Libre

Libre (pronounced lib-rah (U) or lee-bra (non-U))

(1) Of or relating to free will; independent & unconstrained (now rare).

(2) Of software with few limitations on distribution and including access source code with a right granted to modify and distribute changed versions, usually with the limitation that this must be on a free-of-charge basis.

(3) As Formula Libre (historically Formule Libre), a category of motorsport which imposes only minimal safety rules and is otherwise unregulated.

(4) In historic use, a free (ie not enslaved) black person living in a territory under the administration of the French or Spanish-colonial empires, the use most institutionalized in New Orleans.

1700s: From the French or Spanish libre (at liberty, free; clear, free, vacant; free, without obligation), from the Latin līber (free; unrestricted (and related to librum (book)), from the Old Latin loeber, from the Proto-Italic louðeros, from the primitive Indo-European hlewderos, from hlewd- (people).  Etymologists speculate the currency the word attained in the English-speaking world was initially due more to influence from Spanish than French, the word in more common use in the former.  The specific (though sometimes misleading) sense in software dates from the late twentieth century, more precise terms such as “open source”, “freeware”, “crippleware” & “freemium” actually more helpful.  Libre is a noun, verb and adjective.  Variations appear in many European languages (apart from those which directly borrowed libre) including the Alemannic German liiber, the Romanian liber and the thirteenth century Old Galician and Old Portuguese livre (in which libre co-existed).  Because of the influence of Spanish colonialism, libre appears often in Filipino dialectical use where it has tended to replace the older gratis (free).

Libre was a popular element in many in French formations encapsulating concepts, some of which were adopted in English although that tendency has now faded.  The phrases include un homme libre (literally “a free man” but used idiomatically in the sense of “an unmarried man”), la voie est libre (the way is clear), temps libre (free time), libre arbiter (free will), amour libre (free love (in the sense of the eradication of restrictive sexual mores) libre-échange (free trade), association libre (free association), à l'air libre (uncovered; in the open air (a pre-modern medical dogma which advocated not bandaging wounds), libre comme l'air (free as the air, synonymous with “free as a bird”)), nage libre (the freestyle stroke is swimming) & papier libre (a masculine noun for a piece of stationery not stamped or franked (ie without letterhead); it’s unrelated to newspapers etc distributed for free or without censorship).  There were also constructions of Spanish origin including aire libre (the outdoors, fresh air), barra libre (open bar (ie no limit), comercio libre (free trade). libre de culpa (off the hook, ie blameless”), libremente (to do something in an unrestrained manner), radical libre (free radical in the technical sense from chemistry), saque libre (the free kick in football), tiempo libre (free time), libérrimo (most free, the superlative degree of libre) & libertad (a degree of freedom; latitude, leeway).

Lindsay Lohan: making alliterative headlines in many languages.

Two constructs were adopted in English and added to the technical jargon of English.  The morphème libre in grammar indicates that which may be unattached from another morpheme (the smallest meaningful element in a text string).  Vers libre (free verse, ie in poetry, lines of varying lengths) was borrowed by English circa 1870.  Originally, the adoption reflected the technical meaning which was referenced against the French alexandrin (alexandrine), a syllabic poetic meter of twelve syllables (there were occasional deviations) with a medial caesura dividing the line into two hemistichs (half-lines), each of six syllables.  The structure, the origins of which can be traced to the twelfth century, was dominant in French poetry from the seventeen to the nineteenth centuries, encouraging a host of imitators around the continent and in the English-speaking world.  However, what were claimed to be the implications of free verse attracted the modernists who produced work which was derided by many critics (professional and otherwise) as “no verse” and thus, whatever the discernible structure, not exactly poetry and certainly not vers libre.  Free verse works which however, which tended either to ignore or parody the tradition of rhyme, did become a genre which endures to this day and among literary theorists, there’s long been the argument that in not relying on formalism (the technical constraint of rhyme) works needed to be more adventurous and imaginative, the focus on meaning rather than structure.  Divisions between the schools of poetry, although barely noticed by most of the population, continue to this day.

Formula Libre

Formula libre is the informal description of a motorsport category which, in its pure form, imposes no regulations other safety standards and to permit competition between vehicles which can be configured to widely different specifications, events are often conducted on some sort of handicap basis.  The philosophy of formula libre is the antithesis of that of motorsport’s governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA, the International Automobile Federation) which began in the early twentieth century with the admirable aim of encouraging competition in the quest for speed but, beginning in the 1960s, began to develop an obsession with slowing things down.  The reasons for this have been debated and, whether related or not to the change in emphasis, the FIA in recent decades has morphed into a vast bureaucracy dedicated to (1) imposing category rules which make cars as uninteresting as possible, (2) imposing conditions which require event organizers to pay for increasing numbers of FIA staff to do things at the events and (3) find reasons why fees have to be paid to the FIA.  There may be some competition but the FIA are now probably world sport's dopiest regulatory body.

