Position

Position (pronounced puh-zish-uhn)

(1) Condition with reference to place; location; situation.

(2) A place occupied or to be occupied; site.

(3) In military jargon, a fortified position.

(4) The proper, appropriate or usual place.

(5) A situation or condition, especially with relation to favorable or unfavorable circumstances.

(6) To be in an awkward position or to bargain from a position of strength.

(7) High standing, as in society; important status.

(8) A post of employment.

(9) A manner of being placed, disposed, or arranged:

(10) A mental attitude, a stated opinion.

(11) In ballet, any of the five basic positions of the feet with which every step or movement begins and ends.

(12) In music, the arrangement of tones in a chord, especially with regard to the location of the root tone in a triad or to the distance of the tones from each other.

(13) In music, in the construction of stringed instruments, any of the places on the fingerboard of a stringed instrument where the fingers stop the strings to produce the various pitches.

(14) In music, any of the places to which the slide of a trombone is shifted to produce changes in pitch.

(15) In finance, a commitment to buy or sell securities.

(16) In classical prosody, the situation of a short vowel before two or more consonants or their equivalent, making the syllable metrically long.

(17) To determine the position of; to locate.

(18) In language, make position (of a consonant, either on its own or in combination with other consonants, such as x in Latin) to cause a short vowel to become metrically long when placed after it.

1325-1375: From the Middle English posicioun (a positing; a statement of belief, the laying down of a proposition or thesis), borrowed (as a term in formal logic and philosophy) from the Old French posicion (position, supposition (from which Modern French gained position)), from the Latin positiōn & positionem (stem of positiō) (act or fact of placing, situation, position, affirmation), the noun of state from the past-participle stem of pōnere (put; to place, lay down)).  The ultimate source is contested.  Some suggest the primitive Indo-European po-s(i)nere (the construct being apo (off, away) + sinere (to leave, let) while other etymologists prefer the Proto-Italic posine-, from the primitive Indo-European tkine- (to build, to live), from the root tkei- (to settle, dwell, be home).

The meaning "proper place occupied by a person or thing" (especially as applied to a place occupied by a person or thing (hence the link to "status, standing &  social rank" noted since 1832 and "official station, employment" (1890))) is from the 1540s.  The sense of a "manner in which some physical thing is arranged or posed, aggregate of the spatial relations of a body or figure to other such bodies or figures" dates from 1703 and was applied specifically to dance steps by 1778 and as a technical description of certain aspects of human sexual intercourse in 1883. The technical use "to assume a position” (intransitive) dates from the 1670 whereas the transitive sense of "to put in a particular position" is recorded from 1817.  The military use in the sense of "place occupied or to be occupied" ws first used in 1781.

Positionality

Second wave feminism and post-modernism grew together in the again expanding universities of the 1980s, a symbiosis of shifting cause and effect that was extraordinarily productive, at least if measured quantitatively by volume of publication.  One fork, drawing in some ways from the new-left, was positionality, a theory of construct that creates (or, according to some critical theorists, imposes) identity; it also builds a framework with which to deconstruct how an identity, however constructed, biases one’s worldview.  Positionality was first applied to gender and sexuality in 1988 by philosopher Linda Alcoff (b 1955), essentially as a critique of the patriarchal overlays and suppositions that distorted feminist thought to the point where even the more abstract or radical positions were to be understood only with some reference to prevailing male views.  Professor Alcoff argued for a positional definition of woman, one where aspects of women's identity are markers of relational positions rather than essential qualities, these identities existing in a constantly shifting network.

Linda Alcoff, Professor of Philosophy, Hunter College, City University of New York Graduate Centre.

