Ratio

Ratio (pronounced rey-shoh (U) or rey-shee-oh (non-U))

(1) The relation between two similar magnitudes with respect to the number of times the first contains the second.

(2) The proportional relation; rate.

(3) In finance, the relative value of gold and silver in a bimetallic currency system.

(4) In mathematics, a quotient of two numbers or quantities.

(5) In western legal systems, the slang for ratio decidendi, the substantive part(s) of the judgment.

(6) In the metrics of the internet, the number of comments to a post or other expression on social media relative to the number of likes (a high ratio assumed to suggests disagreement with the contents of the original post).

1630–1640: From the Latin ratiō (a doublet of ration and reason) (a reckoning, account, numbering, derivation, calculation) from the base of rērī (to judge, think).  The original meaning in English, dating from the 1630s (reason, rationale, calculation, reckoning, numbering, calculation, judgment) mirrored the Latin practice while the mathematical sense "relationship between two numbers" is attested from the 1650s.  The use in theological texts in the sense of "reason, rationale" was a tribute to the original meaning in Latin (a reckoning, account, numbering, derivation, calculation), hence also the idea of "a business affair; course, conduct, procedure".  From this also emerged (in a transferred sense and applying to mental action), the meaning "reason, reasoning, judgment, understanding, that faculty of the mind which forms the basis of computation and calculation" (the ultimate origin of this being rat-, the past-participle stem of reri (to reckon, calculate (and also "to think, judge, believe), from the primitive Indo-European root re- (to think, reason, count).  The Latin ratio often was used to represent or translate the Greek logos (computation, account, esteem, reason) in works of philosophy, though the range of senses in the two do not wholly overlap because ratio lacks the essential "speech, word, statement" meaning which exists in the logos.  The familiar modern meaning "corresponding relationship between things not precisely measurable" had become common by the early nineteenth century.

Ratio Decidendi and Obiter Dictum

The ratio decidendi is a phrase in legal Latin meaning "reason (or rationale) for the decision” and the professional oral & verbal shorthand is ratio.  It’s the ratio decidendi which justifies the judgment and expresses the legal principle(s) which determine the outcome.  The ratio decidendi either creates or is consistent with legal precedent and in the common law’s hierarchical system, lower courts are required to follow precedents established by higher courts.

Obiter dictum the complimentary legal Latin phrase meaning "by the way" and the legal slag is variously dicta or (more commonly) obiter.  The obiter is the collective term for other substantive material in the judgment but not part of the reasoning for the decision, the remarks or observations made by a judge that do not form a necessary part of the decision.  There exists an informal test called the Wambaugh Inversion to determine whether a judicial statement is ratio or obiter.  This involves asking whether the decision would have been different, had the statement been omitted.  If so, the statement is crucial and is ratio; if not, it is obiter.  The rarely used plural for ratio is rationes decidendi whereas, because of the rules of Latin, obiter is used almost always in the plural as obiter dicta.  The difference between the ratio and the dicta is a most useful distinction but would be more helpful if judges could be prevailed upon to make if clear which is which; even bullet-point summaries would be handy.  One suspects many judges think themselves fine stylists of the language, a view not always shared by their captive audience.

B2BR: The bitemporal to bizygomatic ratio

Lindsay Lohan's bitemporal to bizygomatic ratio (B2BR), calculated by pinkmirror.com.  Her admirable B2BR ratio of 1.07 contributed to her overall beauty score of 8.5 (out of 10), putting her in the "beautiful" category.  The above image is rendered in the 1:2 aspect ratio of the DL envelope, favored by architects because the result is thought pleasing to the eye.  

Architects and engineers use all sorts of ratios in their calculations, some to improve aesthetic appeal and some to optimize specific strength.  In internal combustion engines, ratios are commonly used (compression ratio, connecting rod-to-stroke ratio et al) and in building design, the "DL envelope ratio" (1:2) references the standard DL envelope (110 x 220 mm; 4⅓ x 8⅔") which, when applied in architecture, is considered to produce a shape pleasing to the eye, apparently because it closely corresponds with the natural field of human vision.  In the beauty business there are also ratios, used predictably to compartmentalize various aspects of women's appearance so their degree of attractiveness can be reduced to a number.  The site pinkmirror.com helpfully provides an interactive analysis page, one component of which is the bitemporal to bizygomatic ratio (B2BR), a measure used in facial anthropometry (the study of facial measurements and proportions) and cosmetic and restorative surgery.  The B2BR compares the distance between the two temporal bones (bitemporal distance) with the distance between the two zygomatic bones (bizygomatic distance) in the face.  Notionally, the B2BR is set at 1:1 (a baseline for calculation purposes rather than an ideal) and if bitemporal distance is greater than that of the bizygomatic, the ratio will be greater than 1, indicating a relatively narrow midface whereas if the bizygomatic distance is greater, the ratio will be less than 1, indicating a relatively wide midface.  In medicine the B2BR is used as an indicative diagnostic tool which can be helpful in assessing certain genetic conditions that affect facial structure and in cosmetic & restorative surgery its used as one of the measures of facial proportions when planning treatments.  Some advanced systems in cosmetic facial surgery no use CAD (computer assisted design) software and 3D printing (essentially "prototyping" the "new" face) and the B2BR is one of the critical metrics used in both.

