Logo

Logo (pronounced loh-goh)

(1) A graphic representation (a visual symbol) of a institutional name or trademark (occasionally called a logotype).

(2) In computing (as Logo), a high-level programming language widely used to teach children the foundation of coding.

(3) In printing, a logotype.

(4) An ensign, a badge of office, rank, or power (now mostly archaic except in formal use in some branches of the military.

(5) In scientific documents, a single graphic which contains one or more separate elements.

(6) As “sonic logo”, a sound or short melody associated with a brand and used in its advertising; a specific use of a jingle (the audio equivalent of a visually expressed logo).

(7) As Logo TV (spoken usually as “Logo”), a cable channel owned by Paramount Media Networks and originally focused on certain segments within the LGBTQQIAAOP community but now less specific.

1937: A clipping of logotype or logogram.  Logo was from the Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos) (translated usually as “word” but used (sometimes loosely) also in the sense of “speech, oration, discourse, quote, story, study, ratio, calculation, reason”).  As the prefix logo-, it operated as a combining form appearing in loanwords from Greek relating to “words, speech” (which produced forms such as logography) and the formation of new compound words (such as logotype).  A logogram is a character or symbol (usually non-alphanumeric but this is a practice rather than a definitional rule) which represents a word or phrase.  When used in the context of a word-game or puzzle, it should be styled as a logogriph.  In typography, a logotype is a single type combining two or more letters (the synonym being ligature (from the Middle English ligature, from the Middle French ligature, from the Late Latin ligātura, from the Classical Latin ligātus, past participle of ligāre (to tie, bind))) while in symbolism (usually but not necessarily commercial) it’s a symbol or emblem used as a trademark or a means of identification of an institution or other entity (the clipped form logo is almost universal in this context (and technically a synonym).  Logo is a noun; the noun plural is logos.

Lohanic logo: Lindsay Lohan’s corporate logo.

The IBM Logo

Good: The IBM logo in approved positive & reversed color schemes.

Known internally as the “8-bar”, the design of the IBM logo dates from 1972 and remains in its original form.  Despite the visual perception, the stripes alternate in height (the ratio being 11/10 or 10/11), something done to ensure they appear to be the same and whether the solid or the unfilled space is rendered larger depends on whether a light or dark background is used.  The other adjustment which is not immediately obvious is the variation in the points used in the counter shapes; the positive a sharp, the reversed more blunt.  The difference is too subtle to be noticed at a glance and again, is a designer’s technique to ensure optical integrity is maintained on both light & dark backgrounds.

Bad: Ways the IBM logo should not be deployed.

It’s apparently not an apocryphal tale there was a time when the only acceptable dress for men working for IBM was a blue suit and a white shirt.  That was relaxed but the rules regarding the use of the logo remain as stringent as ever and the preferred “core colors” come exclusively from the blue and gray families, the cautionary note added that while dark or light background colors both work well with the core colors, there must always be a minimum of five “steps” (the graduation of shades) between foreground and background colors to ensure an appropriate contrast and legibility. Any background color from the IDL color palette with sufficient contrast may be used with a core color 8-bar logo. Here are a few examples of possible color combinations.  Unapproved color combinations are banned as is the use of more than one color or any progression of gradients in the stripes.  Alignment is also specifically defined.  The 8-bar logo has both horizontal and vertical relationships with other objects (brand logotypes et al) which appear in the same image and the IBM logo is based on the cap height of the logotype or can scale larger by a defined ratio and must not be placed in containers of any shape.

Although the company traces it lineage to 1888 (by virtue of M&A activity), it was in 1924 the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) changed its name to International Business Machines (IBM) and the first logo used the whole name, stylized in the shape of a globe.  The present logo is an evolution of two earlier (1947 & 1956) designs which used solid text although the aspect ratios were essentially the same.

The logo you have when you’re not having a logo: McLaren MP4/4 (top) and Jordan EJ13 (bottom).  Around the turn of the century when Western governments began to extend the bans of print and television advertising for cigarettes to sporting sponsorship, the Formula One constructors found a loophole, removing the text while keeping the color schemes.  Semiotically, it worked well because Marlboro’s white chevron on a red background was so distinctive the message was conveyed even without the name.  Jordan, which ran with Benson & Hedges livery, changed the text to Be on Edge (BE(ns)ON (& H)EDGE(s) which was a nice touch.  The regulators amended their rules so outfits like fossil fuel companies took over the role.  They’ll be the next to be cancelled.

