Hybrid

Hybrid (pronounced hahy-brid)

(1) In genetics (plant biology, zoology etc), the offspring of two animals or plants of different breeds, varieties, species, or genera, especially as produced through human manipulation for specific genetic characteristics.

(2) In medical anthropology, a person or group of persons produced by the interaction or crossbreeding of two unlike cultures, traditions etc.

(3) A vehicle that combines an internal-combustion engine with one or more electric motors powered by batteries.

(4) In linguistics, composed of elements originally drawn from different languages, as a word.

(5) In the pedigree pet industry, the modern term, replacing the previous mongrel to describe offspring of mixed origin; contested in the industry.

(6) As a descriptor, anything derived from heterogeneous sources, or composed of elements of different or incongruous kinds; animal, vegetable, mineral or weightless.

(7) Any device which can fulfil two distinct purposes such as "mountain" bikes which can also be used on the road.

(8) In physics, an electromagnetic wave having components of both electric and magnetic field vectors in the direction of propagation.

(9) In golf, a club that combines the characteristics of an iron and a wood.

(10) In electronics, a circuit constructed of individual devices bonded to a substrate or PCB.

(11) In computing, a computer that is part analog computer and part digital computer (and speculatively (1) part conventional and part quantum or (2) part machine and part biological).

1601: From the Middle English hybrid (offspring of plants or animals of different variety or species), from the Latin hybrida, a variant of ibrida (mongrel), originally describing the offspring of a tame sow and wild boar, the origin of which is unknown but etymologists suggest it likely evolved under influence of the Ancient Greek ὕβρις (húbris) (outrage) and it was cognate with the Latin iber & imbrum (mule).  Hybrid was first noted in English in 1601 but use was scant outside of technical use until stimulated in the 1850s by the boom in the sciences of botany and plant breeding, the adjective attested from 1716.  The first hybrid car was the Lohner-Porsche Mixte Hybrid, released in 1901 and based on Ferdinand Porsche’s (1875-1951) earlier electric vehicle, the Electromobile although the first car actually badged as "hybrid" to indicate an "automobile powered by (1) an engine running on electricity and (2) an engine running on fossil fuel was released only in 2002.  The noun hybridity (state or condition of being hybrid) dates from 1823 while the intransitive verb hybridize (cross or inter-breed) was from 1802, the transitive sense of "cause to interbreed" emerging in 1823.  Hybrid is a noun & adjective, hybridize is a verb and hybridity, hybridism & (the awful) hybridisation are nouns; the noun plural is hybrids.

Categories of Eyelash Extensions

Classic Eyelash Extensions give a semi-permanent mascara look.  The technique is to attach what’s as close as possible to the thickness of the natural lash to each strand able to support the load.  They can be applied in different lengths, thereby emulating either the look of mascara only or something both longer and lusher.  Lifespan is two-four weeks depending on body chemistry, lifestyle and care routines.

Clusters or Party lashes are intended to be single-use, worn for no more than a day although, under good conditions, they can last several.  It’s not recommended to wear them for more than two-three days because, being much heavier than other extensions, they can cause damage.

Italian volume.  The lovely "eyelashes" on the Lamborghini P400 Miura (1966-1968) were carried over to the P400S (1968-1971) but were unfortunately not used on the P400SV (1971-1973).  Because of the fundamental design, the Miura had flaws which could to some extent be ameliorated but never wholly fixed.  Few now care because it's so achingly beautiful.    

Express lashes are the A&E of the profession.  Done in minutes, the strands are simply glued to the natural lashes and, because eyelashes grow at different rates, damage can happen if they’re worn too long.  They don’t provide a look as good as other techniques but, apart from their intended purposes of cheapness and speed, there exists in subsets of several groups, the niche market of the obviously fake.

A mix of Classic Lash Extensions and either Pre-Made or Russian Volumes, Hybrid volumes make possible some dramatically textured looks but, unless the mix is purely symmetrical, it needs a trained operator to weave a pleasing design.  The most popular contemporary interpretation usually blends strategically-placed long lengths of classic lashes, filled-in between with volume extensions.  Some operators call this look The Spiky.

Russian Volume modelled by Lindsay Lohan, 2010.  One of a series of monochrome images by photographer Tyler Shields (b 1982).

Real Russian Volume lashes are much lighter than classics and are manipulated by hand, with special tweezers, to create a fan or bouquet of lashes which is then placed onto a single natural lash.  Slow and expensive, each fan is wrapped around the natural lash, not just placed on top and that creates greater structural integrity so they tend to be longer-lasting.  Some lower-cost operators sell what they describe as Russian Volume using pre-made fans which are just placed on top.

Pre Made Volumes are fans or bouquets of lightweight lash extensions, glued or heat-bonded at the base.  They emulate the look of Russian Volume but don’t last as long; at a distance the two are indistinguishable but up-close, the pre-made fans can’t match the flow and flutter of the voluminous Russian.

Declarative

Declarative (pronounced dih-klar-uh-tiv)

(1) Serving to declare; having the quality of a declaration; make known, or explain.