Null

Null (pronounced nuhl)

(1) Without value, effect, consequence, or significance; being or amounting to nothing; nil; lacking; nonexistent; something with a value or measure of zero; of or relating to zero.

(2) In electronics, a point of minimum signal reception, as on a radio direction finder or other electronic meter.

(3) In law, as null and void, without legal force or effect; not valid.

(4) In computing, Null (or NULL), a special marker and keyword in SQL (Structured Query Language) indicating that something has no value.

(5) In computing, the null character, the zero-valued ASCII character (also designated by NUL), often used as a terminator, separator or filler; this symbol has no visual representation; as null pointer (sometimes written NULL, nil, or None), used in computer programming for an uninitialized, undefined, empty, or meaningless value; as Null string, the unique string of length zero (in computer science and formal language theory).

(6) In computing, the null device, a special computer file (/dev/null on Unix systems) that discards all data written to it.

(7) In communications, as null modem, a specially wired serial communications cable.

(8) In mathematics, a zero value in several branches of the discipline including null set, a set that is negligible in some sense; of or relating to a set having no members or to zero magnitude; also an older term for the empty set.

(9) In physics, a point in a field where the field quantity is zero; as null vectors or curves in the causal structure of a Lorentzian manifold such as a Minkowski space-time.

(10) In statistics, as null hypothesis, a concept in hypothesis testing; companion concept is the null result, the absence of a hypothesized effect in the outcome of a scientific experiment

(11) In linguistics, as null (or zero) morpheme, a concept describing a morpheme (the smallest meaningful unit in a language (a morpheme is not identical to a word) that has no phonetic form.

(12) In genetics, as null allele, a nonfunctional allele (a variant of a gene) caused by a genetic mutation.

(13) In political history as Stunde Null (a German military planning term meaning "Hour Zero"), a term referring to midnight on 8 May 1945 in Germany marking the end of World War II in Europe and the birth a new Germany (an attempt to dissociate post-war Germany from the Nazis).  The period immediately following this time is the Nachkriegszeit (the time after the war).

(14) One of the beads in nulled work (an ornamental craft producing work resembling beads strung on a rod).

1555–1565: From the Middle French nul, from the Latin nūllus from the Proto-Italic ne-oino-los from Proto-Italic oinos (one).  Synchronically nūllus was from ne (not) + ūllus (any) and thus meaning literally "not any".  The earlier form nulla (circa 1500), from the Italian nulla, from the Latin nūlla, feminine of nūllus (no one) was ultimately from the primitive Indo-European ne, óynos & -lós.  Null is a noun, adjective & verb, nulled is a verb & adjective, nulling is a noun & verb, nullity, nullification & nullificationist are nous and nullify, nullified & nullifying are verbs; the common nouns plural are nulls and nullings.

Null Island.

Null Island is an imaginary island located at 0°N 0°E (thus “Null”, zero being one of null’s synonyms) in the South Atlantic Ocean, the point at which equator crosses the prime meridian.  It’s not clear when Null Island was first “discovered” but it delighted many when in 2011 it appeared on Natural Earth, a public domain map dataset created by volunteer cartographers and GIS (geographic information system) analysts.  A modest 1m² "land mass" (actually a buoy) located at 0°N 0°E in the digital dataset, Null Island was intended to help analysts flag errors in geocoding.  Somewhat analogous with the DNS (Domain Name System) which maintains a relationship between IP (Internet Protocol) addresses (which with computer networks communicate) and the familiar website names (which real people use), geocoding is a process which converts a physical address (such as a street address) into geographic coordinates, the most familiar of which are latitude and longitude.  It permits address to appear on digital maps and enables location-based services and applications to be integrated and distributed, mapping, navigation & advertising services depending on the system.  Of late, a particularly helpful application of the service has been the tracking of the spread of diseases. 