Motor racing in a recognizable form began in France in the 1880s, soon evolving from races between villages into formally organized events and by early the next century, was established as a popular spectator event, run sometimes on public roads (usually but not always closed to other traffic!) and increasingly, on circuits built expressly for the purpose, these have the advantage of being fenced, thus permitting an entry fee to be charged for those wishing to watch.  The first race to be called a Grand Prix was held in France in 1906, conducted over two days on a road course in Le Mans, 65 miles (105 km) in length and the interest generated encouraged others; by the 1920s, Grand Prix were held in many countries although there was no linking championship, the rules varying from place to place, tweaked often to ensure the machines produced by local manufacturers might enjoy some advantage, a practice which long endured.

1929 Mercedes-Benz SSKL.

The FIA’s predessor, the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus (AIACR, the International Association of Recognized Automobile Clubs) began creating rules governing the categories in motorsport just before the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, specifying minimum & maximum weights, engine displacement and defining body types but it was in the inter-war years that the first attempts were made to impose universal rules.  The rules were created but many race organizers, seeking wider entry lists and more spectacular racing, often declined to adopt them, instead preferring the less restrictive “sports car” definition which attracted more manufacturers, including those not in a position to produce pure racing cars which conformed with the AIACR’s regulations.  Eventually, such was the resistance, the rules for Grand Prix racing were in 1928 abandoned and the era known as Formule Libre began, exemplified by the big Mercedes-Benz SSKL, the last of the road-cars used to win Grand Prix races but one which illustrated the limitations of the approach; the next generation would have to be pure race cars, a change which ushered in the age of regulation which lasts to this day.

1936 Auto-Union Type-C.  Not used on the circuits, the twin-rear tyres were fitted for hill climbs in a partially successful attempt to tame the handling quirks induced by mounting the 6.0 litre (366 cubic inch) V16 behind the driver.  Although a preview of the form open-wheel racing cars would begin to adopt in the late 1950s, the less adventurous Mercedes-Benz W125 with a front-mounted, 5.7 litre (346 cubic inch) straight-eight proved both more effective and easier to handle.  Not until the 1980s would Formula One cars match the power of the German cars of the mid-1930s.

The structures of competition also become formalized.  The number of Grand Prix had risen from five in 1927 to eighteen by 1934 and a manufacturers’ world championship had actually been awarded in 1925 although it consisted only of the Indianapolis 500, the Grand Prix of Europe, France & Italy.  Interestingly, there was no drivers’ title and in Formula One, the FIA would not award the Constructors' Championship (initially the International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers) until 1958 although there had be an award for drivers since 1950, an evolution of the 1935-1939 European Drivers’ Championship, created with the agreement of the national federations.  The memorable racing of the era was governed by rules and even then, the AIACR reacted against the increasing speeds which had been thought not possible under the 750 KG (1653 lb) maximum weight rule, creating in 1938 two classes (1) 4.5 litre (275 cubic inch) displacement un-supercharged & 3.0 litre (183 cubic inch) supercharged and (2) a 1.5 litre (92 cubic inch) supercharged voiturette class (informally known as formula two (Formula 1, 2, 3 etc would not be codified until the post-war years, the first Formula One race held in Italy in 1946).

Juan Manuel Fangio (1911-1995), BRM V16, in Formule Libre events in England, 1953: Silverstone (left) & Goodwood (right).

Development of the big aero-engines used in World War II meant there had been enormous advances in forced induction and it was clear a 4.5 litre, naturally aspirated engine would be uncompetitive against a 3.0 litre supercharged unit so the FIA (the AIACR had in 1947 been reorganized and renamed) in 1949 announced the seven round Grand Prix World Championship for Formula One drivers would in 1950 be held for 1.5 litre supercharged and 4.5 litre un-supercharged cars.  However, a decline in the number of entries meant the championship was in 1952-1953 contested by Formula 2 cars which existed in greater numbers and this resurrected interest in Formule Libre; because dramatic machinery like the 4.5 litre Ferraris and the BRM V16 no longer had a championship to contest, they were instead entered in the handful of non-championship F1 races on offer and the more numerous Formule Libre events.  During the 1950s, the Formule Libre race, often the last of the weekend, was regarded by many spectators as the highlight, the machinery almost always the fastest at the event.

The sprit of Formula Libre: Race driver Rod Coppins (1940-1983) with the open-stack exhaust system fitted to Chevrolet Corvette V8 in in the Mark II Ford Zephyr he campaigned in New Zealand's  “All-comers racing saloon cars” category.  The pipes protruding from the Zephyr’s bonnet (hood) were an efficient and weight-saving piece of engineering but were originally merely a Q&D (quick & dirty) solution, fabricated at short notice because the team didn't have time to produce a tuned-length exhaust system before an event.  It worked so well it was decided to keep the system.  Of course, wherever they could, the FIA outlawed open-stack exhausts because whenever they see something innovative, their instinct is to ban.

