagram a photo from the beach, captioned "I refuse to let a virus effect (sic) my peaceful vacation."

However, looming over the treatment of bacteriological infection is the economics of the pharmaceutical business (the big-pharma).  It was the ability in the twentieth century of the industry to mass-produce antibiotics at scale and at astonishingly low cost which meant what little research on phages was being undertaken was quickly abandoned; antibiotics truly were miracle drugs.  However, the economics which made antibiotics attractive to the public health community meant they added comparatively little to the profits of big-pharma compared with something lucrative like a blood-pressure drug which a patient would be required to take every day for the rest of their lives.  A cheap antibiotic, needed disproportionately in low-income countries was a less attractive path for the billions of dollars (and usually years of trials) required to bring a new drug to market.  What the industry likes are drugs which can be mass-produced to treat the “curse of plenty” diseases of first world customers.  Unless there’s some sort of molecular breakthrough (presumably at the level of DNA), phages seem likely for the foreseeable future to remain a niche treatment.

Little killing machines: Matt Cirigliano's graphical depiction of phages in action.