IBM & Null

In 1981, IBM explained why, in file systems, null had to exist in every directory (now often called folders).  If null didn’t exist, IBM maintained, operating systems wouldn’t necessarily be able to determine which were empty.  Advances in operating systems over forty-odd years, mean that’s no longer a problem but with the technology available in 1981, some of it dating back decades, the issue was real.  IBM also published what turned out to be a prescient vision of what became the widely distributed file systems of the internet, spread across continents, running on disparate hardware and operating systems yet able still functionally and administratively to interact.  Modern programming languages still take advantage of the existence (or non-existence) of null.  Below is a Python script to both check if a directory is empty and also check for exceptional situations such as a directory not existing.

import os
def main():
    dirName = '/home/varun/temp';
    '''
        Check if a Directory is empty and also check exceptional situations.
    '''   
    if os.path.exists(dirName) and os.path.isdir(dirName):
        if not os.listdir(dirName):
            print("Directory is empty")
        else:   
            print("Directory is not empty")
    else:
        print("Given Directory don't exists")
    '''
        Check if a Directory is empty : Method 1
    '''   
    if len(os.listdir('/home/varun/temp') ) == 0:
        print("Directory is empty")
    else:   
        print("Directory is not empty")
    '''
        Check if a Directory is empty : Method 2
    '''   
    if not os.listdir('/home/varun/temp') :
        print("Directory is empty")
    else:   
        print("Directory is not empty")
    print ("****************")
if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()
Output:
Directory is empty
Directory is empty
Directory is empty

In the commercial art business, if no frame is chosen, the order is tagged "Null Frame".

In computer programming, the "null frame" is a data packet containing no useful information and existing usually for the purposes of (1) maintaining an open comms channel or (2) as a marker for an end of transmission.  Null Frames are often used in conjunction with “heartbeat” (or “keepalive”) markers which provide a visual symbol indicating a connection remains active.  However, because null frames can be of variable size, they’re of use also as markers of the addressable space available in memory or buffers.  While there are other ways of doing this, null frames provide information about resource availability while themselves consuming almost no resources.  In the commercial art business, the expression “null frame” is used to indicate the customer has specified the product be supplied unframed.

Horology

Horology (pronounced haw-rol-uh-jee)

(1) The science of time.

(2) The art and science of making timepieces or measuring time.

(3) In Orthodox Christianity, the office-book of the Greek Church for the canonical hours.

1852: The construct was the Ancient Greek hōro (combining form of hṓra (hour; part of the day; any period of time)) + -logy.  The suffix -ology was formed from -o- (as an interconsonantal vowel) +‎ -logy.  The origin in English of the -logy suffix lies with loanwords from the Ancient Greek, usually via Latin and French, where the suffix (-λογία) is an integral part of the word loaned (eg astrology from astrologia) since the sixteenth century.  French picked up -logie from the Latin -logia, from the Ancient Greek -λογία (-logía).  Within Greek, the suffix is an -ία (-ía) abstract from λόγος (lógos) (account, explanation, narrative), and that a verbal noun from λέγω (légō) (I say, speak, converse, tell a story).  In English the suffix became extraordinarily productive, used notably to form names of sciences or disciplines of study, analogous to the names traditionally borrowed from the Latin (eg astrology from astrologia; geology from geologia) and by the late eighteenth century, the practice (despite the disapproval of the pedants) extended to terms with no connection to Greek or Latin such as those building on French or German bases (eg insectology (1766) after the French insectologie; terminology (1801) after the German Terminologie).  Within a few decades of the intrusion of modern languages, combinations emerged using English terms (eg undergroundology (1820); hatology (1837)).  In this evolution, the development may be though similar to the latter-day proliferation of “-isms” (fascism; feminism et al).  Descents of the Greek hōro came into use in many languages including the Hebrew הוֹרָה‏ (hóra), the Romanian horă and the Turkish while from the Modern Greek χορό (choró) (accusative of χορός (khorós) (dance)) came Hora, a circle dance popular in the Balkans and Israel. In Late Latin, the derived form was horologium.

Between the early sixteen and nineteenth centuries the meaning was restricted to describing clocks or their dials by at least 1820 reference books were noting “term horology is at present more particularly confined to the principles upon which the art of making clocks and watches is established”.  The earlier sense in English reflected the inheritance from the Latin horologium (instrument for telling the hour (and in Medieval Latin “a clock”), from the Ancient Greek hōrologion (instrument for telling the hour (ie the sundial; water-clock et al), from hōrologos (telling the hour).  Horological was used as early as 1590s, horologiography (the art or study of watches and timepieces) by the 1630s and the first horologists (the practitioners of horologiography) appeared to have emerged (or at least first advertised themselves) in 1795.  The noun horologe (a clock or sundial) is long obsolete.  Horology, horologiography & horologist are nouns, horological is an adjective and horologically is an adverb; the noun plural is horologists.

