Ping

Ping (pronounced ping)

(1) To produce a short, high-pitched resonant sound, like that of a bullet striking a sheet of metal (as a verb used without object).

(2) In computing, to send an echo-request packet to an IP address and use the echo reply to determine whether another computer on the network is operational and the speed at which the data is being transferred.

(3) Informally, to make contact with someone by sending a brief electronic message (text messages and later variations).  A ping can also be a notification in response to a message.

(4) A pinging sound.

(5) An infrasonic or ultrasonic sound wave created by sonar in echolocation or an acoustic signal transmitted to indicate a location.

(6) The Lord Chancellor, one of the courtiers in Giacomo Puccini's (1858-1924), opera Turandot (1926).

(7) In colloquial use, to flick something, usually with a finger-tip.

(8) In colloquial use, to be detected committing an offence (by a police officer, an umpire or referee) and subsequently penalized.

(9) In internal combustion engines (also referred to as pinking, knocking or detonation), when the combustion of the fuel/air mixture in the cylinder does not begin correctly in response to ignition by the spark plug.  The usual form in this context is the adjective "pinging".

1835: Partly onomatopoeic (imitative of the sound of a bullet whistling through the air or striking something sharply) and partly reflecting the influence of the (continuing) Middle English pingen (to push, shove, pierce, stab, prod, goad, urge, feel remorse, incite), from the Old English pyngan (to prick); used as a verb since 1855.  The meaning "short, high-pitched electronic pulse" is attested from 1943, the reference being to the sonar systems used on both submarines and surface vessels.  The noun plural was pings, the present participle pinging, the past participle pinged.  The non-standard forms are pang & pung (past participle) although one can understand why those learning English might assume they should exist.  Pingdemic was an invention of computer programmers.

The noun ping-pong was also based on sound and dates from 1901 as Ping-Pong, the trademark for table tennis equipment registered by Parker Brothers, both words imitative of the sound of the ball hitting a hard surface (said by some to have been attested since 1823; the game was much in vogue in the US 1900-1905.  In the figurative sense of "move or send back and forth without progress, resolution, or purpose", use dates from 1952, later extended (though a little more hopefully) to “ping-pong diplomacy” which referred to the US and the PRC (Communist China) agreeing to exchange ping-pong teams before sending diplomats.  The electronic arcade game “Pong” (1972) was an abbreviation of ping-pong although there is evidence pong had for some years been a truncated reference to the game proper.

Example of using ping to identify the ip address using the host name.

Ping is one of a small subset of commands which constitute the lingua franca of computer network administration software, included in almost all network tool bundles regardless of the local or network operating systems.  It is a utility which tests the connectivity and speed of a host running on any Internet Protocol (IP) network by measuring the round-trip time for messages sent from the originating host to a destination computer, echoed back to the source.  Originally run exclusively from a command prompt, GUI (graphical user interface) versions have long been available and are handy for infrequent users who have never needed to memorize the syntax.  Ping sends Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo request packets to the target host and waits for an ICMP echo reply, reporting errors, packet loss, and a statistical summary of the results, most usefully the duration (in milliseconds) of the minimum, maximum & mean round-trips.

The name ping was a borrowing from naval sonar terminology that sends a pulse of sound and listens for the echo to detect objects under water to determining their location, direction and speed.  The sonar systems used at sea included audible pings and some computer ping utilities include one as a novelty.  The original software was a Q&D (quick & dirty) utility created in 1983 to diagnose tiresome problems on a network, the name chosen because the method was analogous with sonar's echolocation.  The occasionally mentioned Packet InterNet Groper is a backronym created some years after the first versions of ping were distributed.

