Protuberant

Protuberant (pronounced proh-too-ber-uhnt, proh-tyoo-ber-uhnt, or pruh-too-ber-uhnt)

Bulging out beyond the surrounding surface; protruding; projecting; swelling from the surrounding surface; bulging.

1640–1650: From the sixteenth century French protubérant (prominent beyond the surrounding surface), from the Late Latin protuberantem (nominative protuberans), present participle of prōtūberāre (to swell, bulge, grow forth), the construct being pro- (forward) + tuber (lump, swelling) from the primitive Indo-European root teue- (to swell).  The most common form in the Late Latin was prōtūberāre (to swell).  The verb protuberate (bulge out, swell beyond the adjacent surface) dates from the 1570s, from Late Latin protuberatus, past participle of prōtūberāre.  Protuberant is an adjective, protuberate is a verb, protuberance & protuberancy are nouns and protuberantly is an adverb.

Artwork not by PM&C.

In Australia, the Department of Prime-Minister & Cabinet (PM&C) recently released a new logo for the “Women’s Network”.  To the left of the construct was a cursive "W", the right stroke (the vertical diagonal line in a letter) adorned with a swash (a fancy or decorative replacement for a terminal or serif in an upper-case capital letter (although if the w is lower case (it’s hard to tell) this would be a flourish).  To the right was a capsular (technically a geometric stadium) protuberance which had been bitten into by the stylized W.  The logo’s graphical elements were rendered in a darkish purple which lightened to the right, the text below in two different sans serif fonts, one line in black, the other grey.  The design and placement of the text, though not obviously thoughtful, did at least add meaning to the graphic which might otherwise have been thought something to do with aubergines (eggplant).

Innocent interpretation: The aubergine (eggplant).

The logo proved to have a short life, withdrawn from circulation in response to complaints it resembled male genitalia; on Twitter, #logonono quickly trended.  Almost immediately the furor erupted, PM&C issued a statement saying the logo had been “removed” from its website “pending consultation with staff”.  Noting the phallic creation was part of a rebrand of staff DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) networks “to establish a consistent look and feel” between the logos used for various groups, PM&C added “the Women’s Network logo retained a ‘W’ icon which staff had been using for a number of years” which seemed an unnecessary clarification given nobody had objected to the W.  Anxious to assure the country that whatever controversy might have been induced by the purple protuberance, PM&C announced the “…rebrand was completed internally, using existing resources, and designs were consulted on widely.  No external providers were engaged for this work… (and that) the prime minister and the prime minister’s office were not part of this logo design.”

Graphic designers do seem sometimes unaware of the levels of anatomical comparison their work offers.

The errors cut across cultures.  Here technical advice from an architect would have helped, a historically correct second minaret should have been added and only a single dome depicted.

The attitude of critics was exemplified by the National Older Women’s Network, which issued a statement describing the logo as “either thoughtless or an insult” although as a re-branding exercise, the project had to be labeled a success, most of the country now aware of the existence of the Women’s Network, a mysterious body previously familiar probably only to a few dozen.  A discussion of what it does or whether it fulfils any useful purpose wasn’t stimulated by the outcry over the offending logo so whatever the Women’s Network was doing before, it presumably continues to do.  One thing it achieved was to flush out the competition; it seems there are in the country a number of organizations with "Women's Network" in their title.

Developed in 1973 for the Archdiocesan Commission of Catholic Youth, this logo won an award.  It was a more innocent time.

Perhaps the men involved in the “Women’s Network” design didn’t notice the shape of the protuberance because they were focused on the color, anxious to avoid what might once have been the obvious choice: pink.  That would of course have been condescending and gender-stereotyping so PM&C deserve some praise for this mater in which they weren’t involved.  Pink stuff for products aimed at the female market may be less of a thing than once it was but pink stuff aimed at men wanting a gift with a difference for women seems more of a thing than ever, pink tool kits popular gifts with sales spiking reliably in the run up to Valentine’s Day.  It works for novelties like hammers and screwdrivers but doesn’t have a good record as a marketing device writ large, failure exemplified by the Dodge La Femme.

Chrysler show cars, 1954.  Chrysler Le Comte (his, top) & Chrysler La Comtesse (hers, bottom).