Greenwich Mean Time

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London.  It’s daily reset point is now midnight but, in the past, it has been set from different times including at noon and for this reason, if GMT is of substantive importance in some historic document, it’s sometimes necessary to determine which method of calculation applied at the time.  Because of Earth's uneven angular velocity in its elliptical orbit and its axial tilt, noon (12:00:00) GMT is rarely the exact moment the Sun crosses the Greenwich meridian and reaches its highest point in the sky.  The event may occur up to 16 minutes before or after noon GMT, a discrepancy included in the calculation of time: noon GMT is thus the annual average (ie "mean") moment of this event, which accounts for the "mean" in GMT.  In the English-speaking world, GMT is often used as a synonym for Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and while this is close enough for many practical purposes, in the narrow technical sense GMT is now a time zone rather than time’s absolute reference.  For navigation, it is considered equivalent to UT1 (the modern form of mean solar time at 0° longitude); but this meaning can differ from UTC by up to 0.9 seconds so GMT should no longer be used for purposes demanding a high degree of precision.

Shepherd Gate (slave) Clock, Royal Observatory, Greenwich.

The Shepherd gate clock is installed at the gates of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich and was the first clock ever to display GMT to the public.  It is a “slave clock”, hardwired to the Shepherd “master clock” which was first commissioned at the observatory in 1852.  One obviously unusual aspect of the gate clock is that it has 24 hours on its face rather than the typical 12, thus at 12 noon the hour hand is points straight down rather than up.  In digital timepieces are common and the user often has the choice of a 12 or 24 hour format by in analogue devices they’re historically rare although Ford Australia did include one as a novelty in the first series of its locally produced LTD & Landau (1973-1976).  The clock remained a one-off.

Lindsay Lohan wearing Rolex Datejust Blue Diamond.  Ms Lohan has a number of Rolexes and some watch sites have noted her preferences for the larger, chunkier men's versions.  That larger face is certainly easier to read but some also prefer the more extravagant look.

Between 1852-1893, the Shepherd master clock was the baseline of the UK’s system of time, its time was sent over telegraph wires to London and many other cities including some in Ireland and from 1866, the signal was also relayed to a clock in Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, along the new transatlantic submarine cable.  One of history’s most significant clocks, it originally indicated astronomical time, in which the counting of the 24 hours of each day starts at noon though this was later changed to starts at midnight.  It continues to show GMT and is never adjusted for daylight saving time.

Transmogrify

Transmogrify (pronounced trans-mog-ruh-fahy)

To change in appearance or form, especially strangely or grotesquely; transform.

1650–1660: A seventeenth century creation of uncertain origin but most etymologists list it as a portmanteau of transfigure and modify in the spirit of the earlier transmigrify and transmography.  It was a probably a jocular invention rather than a mistake, a type of pseudo-Latinism which, in the nineteenth century would come to be known as “barracks Latin” or “dormitory Latin” because soldiers and schoolboys were often the authors of such coinings although transmogrify may have come from the pseudo-scientific lexicon of the alchemists.  There have been alternative theories however and some serious-minded scholars did suggest a word formation derived from maugre (in the sense of the archaic meaning of “spite or ill will”), hence it originally signified the "evil eye" which, under the influence of the former etymologies, shifted its meaning to its sense of "transformation" but the view has never enjoyed much support.  There was also the notion of some link with transmigure or transmigrate but it’s thought most likely these forms merely were thought to lend transmogrify with some sense of legitimacy, the latter especially because in the seventeenth century it was used in the sense of souls passing into other bodies after death.  One derivation which didn’t survive was the noun transmography which, after enjoying some currency in the seventeen & eighteenth centuries, went extinct.  Transmogrify & transmogrifying are verbs, transmogrifier transmogrification are nouns and transmogrified is a verb & adjective; the most common noun plural is transmogrifications.

For centuries, many among the etymologically fastidious condemned "transmogrify" as wholly fake, the august Henry Fowler (1858–1933) in his Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) dismissing it as a "long & ludicrous" creation among his collection of "facetious formations" but it's now a more tolerant age and the word seems widely accepted although many dictionaries still note the use is: "often jocular".  Justice Peter Hamill is a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales (NSW) and according to his thumbnail sketch on the website of The Law Society of NSW: "His Honour is known for his unique catchwords…"  Among his judicial colleagues he's said to be called the "Shakespeare of catchwords" and in a recent case lent "transmogrify" the respectability of his imprimatur from the bench: “A lot could be said about this young man and his transmogrification from a shy, quiet, intelligent middle child of a conservative, hardworking family to a notorious killer and gangster” Justice Hamill wrote in his judgment.