Turandot

Turandot (1926) was Giacomo Puccini's (1858-1924) last opera and one which remained uncompleted at his death.  Puccini based the opera on the play Turandot (1762) by Venetian playwright Count Carlo Gozzi (1720–1806) which borrowed from one of the seven stories in the epic-length work by Persian poet Nizami (circa 1141–1209), the motif of seven aligned with the days of the week, the Persian seven-color scheme and the seven planets at that time known.  Turandot as told by Nizami is the story attached to Tuesday, the protagonist a Russian princess (Turan-Dokht (daughter of Turan)), a name often used in Persian poetry for Central Asian princesses.  Puccini seems to have moved the site of his Opera to China for no reason other than his interest in incorporating into the work Chinese musical themes, much as he’d been attracted to Japanese sounds for his earlier Madama Butterfly (1904).  Most people on the planet have never heard of Puccini and his operas but many will be at least vaguely familiar with one fragment of Turandot, Nessun dorma (Let no one sleep), among the most famous of the tenor arias, because of the global broadcast of a performance during the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

Puccini completed the three-act structure before his death and it was in this form it was first performed at La Scala in Milan in April 1926, conducted by Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957), the conductor refusing to go beyond the point where Puccini stopped.  With an ending added by Franco Alfano (1875-1954), it was presented again the very next evening but performances have varied over the years, a few sticking to the original, some using one of the variations written by Alfano and others with different ending entirely, some better received than others.  Opera buffs and professional musicians have always been drawn to Turandot because it’s Puccini at his most musically innovative but audiences have never embraced it quite as they did the seductive butterfly which is a set-piece love story packed with melodies.  However, it’s now viewed also through a political lens, the specter of cultural appropriation and accusation of racial stereotyping looming over every aria.

From various stage productions: Ping, Lord Chancellor (baritone), Pang, Chief Steward of the Imperial Household (tenor) & Pong, Executive Chef of the Imperial Kitchen (tenor) are the triumvirate of courtiers in Puccini's Turandot.

The critique is that the depiction of a barbaric Chinese princess is an outdated orientalist construct of Chinese people and the idea of white people dressing and being made up as caricatures of those from the far east goes beyond mere cultural appropriation, the use of Chinese music, traditional dress and the perpetuating historical Western imagery being demeaning.  Beyond that, white audiences who are either oblivious to these concerns or dismissive of them are (at the very least) guilty of committing microaggressions and are casually asserting cultural superiority, if not actual white supremacy.

Obelisk

Obelisk (pronounced ob-uh-lisk)

(1) Classically, a tapering, four-sided shaft of stone, usually monolithic and having a pyramidal apex.  Most are vertical constructions.

(2) Something resembling such a shaft.

(3) An obelus.

(4) In printing, an alternative name for the dagger sign (†), especially when used as a reference mark.

1540-1550: From the sixteenth century French obélisque, from the Classical Latin obeliscus (obelisk, small spit), from the Greek obelískos (small spit, obelisk, leg of a compass), diminutive of obelos (a spit, pointed pillar, needle, broach; obelisk; bar of metal used as a coin or weight), of uncertain origin but said by etymologists to be pre-Greek.  Literal translations of obelos were variously “a spit, pointed pillar, needle”, the construct being obel(ós) + iskos, the diminutive suffix while the meaning in English was picked up from the Middle French obélisque.  The Greek obeliskos, reflecting the influence of Medieval translations, is sometimes translated as “leg of a compass".  The related adjectival forms are obeliscal and obeliskoid.  In printing, the sign resembling a small dagger dates from the 1580s; in dictionaries it's used to mark obsolete words (the Greek obelos also was "a mark used in writing; horizontal line used as a diacritic".

Ruins with an obelisk in the distance (1764), by Hubert Robert (1733–1808).

The terms “obelisk” and “monolith” are sometimes used interchangeably and while in the case of many large stone structures this can be appropriate, the two terms have distinct meanings.  Classically, an obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow pillar that tapers to a pyramid-like point at the top.  Obelisks often are carved from a single piece of stone (and are thus monolithic) but can also be constructed in sections and archaeologists have discovered some of the multi-part structures exists by virtue of necessity; intended originally to be a single piece of stone, the design was changed after cracks were detected.  A monolith is a large single block stone which can be naturally occurring (such as a large rock formation) or artificially shaped; monoliths take many forms, including obelisks, statues and even buildings.  Thus, while an obelisk can be a monolith, not all monoliths are obelisks.