Chrysler offered the La Femme package in 1955 and 1956 on certain Dodge models, a creation that was not a stylistic whim but a response to sociological changes in an unexpectedly affluent post-war US society in which women were found to be exerting a greater influence on the allocation of their family’s rising disposable income and of most interest to Chrysler was that those increasingly suburban families were buying second cars, women getting their own.  Adventurous color schemes were nothing new to Detroit, the cars of the art deco era noted for their combinations but things had been more subdued in the years immediately after the Second World War.  That changed with the exuberance of 1950s experimentation, reflected in the colors of the La Femme concept which had been previewed in two of the cars Chrysler displayed during the 1954 show season.  The Le Comte & La Comtesse attracted most attention for their clear Perspex roofs (a craze at the time which didn’t last long as buyers found themselves slowly being cooked) but, following the grammatical conventions of their French definite articles, they were very much a “his & hers” brace, the darker (black & bronze) Le Comte with a “masculine” image and the La Comtesse, painted in  "Dusty Rose" & "Pigeon Grey", a softer and more “feminine” look.

Dodge La Femme (1955-1956).

The public and critical response was sufficiently positive to encourage production and for the 1955 model year, the La Femme option was offered on the Dodge Custom Royal Lancer two-door hardtop, finished in a two-tone combination of "Heather Rose".(a shade of pink) & "Sapphire White", highlighted with gold-colored "La Femme" badges in a display script.  If the exterior was (almost) subdued, the interior, a sea of pink, was femininity laid on with a trowel.  Trimmed in a tapestry fabric unique to the La Femme which wove pink rosebuds on a silver-pink background with pastel-pink vinyl, confronting those who sat there was a dashboard painted in a bright-pink lacquer.

Dodge La Femme (1955-1956).

In a marketing ploy which turned out to be years ahead of its time, the La Femme also came with coordinated accessories, the centrepiece a pink calfskin handbag that fitted neatly into a storage compartment built into the back of the passenger’s seat, the shape of which included a scallop which meant the handbag’s escutcheon plate was visible, Dodge’s press-kits noting the brushed-metal was designed to permit the owner’s name to be engraved.  The handbag contained a compact, lipstick case, cigarette case, comb, cigarette lighter, and change purse, all made variously with faux-tortoiseshell or pink calfskin, both combined with anodized gold-tone metal.  In a matching compartment on the back of the driver’s seat was a matching compartment holding rain coat, rain-cap and an umbrella, all made with a vinyl patterned to match the rosebud interior fabric.  The design and production was by Evans of Chicago, a furrier and maker of fine accessories, famous for the display of "Black Diamond" mink coats in their flagship store at 36 South State Street.  Evans would later fall victim to the anti-fur movement which would lay waste to the industry.

Accessories by Evans of Chicago.

In toned-down form, the La Femme option re-appeared in 1956.  The external color combination was changed to a "Misty Orchid" & "Regal Orchid" scheme and the interior finish was simplified, the previous year’s tapestry fabric proving difficult to produce in volume.  The upholstery used a heavy white cloth with random patterns of short lavender and purple loops, matching the loop-pile carpeting and the accessories were fewer, restricted in 1956 to just the rain coat, rain cap and umbrella.  Over the two season, fewer than 2500 buyers chose the US$143 option and it didn’t re-appear in 1957.  Interestingly, (unverified) sources suggest at least three La Femme buyers chose the most powerful engine on the option list, Dodge’s D-500 (a 315 cubic inch (5.2 litre) V8 with hemi heads and a four-barrel carburetor); perhaps not all clung to 1950s gender stereotyping.

A simple solution.

Other manufacturers did offer feminine-themed cars in a similar vein including the pink Pontiac Parisienne, Chevrolet Impala Martinique, and Cadillac Eldorado Seville Baroness but none enjoyed much more success than the La Femme.  What in the US did prove a success with the female demographic was the new generation of more compact cars introduced in the early 1960s, women sensibly drawn to something smaller than the standard-size US automobile which after 1957 grew to an absurdly inefficient size.  Much later, there would be innovations in car design which women found genuinely helpful such as a hook on which a handbag could hang while remaining conveniently accessible and headrests which comfortably accommodate ponytails.

Detecting the protuberance of pregnancy: Ali Lohan (b 1993, left) photographed with her pregnant sister (right) wearing Sandal-Malvina Fringe Tank Dress in (unattributed) Dodge Yorange (left).  The shoes are Alexandre Birmen Clarita Platforms.

Concupiscent

Concupiscent (pronounced kon-kyoo-pi-suhnt or kong-kyoo-pi-suhnt)

(1) Lustful or sensual.

(2) Eagerly desirous.

1400–1450: From the Latin concupīscent, stem of concupīscēns, present participle of concupīscere (to conceive ardent desire for), the construct being con + cup (stem of cupere) (to desire) + īscent, variant of ēscent (a suffix of adjectives borrowed from Latin, where it had an inchoative force; often corresponding to verbs in esce and nouns in escence).  For turgid poets, and there have been a few, the most used Latin forms were concupiscentem, concupīscere and concupiscence.  The most usually cited modern derivation is Cupid (Latin Cupīdō, meaning "desire"), in classical mythology, the god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection.  Poets good and bad can’t resist concupiscent because (1) lots of them like big words and (2) there are many words in English with which to rhyme.