All publicity is good publicity: The Westinghouse logo on the hood of Caryl Chessman (1921–1960), gas chamber at San Quentin Prison, California, 2 May 1960.  The hoods were used to prevent the accumulation of cyanide particles in the hair.

Greenline

Greenline (pronounced green-lahyn)

(1) In Lebanon, a demarcation line which divided predominantly Christian East Beirut and the predominantly Muslim West Beirut, described during the civil war (1975-1990).

(2) In Cyprus, a demarcation line which divides the island between the Greek (south) and Turkish Cypriots (north), passing through the capital, Nicosia and described in 1974.

(3) In France, a demarcation line which divided the nation between the Nazi-occupied north (Zone nord) and the nominally independent (Vichy) south (Zone libre) and operative between 1940-1942 when the south was occupied and renamed Zone sud (Zone south) until the liberation of France in 1944.

(4) In Israel, the Armistice border, described in 1949 and following essentially the line of demarcation between the military forces of Israel and Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon & Syria at the conclusion of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.  It served as the de facto borders of the State of Israel between 1949 and the Six-Day War (1967).

(5) Any similar demarcation line between two hostile communities.

(6) To ease access to services to residents in specific areas, particularly by designating such areas as suitable for real-estate lending and property insurance.

1942 (the first generally acknowledged use in this context): The construct was green +‎ line (and also used commonly as green-line & green line and often with an initial capital).  The noun green was from the Middle English adjective grene, from the Northumbrian groene (green in the sense of the color of healthy, living plants which were growing & vigorous and used figuratively also to convey the meaning "freshly cut" or (of wood) “unseasoned”), from the earlier groeni, from the Old English grēne, from the Proto-West Germanic grōnī, from the Proto-Germanic grōniz, from the primitive Indo-European ghre- (to grow) and was related to the North Frisian green, the West Frisian grien, the Dutch groen, the Low German grön, green & greun, the German grün, the Danish & Norwegian Nynorsk grøn, the Swedish grön, the Norwegian Bokmål grønn and the Icelandic grænn.  The Proto -Germanic grōni- was the source also of the Old Saxon grani, the Old Frisian grene, the Old Norse grænn and the Old High German gruoni.  Line was from the Middle English line & lyne, from the Old English līne (line, cable, rope, hawser, series, row, rule, direction), from the Proto-West Germanic līnā, from the Proto-Germanic līnǭ (line, rope, flaxen cord, thread), from the Proto-Germanic līną (flax, linen), from the primitive Indo-European līno- (flax).  It was influenced in Middle English by Middle French ligne (line), from the Latin linea.  Greenline & greenlining are nouns & verbs, greenliner is a noun, greenlined is a verb & adjective; the noun plural is greenlines.

Green lines: Lindsay Lohan in Inhabit striped tie-back tube-top with Linea Pelle braided belt.

Around the planet, there have been many “Greenlines”, “Green Lines” and “Green-Lines”, the term often applied to rail-transport corridors, shipping companies and the boundary lines of spaces designated as “green”, usually in the context of environmental protection.  However, the best recognized use is now probably that from geopolitics where a “greenline” is a line described on a map to draw a demarcation between two hostile communities.  Such lines have existed for centuries, formally and informally but the first use of the term is generally thought to be the line drawn in 1940 which divided France between the Nazi-occupied north (Zone nord) and the nominally independent (Vichy) south (Zone libre).  It was operative between 1940-1942 when the south was occupied and renamed Zone sud (Zone south) and that arrangement lasted until the liberation of France in 1944.  It’s not known what the color was on the line originally drawn but the one which reached the Foreign Ministry in Berlin for approval was green and still exists in the US national archives.

The Cyprus Greenline.