(2) Making or having the nature of a declaration.

(3) In the study of learning, acquiring information one can speak about.

(4) In psychology and structural mnemonics, as declarative memory, a type of long-term memory where facts and events are stored (one of two types of long term human memory).

(5) In computing, as declarative statement (or declarative line or declarative code) that which declares a construct.

(6) In computing, as declarative programming, a paradigm in programming where an objective is stated, rather than a mechanism or design.

(7) In formal grammar, a grammatical verb form used in declarative sentences.

1530-1540: From the Middle English declarative (making clear or manifest, explanatory), from the French déclaratif, from the Late Latin dēclārātīvus (explanatory), past participle stem of the Classical Latin declarare (make clear, reveal, disclose, announce), the construct being de- (presumed here to be used as an intensifier) + clarare (clarify) from clarus (clear).  The meaning “making declaration, exhibiting” dates from the 1620s and in the mid-fifteenth century it was in common use as a noun meaning “an explanation”.  In some contexts, declarative is often a synonym of declaration.  The companion adjective enunciative (declarative, declaring something as true) also dates from the early sixteenth century and was from the Latin enunciates (technically enuntiativus), from the past participle stem of enuntiare (to speak out, say, express).  In English, it’s rare compared to declarative (1) because of that form's wide use in documents explaining the rules and conventions of English and (2) because enunciate was captured by the speech therapists and elocution teachers who refused to give it back.  Declarative is a noun & adjective and declaratively an adverb; the noun plural is declaratives.

In psychology, psychiatry and structural mnemonics, there are three defined types of memory: declarative, semantic & episodic.  Declarative memory (known also as explicit memory) is a type of long-term memory where knowledge & events are stored.  Semantic memory is a sub-category of declarative memory which (1) stores general information such as names and facts and is (2) a system of the brain where logical concepts relating to the outside world are stored.  Episodic memory is a sub-category of declarative memory (1) in which is stored memories of personal experiences tied to particular times and places and (2) is a system of the brain which stores personal memories and the concept of self.

A gang of four Sceggs, all of whom would speak in the accent known as the “declarative middle-class voice”. Sceggs should not be confused with the homophonic skegs which are a feature from shipbuilding.

Although technically only marginally related to declarative as otherwise used in English, as a specific category in studies of social class the “declarative middle-class voice” is an accent taught or honed by private girls’ schools.  Optimized for husband-hunting expeditions, training involves reciting school mottos such as Luceat Lux Vestra (Let your light shine), borrowed by Sydney Church of England Girls’ Grammar (SCEGG) from Matthew 5:16.  Over the Sydney Harbor Bridge, at Abbotsleigh the motto is tempus celerius radio fugit (Time flies faster than a weaver's shuttle), the idea behind that said to be: “As the shuttle flies a pattern is woven, with the threads being the people, buildings and events. The pattern is Abbotsleigh as it continues to grow in complexity and richness each year”.  Quite whether a weaver’s shuttle (said by some detractors to have been chosen as symbolic of the "proper" place of women being in a state of domestic servitude for the convenience of men) is appropriate for a girls’ school in the twenty-first century has been debated.  The motto came from the family crest of Marian Clarke (1853-1933), Abbotsleigh’s first headmistress (principle) and was maintained using the family’s grammatically dubious form tempus fugit radio celerity until 1924 when the correct syntax was substituted.  It’s an urban myth the mistake was permitted to stand until 1924 as a mark of respect while Ms Clarke was alive; she lived a decade odd after the change although the family’s heraldry was apparently never corrected.

One of history's more fateful declarative statements: Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945) delivers a speech to members of the Reichstag, declaring war on the United States.  Kroll Opera House, Berlin, 11 December 1941, the US responding the same day with declarations of war against Germany and Italy.  Appearing in this image are a number of the Nazi hierarchy who would (1) later sit together as defendants  in the Nuremberg Trial (1945-1946) & (2) be hanged from the same gallows (1946).  Interestingly, although militarily hardly inactive over the last few decades, the declarations of war in June 1942 (essentially a "tidying up exercise" to satisfy legal niceties) against Romania, Bulgaria & Hungary were the last by the US.  From the moment the declaration was made, historians and others have puzzled over Hitler's state of mind, given Germany was under no legal obligation to declare war and his decision meant the wealth and industrial might of the US was suddenly added to the forces opposing the Reich.  Much has been written on the subject exploring the understanding of Hitler, his general & admirals had of the potential of the US rapidly to project military power simultaneously across both the Atlantic and Pacific and there are a variety of thoughts but all can be boiled down to what defence counsel in the 1970s offered as the streaker's defence: "It seemed a good idea at the time".