Corvette-powered Morrari leading Corvette-powered Zephyr, Pukekohe, New Zealand, 1967.

In the decades since, formule libre (now usually spelled formula libre) has never really gone away, (despite the best efforts of the humorless killjoys at the FIA), its spirit exemplified by the rule book for the Unlimited Division at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb: (1) Must meet all safety specifications & (2) No other restrictions; pure formula libre therefore and there have been competitions which went close such as the Canadian-American Challenge Cup (the Can-Am) for sports cars which specified only (1) Must meet all safety specifications, (2) enclosed wheels & (3) two seats (the last clause interpreted rather generously and most uncomfortably for any passenger).  Notable also was the “Allcomer” category adopted for New Zealand’s saloon car championship in the 1960s which was for unlimited displacement touring cars and accommodated machinery as diverse as a 1956 Ford Customline powered by a Galaxie’s 427 cubic inch (7.0 litre) V8 (thus dubbed the Custaxie) and, more improbably still, the "Morarri", a hybrid concocted by placing a Morris Minor body atop a Ferrari chassis and powered by a Chevrolet V8.  Many other bastard offspring were barely less extreme.  After 1967, the Allcomer Saloons were banned and the championship was run under the FIA’s Group 5 regulations but while the category was well-supported, the cars lacked the visceral appeal of their wild predecessors so, in 1973, a locally concocted Schedule E was written which enabled the construction of things with something of the earlier flavor, proving things usually go better without the FIA.

Scuderia Ferrari driver Piero Taruffi (in overalls, right), his wife Isabella (left) and Ferrari SuperSqualo (555/1), Italian Grand Prix, Monza, September 1955.

Ferrari Tipo (type) 553 (1953) was a product of the rule book, the World Championship in 1952-1953 run under Formula Two regulations because it had become obvious there would not be a sufficient number of competitive Formula One entries and because of its then unusual bulging sides (to accommodate the twin fuel tanks), the 553 was known as the Squalo (shark),   With the new 2.5 litre (750 cm³ if supercharged) Formula One world championship for 1954, Ferrari upgraded the 553 to conform, dubbing it Tipo 555 which featured bodywork which was longer and more voluptuous, the factory deciding the lines deserved the appellation Supersqualo (super shark).  Untypically for a Ferrari, the Supersqualo was powered by an in-line, four-cylinder engine and the first built was 555/1 which appeared in four World Championship Grand Prix, it’s best finish a fourth place at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, June 1955.

1950 Morris Minor Series 1 (MM).

First shown at the Earls Court Motor Show (one of the few highlights in gloomy, austere, post-war England) in London in 1948, the Morris Minor was a small economy car which remained in production until 1973.  The early models (later dubbed "Lo-lites") had headlights installed on either side of the grill but these were too low to meet minimums height stipulations in many US states so Minors exported to North America had lights mounted higher, something which necessitated different fenders (front wings) a design which in 1951 was standardized for all production.  Those produced after the change are known as "Hi-lites".

Morrari in the 1965 "Round the Houses" race, Matamatta, New Zealand, 1965.

Note the number plate; at the time, in New Zealand, a car comprised of (1) a 1955 Formula One Ferrari chassis and (2) a Chevrolet Corvette V8, housed within (3) a 1950 Morris Minor body with the ensemble having been assembled in someone's shed, could be registered and driven on public roads.  It was an era when racing was sometimes done on suburban streets with the nearby crowd protected by little more than bails of straw.  While we have gained much from the progress of modern society, some freedoms have also been lost.

Ferrari 555 SuperSqualo (6, which finished fourth), Mercedes-Benz W196R (12, which retired on lap 21 with an oil leek) and Maserati 250F (22, which finished seventh), Belgium Grand Prix, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, June 1955.

Obsolete by 1956, the factory sold the four 555s and chassis 555/1 ended up in the Antipodes where, fitted with a 3.5-litre 4-cylinder engine from the Ferrari 860 Monza sports car, successfully it was raced in Formula Libre in both Australia and New Zealand until, in February 1963, it was damaged in a event held on the then new Pukekohe circuit.  The damage wasn’t severe and confined mostly to the bodywork and front suspension but, remarkable as it may now seem, the cost of repair would have exceeded what the Italian hot rod was then worth so it was consigned to a used-car lot in Auckland where it was cannibalized for parts, the engine, compact, light and powerful, re-purposed for used in a speed boat.  The robust chassis however had obvious appeal and it was purchased by a racing driver who added a 327 cubic inch (5.3 litre) V8 from a Chevrolet Corvette and clothed the mix with the body of a 1950 Morris Minor, a task which proved remarkably simple because there was a difference of only 25 mm (1 inch) in the respective wheelbases.  Thus began the latest (and most improbable) career of Ferrari chassis 555/1, this time in New Zealand’s “All-comers racing saloon cars” category, race organizers listing it in their race programmes variously as the “Morris-Chevrolet” or “Morris-Corvette” before universally it became known as the “Morrari”.