Of sin

For Saint Augustine (354-430), who explored the matter in Confessions (394-400), concupiscence was a damnable word with which to refer to sinful lust.  It was the sin of the temptress Eve in the Garden of Eden which was carried by concupiscence, or as Augustine preferred, "hurtful desire".  From her wanton caresses in Eden was man condemned to descend to a massa damnata (a condemned crowd, a mass of perdition).  As Adam and Eve sinned, all was corrupted and their descendants now live in sin, an inescapable conclusion because in Eden, the two were all humanity and therefore all who followed inherited the original sin.

A thousand-odd years later, Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), while not disputing Augustine, used the word to differentiate between his two flavors of "sensuality".  There was the concupiscible, which he characterized as the instincts of pursuit and avoidance and the irascible, describing the instincts of aggression and defense.  To the former he ascribed joy and sadness, love and hate, desire and repugnance; to the latter, anger, daring and fear, hope and despair.

Pulchra sunt, condemnabitur: The sinful Lindsay Lohan.

Concubine

Concubine (pronounced kong-kyuh-bahyn)

(1) A woman who cohabits with a man without benefit of marriage, especially one regarded as socially or otherwise subservient.

(2) In jurisdictions which permit polygamy, a secondary wife, often of inferior rank.

(3) A woman residing in a harem and kept (with others), as by a ruler, for wifely purposes.

1250-1300: From the Middle English concubine (a paramour, a woman who cohabits with a man without being married to him) from the Anglo-Norman concubine, from the Latin concubīna, derived from cubare (to lie down), the construct being concub- (variant stem of concumbere & concumbō (to lie together)) + -ina (the feminine suffix).  The related forms are concubinage, concubinary & concubinal.

The status of paramour (a woman who cohabits with a man without benefit of marriage) existed in Hebrew, Greek, Roman and other civilizations, the position sometimes recognized in law as "wife of inferior condition, secondary wife" and there’s much evidence of long periods of tolerance by religious authorities, extended both to priests and the laity.  The concubine of a priest was sometimes called a priestess.

Under Roman civil law, the parties were the concubina (female) and the concubinus (masculine).  Usually, the concubine was of a lower social order but the institution, though ranking below matrimonium (marriage) was a cut above adulterium (adultery) and certainly more respectable than stuprum (illicit sexual intercourse, literally "disgrace" from stupere (to be stunned, stupefied)) and not criminally sanctioned like rapere (“to sexually violate” from raptus, past participle of rapere, which when used as a noun meant "a seizure, plundering, abduction" but in Medieval Latin meant also "forcible violation").

Depictions of concubines in the Egyptian and Persian courts.

Concubinage is, in the west, a term largely of historic interest.  It describes a relationship in which a woman engages in an ongoing conjugal relationship with a man to whom she is not or cannot be married to the full extent of the local meaning of marriage.  This may be due to differences in social rank, an existing marriage, religious prohibitions, professional restrictions, or a lack of recognition by the relevant authorities.  Historically, concubinage was often entered into voluntarily because of an economic imperative.

In the modern vernacular, wives use many words to describe their husbands’ mistress(es).  They rarely use concubine.

Mural

Mural (pronounced myoor-uhl)

(1) A large picture painted or affixed directly on a wall or ceiling.

(2) A greatly enlarged photograph attached directly to a wall.

(3) A wallpaper pattern representing a landscape or the like, often with very widely spaced repeats so as to produce the effect of a mural painting on a wall of average size; sometimes created as a trompe l'oeil (“deceives the eye”).

(4) Of, relating to, or resembling a wall.

(5) Executed on or affixed to a wall:

(6) In early astronomy, pertaining to any of several astronomical instruments that were affixed to a wall aligned on the plane of a meridian; formerly used to measure the altitude of celestial bodies.

1400–1450: Late Middle English from the Latin mūrālis (of or pertaining to a wall), the construct being mūrus (wall) + ālis (the Latin suffix added to a noun or numeral to form an adjective of relationship; alternative forms were āris, ēlis, īlis & ūlis).  The Latin mūrālis was from the Old Latin moiros & moerus, from the primitive Indo-European root mei (to fix; to build fences or fortifications) from which Old English picked-up mære (boundary, border, landmark) and Old Norse gained mæri (boundary, border-land).  In the historic record, the most familiar Latin form was probably munire (to fortify, protect).  The sense of "a painting on a wall" emerged as late as 1915 although that was short for mural-painting (a painting executed upon the wall of a building) which had been in use since 1850, a use derived from mural in its adjectival form.

