Appoggiatura

Appoggiatura (pronounced uh-poj-uh-too-r-uh or uh-poj-uh-tyoo- r-uh or ahp-pawd-jah-too-rah (Italian))

In musical composition, an ornament consisting of a non-harmonic note (short or long) preceding a harmonic one either before or on the stress (a note of embellishment preceding another note and taking a portion of its time).

1745-1755: From the Italian appoggiatura, from appoggiare (to lean; to prop; to support) from the Vulgar Latin appodiāre (present active infinitive of appodiō, from the Classical Latin podium) and related to the French appuyer, the Spanish apoyar and the Portuguese apoiar.  The meaning in music is for the sense of one note “propping up” another.

The Appoggiatura

As in many fields, fashions in music change.  There was a period, during the sixteenth century, when the rules of counterpoint were strict and discords permissible only if they were prepared and resolved in ways used in the previous sections; the only discord normally allowed on the strong beat was the suspension.  There the discord is prepared by the note being tied across from a weak to a strong beat and resolved onto the next weak beat; a type of syncopation.  In the mid-century however, there was a relaxation of the rules of voice leading which included experimentation with unprepared discords, the most important of which was the appoggiatura.  The appoggiatura started as a decorative note which displaced the first part of a note of a melody.  It occurred on the strong beat of the bar and could be either dissonant or consonant but in either case, the appoggiatura resolved (upwards or downwards) onto a consonance but, unlike the suspension, did not require to be prepared or tied from a previous note.  In order to overcome the earlier rule that all discords had to be prepared, the appoggiatura was originally shown as an ornament but later was written out in full.

An ornament: Bach, Orchestral Suite in B minor for flute and strings: Menuet.

That was just a fudge, a composer paying respect to a rule while breaking it because, as played, an appoggiatura is not a short ornament, it takes usually up a full half of the length of the note that it resolves onto and if resolved onto a note three beats long, it takes up a third or two thirds the length.  The appoggiatura is usually connected with the main harmony note by a slur and is normally played with a small degree of emphasis.

Haydn: Sonata in G major XVI:27 Allegro con Brio.

Haydn shows appoggiaturas at *1, *2 and *3, now written out in-full as was normal practice in the classical period. Their identity as elaborating notes is given away by the presence of the slurs.

The two superstars of the 1950s.  Maria Callas (1923-1977)  and Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962), back-stage after the "Happy Birthday Mr President" performance, Madison Square Garden, New York, 19 May 1962.  Within three months, Marilyn Monroe would be dead.

December 2 2023 marked the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the singer Maria Callas, the soprano who remains still more famous than any other and the subject of a cult, something attributable certainly to her art but the tempestuous life she led off the stage attracted many; in the very modern sense of the word, Callas was a celebrity.  What Callas is in 2023 is thus a construct, a mix of myth, discography, and public persona although it’s more correct to say she’s a number of constructs; the criteria of trained musicians and critics likely to differ from those who just listen.  She was neither the most technically accomplished nor the most refined singer and yet, as Sir Rudolf Bing (1902–1997; General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York (the Met)) famously noted, “having once heard Callas, it was difficult to listen to anyone else sing the same music”.  That was because whatever the technical flaws or deliberate departures from what had become the accepted techniques of the mid-twentieth century, Callas brought to every performance a thrilling intensity which made the characters come alive in a way even the most virtuosic of her contemporaries couldn’t quite match.

The critics impressed only by technical ecstasy liked to label Callas a “singing actress” and there’s something in that but not in the way they mean; the “acting” wasn’t there to compensate for the voice, it was a part of the voice.  There are several recordings of the “madness” scene in Gaetano Donizetti's (1797–1848) Lucia di Lammermoor (1835) in which, as an exercise in singing, the performances are more accomplished yet it’s the Callas version which is the definitive because only she can send a shiver down the spine.  It was in the interpretation, just as it was when, in Giuseppe Verdi’s (1813–1901) Otello (1886), she played with layers of vocal tones variously to convey feelings of warm nostalgia, paranoia, depression and impending death.  Whatever was in the score to be expressed, it’s there but it wasn’t done with vocal pyrotechnics, indeed Callas, in both studio recordings and live performances often eschewed the cadential trills and appoggiature which, although unwritten, had entered Opera in the seventeenth century and become a signature of sopranos since at least the early nineteenth.  What she did with her voice has been called a kind of “operatic word-painting”, a lending of emotional depth which enabled her, more than any other to transcend the theatrical artificiality of opera and it’s this quality which means even roles for which she seemed an improbable choice (such as Giacomo Puccini’s (1858–1924) Madam Butterfly (1904)) demand attention.