Lindsay Lohan walking in front of the Obélisque de Louxor (the Luxor Obelisk), Place de la Concorde in Paris, Paris Fashion Week, March 2010.

One of the Monoliths as depicted in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). 

The mysterious black structures in Sir Arthur C Clarke's (1917–2008) Space Odyssey series (1968-1997) became well known after the release in 1968 of Stanley Kubrick's (1928–1999) film of the first novel in the series, 2001: A Space Odyssey.  Although sometimes described as “obelisk”, the author noted they were really “monoliths”.  The noun monolith was from the French monolithe (object made from a single block of stone), from Middle French monolythe (made from a single block of stone) and their etymon the Latin monolithus (made from a single block of stone), from the Ancient Greek μονόλιθος (monólithos) (made from a single block of stone), the construct being μονο- (mono-) (the prefix appended to convey the meaning “alone; single”), from μόνος (monos) (alone; only, unique), ultimately from the primitive Indo-European mey- (little, small) + λίθος (líthos) (a stone; stone as a substance).  The English form was cognate with the German monolith (made from a single block of stone).  In recent years, enthusiasts, mischief makers and click-bait hunters have been erecting similar monoliths in remote parts of planet Earth, leaving them to be discovered and publicized.  With typical alacrity, modern commerce noted the interest  and soon, replicas were being offered for sale, a gap in the market for Christmas gifts between US$10,000-45,000 apparently identified.

Yuri Gagarin (1934–1968; Soviet pilot and cosmonaut and the first human to travel to “outer space”) with his 1965 Matra Djet (left), standing in front of the Покори́телям ко́смоса (Monumént Pokorítelyam kósmosa) (Monument to the Conquerors of Space), the titanium obelisk erected in 1964 to celebrate the USSR's pioneering achievements in space exploration.  The structure stands 351 feet (107 metres) tall and assumes an incline of 77° which is a bit of artistic licence because the rockets were launched in a vertical path but it was a good decision because (1) it lent the monument a greater sense of drama and (2) the wider base enhanced structural integrity.  Underneath the obelisk sits the Музей космонавтики (Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics (known also as the Memorial Museum of Astronautics or Memorial Museum of Space Exploration)) and in the way which was typical of projects in the Brezhnev-era (Leonid Brezhnev (1906–1982; Soviet leader 1964-1982) USSR, although construction was begun in 1964, it wasn't until 1981 the museum opened to the public.

Highly qualified German content provider Chloe Vevrier (b 1968) standing in front of the Luxor Obelisk, Paris 2010.

The Luxor Obelisk sits in the centre of the Place de la Concorde, one of the world’s most photographed public squares.  Of red granite, 22.5 metres (74 feet) in height and weighing an estimated 227 tonnes (250 short (US) tons), it is one of a pair, the other still standing front of the first pylon of the Luxor Temple on the east bank of the Nile River, Egypt.  The obelisk arrived in France in May 1833 and less than six month later was raised in the presence of Louis Philippe I (1773–1850; King of the French 1830-1848).  The square hadn’t always been a happy place for kings to stand; in 1789 (then known as the Place de Louis XV) it was one of the gathering points for the mobs staging what became the French Revolution and after the storming of the Bastille (of of history’s less dramatic events despite the legends), the square was renamed Place de la Revolution, living up to the name by being the place where Louis XVI (1754–1793; King of France 1774-1792), Marie Antoinette (1755–1793; Queen Consort of France 1774-1792) and a goodly number of others were guillotined.  Things were calmer by 1833 when the obelisk was erected.