Lindsay Lohan over the years 2004-2009-2022: Transmogrifications for better and worse.

So, despite the dubious origins, in English, "transmogrify" is now a real word, though rare.  Many sources note the whimsy but it has a history in literature and popular culture dating back centuries.  Dictionaries (and even the odd style–guide) sound the cautionary note that the usual use is something like “to transform or change in a grotesque way” so it need to be used carefully but in genre literature like fantasy and science fiction (SF), it often describes magical or supernatural transformations.  Generally though, it can be used of any kind of radical, unfortunate or unexpected change.

The transmogrifications of the early 1970s, from top: BMW 2002, MGC & MGB, Mercedes-Benz W116 & Ford Pinto.  These were known as the “battering ram years” and while some were worse than others, there were few aesthetic successes in the attempts to conform with the new bumper bar laws.

In the US, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) first introduced federal regulations for bumper-bar standards in 1971.  They required that all passenger cars manufactured on or after 1 September 1972 (1 September was the traditional start date for the next model year) be equipped with front and rear bumpers which met certain criteria in relation to impacts at certain speeds.  The primary purpose was to reduce the damage vehicles suffered in the frequent low collisions which were such a cost to the insurance industry.  The rules, although badly written, were strengthened during the 1970s and weren’t relaxed until Ronald Reagan’s (1911-2004, US president 1981-1989) administration embarked on a process designed to reduce the regulatory burdens on industry.

Invert

Invert (pronounced in-vurt)

(1) To turn upside down.

(2) To reverse in position, order, direction, or relationship.

(3) To turn or change to the opposite or contrary, as in nature, bearing, or effect; to turn something inward or back upon itself; to turn inside out.

(4) In chemistry, to a subject a substance to a reaction in which a starting material of one optical configuration forms a product of the opposite configuration; subjected to a reaction in which a starting material of one optical configuration forms a product of the opposite configuration.

(5) In music, to subject to musical inversion, the transposition between the upper voice part and the lower (to move the root note of a chord up or down an octave, resulting in a change in pitch).

(6) In phonetics, to articulate as a retroflex vowel; to turn the tip of the tongue up and back.

(7) In formal logic, to form the inverse of a categorical proposition.

(8) In psychology & psychiatry, a person who adopts the role of the opposite sex (historically used in clinical practice and law enforcement as an alternative word for homosexual.

(9) In civil engineering (particularly hydrology), the lower inner surface of a drain or sewer; the lowest point inside a pipe at a certain point.

(10) In Architecture, an arch that is concave upwards, especially one used in foundation work; the base of a tunnel on which the road or railway may be laid and used when construction is through unstable ground (and may be flat or form a continuous curve with the tunnel arch).

(11) A sometimes used synonym for divert in certain contexts; to convert to an incorrect use.

(12) In anatomy, to turn the foot inwards.

(13) In biochemistry, as invertasome, a nucleoprotein complex that causes inversion of a DNA sequence.

(14) In skateboarding, a technique in which the skater grabs the board and plants a hand on the coping so as to balance upside-down on the lip of a ramp.

(15) In zoology, an informal term for an invertebrate.

1525–1535: From the Middle French invertir, from the Latin invertere (to turn upside down or inside out), the construct being in- (in) + vertere (to turn), an inflection of vertō (I turn; I change; I reverse), from the Proto-Italic wertō, from the primitive Indo-European wértti from the root wer- (to turn; to bend).  It was cognate with the Sanskrit वर्तते (vártate (to turn)), the Sanskrit वर्तयति (vartáyati (to turn)), the Avestan varət, the Proto-Slavic vьrtěti, the Old Church Slavonic врьтѣти (vrĭtěti (to turn around)), the Polish wiercić (to drill; to fidget), the Russian вертеть (vertetʹ (to rotate)), the Proto-Baltic wert-, the Lithuanian ver̃sti, the Persian گرد‎ (gard (grow; turn)), the Proto-Germanic werþaną (to become), the Old English weorþan (to happen), the English worth and the Old Irish dofortad (to pour out).  The prefix -in is quirky because it can act either to negate or intensify.  The general rule is that when pre-pended to a noun or adjective, it reinforces the quality signified and when pre-pended to an adjective, it negates the meaning, the latter mostly in words borrowed from French.  The Latin prefix in- was from the Proto-Italic en-, from the primitive Indo-European n̥- (not), the zero-grade form of the negative particle ne (not) and was akin to ne-, nē & nī.  In Modern English it is from the Middle English in-, from Old English in- (in, into), from the Proto-Germanic in, from the primitive Indo-European en.  In the Classical Latin, invertere had the literal sense of "turn upside down, turn about; upset, reverse, transpose" and was used figuratively to suggest "pervert, corrupt, misrepresent" while when used of words it implied "being used ironically". Invert, invertibility & inverting are nouns, verbs & adjectives, inversion, inversion & inverter are nouns, inverted is a verb & adjective, invertible & inversive are adjectives and invertedly is an adverb; the noun plural is inverts.