Audacity

Audacity (pronounced aw-das-a-tee)

(1) Boldness or daring, especially with confident or arrogant disregard for personal safety, conventional thought, or other restrictions.

(2) Effrontery or insolence; shameless boldness.

1400–1450: From the late Middle English audacite, from the Latin audacis, from audāc, stem of audāx (bold; daring, rash, foolhardy).  The –ity suffix is an import from Latin via French and is used to form a noun from an adjective, especially to form nouns referring to the state, property, or quality of conforming to the adjective's description.  The other Latin forms were audacitas (boldness) and audeō (I am bold, I dare).  In English, the meaning "presumptuous impudence", implying a contempt of moral restraint, is from 1530s.  Audacity & audaciousness are nouns, audacious is an adjective and audaciously is an adverb; the noun plural is audacities (the rarely seen audaciousnesses is a real word). 

HMS Audacity

HMS Audacity was an example of the improvisation required of the Admiralty during the early years of the Second World War when the Navy’s resources were stretched.  The first of her kind, she was originally the German merchant ship SS Hannover, which the Royal Navy captured in 1940, renaming her first Sinbad, then Empire Audacity.  Under the prize laws of war, her cargo, including twenty-nine barrels of pickled sheep pelts, was sold.

HMS Audacity at sea with her Wildcat fighter aircraft secured on the after end of the flight deck, 1940 (left) and the wreck of HMS Audacity (right).  Such was the urgency that there was no time to construct hangers so the aircraft were exposed to the elements at all times.

A minimalist conversion typical of wartime necessity, the early escort carries were true flattops, having no superstructure above the flight deck.  As HMS Empire Audacity, she was commissioned as an "Ocean Boarding Vessel" but in early 1941 was quickly converted to an “escort carrier”, a rudimentary aircraft carrier used to cover shipping vulnerable to submarine attack in the "mid-Atlantic Gap" where there was no air cover from land-based aircraft.  The navy was short of such craft and re-launched her as HMS Audacity.  Traditionally superstitious, sailors have long held that it’s bad luck to rename a ship and so it proved.  Audacity’s pilots had inflicted losses on both German submarines and aircraft and in December 1941, a U-Boat wolf-pack stalking the convoy Audacity was escorting attacked the carrier which sank in little more than an hour, the wreck lying some 500 miles (430 nautical miles; 800 km) west of Cabo Finisterre (Cape Finisterre), a rocky peninsula on Spain's Galician coast.  One notable thing Audacity's brief service did was provide to the Admiralty the needed proof of concept of the inprovised Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier (AAC).  Using very few pilots and aircraft, she proved highly successful in countering the menace of the Luftwaffe's long-range Focke-Wulf Fw 200 (Condor) aircraft and was effective also against the U-Boats.

Lindsay Lohan’s 2012 photo-shoot by Terry Richardson (b 1965) was labelled by admirers as “audacious” although many others were less approving.  A decade on it’s interesting to speculate whether the gun or the cigarette would now be more controversial.

Garland

Garland (pronounced gahr-luhnd)

(1) A wreath or festoon of flowers, leaves, or other material, worn for ornament or as an honor or hung on something as a decoration; an accolade or mark of honor.

(2) To crown, adorn or deck with such an object.

(3) A representation of such a wreath or festoon.

(4) In publishing, a collection of short literary pieces, as poems and ballads; a literary miscellany.

(5) In nautical use, a band, collar, or grommet or ring of rope lashed to a spar for convenience in handling.

(6) In admiralty jargon, a netted bag used by sailors to store provisions.

(7) In mining, a metal gutter installed around the inside of a mineshaft, to catch water running down inside the shaft and funnel it into a drainpipe.

1275–1325: From the Middle English gerlande, gerelande, garlande & garland (used to mean both "wreath of flowers" & "crown of gold or silver), from the Old French garlande, garlaunde, gerlande & guerlande (from which Modern French gained guirlande) from the Frankish wierlōn & wieralōn, a frequentative form of the Frankish wierōn (to adorn, bedeck), from wiera (a gold thread), akin to the Old High German wieren (to adorn) & wiara (gold thread).  The Frankish forms alluded to the notion of "an ornament of refined gold" (most likely "of twisted gold wire"), from the Proto-Germanic wira- & wera-, a suffixed form of the primitive Indo-European root wei- (to turn, twist).  Variations of garland exist in many Romanic languages including the Old Spanish guarlanda, the French guirlande, the Italian ghirlanda and the Portuguese grinalda.  The verb in the sense of "to make a garland" or "to crown with a garland" emerged in the late sixteenth century.  Garland & garlanding are nouns & verbs, garlanded is a verb & adjective, garlander is a noun and garlandless is an adjective; the noun plural is garlands.