In the troubled decades since, there have been many green lines and one of the best known is also illustrative of some of the phenomena associated with the concept.  Since 1974, after a conflict which was the culmination of years of disputes, the island of Cyprus has been divided by a Greenline, the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (the TRNC, recognized only by Republic of Türkiye) to the north and the Greek dominated Republic of Cyprus to the south.  The Greenline extends from east to west for 180 km (120 miles) and is a United Nations (UN) controlled buffer zone separating the two and constitutes almost 3% of the land mass.  The 1974 Greenline was actually an outgrowth, dictated by necessity, of a line drawn some ten years earlier in the capital, Nicosia, in response to communal violence and at certain places in the densely populated ancient city of Nicosia, the it’s now just a few metres across while at its widest point, it stretches 7.4 km (4.6 miles).  In most aspects of public administration the northern and southern zones function as separate states although during periods there is a remarkable degree of cooperation and a pragmatic sense of what it’s possible profitably to do without disturbing the status quo.  However, even at times of high stress, both sides continue to administer shared essential services, notably Nicosia’s sewerage system, the rationale being “you just can’t separate shit”.

A section of the Greenline which bisects Nicosia.

One thing the buffer zone has achieved is the creation of a significant wildlife refuge for many species and, like the exclusion zone declared after the meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power-plant in 1986, it has provided a habitat almost unique in Europe, its residents including the threatened Egyptian fruit bat, the endangered Mouflon sheep, the bee orchid, the Cyprus spiny mouse and the Eurasian thick-knee, a dwindling species of shorebird also known as a stone-curlew; all have multiplied in their new home.  Surveys have revealed the space has also become an important stopover and staging area for the migratory birds which use Cyprus during their spring and fall flights, buzzards, ospreys, harriers and the Northern lapwing (long in decline in Europe) all regular visitors.  Being a buffer zone, humans are excluded from the area but there are moves to extend environmental protection to the fragile areas directly beyond the borders as part of a plan to develop ecotourism and agritourism, producing and marketing “green” food from the area.  However, environmental awareness among Cypriots remains patchy and illegal dumping and poaching within the buffer zone remains prevalent.

The Museum of Barbarism, 2 Sehit Murruvet Ilhan Sok. Kumsal, Nicosia, Cyprus.

The Museum of Barbarism lies on the Turkish side of Nicosia just across a border crossing on the Greenline.  Essentially a static installation, frozen in both time and place, it's said to remain in almost exactly the same state as it was was found on Christmas Day, 1974.  The provided narrative states that on 24 December, Greek Cypriot irregulars forcibly entered the house of Dr Ilhan, a Major in the Turkish army who was that night on duty and in another place.  It's claimed the Doctor's wife, three children and a neighbor were killed by machine gun fire, six others seriously injured.

Telex

Telex (pronounced tel-eks)

(1) A two-way teletypewriter service channeled through a public telecommunications system for instantaneous, direct communication between subscribers at remote locations (sometimes with initial capital letter).

(2) A physical teletypewriter machine used to send or receive on such a service.

(3) A message transmitted by telex.

(4) To transmit such a message.

1932:  A compound coined word to describe "a communication system of teletypewriters", the construct being tel(eprinter) + ex(change).

The Telex

Although most associated with the clunky looking teleprinters used to type and send/receive messages, telex actually refers to the network over which the message traffic passed.  Point-to-point messaging like the telegraph long pre-dated the telex network and, being based on physical wires and cables, introduced into English the verbal shorthand for such messages: the wire and the cable.  Teleprinters evolved from the telegraph, both using binary signals, best understood by reference to Morse-code in that symbols were represented by the on/off of an electrical current.  Because this is so different from the variable voltage model of analog telephone systems, the telex network was wholly separate.

Slovenian news site, telex.si. 

The first telex network was built in Germany as a university research project in the later years of the Weimar Republic, the first commercial services being offered by the Reichspost (German post office) in 1932.  Adoption was slow until the post-war years but telex become widely popular after 1945 and by the 1960s was the de-facto standard for long-distance corporate communications.  It was a robust and high-security network with both error-checking for the message and a machine-2-machine answerback protocol under which the sending machine sent a WRU (WhoaReyoU) code to which the recipient machine would respond with the transmission of an unambiguous identifying code.  It meant it was difficult to send a message to an incorrect address; something a few eMail and Twitter users might wish existed on their systems.