Hitler addressing the members of the Reichstag, 1939 (left) & 1941 (right), the most obvious difference (at least politically) between the two the presence on the front row (lower left) of Rudolf Hess (1894–1987; Nazi deputy führer 1933-1941), who in June 1941, on the eve of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, flew to Scotland on a personal mission to negotiate the end of hostilities between Germany & the UK, something that remains one of the more bizarre episodes of the war.  By the time war was declared on the US, Hess was some six months into a period of captivity which would last until his death more than forty-five years later although when Hitler made the declaration, he had been moved from the Tower of London, his imprisonment there a distinction much envied by Baldur von Schirach (1907–1974), one of Hess's fellow inmates in Spandau Prison for close to twenty years.  Reserved usually for royalty and those accused of high treason, Hess would be the last prisoner to be held in the Tower of London.  The photograph from 1941 is sometimes confused with one taken from the same angle on 30 January 1939 when Hitler delivered the speech most remembered for his infamous prediction that another world war would ensure "the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe", the relevant passage being:

"I have very often in my lifetime been a prophet and have been mostly derided. At the time of my struggle for power it was in the first instance the Jewish people who only greeted with laughter my prophecies that I would someday take over the leadership of the state and of the entire people of Germany and then, among other things, also bring the Jewish problem to its solution. I believe that this hollow laughter of Jewry in Germany has already stuck in its throat. I want today to be a prophet again: if international finance Jewry inside and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, the result will be not the Bolshevization of the earth and thereby the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe". 

The declarative sentence in English

In English grammar, there are four types of sentences:  Declarative, exclamatory, imperative, and interrogatory and the declarative, whether in fiction or non-fiction the declarative is by far the most frequently used.  The declarative sentence is one which makes a statement, provides a fact, offers an explanation, or conveys information.  To be a declarative sentence (also known as a declarative statement), it needs to be in the present tense, usually ends with a period (full-stop) and typically, the subject appears before the verb.  A declarative sentence can also be called an assertive sentence it if asserts something is factual.

There are two types of declarative sentences: the simple and the compound (or elaborated declarative sentence.  A simple declarative sentence consists of only a subject and predicate (“Lindsay Lohan is an actor”).  A compound declarative sentence usually joins two related phrases with a comma and a conjunction (such as and, yet, or but) but the link can also be provided by a semicolon (a form which litters literary novels) and can be accompanied by a transition word (such as besides, however or therefore).  (“Lindsay Lohan bought a Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG, crashing it several weeks later”).  The song 88 lines about 44 women (The Nails, 1981) was interesting because although composed essentially as 88 simple declarative sentences, it was performed as 44 compound declarative sentences.

88 lines about 44 women by David Kaufman, Douglas Guthrie, George Kaufman & Marc Campbell (1981).

Deborah was a Catholic girl

She held out till the bitter end

Carla was a different type

She's the one who put it in

Mary was a black girl

I was afraid of a girl like that

Suzen painted pictures

Sitting down like a Buddha sat

Reno was a nameless girl

A geographic memory

Cathy was a Jesus freak

She liked that kind of misery

Vicki had a special way

Of turning sex into a song

Kamala, who couldn't sing,

Kept the beat and kept it strong

Zilla was an archetype

The voodoo queen, the queen of wrath

Joan thought men were second best

To masturbating in a bath

Sherry was a feminist

She really had that gift of gab

Kathleen's point of view was this

Take whatever you can grab

Seattle was another girl

Who left her mark upon the map

Karen liked to tie me up

And left me hanging by a strap

Jeannie had a nightclub walk

That made grown men feel underage

Mariella, who had a son

Said I must go, but finally stayed

Gloria, the last taboo

Was shattered by her tongue one night

Mimi brought the taboo back

And held it up before the light

Marilyn, who knew no shame

Was never ever satisfied

Julie came and went so fast

She didn't even say goodbye

Rhonda had a house in Venice

Lived on brown rice and cocaine

Patty had a house in Houston

Shot cough syrup in her veins

Linda thought her life was empty

Filled it up with alcohol

Katherine was much too pretty

She didn't do that shit at all

Uh-uh, not Kathrine

Pauline thought that love was simple

Turn it on and turn it off

Jean-marie was complicated

Like some French filmmaker's plot

Gina was the perfect lady

Always had her stockings straight

Jackie was a rich punk rocker

Silver spoon and a paper plate

Sarah was a modern dancer

Lean pristine transparency

Janet wrote bad poetry

In a crazy kind of urgency

Tanya Turkish liked to fuck

While wearing leather biker boots

Brenda's strange obsession

Was for certain vegetables and fruit

Rowena was an artist's daughter

The deeper image shook her up

Dee Dee's mother left her father

Took his money and his truck

Debbie Rae had no such problems

Perfect Norman Rockwell home

Nina, 16, had a baby

Left her parents, lived alone

Bobbi joined a New Wave band

Changed her name to Bobbi Sox

Eloise, who played guitar

Sang songs about whales and cops

Terri didn't give a shit

Was just a nihilist

Ronnie was much more my style

Cause she wrote songs just like this

Jezebel went forty days

Drinking nothing but Perrier

Dinah drove her Chevrolet

Into the San Francisco Bay

Judy came from Ohio

She's a Scientologist

Amaranta, here's a kiss

I chose you to end this list

There are also special classes of declarative sentences such as the interrogative sentence which poses a direct question so necessitating a question mark at the end.  (What is your name?).  The imperative sentence delivers an instruction, command, or request and, depending on this and that, will end either in a period or an exclamation mark (thus “Pass me the remote.” or “Shut the fuck up!”).  An exclamatory sentence will almost invariably end with an exclamation mark and if would be only as a deliberate literary device that an author would use an exclamatory sentence without one (and there are critics who insist that without one, it can’t be an exclamatory sentence although one can discern the difference between “I love you!” and “I do love you.”).