Commitment issues: Hamlet and Ophelia by Agnes Pringle (1853-1934)

Flowers appealed to William Shakespeare (1564–1616) as a literary device because their myriad of attributes, color, shape, fragrance, thorns, fragility etc, offered so many metaphors for the human condition.  In the plays, over two-hundred species of plants are mentioned and thirty-odd scenes are set in gardens or orchids.  In Hamlet (Act IV, scene 5), there’s a harvest in Ophelia’s garland speech to her brother Laertes:

There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember.  And there is pansies, that's for thoughts.  There's fennel for you, and columbines. There's rue for you, and here's some for me; we may call it herb of grace o' Sundays.  O, you must wear your rue with a difference.  There's a daisy.  I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died. (Act IV, scene 5)

There were fantastic garlands did she come. Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies and long purples, that liberal shepherds give a grosser name, but our cold maids do dead men’s fingers call them. (Act IV, Scene 7)

There were fantastic garlands did she come, Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies and long purples. (Act IV, Scene 7)

Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus or Rosmarinus officinalis (pre 2017).

Since Antiquity, rosemary has been associated with remembrance, Athenian students at study wore garlands of rosemary as a memory improvement tool.  The name is derived from the Latin rosmarinus (dew of the sea), a reference to its blue petals and habitat atop Mediterranean cliffs.  In Shakespeare's day, rosemary was in both the wedding bouquets carried by bridesmaids and the wreaths laid at funeral wreaths.  A contemporary poet, Robert Herrick (1591-1674) , wrote in a verse “Grow it for two ends, it matters not at all, Be it for my bridall or buriall."  In English folklore, a man who couldn't smell the fragrant shrub was thought incapable of loving a woman though in the same tradition, if rosemary was planted in front of a cottage, it was held to mean the woman was the head of the household.  That was one folk belief said to have caused the up-rooting of not a few plants.  Helpfully, it was said also to repel plague and witches while sleeping with a sprig beneath the pillow prevented nightmares.  But for Ophelia, distraught at her father's death and Hamlet's odd behavior, the mention of rosemary indicates to her brother and the Elizabethan audience her brittle feelings and lack of confidence: "Pray you, love, remember."

Daisy (Bellis perennis, bruisewort or woundwort).

The Daisy’s botanical name is friom the Latin bellis (pretty), the English from the Anglo Saxon daeges eage (day’s eye); poetically, that was because the petals open during the day and close at night.  Long associated with childhood and innocence, in Scotland and the north of England it’s known also as Bairnwort (bairn a dialectical word for child).  In Roman mythology, the daisy was the virginal nymph Belides who transformed herself into the flower to escape the sexual advances of the orchard god Vertumnus.  The flower was symbolic of the Greco-Roman goddesses Aphrodite and Venus as well as Freya, the Norse goddess of beauty and love for whom Friday is named. The legend is that daisies picked between noon and one can be dried and carried as a good luck charm and in English fields, to this day some children still make daisy chains although those who do grow up to become emos.  Unlike the other plants in Ophelia's garland, the daisy seems to possess only good connotations but Shakespeare has Ophelia announce the daisy but not hand it out, the implication being there’s no innocence or purity at court.

Pansy (Viola × wittrockiana).

The word pansy is from the French pensée (for thoughts), the botanical name tricolor a referece to the three main shades, white, purple and yellow, the heart shaped petals thought to help heal a broken heart, so it was known also as heartease.  Pansies, as Ophelia notes, are for thoughts and it was also used medicinally, a curative for cramps, hysteria and diarrhea in children.  In A Midsummer Night's Dream, the fairy King Oberon mixes a potion with the flower's juice: if dropped on the eyelids of a sleeper, it was said they would awake to fall in love with whatever they first see, hence the unfortunate Titania, Oberon's wife, falling in love with a donkey.

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare).