Still a niche market.  

Telex is used now only by those prepared to pay the cost for very high security.  Although still available from swisstelex in some western European countries, telex is now almost entirely a relic except for niches like underground military installations or TvHF (telex via HF radio) which remains a required element of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System.  Telex generally went into decline as services like fax, eMail and SMS because ubiquitous.  These innovations, although technically much different for telex, were, to the users, lineal descendants, inheriting particularly the stylistic techniques of abbreviated English such as CUL8R or FYEO which the Nokia generation of the 1990s claimed as their invention.  Except for the swisstelex service, vendors offering telex emulation across various platforms do so without dedicated lines. 

Mass

Mass (pronounced mas)

(1) A body of coherent matter, usually of indefinite shape and often of considerable size.

(2) A collection of incoherent particles, parts, or objects regarded as forming one body.

(3) Aggregate; whole (usually preceded by in the).

(4) A considerable assemblage, number, or quantity.

(5) Bulk, size, expanse, or massiveness.

(6) In painting, an expanse of color or tone defining form or shape in general outline rather than in detail.

(7) A shape or three-dimensional volume that has or gives the illusion of having weight, density, and bulk.

(8) The main body, bulk, or greater part of anything.

(9) In physics, a physical quantity expressing the amount of matter in a body. It is a measure of a body's resistance to changes in velocity (inertial mass) and also of the force experienced in a gravitational field (gravitational mass); according to the theory of relativity, inertial and gravitational masses are equal.

(10) In pharmacology, a preparation of thick, pasty consistency, from which pills are made.

(11) In the Roman Catholic Church and certain Protestant Churches, the celebration of the Eucharist.

(12) In some religious rituals, the musical setting of certain parts of this service, as the Kyrie eleison, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei (sometimes with initial lowercase).

(13) In extractive mining, an irregular deposit of ore not occurring in veins.

Pre-900: From the Middle English masse, from the Old English mæsse from the Vulgar Latin messa & massa (mass; that which forms a lump) from the Church Latin missa, past participle of mittere (to send, dismiss), perhaps derived from the concluding dismissal in the Roman Mass, Ite, missa est, (Go, it is the dismissal).  Ultimate root was the Ancient Greek mâza (barley cake, lump, mass, ball), akin to mássein (to knead).  Mass is a noun, verb & adjective, massing is a noun & verb and massed is a verb; the noun plural is masses. 

The meaning "lump, quantity, size" is from the late fourteenth century, the sense a direct borrowing from the Old French masse (lump, heap, pile; crowd, large amount; ingot, bar") which had enjoyed the meaning since the eleventh century, under the influence of the Latine massa (kneaded dough, lump, that which adheres together like dough), probably from Greek mâza related to mássein from the primitive Indo-European root mag- (to knead); related was the Lithuanian minkyti (to knead), root of macerate.  The sense extended in English in the 1580s to "a large quantity, amount, or number" and the strict sense in physics is from 1704.  It was first used as an adjective in 1733 and was used thus in biology in the nineteenth century.  Mass-culture was first used (in sociology) in 1916; mass hysteria from 1914; mass media from 1923; mass movement from 1897; mass production from 1920; mass grave from 1918 and mass murder from 1880.

Increasing mass: Lindsay Lohan posts pregnancy progress pictures on Instagram.

Increasing Mass and the Higgs Field

In physics, mass is locked up energy; as an object accelerates, its mass will increase, mass here called “inertial mass”.  Inertial mass is the amount of resistance a physical object has to any change in its motion, this including the resistance a body has to acceleration or to directional changes.  According to the theory of relativity, gravitational mass is always the same as inertial mass; however, when describing an object’s mass increasing due to acceleration, it’s the inertial mass which increases.  So, as an object increases in speed, so does the amount of energy it has, this energy is what is referred to as “the increase in mass”.  It’s this relationship between mass and energy which explains why nothing can exceed the speed of light.  The energy of a particle diverges to infinity as it approaches the speed of light and because there cannot be infinite energy in a particle, the speed of light cannot be reached although particle physicists are divided about whether this was always true.  In the first fraction of a second after the big bang, almost all particles were massless, travelling at or beyond the speed of light until, sometime in that first second, the Higgs field came into existence, permeating the whole universe, giving mass to particles.