Ferrari 555/1 Supersqualo from the Bonhams catalogue. 

It may have been just a wreck in 1963 but in subsequent decades Ferrari’s old race cars became valuable collectables so when the choice had to be made between restoring the 1950 Morris Minor or Supersqualo 555/1, it was not a difficult decision,  During the 1970s, with the original chassis and bodywork restored, it was re-fitted with a period Ferrari 860 engine before it was restored to its original, 2.5 litre, Formula One specification.  A familiar sight for decades at vintage Ferrari and other historic events, 555/1 is one of two known survivors of its type and as well as its history in Formule Libre and as the Morrari, when campaigned by Scuderia Ferrari in 1955, it was driven by two World Champions.  Auctioned by Bonhams in their Les Grandes Marques du Monde à Paris sale on 6 February 2025, it realized €1.98 million (US$2.08 million).

The formula libre concept has clearly attracted the interest of the Fédération internationale de notation (Fina, the International Swimming Federation) which recently announced a ban on the participation of transgender women from elite female competition if they have experienced “…any part of male puberty beyond Tanner Stage 2 or before age twelve, whichever is later."  Given the controversy, the announcement was not wholly unexpected and, although it sets Fina apart from federations affiliated with the IOC (International Olympic Committee), it won't be the only body to issue the sanction and already the International Rugby League (IRL) has imposed a similar ban.  As something of a workaround designed somehow to combine inclusion and exclusion in the one policy, Fina undertook to create a working group to design an “open” category for trans women in “some events” as part of its new policy.  Formula libra for women’s swimming therefore, a category in which women, trans- or cis-gender, could compete.  Fina’s president, Dr Husain al-Musallam (b 1960) insisted “Fina will always welcome every athlete (and) the creation of an open category will mean that everybody has the opportunity to compete at an elite level. This has not been done before, so Fina will need to lead the way.”  Whether a concept used for machines will be thought appropriate to apply to people remains to be seen.

The competing arguments (fairness in competition vs DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion)) can’t easily be resolved and the use of the formula libre concept hasn’t been well received by many, some trans activists suggesting it would be labelled a “freak show”.  The idea has before been floated, some genuinely interested in the maximum performance possible by the human body suggesting it might be interesting if a competition was established for athletes using performance-enhancing drugs.  Unsurprisingly, that went nowhere but nor is the “open class” idea new, the origin of competitive athletics in the modern age actually organized as a formula libre style, open class, some track events once scheduled on the basis of distance and anyone, male or female, was able to enter.  It was later that the women’s category was created as “protected class” so they might enjoy fair competition, something Fina claim is the basis of their exclusionary rule.

Both sides are now assembling, selectively perhaps, the scientific research which supports their respective positions and perhaps the most significant announcement was from the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (Fifa, the International Federation of Association Football) which confirmed it was reviewing its gender eligibility regulations.  Fifa issued a statement indicating they were consulting with “…many stakeholders… (and) should Fifa be asked to verify the eligibility of a player before the new regulations will be in place, any such case will be dealt with on a case‑by-case basis, taking into account Fifa’s clear commitment to respect for human rights.”  Such is the international influence of Fifa that it’s likely their position may become the default template for federations everywhere not anxious to make targets of themselves.

Heckflosse

Heckflosse (pronounced hek-flos or hek-floss-ah (German))

A nickname for the Mercedes-Benz W111 & W112 sedans produced between 1959 and 1968 (1961-1971 for the coupés and cabriolets with the abbreviated fin) and usually translated in English as “fintail”.

1959: A compound word in modern German, Heck (rear; back) + Flosse (fin).  As a surname, Heck (most common in southern Germany and the Rhineland) came from the Middle High German hecke or hegge (hedge), the origin probably as a topographic name for someone who lived near a hedge.  The link with hedges as a means of dividing properties led in the Middle Low German to heck meaning “wooden fencing” under the influence of the Old Saxon hekki, from the Proto-West Germanic hakkju.  In nautical slang heck came to refer to the “back of a ship” because the position of the helmsman in the stern was enclosed by such a fence and from here it evolved in modern German generally to refer to "back or rear".  Flosse is obscure but was probably related to the Middle English and Old English finn, the Dutch vin, the Low German finne and the Swedish fena.  Because all German nouns are capitalized, Heckflosse is correct but in English, where it's treated as a nickname, heckflosse is common. 

The (low) rise and (gradual) fall of the Mercedes-Benz tail-fin

Lindsay Lohan examining the damage to a 2009 (fifth generation) Maserati Quattroporte leased by her father, the impact suffered in a minor traffic accident while her assistant was at the wheel, Los Angeles, 2009.  Lindsay Lohan understands the functionality of Peilstege.