Apparently, fennel is among the vegetables children most dislike.  Pre-dating Shakespeare, Fennel was long regarded as an emblem of false flattery, noted famously in Robert Greene’s (1558-1592) Quip for an Upstart Courtier (1592), the link apparently being the seeds popularity as an appetite suppressant to aid fasting pilgrims, thus becoming symbolic of things that appear to give sustenance but have none.  Empty flattery to hunger.  Shakespeare used fennel often, Falstaff mentioning it in Henry IV, Part 2 and for Ophelia, it’s an allusion to her sterile love affair with Hamlet.

Columbine (Aquilegia or granny's bonnet).

The Columbine, known also as granny’s bonnet, was a wild flower but its beauty made it a popular Elizabethan garden flower, the botanical name from the Latin aquila (eagle) because the petals were thought to resemble an eagle’s talons.  In a more gentle avian vein, the English is derived from the Latin columba (dove), a reference to its nectaries being vaguely reminiscent of the heads of doves.  To Shakespeare, the columbine had a number of symbolic associations.  The poet George Chapman (1559-1634) suggested it was emblematic of ingratitude and William Browne (1590–1645) declared it stood only for forsaken and neglected love for in England it also symbolized cuckoldom as the nectaries did look like horns.  More helpfully, as the "thankless flower", the seeds, if taken with wine, were said to induce labor.

Rue (Ruta graveolens or herb-of-grace).

By Shakespeare’s time, rue had been for centuries a symbol of sorrow and repentance and it’s a long, fabled history. Rue was the plant that King Mithridates VI of Pontus (135-16 BC) imbibed to protect himself against poisoning and the Greek physician Hippocrates (circa 460-circa 370 BC) recommended it to relieve rheumatic pains, heart palpitations and menopausal symptoms.  The herb's name is derived from the Greek ruta (repentance) and the Athenians used it while dining with foreigners to ward off evil demons, spells and spirits whereas in Ancient Rome it was said to improve eyesight.  Its other names, Herb o' Grace or Herb o' Sundays, refers to the sorrow and resulting grace one feels after true repentance and the suit of clubs in a deck of cards was modeled after rue's fleshy, oblong leaves.  It remains a call to regret and repent past evil deeds; due to its strong aromatic smell and bitter taste, the plant has long been symbolic of sorrow, regret and repentance, hence the expression “you’ll rue the day”.  In Elizabethan England (1558-1603), it was carried around as protection against plague and witchcraft and even as an insect repellent. When Ophelia hands it to Queen Gertrude in Hamlet, it is a subtle rebuke of her faithlessness.  In moderation, rue was used to hasten labor but in larger doses, was known to be an abortifacient, hence the speculation that when Ophelia utters the lines "there's rue for you, and here's some for me", it’s a confession of unwanted pregnancy and another reason for ending her life.

Violet (Viola).

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) in his essay Of Gardens (1625) wrote the violet was “that which above all others yields the sweetest smell” and they’ve always been prized too for their beauty.  Despite this, there’s the association with melancholy and early death, expressed in Hamlet when Ophelia laments she has no Violets to give to the court because “they withered when my father died” and it’s Laertes’ wish that violets “may spring” from Ophelia’s grave.  There’s a duality of meaning in Ophelia’s statement; she’s lamenting not only the death of her father the lack of faithfulness and fidelity in the court.

Lindsay Lohan in sheer black gown with embroidered garlands, Francesco Scognamiglio's (b 1975) spring 2015 collection, Naples, June 2015.

Accouterment

Accouterment (pronounced uh-koo-ter-muhnt or uh-koo-truh-muhnt)

(1) A clothing accessory or a piece of equipment regarded as an accessory (sometimes essential, sometimes not, depending on context).

(2) In military jargon, a piece of equipment carried by a soldier, excluding weapons and items of uniform.

(3) By extension, an identifying yet superficial characteristic; a characteristic feature, object, or sign associated with a particular niche, role, situation etc.

(4) The act of accoutering; furnishing (archaic since Middle English).