The now famous Higgs boson (known also as the Higgs particle) is a subatomic particle which was first described theoretically (as part of a mechanism which was initially referred to as the Higgs Mechanism and is now called the Higgs Field) in the 1960s by English theoretical physicist Peter Higgs (b 1929) and (independently) by a number of others.  The Higgs Field was “invented” because without its operation there was no way to account for the mass of bosons (one of two types of particles) and while bolting it onto the models physicists use for their calculations, it’s existence wasn’t proved until experiments conducted using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC, a very big particle accelerator) at the Conseil européen pour la recherche nucléaire (CERN; the European Organization for Nuclear Research).  The formal announcement of the verification of the existence of the Higgs boson (and by implication the field) was made in July 2012, the Nobel Prize in Physic awarded the following year to Higgs and Belgian theoretical physicist François, Baron Englert (born 1932) (technically the field is properly known as the Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism, noting the contribution of US theoretical physicist Robert Brout (1928-2011).

Inside the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a high-energy particle collider mounted in a 17 mile (27 km) long tunnel in a loop deep under the Swiss-French border near Geneva.

The boson is associated with the Higgs field, a form of energy which permeates the entire universe and can be conceptualized as part of the universe’s “fabric” although it’s not helpful to visually that literally but particles acquire their mass by interacting with this field, the Higgs boson the quantum excitation of the field.  Electrically neutral, the Higgs boson is very short-lived, decaying almost at the point of creation and its very existence can be detected only indirectly by an observation of the particles into which it decays.  It took decades to detect because until the LHC was fully operational, a machine capable of sustaining the experiment didn’t exist.  However, while the work at CERN is thought proof of the existence of the field but nothing beyond; how or why the field exists and why some particles interact more than others remains unknown.

Vice

Vice (pronounced vahys)

(1) An immoral or evil habit or practice.

(2) Immoral conduct; depraved or degrading behavior.

(3) A particular form of depravity.

(4) A fault, defect, bad habit or shortcoming.

(5) A character in the English morality plays, a personification of a general or particular vice, serving as the buffoon (with initial capital letter).

(6) In clinical pathology, a physical defect, flaw or infirmity (archaic).

(7) Instead of; in the place of.

(8) A combining form meaning “deputy,” used in the formation of compound words, usually titles of officials who serve in the absence of the official denoted by the base word.  Can be (1) pre-nominal (eg vice-president) if serving in the place of or as a deputy for or (2) in combination (eg viceroy).

(9) Any of various devices, usually having two jaws that may be brought together or separated by means of a screw, lever, or the like, used to hold an object firmly to permit things to be done to it.

Meanings (1– 6); 1250-1300: Middle English, borrowed from the Anglo-French & Old French from the Latin vitium (a fault or defect) which charmingly persists in Modern Italian as vezzo (usage, entertainment).  In the English-speaking world, police vice-squads attested from 1905.  The French construction vice anglais (corporal punishment; literally "the English vice") dates from 1942.

Meanings (7-8): 1760–1770; From the Latin vice (instead of) ablative of vicis (genitive; not attested in nominative) (interchange, alternation).

Meaning (9): 1300–1350; From the Middle English vis, borrowed from the Old French vis (a screw), from the Latin vītis (vine, plant with spiralling tendrils).  From the early fourteenth century, the meaning "device like a screw or winch for bending a crossbow or catapult" was widely applied to any tool or appliance which winds.  Root was the Latin viere (to bind, twist) and was used to describe the modern vice meaning “clamping tool with two jaws closed by a screw”.

Vice Magazine, 13 December 2017.