Pittsburgh Police arrest card #25747, from 1932 which circulated on the internet after being published in Least Wanted: A Century of American Mugshots (2006) by Mark Michaelson, Steven Kasher & Bob Nickas.  Some thought the “Crime” noted was “Invert” (and thus suggesting the offence was homosexuality) or the word was “Invest” what was police slang for “investigate”.  There appears to have been a typo and the correct letter could be either “v” or “s” but it seems most likely he was being investigated as a suspected communist.

Richard Fridolin Joseph Freiherr Krafft von Festenberg auf Frohnberg, genannt von Ebing (1840-1902) was a German psychiatrist remembered for his seminal work Psychopathia Sexualis: eine Klinisch-Forensische Studie (Sexual Psychopathy: A Clinical-Forensic Study) (1886).  Fortunately for all, for most purposes he shortened his name to Richard von Krafft-Ebing and was recognized as perhaps the first acknowledged expert on matters of sexual deviance, his publications either creating or formalizing the diagnostic categories which would remain influential for decades and some of his work remains recognizable in the literature even today.  One of his terms was "sexual inversion" which he used to describe homosexuality and it appeared in the first edition of the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), published in 1952.  Dr von Krafft-Ebing had used sexual inversion as a purely descriptive term for homosexuality, reflecting the academic tone he adopted in the hope those other than in the professions of medicine or law would be discouraged from turning the pages.  Very much seriously minded, he didn’t write to satisfy prurient interest.  He did however definitely regard sexual inversion as deviant and in this sense it carried over to the DSM where it was listed as a mental disorder although the operation of the linguistic treadmill meant that when the DSM-II was issued in 1968, the term was replaced with “homosexuality”.  From then on, the profession moved in the last quarter of the twentieth century as legislative change would unfold in the Western world, sometimes moving ahead of the law, sometimes following.  When the fourth edition of the DSM-II was published in 1974, the APA tested the waters by introducing a sort of diagnostic ambivalence about the matter and with the coming of the DSM-III (1980), homosexuality ceased to be considered a mental disorder and was treated as just another variation in the human condition.

Lindsay Lohan contemplating the subliminal messaging of The McDonalds big “M”, McDonald's drive-thru, Santa Monica, California, December 2011.  The car is a Porsche Panamera.

A contemporary of Dr von Krafft-Ebing was of course the Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), someone who thought much about the centrality of sex to the human condition and, famously, the role of mothers in its formation.  One admirer (though by no means an uncritical one) of Dr Freud was the Russian-born, US-based clinical psychologist Louis Cheskin (1907-1981) who systematized a process of analysis which tracked the relationship between the aesthetic elements (ie the packaging) of products with customers’ perceptions of the content; this he called “sensation transference”.  Some of his best known work was in colors, working out how people generally understood the messages conveyed by different hues and he applied his findings with great success to product wrappings, corporate logos and even the interior color schemes for department stores and restaurants.  According to him, a restaurant which wants its customers to linger might use blue while a fast-food outlet which wants a high turnover of it chairs and tables should favor orange or yellow.

A practical application of Freud via Cheskin: Charlotte McKinney’s (b 1993) famous advertisement for Carl's Jr. Restaurants LLC, Super Bowl XLIX, 2015.

Already famous from his work with the Ford Motor Company, notably for his collaborations with the company’s general manager Lee Iacocca (1924–2019) during which he conducted the research which contributed to the marketing campaigns for the wildly successful Mustang (1964) and Lincoln’s Continental Mark III (1968), Cheskin was retained as a consultant by McDonald’s, then in the throes of one of their periodic changes to the corporate logo.  At the time, McDonald’s management wanted to refocus the business and one aspect of this was to change the stylized “M” (the golden arches), then thought dated.  In this case Louis Cheskin followed Freud and wrote one of his persuasive papers which convinced the executives the big “M” was a asset because, as well as the obvious association with the McDonald’s name, there was also a culinary cum anatomical link: If the “M” was inverted, it summoned in the mind the nurturing image of a mother’s breasts, “subconsciously making hungry customers feel comforted and at home”.  Whether the chain’s slogan at the time (Give mum a night off) was influential in the decision to retain the (uninverted) “M” isn’t clear.”