The structure was a gift to France by Pasha Mehmet Ali (1769–1849, Ottoman Albanian viceroy and governor of Egypt 1805-1848) and in return Paris sent a large mechanical clock which to this day remains in place in the clock tower of the mosque at the summit of the Citadel of Cairo and of the 28 obelisks, six remain in Egypt with the rest in various displays around the world.  Some 3000 years old, in its original location the Obelisk contributed to scientific history wine in circa 250 BC Greek geographer & astronomer Eratosthenes of Cyrene (circa 276 BC–circa 195 BC) used the shadow it cast to calculate the circumference of the Earth.  By comparing the shadow at a certain time with one in Alexandria, he concluded that the difference in distance between Alexandria and Aswan was seven degrees and 14 minutes and from this he could work out the Earth’s circumference.

Martial

Martial (pronounced mahr-shuhl)

(1) Of a state or of people, inclined or disposed to war; warlike.

(2) Of, suitable for, or associated with war or the military.

(3) Characteristic of or befitting a warrior.

(4) As Martial Law, the administration of a country by the armed forces.

(5) In astronomy, Of or relating to Mars (obsolete except in historic use)

(6) In astrology, a celestial object under the astrological influence of the planet Mars (now rare).

(7) In science fiction (SF or SciFi), a synonym of Martian (inhabitant of the planet Mars) (archaic).

(8) In law, a trial conducted by a military court (usually administering military law but in special circumstances jurisdiction to civil law can be extended) (hyphenated in US use whereas in most of the English-speaking world a hyphen is used to differentiate between the noun (court martial) and verb (court-martial); the noun plural is courts martial.

(9) In chemistry & medicine, containing, or relating to iron (which alchemists symbolically associated with the planet Mars); chalybeate, ferric, ferrous (obsolete).

(10) In ornithology, as martial eagle, a large bird of prey of species Polemaetus bellicosus, native to sub-Saharan Africa.

(11) As a proper noun, a male given name from Latin, narrowly applied to certain historic persons (but some foreign cognates are modern given names); an Anglicized cognomen (given name) of the Spanish-born Roman poet and epigrammatist Marcus Valerius Martialis (circa 40-104).

1325–1375: From the Middle English martial (war-like, of or pertaining to war) from the Medieval Latin Mārtiālis (of Mars or war) from martiālis (belonging or dedicated to the Mārs, the Roman god of war, or to war), the construct being Mārti- (stem of Mārs) + -ālis (the Latin suffix used to form adjectives of relationship from nouns or numerals).  The sense of "connected with military organizations" (as opposed to civil) dates from the late fifteenth century and survives most obviously in the court-martial from the military system of justice.  The use (usually with a capital M-) in the sense of "pertaining to or resembling the planet Mars" emerged in English in the 1620s and the phrase Martial law (military rule over civilians) was first used in the 1530s.  Martial arts from 1909 cam to be the collective name for the fighting sports of Japan and the surrounding region (the Japanese bujutsu). 

Martial Law

Martial law describes the suspension of civilian government and the imposition of military control.  This is done typically as a temporary response to extraordinary circumstances such as natural disasters, invasions, revolutions or pandemics but is commonly used in occupied territories.  Except for areas of occupation in which government may wholly be staffed by the military, most systems of martial law adopt a hybrid model, using at least some of any extant civilian administration.  The experience varies, martial rule becoming sometimes essentially permanent; Egypt has been under martial law almost continuously since 1967, the most recent declaration in 1981.  It can be a brutal and bloody business (Indonesia, Israel, Pakistan et al, many of the usual suspects in Africa often not bothering with formal declarations) or benign to the point hardly anyone notices (Fiji).  The post-war prosecution of the surviving Nazi leadership, generally known as the Nuremberg trials, was technically a series of International Military Tribunals (IMTs), conducted in occupied Germany under martial law.  In Australia, Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur (1784–1854; Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land (present-day Tasmania) 1823-1836) imposed martial law between 1828-1830 during a violent conflict between colonists and indigenous peoples in Tasmania.  It remains the longest period of martial law in Australian history.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (b 1945) (left) with General Than Shwe (b 1933; chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) 1992-2011) (centre) and General Khin Nyunt (b 1939; prime-minister of Myanmar 2003-2004) (right), Yangon, Myanmar, September 1994.