Los Angeles based Vice Media on 15 May 2023 formally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a mechanism in US corporate law which protects insolvent companies from immediate action by their creditors, enabling them to continue trading while undergoing a restructure or as a prelude to sale as a going concern.  It was one of the better known (along with BuzzFeed) of the media creations of the internet age which have recently struggled in the unforgiving environment which has emerged as the post-pandemic, high inflation economy has unfolded while institutions like Instagram and TikTok have proved more attuned to the demographic once presumed to be their audience, thus the precipitous shrinking of a revenue base so reliant on advertising.  The magazine was founded in 1994 and, edgy before the term was in general use, was successful and it adapted well to the then embryonic digital world and in addition to a website, soon branched into film production, music distribution and publishing.  Audaciously (or so it at the time seemed to some), Vice took on news gathering and distribution, this at a time when people still read, paid for and were advertised to in printed newspapers.  Among what came to be called the “legacy media” however, the threat was thought real and News Corporation invested tens of millions of dollars in Vice; others took notice and a recently as 2017 Vice Media Group was valued at US $5.7 billion.  In a statement issued shortly after the Chapter 11 filing, Vice said it expected “…to emerge as a financially healthy and stronger company in two to three months”. In the circumstances that seemed optimistic but if an ongoing entity emerges it will be have to be very different to what Vice was, its high-cost model never adaptable to a business model in which free on-line content was sustained by advertising, even when such revenue was considerably higher than now.  Vice's lenders have agreed to provide US$20m to maintain the operation during “an orderly sale process”, during which other corporations or investors can submit bids.  If no sale is achieved, Vice Media's lenders will acquire all assets for US$225 million, the process is expected to take about two-three months.

Vice in the UK and US

In the sense of “deputy”, the use of vice in the UK (and the Commonwealth including Australia) can differ from that in US.  In the UK and Australia for example, a university vice-chancellor is really the CEO and the chancellor a ceremonial figurehead.  In the US a university president is in charge and their vice-president either an assistant or deputy.  It’s because these structures follow their respective country’s constitutional arrangements for government.  The UK has many such appointments, some of which became mere sinecures, others being active positions.  Vice-Admirals of the United Kingdom (and the earlier VAs of England and GB) have existed almost continuously since their creation in 1545 by Henry VIII and was the second most powerful office of the Admiralty, indeed until 1801, styled as Lieutenant of the Admiralty and the VA was deputy to the Lord High Admiral.  It’s another of those now honorary offices which litter the British establishment.

Portrait of Emma, Lady Hamilton (circa 1782), oil on canvas by George Romney (1734-1802).  Emma Hamilton (1765-1815) was the mistress of Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson (1758-1805) and muse of the society portraitist, George Romney.

Adumbrate

Adumbrate (pronounced a-duhm-breyt or ad-uh m-breyt)

(1) To produce a faint image or resemblance of; to outline or sketch.

(2) To foreshadow; prefigure.

(3) To darken or conceal partially; overshadow.

(4) To give a faint indication of something.

1550s: From the Latin adumbrationem (nominative adumbratio) and adumbratus (shaded), past participle of adumbrare (to cast a shadow upon).  Ultimate root was umbrare (to cast in shadow).  The meaning "to overshadow" is from the 1660s at which time emerged the derived forms adumbrated and adumbrating and related forms are adumbration (noun), adumbrative (adjective) and adumbratively (adverb).

Lindsay Lohan adumberated.  Mercedes-Benz Academy Awards Party, Los Angeles, 2009.

Chevron

Chevron (pronounced shev-ruhn (U) or shev-run (non-U))

(1) In heraldry, an ordinary in the form of an inverted V-shaped charge on a shield, one of the most ancient of the English ordinaries.

(2) An insignia consisting of stripes meeting at an angle, worn on the sleeve by non-commissioned officers (NCO) in the military, police officers etc, as a mark of rank (variously upwards or downwards), length or service or for other purposes (usually always upwards).  In casual use, the use to the display the NCO ranks are referred to as “stripes”.

(3) In interior decorating, an ornamental form in a zigzag pattern used often on moldings and also called a dancette; the design most historically most associated with romanesque architecture in France, England and Sicily.

(4) In the manufacture of fabrics, as chevron weave, the application of the shape (the herringbone a subset of this use).

(5) In road-traffic management (1) a pattern of horizontal black and white V-shapes on a road sign indicating a sharp bend (usually in the plural) or (2) one of the V-shaped markings on the surface of roads used to indicate minimum distances between vehicles (use varies between jurisdictions).

(6) In design, any V-shaped pattern or device.