Leek & leak

Leek (pronounced leek)

(1) A cultivated plant, Allium ampeloprasum, of the amaryllis family, related to the onion, with a long cylindrical bundle of strap-like leaves and used in cooking, especially the paler portion (the bulb) near the base.

(2) Any of various onion-related plants, especially the wild leek, Allium ampeloprasum, from which the culinary leek was cultivated.

(3) In symbolism (in real or representational form), a national emblem of Wales

Pre 1000: From the Middle English lek, leek, leck & leike, from the Old English læc (Mercian), lēac (West Saxon), & lēc (a garden herb, leek, onion, garlic), from the Proto-West Germanic lauk, from the Proto-Germanic lauką & laukaz (leek, onion), from the primitive Indo-European lewg- (to bend).  The Proto-Germanic lauka- was the source also of the Old High German louh, the German Low German Look (leek), the Old Norse laukr (leek, garlic), the Danish løg, the Swedish lök (onion), the Old Saxon lok (leek), the Swedish lök (onion), the Icelandic laukur (onion, leek, garlic), the Middle Dutch looc, the Dutch look (leek, garlic), the Old High German louh, the German Lauch (leek, allium), and the Old Norse laukr.  The Finnish laukka, the Russian luk- and Old Church Slavonic luku are also presumed to be Germanic and the word provided the final element in garlic.  Leak is a noun; the noun plural is leeks.

Spike Milligan (1918–2002) (left), Peter Sellers (1925–1980) (centre) and Harry Secombe (1921-2001) with leeks, publicity photo for the BBC's Goon Show (1951-1960).

Leak (pronounced leek)

(1) An unintended hole, crack, or the like, through which liquid, gas, light, etc., enters or escapes.

(2) An act or instance of leaking.

(3) Any means of unintended entrance or escape.

(4) In electricity, the loss of current from a conductor, usually resulting from poor insulation.

(5) In politics, diplomacy or industry etc, divulgation, or disclosure of previously secret (especially official), information, to the news media or others (also in the sense of the “managed leak”, the controlled disclosure of nominally confidential information to selected targets).  A person who leaks information can be said to be “the leek”.

(6) To let a liquid, gas, light etc, enter or escape, as through an unintended hole or crack; to pass in or out in this manner, as liquid, gas, or light.

(7) In computing (usually as “memory leak”), the figurative loss of some static resource because of some flaw in design.

(8) In vulgar slang as “to take a leak”, to urinate.

(9) In psephology, the “leakage” of votes from one candidate to another as a quirk of the because of the mechanism of a voting system (used especially in preferential systems).

(10) In military slang (especially US), to bleed as a consequence of an injury sustained in combat.

1375-1425: From the Middle English leken (to let water in or out), from the Old English lecan (to leak), from the Middle Dutch leken (to leak, drip) or the Old Norse leka (to leak, drip), all of which were from the Proto-Germanic lekaną (to leak, to drain away), from the primitive Indo-European leg- & leǵ- (to leak).  It was cognate with Dutch lekken (to leak), the (obsolete) Dutch lek, the German lech (leaky), lechen & lecken (to leak), the Swedish läcka (to leak) and the Icelandic leka (to leak) and related to the Old English leċċan (to water, wet), the Albanian lag & lak (I dampen, make wet”) and ultimately modern words like leach and lake.  The verb leak (to let water in or out) emerged in the late fourteenth century, the noun leakage a hundred years later, the adjective leaky appearing midway between the two along with the related leakiness, the slang sense of which as “unable to keep a secret” documented by 1704 although in oral use it may earlier have been common, the figurative meaning "coming to be known in spite of efforts at concealment" in use by at least 1832, the transitive sense first noted in 1859.  The phrase “spring a leak” dates from the early fifteenth century and drew from the image of water bubbling from a spring.  Leak is a noun, verb & adjective, leakage, leakiness & leaker are nouns, leaky, leakproof & leakless are adjectives and leakily an adverb; the noun plural is leaks.

Mark Felt (1913-2008), the associate director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) who was "Deep Throat", the source of the leaks from government about the Watergate affair cover-up which provided the Washington Post's journalists with much of their information.  The identity of Deep Throat was for decades the subject of speculation and Felt was "outed" from time to time but so were other senior figures.  It was only three years before his death that Felt confirmed he was the source of the leaks, something confirmed by the Washington Post's reporters.  

The idiomatic "take a leak" has potential in advertising.