Although designed during Detroit’s tail-fin craze during the mid-late 1950s, Mercedes-Benz always claimed the Heckflosse (tail-fins), introduced in 1959, weren’t mere stylistic flourishes but rather Peilstege (parking aids or sight-lines (literally "bearing bars")), the construct being peil-, from peilen (take a bearing; find the direction) + Steg (bar) which marked the extent of the bodywork, this to assist while reversing.  It's never been clear if this interpretation existed during the design process or was applied retrospectively in response to criticism after the debut but by 1960, even in the US where fins has assumed absurd proportions, the fad was fast fading.  As a cultural artefact, the distinctiveness of the Heckflosse made them a staple for film-makers crafting the verisimilitude of the 1960s high cold war, just as the big 600s from the same era are used still when wealth or evil needs to be conveyed.

1963 Mercedes-Benz 300 SE Lang (Long) (W112).

Although on a longer wheelbase than the standard 300 SE, the model designation remained the same, the SEL nomenclature not appearing until the subsequent (W109) 300 SEL (1965).  The additional framing around the badge appeared only on some early-build models and was a unique embellishment although the 300 SE, by German standards "dripped with chrome".  The chrome trim attached to the tail-fins on the 300 SE and the most expensive of the W111 range (220 S & 220 SE) wasn't fitted to the 220 or the cheaper W110 models and in a quirk of production-line economics, it transpired it was more expensive (ie labor intensive) not to fit the trim because of the additional finishing required.  The alpha-numeric soup of model designations which proliferated from the late 1960s started as something almost logical (ie a 300 used a 3.0 litre engine, a 220 a 2.2 etc) but as new product lines emerged, anomalies increased until, in the early 1990s, it was re-organized although the new system would generate its own inconsistencies and eventually the number often had only a vague relationship with engine displacement.

Heckflosse assembly line, Stuttgart, Germany, 1962.

The Heckflosse was one of the first cars to include in its design the concept of the “safety cell”, a passenger compartment designed to protect the occupants in the case of impacts or roll-overs, the structures to the front and rear (ie the engine bay and luggage compartment) essentially “sacrificial”.  This idea was the ancestor of the modern “crumple zone” in which the front and rear compartments were designed to deform upon impact rather than retaining structural integrity, the object being to absorb and dissipate the energy generated in a crash, preventing it reaching the passengers.  The concept was not new, having for generations been a part of naval architecture, warships using what designers dubbed the “armored citadel”: a kind of “box” containing the vital machinery and magazine (ammunition), the structure created by the armoured deck, waterline belt, and the transverse bulkheads.  While this design didn’t make warships “unsinkable”, it did make them harder to sink and there have been ships which have had their whole bow & stern blown off yet have remained afloat, able to be towed back to port.

1961 GAZ-13 Chaika (Seagull) (1959-1981, from the Soviet Union, left), Sunbeam Alpine (1959-1968, from the United Kingdom, centre) and 1961 Chrysler Imperial Crown Windsor (from the US, right).  There's long been much comment about the Heckflosse's fins (only the factory called them Peilstege) being a unexpected concession to a styling fad but they do need to be compared with what was happening not only on both sides of the Atlantic but in Moscow too.

1957 Ford Thunderbird.  Fin-wise, the closest comparison to the Heckflosse was probably the 1957 Ford Thunderbird which, compared with what Chrysler and General Motors (GM) were doing at the time, was quite restrained.  Genuinely, the fins on the Thunderbird were functional as Peilstege.

On 1 October 1966, Heckflosses were part of the small motorcade in which, having served the twenty year sentences they were lucky to receive from the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at the first Nuremberg Trial (1945-1946), war criminals Albert Speer (1905–1981; Nazi court architect 1934-1942; Nazi minister of armaments and war production 1942-1945) and Baldur von Schirach (1907-1974; head of the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) 1931-1940 & Gauleiter (district party leader) and Reichsstatthalter (Governor) of Vienna 1940-1945) were driven from Spandau prison in Berlin.  The next day he boarded a Pan-Am Boeing 727 for a flight to Hannover, his first time on a jet aircraft because in 1945 permission had been denied (ostensibly on security grounds) for him to go on a test flight in one of the two-seater Messerschmitt Me-262s built for training.  Like many aspects of his life after release, the THF-HAJ flight had been planned while in Spandau, Speer particularly taken with the 727 because he'd so often seen it during its final descent while tending the prison grounds which he'd transformed into a landscaped park.

1971 Mercedes-Benz 280 SE 3.5 Coupé (W111, 1961-1971).

On the sedans, the uncharacteristic exuberances were left undisturbed until production ended in 1968 although the line was restricted to a line of lower cost utilitarian models after 1965.  The coupé and cabriolet were introduced in 1961 and lasted a decade; truncating the Heckflosse, they achieved an elegance of line Mercedes-Benz has never since matched but then, few have.

1969 Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3 (W109, 1965-1972).