1540-1550: From the Middle French accoutrement & accoustrement, from accoustrer, from the Old French acostrer (arrange, sew up).  As in English, in French, the noun accoutrement was used usually in the plural (accoutrements) in the sense of “personal clothing and equipment”, from accoustrement, from accoustrer, from the Old French acostrer (arrange, dispose, put on (clothing); sew up).  In French, the word was used in a derogatory way to refer to “over-elaborate clothing” but was used neutrally in the kitchen, chefs using the word of additions to food which enhanced the flavor.  The verb accouter (also accoutre) (to dress or equip" (especially in military uniforms and other gear), was from the French acoutrer, from the thirteenth century acostrer (arrange, dispose, put on (clothing)), from the Vulgar Latin accosturare (to sew together, sew up), the construct being ad- (to) + consutura (a sewing together), from consutus, past participle of consuere (to sew together), the construct being con- + suere (to sew), from the primitive Indo-European root syu- (to bind, sew).  The Latin prefix con- was from the preposition cum (with), from the Old Latin com, from the Proto-Italic kom, from the primitive Indo- European ḱóm (next to, at, with, along).  It was cognate with the Proto-Germanic ga- (co-), the Proto-Slavic sъ(n) (with) and the Proto-Germanic hansō.  It was used with certain words to add a notion similar to those conveyed by with, together, or joint or with certain words to intensify their meaning.  The synonyms include equipment, gear, trappings & accessory.  The spelling accoutrement (accoutrements the plural) remains common in the UK and much of the English-speaking world which emerged from the old British Empire; the spelling in North America universally is accouterement.  The English spelling reflects the French pronunciation used in the sixteenth century.  Accouterment is a noun; the noun plural (by far the most commonly used form) is accouterments.

In the military, the equipment supplied to (and at different times variously worn or carried by) personnel tends to be divided into "materiel" and "accouterments".  Between countries, at the margins, there are differences in classification but as a general principle:  Materiel: The core equipment, supplies, vehicles, platforms etc used by a military force to conduct its operations.  This definition casts a wide vista and covers everything from a bayonet to an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM), from motorcycles to tanks and from radio equipment to medical supplies.  Essentially, in the military, “materiel” is used broadly to describe tangible assets and resources used in the core business of war.  Accouterments: These are the items or accessories associated with a specific activity or role.  Is some cases, an item classified as an accouterment could with some justification be called materiel and there is often a tradition associated with the classification.  In the context of clothing for example, the basic uniform is materiel whereas things like belts, holsters, webbing and pouches are accouterments, even though the existence of these pieces is essential to the efficient operation of weapons which are certainly materiel.

The My Scene Goes Hollywood Lindsay Lohan Doll was supplied with a range of accessories and accouterments.  Items like sunglasses, handbags, shoes & boots, earrings, necklaces, bracelets and the faux fur "mullet" frock-coat were probably accessories.  The director's chair, laptop, popcorn, magazines, DVD, makeup case, stanchions (with faux velvet rope) and such were probably accouterments.

In the fashion business, one perhaps might be able to create the criteria by which it could be decided whether a certain item should be classified as “an accessory” or “an “accouterment” but it seems a significantly pointless exercise and were one to reverse the index, a list of accessories would likely be as convincing as a list of accouterments.  Perhaps the most plausible distinction would be to suggest accessories are items added to an outfit to enhance or complete the look (jewelry, handbags, scarves, hats, sunglasses, belts etc) while accouterments are something thematically related but in some way separate; while one might choose the same accessories for an outfit regardless of the event to be attended, the choice of accouterments might be event-specific.  So, the same scarf might be worn because it works so well with the dress but the binoculars would be added only if going to the races, the former an accessory to the outfit, the latter an accouterment for a day at the track.  That seems as close as possible to a working definition but many will continue to use the terms interchangeably.

Emeritus

Emeritus (pronounced ih-mer-i-tuhs)

One retired or honorably discharged from active professional duty, but retaining the title of one's office or position.

1785-1795:  1785–1795: From the Latin ēmeritus (having fully earned) (tus the past participle suffix), past participle of ēmerēre, perfect passive participle of ēmereō (earn, merit, the construct being ex- +‎ mereō (earn, merit, deserve).  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).  The adjective was a learned borrowing from the Latin ēmeritus (having been) earned, (having been) merited; (having been) served, having done one’s service”), the perfect passive participle of ēmereō (to earn, merit; to gain by service (and in military use "to complete one’s obligation to serve, to serve out one’s time”), the construct understood as ex- (the prefix meaning "away; out") + mereō (to deserve, merit; to acquire, earn, get, obtain; to render service to; to serve), probably from a Proto-Italic cognate of the Ancient Greek μέρος (méros) (share, portion), from the primitive Indo-European smer- & mer- (to assign, allot)) + -eo.   Related were the Classical Latin merx and the Ancient Greek μείρομαι (meíromai) (to receive as one's portion or due).  The female equivalent, ēmerita is occasionally used, but as often happens with loanwords, the use of the donor language's inflectional system faces limits in the recipient language; in English, emeritus is often unmarked for gender.  Emeritus is a noun & adjective (the noun derived from the adjective); the noun plural is emeriti (from the Latin ēmeritī) (the form emerituses is rare but, under the rules of English construction, a correct (if inelegant) alternative).