In politics, diplomacy and industry, leaks have existed as long as there has been information to leak although the motivations have varied.  Leaks have enabled many battlefield victories and, especially if strategically timed, sabotaged many political campaigns, one advantage of this approach being that what is leaked doesn’t of necessity have to be true.  Although this tradition of the leak had a long (if not noble) lineage, such things seem to have been commonly described as leaks only since 1950 although the notion in this context had existed for centuries.  In politics leaks aimed at destabilizing or compromising one’s official opponents are familiar but the most amusing are those designed to embarrass one’s colleagues, internecine squabbles the most fun to watch.  The Nixon White House (1969-1974) took up the challenge of stopping leaks linguistically as well as operationally, the unit set up to “plug the leaks” informally known as “the plumbers”.  In their endeavors the plumbers enjoyed some early success but there was also mission creep, the unit responsible for the “third-rate burglary” at the Watergate complex which led eventually to the Richard Nixon's (1913-1994; US president 1969-1974) resignation.

1975 Triumph Trident T160.

It’s possible to tell this Trident has just been parked because there are no tell-tale patches of oil on the ground below.  Before the Japanese manufacturers proved it was possible to mass-produce motor-cycles without endemic oil-leaks, the rationalization of owners of British bikes had always been the weeping fluid was helpful because the seals existed “not to keep oil in but to keep dirt out”.  Whether true or not, the urban legend was that the fewer the cylinders and the greater the displacement, the more the vibration and the volume of oil leaked.  Thus the biggest singles (such as BSA's 441 & the various 500s) were most susceptible and the triples (750 cm³) the least while among the twins, the 500 & 650 cm³ machines wept less than those which displaced 750 & 850 cm³.  However, that's damning with faint praise and all concede that while things improved over the years, it was always the case that some leaked more than others

In computing, the dreaded “memory leak” or “resource leak” is technically, usually a failure to de-allocate previously reserved portions of memory or a resource so leak in this context is an expression of effect rather than cause, the resource still existing but now inaccessible.  The idiomatic “take a leak” entered popular use after appearing in fiction during the 1930s but late in the sixteenth century Shakespeare’s audiences would have understood there were alternatives when an iourden (chamber pot) was denied: "Why, you will allow vs ne're a Iourden, and then we leake in your Chimney: and your Chamber-lye breeds Fleas like a Loach." (Henry IV, Part 1 II.i.22).

Lindsay Lohan’s chicken pot pie with leeks and veal meatballs appears in Jamie’s Friday Night Feast Cookbook (Penguin Books, 2018).  It serves 8.

Ingredients

2 onions
2 carrots
2 small potatoes
2 medium leeks
Olive oil
300g free-range chicken thighs, skin off, bone out
300g skinless boneless free-range chicken breast
4 rashers of higher-welfare smoked streaky bacon
1 knob of unsalted butter
50g plain flour
700ml organic chicken stock
2 tablespoons English mustard
1 heaped tablespoon creme fraiche
A ½ bunch (15g) of fresh woody herbs
White pepper
3 sprigs of fresh sage
300g minced higher-welfare veal (20% fat)
1 large free-range egg
300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting (for pastry)
100g shredded suet (for pastry)
100g unsalted butter (cold) (for pastry)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180C (350F).  Peel and roughly chop the onions and carrots, then peel the potatoes and chop into 2cm (¾ inch) chunks.  Trim, halve and wash the leeks, then finely slice.

Place a large pan on a medium heat with one tablespoon of oil.  Chop chicken into 3cm (1¼ inch) chunks, roughly chop bacon and add both to the pan.  Cook for a few minutes, or until lightly golden. A dd the onions, carrots, potatoes and leeks, then cook for a further 15 minutes or until softened.  Add the butter, then stir in the flour to coat.

Gradually pour in the stock, then add the mustard and creme fraiche.  Tie the woody herb sprigs together with string to make a bouquet garni and add to the pan. Cook for 10 more minutes, stirring regularly, then season with white pepper.

Meanwhile, for the pastry, put the flour and a good pinch of sea salt into a bowl with the suet; cube and add the butter. Using the thumb and forefingers, rub the fat into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Slowly stir in 100ml of ice-cold water, then use the hands to bring it together into a ball without over-working.  Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes, during which, make the meatballs.

Pick and finely chop the sage, season with salt and pepper, then with the hands scrunch and mix with the veal.  Roll into 3cm (1¼ inch) balls, gently place in a large pan on a medium heat with half a tablespoon of oil and cook for 10 minutes or until golden all over, jiggling occasionally for even cooking.

Transfer the pie filling to a large (250 x 300mm (10-12 inch)) oval dish, discarding the bouquet garni.  Leave to cool, then dot the meatballs on top.

Roll out pastry on a clean, flour-dusted surface until it's slightly bigger than pie dish. Eggwash edges of dish, then place the pastry on top of the pie, trimming off any overhang, pinching the edges to seal and make a small incision in the centre. Use any spare pastry to decorate the pie if preferred.  Eggwash the top, bake for 50 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the pie is piping hot.  Leave to stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Apathy

Apathy (pronounced ap-uh-thee)

(1) An absence or suppression of passion, emotion, or excitement.