By 1965, on the W108 and W109 (which replaced the more expensive W111 models & all the W112 sedans), the fins were barely discernible, the factory noting the contribution to structural rigidity, adding strength without the increase in weight the use of other techniques would have imposed.

1978 Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC 5.0 (C107, 1971-1981).

Advances in metallurgy and engineering meant achieving the required strength became possible even without additional curvature in the metal and in 1971 the R107 (roadster) and C107 (coupé) debuted with the rear surface an uninterrupted flat plane.

1978 Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL 6.9 (W116, 1972-1980).

Despite that, a year later, the W116 sedans were released with the most vestigial of fins.  The retention of styling elements between generations is not unusual, the second generation Range Rover reprising the earlier model’s distinctive hood creases, even though no longer a structural necessity.

The Heckflosse as rally and race car

Mercedes-Benz 220 SE, Monte Carlo Rally, 1960.

To those accustomed to how things are done in the modern WRC (World Rally Championship) or have memories of the marvellous Group B cars of the 1980s (a category which enthralled everybody except the clipboard crew at the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (the International Automobile Federation)) which, being international sport’s dopiest regulatory body, of course outlawed the things) it will seem improbable the Heckflosse would have been a successful rally car but the record was illustrious.  It’s best remembered for the 220 SE which won the 1960 Monte Carlo Rally but there were many other successes including the 1961 Algiers-Cape Town Central Africa Rally, an arduous event of some 13,500 kilometres (8400 miles) conducted over several weeks on a route from Cape Town to Algiers (a 190 D (a diesel-engined W121 “pontoon” rather than a Heckflosse) had won in 1959 which proved it was a rally which didn’t rely solely on speed).  First run in 1951 and based on an event staged in 1930, in 1956 a Fiat 1100 and a Ford Ranch Wagon V8 (two vehicles most unalike) had tied for first place, the latter driven by Elon Musk's (b 1971) maternal grandfather, chiropractor Joshua Norman Haldeman (1902–1974), who was an interesting character.

Mercedes-Benz factory rally team (part of the competition department, scaled down since the withdrawal from top-flight Formula One and sports car racing after 1999),  Acropolis Rally, 1963.

The most prestigious African rally was the East African Safari and a Heckflosse 220 SE won in 1961, following victories by 219s the previous two years. The 219 (W105, 1956-1959) was a curious anomaly among the post-war Mercedes-Benz saloons in terms of both nomenclature and engineering.  Using a “mix & match” approach which had been part of the transportation business even before things became motorized, the 219 used the 2.2 litre six-cylinder engine familiar in the various 220s (W128 & W180) but mounted it on the shorter “pontoon” platform used by the 4-cylinder 180 & 190 (W120 & W121) variants, the sacrificed length all accounted for by the shorter rear-doors (and thus wheelbase).  It was one of the more elaborate “de-frilling” exercises seen around the world, the variations including a lower cost version of an existing model (Citroën ID vs DS or Chevrolet’s Biscayne vs the Bel Air & Impala) or an existing body with a smaller engine substituted (Humber Hawk vs Super Snipe).  The 219’s designation was unusual in that it was the only occasion the familiar three numerals featured something other than a “0” as the last digit and it’s notable also because the factory, in a blatant attempt to evade the taxes levied on cars with 2.2 litre engines, slightly reduced the displacement.  The FRG’s (Federal Republic of Germany, the old West Germany) government must have decided this was “un-German” trickery (dieselgate was decades away) because eventually they informed Daimler-Benz the 219 would be taxed as a 2.2 litre vehicle,  This brought production to an end because the effect of the tax increase would have negated the advantage the 219 had enjoyed.

The winning Mercedes-Benz 300 SE, Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hour, 1964.  Note the absence of the chrome trim which usually adorned the W112, the same weight-saving measure applied to the rally machines.

The 220 SE enjoyed a remarkable record in the Poland Rally winning four successive titles between 1960-1964 and the car also won the 1962 Liège-Sofia-Liège, the factory winning the same event in 1963 with the new 230 SL (the W113 “Pagoda”, 1963-1971).  The Heckflosse also won the Acropolis Rally in two successive years, a 220 SE taking the chequered flag in 1962 and a 300 SE (W112) the following year.  The 300 SE was even less obviously a rally car than the 220 SE because it was a luxury model which used the then novel engineering of air suspension which provided a smooth ride but added to weight and complexity, neither quality sought by teams using cars in competition although the system did have the advantage of permitting ground clearance easily to be adjusted.  To compensate for the added weight, the 300 SE used a variant of the 3.0 litre straight-6 from the 300 SL (W198; 1954-1963) Gullwing and roadster, a powerful, robust unit.  However, by 1963 it was obvious the days of the big sedans being effective rally cars was drawing to a close; the greater power of the 300 SE had permitted the Heckflosse quite an Indian summer but the future clearly belonged to lighter, more nimble machines such as the Alfa Romeo Giulia, Mini Cooper, Saab 96 and Volvo 122.  Remarkably, the Heckflosse’s swansong came on the circuits and in 1961 a 220 SE won the second Armstrong 500 in Australia, the event which became the annual Bathurst 1000.  In the 1963 Argentine Touring Car Grand Prix, the 300 SE finished 1^st, 2^nd & 4^th (a 220 SE was 3^rd); it followed this the following year with one of the factory’s “trademark” one-two-three finishes and that same year the 300 SE won the Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hour, the Nürburgring 6 Hours and the Macau Grand Prix.