The adjective intermural (between walls) dates from the 1650s, from the Latin intermuralis (situated between walls), the construct being from inter- (between) + muralis (pertaining to a wall) from mūrus (wall).  The adjective intramural (within the walls (of a city, building etc)) dates from 1846, the construct being intra- (within) + muralis (pertaining to a wall) from mūrus (wall); it was equivalent to Late Latin intramuranus and in English, was used originally in reference to burials of the dead.  It came first to be used in relation to university matters by Columbia in 1871.

Mural in the style of street art (graffiti) of Lindsay Lohan in hijab (al-amira) with kebab, Melbourne, Australia. 

Mural montage: Donald Trump osculating with Vladimir Putin, Benjamin Netanyahu, Boris Johnson, Pope Francis and Ted Cruz.

Swap

Swap (pronounced swop)

(1) To exchange, barter, or trade, as one thing for another.

(2) To substitute (one thing) for another (sometimes used in the forms swap-out & swap-in).

(3) To make an exchange.

(4) In finance, the verbal shorthand for a number of transactions (credit default swaps, currency swaps etc).

(5) In computer programming, exchanging two variables in the memory of a computer

(6) In computer operating systems, as swap partition, a partition of the physical data storage media used for paging to augment random access memory (RAM).

(7) In instrumentation as the acronym SWAP (Sun Watcher using Active Pixel System Detector and Image Processing), a space instrument used on solar satellites.

(8) In instrumentation as the acronym SWAP (Solar Wind At Pluto), a space instrument used in the observation of Pluto (which should still be a planet).

(9) In international development as the acronym SWAp (Sector-Wide Approach), a paradigm in the sector.

(10) In Cambridge University slang, a social meal at a restaurant between two university societies, usually involving drinking and banter; commonly associated with fining and pennying; the crewdate is the Oxford University equivalent.

Circa 1200: From the Middle English swappen (to swap (the original meeting was “to hurl, to strike, strike hands (in bargaining)”) and cognate with the dialectal German schwappen (to slosh, slop, to clap, box (the ears)).  Swap is a noun or verb, swapper a noun, swapped & swapping are adjectives or verbs (used with or without objects).  The alternative spelling, restricted mostly to the UK is swop.  The plural is swaps,

The seemingly strange etymological path from Middle English swappen ("to hurl" or "to strike") to the modern meaning of “swap” is thought to be an allusion to striking hands together when making an exchange, the handshake sealing the deal (ie the swap) as it were; the evolution of the word thus imitative of the sound of hitting or slapping.  The origin of swappen was the Middle English swippen (to strike, hit), from the Old English swipian (to scourge, strike, beat, lash), from the Old English swappian, a secondary form of the Old English swāpan (to swoop), from the Old Norse svipa (to swoop, flash, whip, look after, look around) which begat also swipe.  The verb (circa 1200) was the first form in the sense of "to strike, strike the hands together.  The sense of "to exchange, barter, trade" dates from the 1590s, the noun in this sense first recorded in the 1620s. Although swap-meets are an ancient institution of the barter economy known to many cultures and pre-dating antiquity, the term “swap-meet” seems not to have existed prior to 1968 when added to American English.

Bill Clinton (b 1946; US president 1993-2001) leaving the Martha's Vineyard Annual Swap Meet.

In 1890, the US Board on Geographic Names (BGN) introduced a policy avoiding the use of apostrophes in the possessive form in place names, the intent being: (1) a standardization convention to remove confusion, (2) to simplify the printing of maps by ensuring there were fewer clashes with special characters and (3) to remove another source of imaginative interpretation by lawyers.  An additional benefit was realized when computer databases began to be created and, especially in the early post-war years, many problems in indexing and formatting were avoided by restricting entries to letters & numbers.  The BGN does make the odd exception in the case of places of historical significance and Martha's Vineyard was one of the few places to emerge with apostrophe intact.

Swap files and operating systems

A swap file (known also as virtual memory) is a file (with special attributes) stored on a hard disk (or SSD) where data is written if the physical random access memory (RAM) available becomes insufficient for the stable functioning of the operating system.  RAM is preferable for operations because, being essentially static electricity, it is so much faster than even the fastest forms of hard disk or SSD.  

Older versions of Windows used pagefile.sys as a page file but since Windows 10, the function has been split into pagefile.sys and swapfile.sys which by default reside in the root of the system (c:\) drive and, for good reason, are hidden from the user.  Pagefile.sys stores data from installed (third-party) applications while swapfile.sys handles data from Windows and applications installed from the Microsoft Store.  In years gone by, there were advantages to be had in terms of speed and storage by tweaking swapfile settings (the size and the volume on which it sat) and some disabled it entirely if they had a surfeit of RAM.  Those with long memories will recall even a time when Windows permitted a choice between a temporary and permanent swap file and there were reasons why one could be preferable to the other.  However, with modern versions of Windows, it shouldn’t be disabled because many applications require it to exist and without one, simply won’t start.  For what most people do most of the time, it’s best to ignore the settings and just allow the operating system to set the configuration, even though on a machine with much RAM, the swap file is used seldom.