(7) In language, an informal term for the guillemet, either of the punctuation marks “«” or “»”, used in several languages to indicate passages of speech (the equivalent convention in the English language the same placement of inverted commas (“_”).

(8) In language, as “inverted chevron”, an informal term for a háček, a diacritical mark resembling an inverted circumflex.

(9) In publishing, an angle bracket used both as a typographic and scientific symbol.

(10) In architecture, a rafter (a specialized type of strut or beam) of this shape, usually load-bearing and supporting a structure such as a roof and sometimes exposed, doubling as a decorative device.

(11) In aerospace, components fashioned in a saw-tooth patterns used internally (and externally (briefly) on exhaust nacelles as a noise-suppression mechanism) in jet engines.

(12) In anatomy, a bone of this shape.

(13) In entomology, the moth Eulithis testata.

(14) In geology, (1) a fold of this shape in layers of rock and (2), a sediment deposit in this shape across the surface.

(15) In pediatric medicine, as chevron nail, a rare transient fingernail ridge pattern seen only in children.

(16) In mathematics, as chevron plot, a technique of data representation.

(17) In computing, the informal term for the angle bracket when used in HTML (also sometimes called the “wicket” reflecting the English origins of HTML in the Conseil européen pour la recherche nucléaire (CERN; the European Organization for Nuclear Research)).

(18) In folk arts & crafts, as chevron bead, glass beads in this shape.

(19) A style of moustache in this shape.

(21) In music, a wavy line indicating a trill

(22) In the optical devices associated with ballistics, a symbol used in reticles in firearm scopes.

1300–1350: From the Middle English cheveroun, from the Old French chevron (rafter; chevron), from chévre (a goat), from the Vulgar Latin capriōnem & capriōn- (stem of capriō), ultimately from the Latin caper (goat).  The alternative spelling was cheveron which in commercial use is still used, presumably as means to achieve product differentiation.  Chevron is a noun & verb, noun, chevroned & chevrony (also as chevronny) are adjectives, chevroning & chevroned are verbs and chevronwise is an adverb; the noun plural is chevrons.

Late twelfth century doorway at Gradefes Convent, Spain.

The technical class into which architects classify decorative (as opposed to structural) chevrons is “inflected ornament” or, in the slang the “zig-zag” (or zigzag) and they were widely used in romanesque architecture in France, England and Sicily.  In this decorative mode, it’s though at least one inspiration for their use was the metal casings frequently seen in early wood columns.  The meaning of the word in French is said to be based on structural engineering, the reference the rafters of a shallow roof, the idea based on there being some resemblance to the rather angular hind legs of a goat, the Vulgar Latin capriōnem & capriōn being from the Classical Latin caper (goat).  This actually had echoes in the Latin capreolus (props, stays, short pieces of timber joined at angles for support) which translated literally as “wild goat; chamoix”.  However, some historians of architecture doubt the story about the hind legs, suggesting the image was more likely the horns of a butting goat and there’s some support for this in that the first use of the word in English was in heraldry when chevrons began appearing on shields, the horns of a charging beast presumably more appealing to the military mind than the beast’s back legs.

1938 Citroën 11B Traction Avant Coupé (sometime referred to as the Faux Cabriolet) with the company’s distinctive double chevron emblem in the radiator grill.

Designed by French engineer André Lefèbvre (1894-1964) and Italian industrial designer Flaminio Bertoni (1903-1964), the Citroën Traction Avant was introduced in 1933 and was the machine which more than any other legitimized both unitary construction (ie no separate chassis) and the front-wheel-drive (FWD) configuration (Traction Avant translates literally as “front traction”) in mass-produced cars.  Although a great success and in production until 1956 (with severe disruptions during wartime occupation 1940-1944), the costs incurred in its development and the tooling needed for volume production meant that by 1934 the company was compelled to declare bankruptcy, taken over by Michelin, the most exposed creditor by virtue of having for some time supplied tyres on the basis of “delayed payment”.  Although total Traction Avant production exceeded 760,000, there were only 15 coupés, all from the pre-war years and of these, only four were built in 1938.