Used for good and bad

Emeritus in its current usage, is an adjective used to designate a retired professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, or other person.  In some cases, the term is conferred automatically upon all persons who retire at a given rank, but in others, it remains a mark of distinguished service, awarded to only a few upon retirement.  It’s also used when a person of distinction in a profession retires or hands over the position, enabling their erstwhile rank to be retained in their title.  The term emeritus does not necessarily signify that a person has relinquished all the duties of their erstwhile position and they may continue to exercise some of them.  It seems first to have been used of retired professors in 1794, an American innovation.  It also attracts others.  Former Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin (Idi Amin Dada Oumee (circa 1925–2003; President of Uganda 1971-1979) styled himself:  His Excellency, President for Life, Professor Emeritus, Field Marshal Al Hadji, Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular.

Dr Rowan Williams (b 1950; Archbishop of Canterbury 2002-2012) and Pope Benedict XVI (1927–2022; pope 2005-2013, pope emeritus 2013-2022) at prayer, Lambeth Palace, September 2010.

Meanwhile, back at the Vatican:

Upon retirement, Benedict became Pope Emeritus, creating an unusual situation for Pope Francis (b 1936, pope since 2013) and one for which there was no precedent in living memory.  The sudden radicalism in the positions taken by Francis since his predecessor's death does seem to suggest Benedict’s very presence in the Vatican exerted some influence in matters such as papal appointments, some of Francis’ choices being thought too liberal to proceed while Benedict lived.  The presence was literal, Benedict living in a sort of papal granny flat, close to the centre of the Vatican.  It’s was said he lived quietly but his door was always to be open to cardinals and others who might like to call in for a yarn.  While not quite the uneasy feeling some recent prime-ministers (the UK and Australia come to mind) must have felt, knowing their predecessors were down the corridor scheming against them, Francis must have felt just a little constrained.  Since Benedict's funeral, things have changed.

Benedict talking, Francis listening.

Rupert Murdoch, Chairman Emeritus

Whether or not the consequence of certain legal difficulties (or the anticipation of more to come), Rupert Murdoch (b 1931) in September 2023 announced that in November he would be “transitioning from” the positions of chairman of Fox Corporation and executive chairman of News Corporation, his son Lachlan (b 1971) assuming the chairmanship of both.  Mr Murdoch will evolve into “chairman emeritus”.  Some decades earlier, Mr Murdoch had found the “emeritus” title a convenient thing to have around.  After the scandal of the forged “Hitler Diaries” which were published by the UK’s Sunday Times, the editor (Frank Giles (1919–2019) was told he was no longer in that position and had been moved to the newly created job of “editor emeritus”.  When he asked Mr Murdoch what that meant he was told: “It's Latin, Frank; the “e” means you're out and the “meritus” means you deserved it.”

Rupert Murdoch reading The Sun (2012).  Year earlier, when he added the topless "Page 3 girls" to The Sun, it was observed "Rupert Murdoch has discovered a gap in the market; the oldest gap in the world".

The internet reacted to the announcement as it usually does to anything said by Mr Murdoch: a mix of cynical amusement with a variety of suggestions about hidden agendas and ulterior motives.  The consensus was that as chairman emeritus Mr Murdoch would be far from “out” and from Fox News and News Corporation's mastheads, we should expect more of the same.  Interestingly, without any apparent sense of irony, in his letter to staff, Mr Murdoch, whose approach to politics, industrial relations and such has for decades been well-known, claimed that he was a champion of those oppressed by “elites”, saying he would continue to be “…involved every day in the contest of ideas”, warning the “battle for the freedom of speech and, ultimately, the freedom of thought, has never been more intense.  For my entire professional life, I have been engaged daily with news and ideas, and that will not change.  My father (Sir Keith Murdoch (1885–1952)) firmly believed in freedom, and Lachlan is absolutely committed to the cause. Self-serving bureaucracies are seeking to silence those who would question their provenance and purpose. Elites have open contempt for those who are not members of their rarefied class. Most of the media is in cahoots with those elites, peddling political narratives rather than pursuing the truth.  Our companies are communities, and I will be an active member of our community. I will be watching our broadcasts with a critical eye, reading our newspapers and websites and books with much interest, and reaching out to you with thoughts, ideas, and advice. When I visit your countries and companies, you can expect to see me in the office late on a Friday afternoon.”