(2) A lack of interest in or concern for things that others find moving or exciting; a state of un-interest.

1595-1605: From the Middle English apathy & apathie (freedom from suffering, passionless existence, from the sixteenth century French apathie, from the Latin apathīa, from the Ancient Greek ἀπάθεια (apátheia) (impassibility, insensibility; freedom from emotion; freedom from suffering; a want of sensation), from ἀπαθής (apathḗs) (not suffering or having suffered; without experience of), the construct being ἀ- (a-) (not) + πάθος (pathos) (anything that befalls one, incident, emotion, passion, suffering), from the primitive Indo-European root kwenth- & kwent- (to suffer).  From the origins influenced by the use in Greek philosophy, the word in English originally expressed either a neutral or positive quality; the meaning shift to a sense of "indolence of mind, indifference to what should excite" was noted as prevalent in general use by the 1730s, the adjective apathetic (characterized by apathy) emerging during the following decade on the model of the earlier pathetic.  In Hellenic philosophy apatheia was the state of mind in Stoic philosophy in which one is free from emotional disturbance; the freedom from all passions, a variant of that idea and word adopted (a little opportunistically) in the late twentieth century as apatheism, the coining a blend of apath(y) +‎ (th)eism (technically the belief in the existence of a supreme God as the creator of all things but used also of the belief in deities generally) which was a fork of both atheism and agnosticism which didn’t so much deny the existence of God (thought it seems implicit) as treat it with apathetic indifference as a matter of no importance.

In English, the construct was a- + -pathy.  In this context, the a- prefix was from the Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-) (ἀν-) (not, without, opposite of).  The–pathy suffix was from the ancient Greek Ancient Greek πάθος (pathos), “suffering”) +‎ -y and was used variously to denote (1) suffering, feeling, emotion, (2) damage to, disease of, disorder of, or abnormality or (3) therapy, treatment, method, cure, curative treatment.   The –y suffix was from the Middle English –y & -i, from the Old English -iġ (-y, -ic), from the Proto-Germanic -īgaz (-y, -ic), from the primitive Indo-European -kos, -ikos, & -iḱos (-y, -ic).  It was cognate with the Scots -ie (-y), the West Frisian -ich (-y), the Dutch -ig (-y), the Low German -ig (-y), the German -ig (-y), the Swedish -ig (-y), the Latin -icus (-y, -ic), the Sanskrit -इक (-ika) and the Ancient Greek -ικός (-ikós); a doublet of -ic.  The –y suffix was added to (1) nouns and adjectives to form adjectives meaning “having the quality of” and (2) verbs to form adjectives meaning "inclined to".  Apathy is a noun, apathize is a verb, apathetic & apathetical are adjectives and apathetically is an adverb; the noun plural is apathies.

Lindsay Lohan and her lawyer in court, discussing stoicism, Los Angeles, 2012.

In antiquity, apathy had a positive association because, some indolence of the mind, unaffected by the excitements stimuli induce in others, was thought a virtue.  From the start a spectrum-condition, later variously codified by physicians, the philosophy of the Stoics is perhaps unfairly described as classical apathy in purist-form, stoicism here presented as a freedom from emotion of any kind.  The word stoicism itself shifted meaning in the modern age and dictionaries now suggest stoic is used also to describe those who suffer quietly, but conspicuously.  Apathy’s meaning-shift in modern English was influenced by early-modern medicine where apathetic was used to describe conditions such as a slow heart-rate.  Later, early psychiatrists, seeking both scientific credibility and a way of describing patients’ mental state, would introduce their own apathy scales; a forerunner of the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) which later would codify differences within spectrum-conditions.  What the spectrums never tracked was that among some of those who suffer most conspicuously, it can be a bit of a calling.  The DSM has long made a point of differentiating between apathy and depression while acknowledging the extent of the overlap between the conditions, something prevalent in those suffering a variety of neurodegenerative and other conditions.

Arch

Arch (pronounced ahrch)

(1) In architecture, a curved masonry construction for spanning an opening, consisting of a number of wedge-like stones, bricks, or the like, set with the narrower side toward the opening in such a way that forces on the arch are transmitted as vertical or oblique stresses on either side of the opening.

(2) In architecture, an upwardly curved construction, as of steel or timber functioning in the manner of a masonry arch.

(3) A doorway, gateway etc, having a curved head; an archway or the curved head of an opening, as a doorway.

(4) Any overhead curvature resembling an arch.

(5) Something bowed or curved; any bowlike part.

(6) In anatomy, any of various parts or structures of the body having a curved or arch-like outline, such as the transverse portion of the aorta (arch of the aorta) or the raised bony vault formed by the tarsal and metatarsal bones (arch of the foot),

(7) In cobbling, a device inserted in or built into shoes for supporting the arch of the foot.

(8) A dam construction having the form of a barrel vault running vertically with its convex face toward the impounded water.

(9) In glassmaking, a chamber or opening in a glassmaking furnace.

(10) Cunning, crafty or sly.