Paparazzo

Paparazzo (pronounced pah-puh-raht-soh or pah-pah-raht-tsaw (Italian))

A freelance photographer, especially one who takes candid pictures of celebrities to sell to publishers; noted for their symbiotic invasion of the privacy of the subjects.

1961: A borrowing of the Italian surname Paparazzo, a character (the freelance photographer) in Federico Fellini's (1920–1993) 1960 film La Dolce Vita.  The more familiar noun plural (which can be used for all purposes regardless of context) is paparazzi, pronounced pah-puh-raht-see or pah-pah-raht-tsee.

The surname carries no meaning within the film; there’s no historic or etymological relationship either to the plot or photography.  The name is not uncommon in the region of Calabria and Fellini is said to have borrowed it from a travel book, By the Ionian Sea (1901) by George Gissing (1857–1903) which the director was reading (in Italian translation) during filming in 1959; in the book is mentioned a hotelier, Signor Coriolano Paparazzo.  The photographer in the film is played by Walter Santesso (1931-2008).  Paparazzo, which technically is the singular form only, is hardly ever used to refer to an individual photographer, the plural paparazzi instead the preferred form which is so pervasive that a female photographer, who should be a (morphologically standard in Italian) paparazza, is also a paparazzi.  Some dictionaries even list an alternative spelling for the plural as paparazzos but there seems no evidence of use and it may exist only because the rules of English say it can. 

The quality of symbiosis is sometimes strained: Lindsay Lohan and the paparazzi.  For everything you do, there’s a price to be paid.

All forms must now be thought full-assimilated English words and the exclusive use of paparazzi has become correct English.  Because of the circumstances under which paparazzo, paparazzi & paparazza entered English, as a re-purposing of a proper noun, the “rules” under which they operate are those defined by the pattern of use.  The users spoke and it’s now paparazzi all the way.  Paparazzi is thus both noun-singular and noun-plural, masculine & plural.  Historically, there will be those who insist it has become a plurale tantum (from the Latin pluralia tantum (plural only)), a noun that appears only in the plural form and does not have a singular variant for referring to the individual object.  Some dictionaries do allow it can refer also to nouns the singular form of which is rare or archaic.  All bases seem covered.  The "freelance" status may be misleading in that there have been paparazzi known to to work exclusively for one buyer (who was more likely an agent than an editor or publisher) although for this reason and that they certainly weren't formally on the payroll.  In most cases though the paparazzi can be thought of as proto-gig economy workers in that from an industrial relations viewpoint they were independent contractors even if in some cases their entire income might come from the one entity (indeed, some had signed contracts of exclusivity guaranteeing at least a right of first refusal with a scale of payment on some negotiated basis).     

The symbiosis of stars and the paparazzi

Anita Ekberg (1931–2015) in Federico Fellini's (1920–1993) La Dolce Vita ("the sweet life" or "the good life; 1960, left).  The scene was shot in the waters of Rome's Trevi Fountain.  Ms Ekberg understood the often symbiotic relationship between paparazzi and their subjects, sometimes willing sometimes not.  Long after the event, cheerfully she would admit the famous incident in the lobby of London’s Berkley Hotel (right), when her dress “burst” open, was a publicity stunt pre-arranged with a freelance photographer.  Young ladies who followed in her wake learned much from Ms Ekberg and frequently her technique is seen on social media platforms (real people don't call them "the socials").

Politburo

Politburo (pronounced pol-it-byoor-oh or poh-lit-byoor-oh)

(1) The executive committee and chief policymaking body of a Communist Party (often in lowercase).  In the English-speaking world, sometimes erroneously written as politbureau or in hyphenated form.

(2) A casual term for a senior policymaking body in a political organisation, generally consisting of members who either are appointed by the party in control of the organisation or who attain membership through their personal political affiliations (sometimes derogatory).

1917: From the Russian Политбюро́ (Politbjuró) as shortening of полити́ческое бюро́ (politícheskoe byuró) (political bureau).  As a general principle, a politburo, in general, is the chief committee of a communist party and often exercises executive authority. The German form is Politisches Büro abbreviated as Politbüro and, like the Spanish Politburó, is directly loaned from Russian.  Chinese uses a calque (政治局; Zhèngzhìjú in pinyin), from which the Vietnamese (Bộ Chính trị), and Korean (정치국, 政治局 Jeongchiguk) terms derive.