Pyjamas

Pyjamas or Pajamas (pronounced puh-jah-muhz or Puh-jam-uhz)

(1) Night clothes, consisting usually of loose-fitting trousers and jacket.

(2) Loose-fitting trousers, usually of silk or cotton, worn by both sexes in Asia, especially in the East.

1799:  The plural of pyjama, a Hindi variant of pāyjāma, from the Persian paejamah (leg clothing); construct being pāy & pae (leg) from the primitive Indo-European root ped-(foot) + jāma or jāmah (garment).  The early forms were pajamahs & pai jamahs (loose trousers tied at the waist) describing the style worn by Muslims in India and adopted by Europeans, especially for nightwear.  Under the Raj, a variety of spellings in English were noted including pai jamahs (1800); pigammahs (1834), peijammahs (1840) and interestingly, none were geographically specific.  The modern US spelling was almost universal there by 1845; pyjamaed and pyjama are the adjectives, both rare.

Lindsay Lohan in pyjamas, The Canyons (IFC Films, 2013)

Under the Raj, the British adopted many local customs, including a fondness for the Sharia Courts where colonial administrators found it much easier to be granted a divorce than under English law, English judges usually as tiresome as English wives.  The traditional clothing of India, known as angarakha and suthan provided the model for the early forms of pyjamas and pai jamahs, worn by Muslims in India, soon found British favour, both as nightwear and comfortable clothing in the hotter months.  Pajamas, the modern spelling, was a US invention from 1845; British spelling is now split between that and pyjamas with the US form becoming more common.  Pyjamas, both word and garment, spread from the Raj to the wider Western world during the Victorian era, becoming fashionable sleeping attire for men circa 1870.  Unsuccessfully introduced in England in the early 1800s as lounging attire, they were re-branded as mogul's breeches when they were referred to with that term in The Fair Maid of the Inn but soon fell from fashion. Their popularity from the 1870s followed them being marketed as simple, functional, convenient nightwear.

The comedy The Fair Maid of the Inn was an early seventeenth century stage play attributed to the Jacobean playwright John Fletcher (1579–1625).  It was originally published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio (1647) although uncertainties have always surrounded the work’s date and even authorship, making it among the most widely disputed works in English Renaissance drama.  Fletcher is remembered for his many collaborations with the dramatist Francis Beaumont (circa 1585-1616), the two working together for almost a decade.  Whether it was true or bitchy theatre gossip, the legend was the two men lived together, sharing clothes (possibly pyjamas) and having "one wench in the house between them."  A "wench" could of course be a housemaid there to do the cooking & cleaning and such or she may have included "added value" services.  If ever it existed, this modern-sounding domestic arrangement was sundered upon Beaumont's marriage in 1613 and their professional partnership ended after he suffered a stroke later that year.

Pink pots & pans.  Paris Hilton (b 1981, left) and her mother Kathy Hilton (b 1959) in Christmas themed pyjamas, promoting Paris' new line of kitchenware, December 2022.

Baguette

Baguette (pronounced ba-get)

(1) In ad-hoc application, a descriptor (based on baguette in the sense of “stick” , “rod” or “wand”) for an object with a narrow, relatively long rectangular shape (applied in the past as baguette magique (magic wand), baguettes chinoises (chopsticks) & baguette de direction (conductor's baton)).

(2) In jewelry design, a small gem-stone in a rectangular shape, achieved by cutting & polishing.

(3) A gem-stone in this shape (used especially for diamonds).

(4) In architecture, a small convex molding (a narrow, relatively long rectangular shape, especially one in a semi-circular section.

(5) In zoology, one of the minute bodies seen in the divided nucleoli of some infusoria after conjugation.

(6) As an ethnic slur (can be mildly offensive, but also used neutrally or affectionately as an alternative to “frog”), a French person, or a person of French descent.

(7) A type of French bread, actually defined in law by the ingredients and methods of production but most associated with the long, narrow shape.