(11) Playfully roguish or mischievous.

(12) A preeminent person, a chief (largely obsolete except for technical use in ecclesiastical or other hierarchies, (Archdeacon, Archbishop, Archangel, Archduke, monarch, matriarch et al).

(13) One of the basic patterns of the human fingerprint, formed by several curved ridges one above the other.

1250-1300: From the Middle English arch, from the Old English arce, ærce & erce, from the Old French arche, from the Vulgar Latin arca, feminine variant of Latin arcus (arc, a bow), from the Classical Latin atchi, from the Ancient Greek arkhi (to rule).  From the Latin, other European languages similarly borrowed including the Old Norse erki, the Dutch aarts, the Middle Low German erse, the Middle High German & German erz and the Gothic ark.  Archangel was universally borrowed unchanged from the Greek.  Arch was added to many words borrowed from Latin and Greek in the Old English period; it subsequently became a productive form added to nouns of any origin, which thus denote individuals or institutions directing or having authority over others of their class (archbishop; archdiocese; archpriest, archdeacon). More recently, arch, has developed the senses “principal” (archenemy; archrival) or “prototypical” and thus exemplary or extreme (archconservative); nouns so formed are almost always pejorative (archvillain).

Some variations of the arch.

The original meaning, used in architecture of building, bridges and other structures, was by the early fifteenth century applied to eyebrows and anything having this form.  The sense of "chief, principal" used first in the twelfth century as archangel became extended to so many derogatory uses that by mid-seventeenth century, it acquired a meaning of "roguish, mischievous" although over time that softened, by the nineteenth century generally understood to mean something like "saucy".  The verb arch emerged in the early fourteenth century in the sense of "to form an arch" (which had be implied in the earlier arched) and within a hundred years there was the transitive sense "furnish with an arch".  Arch is a noun, verb & adjective, arched is an adjective, arching is a verb, noun & adjective and archly is an adverb; the noun plural is arches.

The Court of Arches

Church of St Mary-le-Bow (bow the archaic name for arch), London, a Church of England parish church in the City of London.

Churches have existed on the site since 1080, the present building designed by Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723) and built over a decade, finally completed in 1680.  The tower has for centuries been noted for its bells which are the source of the legend of Dick Whittington calling him in 1392 back to London where he would sit as lord mayor.  In London tradition, to be thought a true Cockney, one had to be born within earshot of the bells so the demographics of that race were interrupted for two decades, the damage inflicted in 1941 by the Luftwaffe so severe it would not be until 1961 the bells again rang.

A record from the Court of Arches Act books, first session of Trinity Term, 22 May 1665 (Arches A 4, f.115v).

The Court of Arches is the provincial court for Canterbury.  Having both appellate and original jurisdiction, it is presided over by the Dean of the Arches, who is styled "The Right Honourable and Right Worshipful the Official Principal and Dean of the Arches".  The dean must be a barrister of ten years' High Court standing or the holder or former holder of high judicial office, the appointment made jointly by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.  Although it has sat in other places, the court’s permanent seat is the Church of St Mary-le-Bow, the arches of which lend the court its name.  Technically, the proper jurisdiction of the court is limited to the thirteen parishes belonging to the archbishop in London but, as the office of Dean is united with that of Principal Official, the dean receives and determines appeals from the sentences of all lesser ecclesiastical courts within the province.  Many original suits are also heard, where lesser courts waive jurisdiction by letters of request.  The original jurisdiction formerly exercised by a separate provincial court, known as the Court of Audience, was long ago abolished.

Lindsay Lohan under a colonnaded arch, Miami, Florida, 2013.

The official principal of the Arches court is now the only ecclesiastical judge empowered to pass a sentence of deprivation against a clerk in holy orders.  The appeals from the decisions of the Arches court were once made directly to the sovereign but are now heard by the judicial committee of the Privy Council except on matters of doctrine, ritual or ceremony, which go to the Court for Ecclesiastical Causes Reserved.  Charmingly, the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Act 1532, dating from the reign of Henry VIII (1491–1547; King of England 1509-1547) remains one of the statutes empowering the court’s original jurisdiction though since the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, it no longer hears appeals from the consistory courts of the bishops in all testamentary and matrimonial causes.

Pood

Pood (pronounced pood or poot (Russian))

(1) An old Russian unit of mass, equal to 40 Russian funt, or about 16.38 kg (36.11 lb).

(2) A Russian unit of mass used for kettlebells (a hand-held weight used in physical training and competition), now rounded off to 16 kg (35.274 lb pounds).

(3) In computing, as POOD, (principle of orthogonal design), a model of database design with parameters designed to avoid redundancies and duplicated routines.

1100s: From the Russian пуд (pud), from Low German or Old Norse pund (pound) (unit of weight and measure), from the Late Latin pondo (by weight; in weight), from the Classical Latin pondus (weight, heaviness, density), From the Proto-Italic pondos, from the primitive Indo-European spénd-os & pénd-os, from spend- and pend-..  A doublet of pound, the alternative spelling was poud.  Pood is a noun; the noun plural is poods (pudi or pudy in Russian).