However, for nerds and megalomaniacs, it remains possible to tinker although, unless simulating one’s own thermonuclear explosions or modelling the global climate, few are likely to notice much difference.  It needs to be done with caution because if the swap file is too big then system will slow because RAM is often ignored whereas if it is too small, there comes a point at which that becomes functionally the same as disabling feature.  Computer magazines used to publish ways to calculate the ideal size, either by (1) a calculation based on the size of the hard drive and installed RAM and (2), a calculation which involved assessing a typical use of physical RAM but most now concede that on modern PCs (ie 8 or more GB RAM), it’s best to allow the operating system handle the allocation.  Users can still experiment but Microsoft cautions the swap file size should never be set to more than twice the size of physical RAM; instability is assured.  There are different rules and parameters for Windows Server; because of the way Windows is written, there are special settings and system administrators have to make allowances so in event of system crashes, there’s sufficient space for dump files which can reveal much.  For those who don’t, in another context, wish anything to be revealed, page files can be encrypted although, while secure, that does impose some overhead on disk input/output.

Under Linux, the golden rule long was that a swap size should be double the installed RAM but that hardly applies to modern machines, indeed, on some boxes, that may no longer even be possible.  Many Linux distributors are actually silent on the matter, perhaps reflecting the not improbable assumption their users are nerdier than the Windows crowd and will likely work things out themselves but some do provide guidance.

(1) Red Hat suggest a swap size of 20% of RAM for modern systems (which they define as 4GB or more RAM).

(2) CentOS suggests (2a) twice the size of RAM if RAM is less than 2 GB or (2b) size of RAM + 2 GB if RAM size is greater than 2 GB.

(3) Ubuntu notes (3a) if hibernation is used, a swap of the size of RAM plus the square root of the RAM size is necessary, (3b), if RAM is less than 1 GB, swap size should be at least the size of RAM and at most double the size of RAM & (3c) if RAM is more than 1 GB, swap size should be at least equal to the square root of the RAM size and at most double the size of RAM.

In their hearts, all Unix guys really long for the world of the mainframes where the distinctions between ram and disk space really didn’t exist and for most users, the same thing applies under Linux: it’s usually best just to let the system decide.

Swap Films

“Swap” films are a common trope in commercial cinema, done so often one wonders if the screen-writers might not be ungrateful were the scripts for such things handed to AI (artificial intelligence) bots; it must be a thankless task to try to come up with some original take on the concept.  Probably, every twenty-odd years, scripts could be recycled and few except pedantic critics would notice.  Swap films with the Freaky Friday title have appeared four times since 1976 (another is threatened) and at least two others have been made which follow variations of the plotline.  The Parent Trap franchise is built around a different sort of swap, one which doesn’t depend on any aspect of the supernatural.  Using the title there have been two feature-length films and three made television features with Disney said to have another release in the pipeline.  This swap theme (two characters changing places for some purpose) has been used in fiction (in print and on screen) literally dozens of times in genres as varied as rom-coms (romantic comedy), fantasy and horror.

Swap Movie DVD twin-packs: The Parent Trap and Freaky Friday.

Transom

Transom (pronounced tran-suhm)

(1) In architecture, a crosspiece separating a door or the like from a window or fanlight above it.

(2) In glazing, a window above such a crosspiece, also called transom light, transom window or fanlight.

(3) A crossbar of wood or stone, dividing a window horizontally.

(4) A window so divided.

(5) In naval architecture, a flat termination to a stern, above the water line.

(6) In shipbuilding, a framework running athwartships (from one side to the other of a vessel at right angles to the keel) in way of the sternpost of a steel or iron vessel, used as a support for the frames of the counter.

(7) In the design of artillery pieces, a metal piece connecting the sidepieces of the tail or the cheeks of a gun carriage.

1325–1375: From the late Middle English traunsum and traunsom, an evolution of the Middle English transyn (crossbeam spanning an opening, lintel).  It was probably dissimilation from the Latin trānstrum (crossbeam, especially one spanning an opening), the construct being trāns (from the primitive Indo-European terh (through, throughout, over) and tere (cross over, pass through, overcome) which was cognate with the English through, the Scots throch (through), the West Frisian troch (through), the Dutch door (through), the German durch (through), the Gothic þairh (through), the Albanian tërthor (through; around) and the Welsh tra (through) + trum (the instrumental suffix).  The Old French traversin (crosspiece) was derivative of travers (breadth) and drawn from the Middle French traversayn and the Old French traversing.  The meaning "small window over a door or other window" was first recorded in 1844.