Evolution of the big “M” since 1942 (left) and inverted (right).  One can see what Louis Cheskin was getting at.

Safari

Safari (pronounced suh-fahr-ee)

(1) A journey or expedition, for hunting, exploration, or investigation, historically applied especially to expeditions in eastern Africa.

(2) The hunters, guides, vehicles, equipment, etc, forming such an expedition.

(3) Used loosely (sometimes very loosely), any long or adventurous journey or expedition (although usually restricted to non-developed, hot places with abundant wildlife).

(4) To go on a safari; to take part in a safari.

(5) In fashion, as “safari suit”, a men’s outfit of dubious appeal.

1890: From the Swahili safari (journey), from the Arabic سَفَر‎ (safar) (referring to a journey) from safara (to travel) & safarīya (travelling).  Etymologists consider the word “safari” was absorbed into English in 1890, having been documented since 1860s as a foreign word in the sense of “an expedition over country in East Africa lasting days or weeks, particularly for purposes of hunting”.  The Swahili safar (journey) first appeared in English publications in 1858.  From the 1920s, as an adjective “safari” was applied liberally to devices & appliances used on or associated with safaris (safari knife, safari park, safari trailer, safari map et al) but ultimately most influential was the safari jacket, a practical garment (robustly tailored with lots of pockets) which unfortunately would in the 1960s be picked up by the industry as the “safari suit”, perhaps the most derided piece of men’s fashion in the 1970s which, given what that decade produced, was quite an achievement.  The nouns safarier, safarigoer & safariman (all descriptors of “those who go on a safari) seem to have gone extinct but surfari (surfers travelling from beach to beach in search of the best waves) is still sometimes heard though “whale-watching” seems to have replaced “whale safari”.  Safari is a noun, verb & adjective, safaried & safariing are verbs; the noun plural is safaris.

Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC 5.0, Safari Rally, Kenya, 1979.  The big 450 SLC 5.0 was one of the more improbable rally cars but it enjoyed some success in long-distance events.  In motorsport, the annual rally in Kenya was between 1953-1959 known as the “Coronation Safari Rally” and between then and 1974 as the “East African Safari”; subsequently, it's been called the "Safari Rally".  The name “East African Safari Rally” was revived in 2003 as an event for historic rally cars and run biannually (COVID-19 permitting).

Chrysler South Africa's advertising for the Valiant Safaris, 1972.  The V8 versions used the same 318 cubic inch (5.2 litre (LA)) engine offered in Australia but instead of the 245 (4.0) & 265 (4.3) "Hemi" sixes, the South African cars were fitted with the old 225 (3.6) "slant-six" so the government's local content rules could be met.  Interestingly, on the Safari Premium (the equivalent of the Australian Regal & 770 models), the US-flavored DI-NOC appliqué (imitation wood) was glued to the sides, something Chrysler never used in Australia.

In Australia during the 1960s and much of the 1970s, Chrysler’s mainstream model was the Valiant, based on the US A-Body (compact) corporate platform.  After 1963, the Australian range included a station wagon which was dubbed the “Safari”, the name retained in export markets including New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom.  In New Zealand, the nomenclature rarely changed but the utility models sold there and in the home market as the “Wayfarer”, when exported to South Africa were badged as “Rustlers”.  After 1973, the Safari name was dropped and station wagons were known thereafter as “station wagons”.  The appearance of a machine like the Valiant in the UK market probably seems curious given that although a “compact” in US terms, by European standards it was unfashionably large but Chrysler, having ceased production of the antiquated Humber Super Snipes upon their absorption of the Rootes Group, wanted to plug the gap in their range and the Australian product was an attractive option because, prior to the UK in 1973 joining the European Economic Community (EEC), the imports from Commonwealth nations enjoyed a preferential tariff arrangements meaning they could be offered at a lower cost.  Never a great success, the programme nevertheless lingered on even after the UK entered the EEC, ending in 1977.

Mercedes-Benz 220 SE Coupé (foreground) & cabriolet (background) with standard rear bench seats, Frankfurt, September 1961 (left) & 1965 220 SE coupé with safari seat option (right).