Instructions for using a 1 pood kettlebell.

Under comrade Stalin (1878-1953; Soviet leader 1924-1953), the pood, like other units of weight defined by the system used in Imperial Russia, officially was abolished in 1924 but, beyond the big cities, the old ways remained in wide use until the 1950s and, for informal transactions (which at times constituted a substantial part of the Soviet economy) it really went extinct only as the older generations died off.  One quirk however remains, the weight of the traditional Russian kettlebells (a hand-held weight used in physical training and competition), cast in multiples and fractions of 16 kg (the metric version of the pood), the 8 kg ketterbell a ½ pood, a 24 kg a 1½ pood.  Informally, among traders, bulk agricultural communities such as grain, potatoes and beets are sometimes expressed in poods, reputedly because the sacks used in retail distribution are still made in sizes in which quantities such as 8, 16, 32, 48 & 64 kg can conveniently be bagged.

1 pood kettlebells in the shape of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s head, Heavy Metal Shop, Moscow.

Had all the relevant evidence been presented in court when Albert Speer (1905–1981; Nazi minister of armaments and war production 1942-1945) was tried before the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuremberg (1945-1946) he’d likely have been hanged but as it was, convicted on counts 3 (war crimes) and 4 (crimes against humanity) he was sentenced to twenty years, most of which were served in Spandau Prison.  In there, he wrote the notes for what became his not wholly reliable but still valuable memoir and a prison diary.  Selectively edited, The Spandau Diary (1975) was one of the minor classics of the genre, not least because it was probably more helpful than all the many reports by psychologists and psychiatrists in assessing whether his fellow inmate Rudolf Hess (1894–1987; Nazi deputy führer 1933-1941) was mad, either during his trial or subsequently.  It was also a rich source of the type of anecdotes which distinguish prison journals, one of which came from a Soviet guards who, after Speer observed to him the new Soviet prison director “didn’t seem so bad”, recited an old Russian proverb: Человека узнаешь, когда с ним пуд соли съешь which he translated as “you do not know a man until you have used up a pood of salt with him”.  Speer, then in the fourteenth year of his sentence, was interested enough to look up just how much a pood weighed but didn’t comment further.  As other prison diaries have noted, guards provide much practical advice.  A year earlier, resting in bed with a swollen knee, he mentioned to one of the Soviet guards that the Russian doctor had prescribed two aspirins a day.  Knowing the guard to be “a veterinarian on the side”, he asked how a horse with a swollen knee should be treated.  “If horse cheap, shoot dead.  If good horse, give aspirin” he was told.  Again, Speer added no comment.

Khlebosolyn: Young ladies in traditional dress presenting bread and salt to a visitor.

Quite how long it would take two chaps to work their way through 16 kg odd (35 lb) of salt is geographically and culturally variable.  In a modern Western household, that quantity of salt would typically last years and while after that long two people should be well acquainted with each other’s foibles, in pre-Modern Russia, a pood might have been absorbed more quickly.  For one thing, in the pre-refrigeration age, salt was often used in bulk to cure and preserve food including meant and fish and that was sometimes necessary even in Russia’s colder parts and there was also much boiling of food in salt water.  Prized since Antiquity, highly taxed in Imperial Russia and therefore expensive, salt was also an important part of cultural tradition.  A ritual invoked when greeting important guests was to present on the table a loaf of bread, placed upon a rushnyk (an elaborately embroidered cloth), atop which was placed a salt cellar.  The ceremony is the origin of the Russian word khlebosolny (literally “bready-salty”) which expresses someone’s hospitality, bread and salt traditional symbols of prosperity and good health.  So, salt consumption in old Russia was quite a bit higher than in modernity (not counting the high levels in processed food) and the consensus is the proverb probably means people truly don’t know anyone until they’ve spent a year or more together.

Pood is wholly unrelated to poodle (a dog breed dating from 1808), from the German Pudel, a shortened form of Pudelhund (water dog), the construct being the Low German Pudel (puddle) (related to pudeln (to splash) and the Modern English puddle) + the + German Hund (hound; dog).  The origin in German is thought related to the dogs originally being used to hunt water fowl, but in England and North America, it was always a term for an undersized fancy or toy dog with long, curly hair.  The essentially decorative qualities of the diminutive canine meant that in UK the figurative sense of "lackey" emerged in 1907, perhaps derived from the British army slang “poodle-faker”, defined in the slang dictionaries of the age as “an ingratiating” but thought always used euphemistically as a gay slur.  Despite legislative reform which removed all legal prohibitions on homosexual acts, that sense survived into twenty-first Australia to be used on the floor of the parliament by Julia Gillard (b 1961; Australian prime minister 2010-2013), later famous for her “misogyny speech” which deplored sexism and sexist language (when aimed at her).  In 2009, she used the imagery of “mincing” & “poodle” as a slur against another (male, married and with four children) parliamentarian who was admittedly really annoying and needlessly neat and tidy but it was a slur nonetheless.

The mincing poodle tapes.