1935 Citroën TA22 Traction Avant prototypes, cabriolet (left) and saloon (right).  To mark the installation of a V8, an appropriate numeral adorned the double chevron.  Unfortunately, because the chevrons weren’t inverted, the chance to make a “V8” statement was missed.  Perhaps the French found such a thing vulgar.

Another genuine rarity among the Traction Avants was the TA22, an intended top-of-the-range version equipped with a 3.8 litre (232 cubic inch) V8 created by joining two of Citroën’s 1.9 litre (116 cubic inch) four-cylinder units in a common crankcase.  Apparently 20 were built but the combination of the financial turmoil of bankruptcy and Michelin’s subsequent rationalization saw the project abandoned and although there are many stories about the fate of the prototypes, eighty years on none have ever surfaced so it’s reasonable to assume none survived (at least not with the unique power-train) although there have been some privately built (partial) recreations, most using some variation of the contemporary Ford Flathead V8 including the 2.2 litre (136 cubic inch) version which was used in Europe or the later 2.4 litre (144 cubic inch) unit built by Ford’s French operation (the tooling for which was sold to Simca which, in small volumes, offered V8 cars between 1954-1961.

Daimler SP250 (1959-1964).  Citroën’s double chevron remains their corporate emblem even though they no longer produce interesting or innovative machinery, their range in recent decades dreary and derivative.  Many others however use chevrons and inverted chevrons from time to time, sometimes as part of emblems as Cadillac has done and sometimes as a decoration.  Quite what the designers thought a chevron added to the Daimler SP250’s catfish-like face isn’t recorded but opinion seems to remain divided because some owners appear to have removed the embellishment.  Daimler didn't take advantage of the chevron to add an "8" either, even though that the time their marvelous little hemi-head 2.5 litre (155 cubic inch) V8 was a unique selling point.  They may have thought the splendid exhaust note was a sufficient advertisement.  

Boeing 747-8 with chevrons in the engine nacelles.

Not all exhaust notes were as pleasing as those emitted by the Daimler V8s and for some years Boeing produced passenger airliners with chevrons cut into the engine nacelles, a trick which reduced the blast noise by up to 15 decibels on the ground and in the forward cabin, the engineers referring to this as “fan-tone” adjustment.  Boeing defined and patented the technology as part of its second Quiet Technology Demonstrator (QTD2) program in 2005 and it was adopted (regardless of whether the installed engine was supplied by General Electric, Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney or CFM) for the 787 Dreamliner, 737 MAX aircraft and even the 747-8, the last generation of the old workhorse.  One benefit of a lower fan-tone was that Boeing was able to reduce the mass of sound deadening fitted to the fuselage by some 600 lbs (272 kg), something which made a measurable difference to the rate of fuel burn.  The QTD2 programme was conducted in conjunction with General Electric and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), using a Boeing 777-300ER as a benchmark device, a notable choice given it was already the quietest in its class.

Lindsay Lohan in chevron themed ensemble with gladiator sandals, Ibiza, Spain, July 2014.

Curiously, given they were dealing with the same physics Airbus never used the chevrons on the nacelles of their airplanes and according to them, Boeing’s patent had no effect on their decision.  Airbus say they detected no advantages when testing the chevrons but there was a penalty because fuel consumption increased.  Instead, Airbus developed what they call a “zero splice” acoustic inner barrel to lower the fan-tone, the combination of new-generation insulation materials and the zero-splice’s “high-bypass” technology achieving a similar outcome, without the additional weight and fuel burn induced by the chevrons.  Boeing too has recently announced development of the chevrons would not continue and despite the early publicity shots of the 777X being built with the chevrons, the production versions have appeared without them.  That attracted some comment and Boeing released a statement which indicated the change was part of normal product development and that while the chevrons were at the time a way to achieve noise reduction, ongoing research has found a method which achieves that without the associated costs in drag, weight and thus fuel burn.  The essence of the new system appears to be the application of a honeycomb acoustic treatment in strategic areas of the exhaust ducting, the drilling of thousands of holes in the composite skin to disperse and capture noise in the core.  It’s noted however chevrons, for many reasons, remain an essential part of many internal components in jet engines, as they’ve been since the early days of the technology in the 1930s.