Windows

In architecture, used for both external and interior work, a transom is a transverse horizontal crosspiece separating a door from the window above and, in modern application, may be structural or merely decorative.  A similar device, if installed vertically is a mullion.  The adoption in England of the more evocative synonym fanlight followed the early Victorian fashion of forming transom windows in a semi-circular shape, the ribs segmenting the slats to resemble a folding hand fan.

Although now almost always a decorative affectation, the origin lies in architectural necessity at a time when structural engineering was less advanced.    In early Gothic ecclesiastical work, transoms were used in the unglazed windows of belfries or spires where they strengthened the mullions in the absence of the iron stay bars of glazed windows.  In the later Gothic, and especially the Perpendicular Period, transoms became common in many designs of windows, whether or not a structural need.

Lindsay Lohan at the stage door of the Playhouse Theatre London, June 2014 for rehearsals for Speed-the-Plow (1988) by David Mamet (b 1947).  This is a two-panel transom.

Front door of the UK prime minister's residence at 10 Downing Street.  This style of transom window is called a fanlight.

Viscount

Viscount (pronounced vahy-kount)

(1) In the peerage of the UK, a nobleman ranking below an earl and above a baron.

(2) In medieval Europe, the deputy of a count.

(3) In historic English use, a sheriff.

(4) In the 華族 (Kazoku) (Magnificent/Exalted lineage), a rank in the hereditary peerage (1869-1947) of the Empire of Japan (1868-1947), the system emulating the English structure.

(5) In the UK and some European countries, a secondary title of the higher ranks of nobility, used by the sons of the primary title holders (and in Europe, sometimes by the younger brother of a count).

1350–1400: From the Middle English viscounte, from the Anglo-French & Old French visconte (which in modern French became vicomte), from the Medieval Latin vicecomitem, accusative of vicecomes, the construct being vis- (vice) (deputy) + comes (a Roman imperial courtier or trusted appointee, source of the modern “count” (although the word originally meant "companion").  The title is called a viscountcy, the feminine form is viscountess.

The first counts were created during the Carolingian Empire (800-888; the first epoch of the aggregation which became the Holy Roman Empire which would endure until 1806).  The functions undertaken by the counts varied greatly according to the military and economic demands to their region but they were essentially governors with both administrative and military responsibilities.  Viscounts (ie vice (deputy) counts) were appointed to assist the counts; although the office carried with it no authority, the viscounts exercised powers delegated by the count, often serving as magistrates administering justice in minor civil and less serious criminal matters.  Unlike later place when they would enjoy a place in the formalized structures of the systems of hereditary peerages, neither a counts nor a viscount was an inheritable title, the kings having no wish to create centres of independent political or economic power; the counts and viscounts were to remain dependent on the king and remained in office only at his pleasure.  By the late tenth century, the title of viscount spread to areas under Norman rule, this time exercising the delegated authority of their duke and as early as the mid 1200s, at least some viscountcies had become hereditary.  As a rank in British peerage, it dates from 1440, initially a royal appointment as sheriff but as in France, evolved into a hereditarily title, Lord Melbourne (1779–1848; UK prime-minister 1834 & 1835–1841) once giving a potted explanation of their origin to Queen Victoria (1819–1901; Queen of the UK 1837-1901), pointing out that the titles viscount or marquess “were not really English (and) that dukes and barons were the only real English titles”.

Marquess entered the system from the Old French marchis (ruler of a border area), from marche (frontier), from the Middle Latin marca (frontier), the significance of that to the English peerage being that the border of a Marquess’s lands were those which bordered potentially hostile territory and the holder, responsible for defense, was thus more important to the Crown that those whose holding lay behind the lines.  The aristocrats without the responsibility of border security were styled as barons, viscounts or earls although Melbourne chose not to burden Victoria with the etymology of earl.  Count was from the Old French conté or cunté (denoting a jurisdiction under the control of a count or a viscount (the modern French comté)) but, after the Norman conquest, the Norman French title count was abandoned and replaced with the Germanic “eral”, the entirely speculative but pleasing suggestion being the unfortunate phonetic similarity with “cunt” although the wives of earls continued to be styled “countess”; perhaps the patriarchy of the time were enjoying a little tautological joke.  Earl was from the Middle English erle & erl, (a strong man) from the Old English eorl, from the Proto-Germanic erlaz (related to the Old Norse jarl, the Old High German & Old Saxon erl), from the Proto-Germanic erōną & arōną (related to the Old Norse jara (fight, battle)), from the primitive Indo-European h₃er- (related to the Latin orior (to rise, get up), from the Ancient Greek ὄρνυμι (órnumi) (to urge, incite) and related to the Avestan ərənaoiti (to move), the Sanskrit ऋणोति (ṛṇóti) (to arise, reach, move, attack.  Earl also ultimately displaced the unrelated ealdorman (alderman) which, in Anglo-Saxon Britain, was applied to those men enjoying political ranking second only to the King; over the centuries, the Danish eorl was substituted and that evolved into the modern earl.