One rarely specified option on the Mercedes-Benz W111 (1961-1971; 220 SE, 250 SE, 280 SE & 280 SE 3.5) & W112 (1962-1967; 300 SE) coupés and cabriolets was the fitting of two individual (bucket) seats in the rear instead of the usual bench.  Individual seats in a car’s rear compartment had actually been not uncommon in the early days of motoring but by 1961, when the W111 coupé was released at the Geneva Motor Show, except for a few coach-built rarities, the option was unique.  The factory called then “safari seats”, the source of that being their special metal frame which actually permitted them to be removed and placed on the ground outside, the implication presumably that this would be handy for those on safari who wished to sit outside and watch the zebras.  Whether many of these machines were taken on safari isn’t known but the concept was transferrable to those going on picnics or watching the polo.  On both sides of the Atlantic, the fitting of individual rear-seats caught on for some high-end models but other than in some utility vehicles intended mostly for off-road use, no manufacturer made them removable.

Great moments in the history of the safari suit.  Charles III (b 1948; King of the United Kingdom since 2022) & Diana, Princess of Wales (1961-1997) visiting Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock) in Australia's Northern Territory, 1983 (left) and Kim Jong-il (Kim II, 1941-2011; Dear Leader of DPRK (North Korea) 1994-2011) (right).  Despite decades of debate, fashionistas have never agreed who wore it best.

The “safari jacket” was a name applied to a style of clothing which evolved to suit the demands of travel in the sort of places which had become associated with “going on safari”.  The jackets were constructed with a robust material which was resistant to contact with the foliage likely to be encountered and they included fittings like multiple pockets and often some provision for carrying rifle bullets or shotgun shells in a manner which made them easily accessible.  That was fine but the fashion industry discovered them in the late 1960s and during the following decades actually persuaded some men that the “safari suit” was a good idea.  It was not and not only did it take an unconscionable time a-dying, in the twenty-first century there’s been the odd attempt at a revival.  Men should thus avoid the look but on women the safari suit can be quite alluring.

Lindsay Lohan on safari, meeting zebras.

Excogitate

Excogitate (pronounced eks-koj-i-teyt)

(1) To think out; devise; invent.

(2) To study intently and carefully in order fully to grasp or comprehend.

1520–1530: From the Latin excōgitātus past participle of excōgitāre (to devise, invent, to think out), the construct being ex- (out of, from) + cōgitāre (to think, to ponder).  The ex- prefix was from the Middle English, from words borrowed from the Middle French, from the Latin ex (out of, from), from the primitive Indo-European eǵ- & eǵs- (out).  It was cognate with the Ancient Greek ἐξ (ex) (out of, from), the Transalpine Gaulish ex- (out), the Old Irish ess- (out), the Old Church Slavonic изъ (izŭ) (out) & the Russian из (iz) (from, out of).  The “x” in “ex-“, sometimes is elided before certain constants, reduced to e- (eg ejaculate).  Cogitate was from the Latin cōgitāre, the present active infinitive of cōgitō and related to the old form coitare.  More common words in a similar vein (if not exactly synonymous) include ponder, develop, consider, deliberate, devise, study, contrive, educe, contemplate, frame, weigh, perpend, ruminate & conceive.  Excogitate is a verb, excogitation & excogitator are nouns, excogitable & excogitative are adjectives and excogitated & excogitating are verbs; the most common noun plural is excogitations.

Consider the student learning the English language.  Diligently, they have memorized the meaning of the useful word “cogitate” and, familiar with the concept of the “ex-boyfriend”, move on to “excogitate”, deciding it must mean something like either “used to think”, “no longer thinking” or “not thinking deeply”.  That would be logical but English doesn’t always follow a logical path and “cogitate” & “excogitate” are synonyms and both refer to the act of thinking deeply and carefully about something, the choice of which to use dictated by their nuance.  Cogitate means “to ponder or think deeply or at length about something with the intention of reaching a conclusion or finding a solution”.  Excogitate implies a more intense or rigorous mental effort, often involving a complex or abstract subject matter, suggesting a process of thinking that involves extracting or deducing information from one's own thoughts or memory, or from external sources, and using it to form a new idea or find some creative solution.  In short, “cogitate” implies a reflective, contemplative process, while “excogitate” suggests a more active, intense form of thinking, involving analysis and synthesis.  The difference therefore can be thought of the distinction between the places to which the process goes.

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

If that splitting of hairs appeals then there’s also academic philosophy where the concept of metacogitate is a thing describing thinking about the thought itself.  The construct was meta- + cogitate and the “meta-” in this case was used as it was in metaphysics to allude to matters fundamental or foundational.  Of course, being philosophy, it could be understood either as the act of thinking about one's own thoughts or a consideration of one’s own cognitive processes and there wasn’t of necessity any connection between metacogitation and metacognition although one could sometimes be found.  Given that, perhaps remarkably, the philosophy departments seem never have dragged into English the Latin verb recōgitāte, the second-person plural present active imperative of recōgitō (I consider or reflect; I examine or inspect).