Martial law in Myanmar (Burma) was associated with the creation of a new word: slorc (pronounced slork).  Not best pleased with election results in 1988, the military seized power, announcing the formation of the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC), dictionaries soon noting slorc had morphed from acronym to word, one suggesting it may endure as a synonym for junta (a military dictatorship, a borrowing from the used to describe the grand council of state in Spain and dating from the 1620s, from the Spanish junta (feminine of junto), from the Latin iunctus (perfect passive participle of iungō (join)).  Use however faded after 1997 when the SLORC (pronounced slork) was re-named SPDC (State Peace & Development Council) which, not rolling so well of the tongue, never caught on.

The SLORC's other contribution to language was changing the name of the country from Burma to Myanmar.  Both Burma and Myanmar are derived from the name of the majority Burman (Bamar) ethnic group, versions of both existing in Burmese and long used in different circumstances.  The regional variations had confused the British who, after decades of hegemony, since beginning occupation in 1854, annexed the country in 1886 (reputedly sustaining eight casualties in the battle), appending the territory as a province of British India under the Raj.  Prior to that, on maps and in documents, the spellings used had included Bermah, Burme, Birmah, Brama, Burmah, Burma & Burmah.  Even the usually decisive SLORC dithered, gazetting Union of Burma and then Union of Myanmar before settling on Republic of the Union of Myanmar.

Lindsay Lohan in martial mood.

Internationally, adoption has been mixed.  The United Nations (UN), on the basis that, as a general principle, when a recognized government advises the secretary-general a certain name and spelling should be used, that is followed, adopted Myanmar, a process hardly rare and one followed also by its predecessor (the League of Nations (1920-1946), Iran becoming Persia in 1935, the Upper Volta becoming Burkina Faso in 1954 etc.  Many countries and institutions follow the same protocol although the European Commission (the EC, the administrative component of the executive of the European Union (EU)), never happy except when sitting on the fence, uses "Burma/Myanmar".  On the Burma page of their World Factbook, the US Central Intelligence Agency CIA notes dryly “the US Government has not officially adopted the name.”

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; the noun plural is pixelizations.

Lindsay Lohan, pixelated.

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 conventional 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.

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.

Moving parts like the eyes and lips are most challenging to execute but can produce the most dramatic effects.

When 8-bit games were actually being played and the harsher critics were looking forward to better graphics, it’s doubtful there were many who predicted there would one day be the aesthetic of “pixelated makeup”.  One of the simpler looks to describe, the pixelated look is achieved with the use of squares or other edged geometric shapes, the object being to get a “low-resolution” or “glitch” vibe.  Now most associated with cosplay or fancy dress parties, the origins lie in the designs seen as catwalk novelties but although the results look simple, the construction demands some thought for the effect to work, the interplay of shapes and colors critical and the most successful are those cognizant of anticipated movement; what’s done with the lips should differ from the treatment of the nose.

There's an active Pinterest community.

The concept is to envisage the face as a grid which (a la how a screen is built from pixels) and use the squares to form geometric shapes to be filled in with the desired color mix.  The layers used are essentially the same as any makeup with a foundation applied as a base, brushes & sponges then used to render the shapes, familiar techniques adaptable to create highlights, shadows & outlines.  Depending on the effect desired, that might mean using severe edging or more conventional blending, the choice often dictated by the color contrast.  However, it’s well-known “nature abhors a straight line” (the quote attributed English landscape architect William Kent (1685-1748)) and the principle usually is followed by makeup artists but pixilation intrinsically is about straight lines and sharp angles which is why stencils are sometimes used.  Like many results which look simple, the creation can be an intricate business and practice is recommended; it’s not something first to be attempted a hour before an event.  Fortunately, it’s the social media age so YouTubers & TikTokers are here to help.

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.