Vickers Viscount ZK-BRD of New Zealand’s National Airways Corporation (NAC) on first publicity flight, 1957.

The Vickers Viscount was produced between 1948-1963 by the British concern Vickers-Armstrongs.  One of a number of the products which emerged from the specifications and design requirements laid down by the many committees the British government established after 1942 to plan for the post-war world, it was medium-range turboprop civilian airliner, the first of its type.  A versatile design and sufficiently robust to operate in environments with severe climatic variations and rough airstrips, it was sold to operators around the world, attracted to its comfort (a pressurized cabin then quite a novelty), speed and low running costs.  By the time the last was delivered in 1963, 445 had been sold, an impressive number given that the volumes in civil aviation were a fraction of today.  For decades a reliable workhorse with an enviable safety record, the last Viscount wasn't retired from commercial passenger service until 2009, over sixty years after the first flight.

Vickers Vanguard of British European Airways (BEA (which begat BOAC & BA)), 1964.

In the late 1950s, Vickers would take the Viscount's fundamental design and render it as the larger, faster Vanguard, the rationale being that in the short-medium range, hundred-seat sector, there would continue to be a market for turboprop airliners, their lower operating costs off-setting their speed disadvantage.  That proved not to be the case and in the sector jets prevailed while the turboprops found a role, which endures to this day, in smaller airframes.  The Vanguard entered service in 1960, the timing especially unfortunate as it coincided with the newest generation of jet-airliners better suited to the rapidly expanding short and medium haul market in what was by them the rapidly expanding field of civil aviation.  Consequently, only a few dozen Vanguards were built but they proved as durable and practical as the Viscount and most were converted to freighters and re-christened at the Cargoliner or Merchantman depending on the operator.  Very popular in both Europe and Africa, the freighters continued to fly until 1996.

GM Viewing Auditorium.

In the mid-1960s, General Motors were at their most optimistic, the long post-war boom at its apex and it was, if not indulgent, at least receptive to the ideas of its overseas divisions, Opel (the FRG (West Germany), Vauxhall (UK) and Holden (Australia), then clustered in a unit called General Motors Overseas Operations (GMOO).  Computers were by then widely used in the industry in the production and inventory processes but in the pre-CAD (computer aided (or assisted) design), styling and design was still something done by hand and for final evaluations, full-scale models were rendered in clay or fibreglass.  As part of design process, GM maintained an indoor “Viewing Auditorium” and outdoor “Viewing Terrace”, opened in 1956, where the full-scale models were assessed, often parked next to cars which were either competitors or sometimes just for inspiration.

Vauxhall FD Viscount (FWD) design proposal (D-68927 22 Mar 1966).

One model considered for release in 1969 was a new platform for Vauxhall’s large range, including the top-of-the-range Viscount.  Two radically different proposals were pursued, one with front wheel drive and, as the sessions at the auditorium progressed, increasingly over-wrought styling cues from some of the more lamentable of the era, including rear-wheel spats (technically called fender skirts), the attraction of which some of Detroit’s designers could not for decades shake.  Fortunately, the economics of the approach couldn’t be made to work and attention turned to the second proposal which was to base the Viscount on the German Opel KAD (Kapitän, Admiral, Diplomat) range.

Opel Diplomat design proposal (D-77114 15 Dec 1968).

The Opel KADs range was really rather good and what ended up being released in 1969 as the range-topping Diplomat even had what was then still something of a novelty in Europe: a V8 engine, Opel plucking the 327 cubic inch (5.3 litre) small-block Chevrolet from the GM parts bin.  Augmenting this was a de Dion rear axle, a non-independent but usefully sophisticated arrangement uniquely suited to the high power and torque generated by the engine, the great benefit of which was maintaining in all circumstances the wheels in a true parallel.  By the standards of the age it was a good car but it never succeeded in creating the perception it was a competitor for the Mercedes-Benz models at which it was aimed, nor the bigger BMWs which were moving increasingly up-market.  After the first oil-crisis in 1973, it was considered for US production as a smaller Cadillac but for a number of reasons, the project proved abortive, it being prohibitively expensive to integrate the German body-engineering into Detroit’s production system.  Cadillac instead created the first Seville, using a long-wheelbase version of the Chevrolet Nova (itself based on the Camaro) which was sufficiently well-executed to hid its origins to all but the most knowledgeable.  It was expensive but well-received.