1917 and after

The first politburo was Russian, created in 1917 by the Bolsheviks, the initial membership of seven including Lenin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Trotsky and Stalin.  Although the USSR’s Politburo was notionally the highest policy-making government authority, it was usually subservient to the office of General Secretary of the Communist Party, especially during Comrade Stalin’s (1878–1953; leader of the Soviet Union 1922-1953) time.  In an example of the re-branding which happened often in the USSR, it was known as the Presidium between 1952 and 1966.  Many communist nations adopted the model during the twentieth century but politburos exist now only in the five remaining communist countries, China, the DPRK (North Korea), Laos, Vietnam, and Cuba.  Those five long outlasted the Russian original which was dissolved in 1991 after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Old white men: the Twenty-sixth Politburo (1981–1986) of the USSR (1981 press release).

The last four leaders of the USSR (Leonid Brezhnev (1964–1982), Yuri Andropov (1982-1984), Konstantin Chernenko (1984-1985) and Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-1991) all appear here.

Problematic

Problematic (pronounced prob-luh-mat-ik)

(1) Of the nature of a problem; doubtful; uncertain; questionable; a problem or difficulty in a particular field of study.

(2) Involving or presenting a problem that is difficult to deal with or solve.

(3) Tending or likely to elicit objections or disapproval; offensive.

(4) A generalized euphemism used to refer to unfashionable opinions or statements and deployed usually as a critique of anything thought to contribute to or reinforce systemic discrimination (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia et al), particularly if expressed implicitly or with some tricks of subtlety.

(5) In formal logic (of a proposition), asserting that a property may or may not hold; only affirming the possibility that a predicate be actualized (now rare).

1600-1610: From the Middle French problématique (doubtful, questionable, uncertain, unsettled), from the Late Latin problēmaticus, from the Ancient Greek προβληματικός (problēmatikós) (pertaining to a problem), from problēmatos, from πρόβλημα (próblēma) (out-jutting, barrier, problem), from προβάλλω (probállō) (I throw, place before), the construct being πρό (pró) (before) + βάλλω (bállō) (I throw, place).  The most common derived form is unproblematic and the connotations of problematic are now such that words once (depending on context) effectively synonymous such as ambiguous, dubious, moot, precarious, puzzling, questionable, tricky, uncertain, unsettled, arguable, chancy, debatable, disputable, doubtful, dubitable, enigmatic, iffy, indecisive & open no longer convey the same implications.

Problematic is a (rare) noun and (more commonly) an adjective, problematical is an adjective, problematically is an adverb.  Attempts to deploy problematic as a verb seem inevitable because the existing problematize ((1) to make something into a problem; (2) to consider something as if it were a problem & (3) (as an intransitive verb) to propose problems) is neutral and a loaded verb would be a more useful weapon.  In that sense the noun plural ploblematics, now rare (some claim obsolete) in formal logic, will likely evolve in parallel.

Michel Foucault (1926-1984).

The specific sense in formal logic, differentiating what is possible from what is necessarily true, has been used since the early seventeenth century although problematical appears in the papers of mathematicians, engineers and architects as early as the 1560s and the first entry in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) in 1609 defined problematic as “presenting a problem or difficulty”.  The related but distinct meaning "constituting, containing, or causing a difficulty" is a modern form from a modern discipline, used first by US sociologists in 1957.  From there (like paradigm, methodology etc), it was picked up elsewhere in academia (impressionistically appearing most popular in newer fields (gender studies, communications studies etc)) where it padded out the length a bit but added little to meaning.  What lent problematic the meaning shift which is now its most celebrated sense was one of the strands of post-modernism, the adoption by English-speaking academia of the theories of French structuralists like philosopher and literary critic Michel Foucault (1926-1984) who defined “problematization” as a process whereby something treated previously as uncontroversial by a dominant culture came to be understood not just as a problem but one demanding (political, social, legal, linguistic etc) change.

Foucault’s imperative thus was political but use of the word as exists in the twenty-first century has become nuanced.  The criticism is that problematic frequently is used merely a form of virtue-signaling, what used to be called the politics of warm inner glow: a perfunctory expression of disapprobation at something thought oppressive (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia et al) disconnected from any positive action which might address the underlying problem (in the traditional sense of the word).  In the contemporary parlance, it’s thus a passive aggressive word, an almost polite euphemism handy to use when one wishes to show they understand something is racist, sexist, homophobic etc without wishing to be sufficiently confrontational to do anything about it.

Whether that’s a problem (or indeed problematic) has in itself been positioned as a problem in itself because, in the narrow technical sense, those who advocate a linguistic crackdown on anything which they construe as oppressive are themselves imposing another form of oppression.  Although modern terminology (like transphobia, ageism etc) might make this appear novel, the culture wars, political correctness or however else such things are described are not new and have probably operated since the earliest instances of differentiated expression in human culture.  There is however something new in the layers of deconstruction now attached to the process and the evolution of problematic is an interesting contribution to the discourse.