1720–1730: From the French baguette (or baguet) (a type of architectural ornament, based on the sixteenth century sense of the word as “a wand, rod, stick”), from the Italian bacchetta (literally “a small rod” and the diminutive of bacchio (rod), from the Latin baculum (a stick or walking-stick (and linked to the later bacillus)).  The construct was bacch(io) + -etta.  The –etta suffix (the feminine of –etto), as well as indicate the feminine was used also with inanimate nouns ending (usually ending in –a) to create a literal diminutive (such as with boteca (shop, store), rendering botechetta (small shop).  The term was first used in gem-stone cutting in 1926 and in countries where the French colonial history left some linguistic trace, baguette is applied to some items such as the gun-stick (the rod for forcing ammunition into the barrel of a gun and in Louisianan Cajun, it referred to the barrel itself).  Like English, Danish, German, Spanish and Swedish adopted the French spelling which in other languages the variations included the Czech bageta, the Greek μπαγκέτα (bagkéta), the Hebrew בגט‎ (bagét), the Norwegian (Bokmål & Nynorsk) bagett, the Portuguese baguete, the Romanian baghetă, the Russian баге́т (bagét) and the Turkish baget.  Baguette & baguet are nouns; the noun plurals are baguettes & baguets.

Beware of imitations: The baguette de tradition française.

The origin of the baguette (as it's now understood) is truly a mystery and there are so many tales that it's recommended people choose to believe which ever most appeals to the.  In France, a true baguette (Baguette artisanale) is made from ingredients and with a method defined in law while the famous shape is a convention.  Typically, baguettes have a diameter between 50-75 mm (2-3 inches) and are some 610-710 mm (24-26 inches) in length although the 1 m (39 inch) baguette is not unusual, popular especially with the catering trade.  It’s a little misleading to suggest the baguette was invented because for centuries loaves in the shape existed in many places around the world and recipes for the mixing of dough were constantly subject to changes imposed by the success of harvests, economics, supply-chain disruptions and simple experimentation.  The baguette instead evolved and its popularity was a thing of natural selection; it survived because people preferred the taste, texture and convenience of form while other breads faded from use.  It seems clear that the long, stick-like direct ancestors of the baguette began to assume their recognizably modern form in French towns and cities in the eighteenth century although doubtless there was much variation between regions and probably even between bakers in the same place.  The daily bread being the classic market economy, bakers would be influenced by losing sales to a more popular shop and so would adjust their mixes or techniques to attract customers back.  In this way a standardized form would have emerged and, in the French way, by 1920 the assembly had passed a law codifying the critical parameters (weight, size and price), formalizing the popular name baguette.  In 2003, the jocular slang "freedom bread" emerged to describe the baguette, an allusion to the "Freedom Fries" which replaced "French Fries" in US government staff canteens while there was tension between the White House and the Élysée Palace over France's attitude to the proposed invasion of Iraq.   

Lindsay Lohan in promotion for @lilybakerjewels, 2020.  The Rainbow Baguette Ring (centre) using stones cut in a true “baguette” rectangle whereas the Rainbow Bracelet used squares.

Globalization and modern techniques of mass production however intruded on many aspects of French lives and bakeries weren’t immune from the challenge of the cheap “baguette” sold by supermarkets.  Even among the boulangerie (a French bakery in which the bread must, by law, be baked on-premises) there were some who resorted to less demanding methods of production to compete.  As a matter of cultural protection, the assembly in 1993 enacted Le Décret Pain (The Bread Decree) which stipulates that to be described as pain maison (homemade bread), a bread needs to be wholly kneaded, shaped, and baked at the place of sale.  To limit the scope of the supermarkets (some of which were importing frozen, pre-prepared dough), rules also defined what pain traditionnel français (traditional French bread) may be made from and banning any pre-made components from baguettes.  Also retained was the relevant provision of the 1920 labor legislation which prohibits the employment of people in bread and pastry making between ten in the evening and four in the morning.  So, when visiting a boulangerie, it’s recommended to ask for a baguette de tradition française (usually as baguette de tradition) which is made from wheat flour, water, yeast, and common salt (reflecting modern practice, one may contain up to 0.5% soya flour, up to 2% broad bean flour and up to 0.3% wheat malt flour) and the dough must rest between 15-20 hours at a temperature between 4-6^o C (43-46^o F).  The less exalted baguettes ordinaires, are made with baker's yeast and a less exacting specification.

The French Ministère de la Culture’s (Ministry of Culture) L'inventaire national du Patrimoine culturel immatériel (National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage) in 2018 added the baguette to its index and in 2022, the artisanal know-how and culture of the baguette was added to UNESCO’s (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.  Already preserving the information about some 600 traditions from more than 130 countries, UNESCO noted the addition by saying it celebrated the French way of life, something of which the baguette, as a central part of the French diet for at least 100 years, was emblematic.  With some 16 million consumed in France every day, the “…the baguette is a daily ritual, a structuring element of the meal, synonymous with sharing and conviviality", a statement from UNESCO read, concluding it was “…important that these skills and social habits continue to exist in the future."