Vauxhall FD Viscount design proposal (D-77841 30 June 1967).

The KAD platform would have been suitable for what Vauxhall envisaged as the Viscount’s market position but the economics of adapting it to right-hand drive and using Vauxhall’s existing 3.3 litre (201 cubic inch) straight, in addition to the styling changes deemed necessary meant, given the anticipated sales volumes, profitability was never likely.  It was a different time and the UK was not then a member of the European Economic Community (EEC 1957-1993 which evolved into the modern European Union (EU); it was in English speaking countries also known as the European Common Market (usually just as the “common market”)) and local laws required local production.  In late 1967, the proposal for a Viscount platform was vetoed and the programme cancelled.

Vauxhall PC Viscount, 1967.

The existing Viscount (introduced in 1966 and a tarted-up version of the cheaper Cresta) thus continued in production until 1972, it’s place at the top of the range assumed by the Ventura, a tarted-up version of the smaller Victor.  Vauxhall would not return to the executive car market until later in the decade when, with the UK now in the EEC, the economics of platform-sharing with Opel became viable.

Ghat

Ghat (pronounced gat, got (Indian) or gawt (Indian) or (apparently optionally) fat/fhat for certain slang)

(1) In India, a wide set of steps descending to a river, especially a river used for bathing; a mountain pass; a mountain range or escarpment; a place of cremation (also as burning-ghat).

(2) A leaf possessing simulative qualities, chewed in Yemen, Ethiopia, Somalia, and among Yemenite Jews in Israel.  Ghat chewing sessions are social and involve playing music, smoking a nargilah (a hookah-type device for smoking) and what’s sometimes described as “other such Eastern reveries” (usually with initial capital).

(3) Among the criminal classes, a slang word for a firearm, derived from the Gat Air Pistol, a low-velocity air-powered pistol produced circa 1937-1996 which fired a variety of projectiles.

(4) An acronym standing for Give Hope And Take (away), a short series of events in which someone gives hope to another then instantly and ruthlessly takes it away.

(5) Slang for something very good or much admired (class specific with a noted ethnic bias in use).

(6) As a homophone, slang for the Gatling Gun.

(7) As the homophonic acronym GATT, the General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade (1947-1995), predecessor of the World Trade Organization (WTO) arrangements.

(8) In Hinduism, a certain type of temple.  A brahmin (a member of the highest (priestly) caste) who acted as the hereditary superintendent of a particular ghat (temple) and who was regarded as authoritative in matters of genealogy and ritual was known as a panda.

1595–1605: From Hindi घाट (ghāṭ) (a pier; a pass of descent from a mountain, hence also "mountain range, chain of hills," also "stairway leading up from a river" (to a shrine, temple, etc.), from the Sanskrit घट्ट (ghaṭṭa or ghattah) (a landing-place, steps on the side of a river leading to the waters).  The Sanskrit is of unknown origin but there may be a connection with the Telugu కట్ట (kaṭṭa) (dam, embankment).  In Indian use, the related form is ghaut.  Under the Raj, some language guides suggested a ghaut differed from a ghat in that the former was used exclusively to describe “a ravine leading to the sea” but this was later discredited.  The mistake probably arose in assuming a local practice was universal and it appears ghaut and ghat were inconsistently but widely used interchangeably (the plural was ghauts).  Ghat is a noun; the noun plural is ghats.

As a point of usage, it appears the slang forms of ghat should be pronounced with a hard “G” except when used in meaning 5 (above) when an “ef” or “ph” (as in fat or phat) is used.  It’s an important convention of use: If one has just been ghatted in the sense of meaning 4 (above), it’s correct to say “The bitch really gatted me” and not “The bitch really phatted me”.  That really seems just common sense.        

The Gat Air Pistol

The Gat Air Pistol was made by the Harrington company in the UK.  It was in production continuously between the late 1930s and late 1990s, except during the Second World War when the factory re-tooled for war production.  The pistol could fire .177 pellets, ball bearings, darts, corks and anything else small and light enough to suit the barrel.  A low-powered weapon with a very low muzzle velocity, the target market was hobbyists and children.  There was a time when children were given such things.  The other lucrative market was the travelling fair.  In every sideshow ally there were usually several shooting gallery stall owners who offered famously worthless prizes for anyone able to hit the target and for their purposes, the cheaply-produced, notoriously inaccurate Gat was ideal.  Anyone who could hit a target with a Gat gun was probably a pretty bad shot.