The creation of modern identity politics has seen a revival of interest in positionality, both now seen as emergent from historical experience yet still retaining an inherently political ability to take gender as a point of departure.  Gender thus is not natural, biological, universal, ahistorical or even essential yet remains still relevant because it’s the position from which politically to act.  Alcoff’s concept was that the existing construct of "woman" is defined not by a particular set of attributes but by a position so the internal characteristics of the individual thus identified are not denoted so much as the external context within which the individual is situated; the position is always relative to the patriarchy.  By contrast, the positional definition renders identity relative to a constantly shifting context, the swirl of the objective economic, cultural, political and ideological objects and narratives.  In this analysis, the concept of positionality allows for a determinate though a fluidity of identity and feminist politics can emerge rather than being mediated through a set of defined attributes.  The implication of this for second wave feminism was that positionality existed to create a location for the construction of meaning, rather than echoing the earlier tools of feminism, used where meaning needed to be discovered.

Sabotage

Sabotage (pronounced sab-uh-tahzh (U) or sab-oh-tahzh (non-U))

(1) Any underhand interference with production, work etc, in a plant, factory etc, as by enemy agents during wartime or by employees during a trade dispute; any similar action or behavior.

(2) In military use, an act or acts with intent to injure, interfere with, or obstruct the national defense of a country by willfully injuring or destroying, or attempting to injure or destroy, any national defense or war materiel, premises, or utilities, to include human and natural resources.

(3) Any undermining of a cause.

(4) To injure or attack by sabotage.

1907: From the French sabotage from saboter (to botch; to spoil through clumsiness (originally, to strike, shake up, harry and literally “to clatter in sabots (clog-like wooden soled shoes)”).

The noun sabotage is said to have been absorbed by English in 1907, having been used as a French borrowing since at least 1903.  The sense of the French usage was “malicious damaging or destruction of an employer's property by workmen", a development from the original idea of mere deliberate bungling and inefficiency as a form of ad-hoc industrial action.  Contemporary commentators in England noted "malicious mischief" was likely the “nearest explicit definition” of sabotage before point out “this new force in industry and morals” was definitely something associated with the continent.  As the meaning quickly shifted from mere lethargy in the means to physically damaging the tools of production, the story began to circulate that the origin of the word was related to instances of disgruntled strikers (something the English were apt to ascribe as habitual to French labour) tactic of throwing their sabots (clog-like wooden-soled shoes) into machinery.  There is no evidence this ever happened although it was such a vivid image that the tale spread widely and even enjoyed some currency as actual etymology but it was fake news.  Instead it was in the tradition of the French use in a variety of "bungling" senses including the poor delivery of a speech or a poorly played piece of music, the idea of a job botched or a discordant sound, like the clatter of many sabots on as a group walked on a hardwood floor.  The noun savate (a French method of fighting with the feet) from French savate (literally "a kind of shoe") is attested from 1862 and although linked to footwear, is unrelated to sabotage.

Prepared for sabotage: Lindsay Lohan in Gucci Black Patent Leather Hysteria Platform Clogs with wooden soles, Los Angeles, 2009.  The car is a 2009 (fifth generation) Maserati Quattroporte leased by her father.

What sabotage was depended also from where it was viewed.  In industry it was thought to be a substitute for striking in which the workers stayed in his place but proceeded to do his work slowly and badly, the aim being ultimately to displease his employer's customers and cause loss to his employer.  To the still embryonic unions seeking to organize labour, it was a reciprocal act of industrial democracy, going slow about the means of production and distribution in response to organized capital going slow in the matter of wages.  The extension by the military to describe the damage inflicted (especially clandestinely) to disrupt in some way the economy by damaging military or civilian infrastructure emerged during World War I (1914-1918).  The verb sabotage (to ruin or disable deliberately and maliciously) dates from 1912 and the noun saboteur (one who commits sabotage) was also first noted in the same year (although it had been used in English since 1909 as a French word); it was from the French agent noun from saboter and the feminine form was saboteuse.

The word exists in many European languages including Catalan (sabotatge), Czech (sabotáž), Danish (sabotage), Dutch (sabotage), Galician (sabotaxe), German (Sabotage), Hungarian (szabotázs), Italian (sabotaggio), Polish (sabotaż), Portuguese (sabotagem), Russian (сабота́ж) (sabotáž), Spanish (sabotaje), Swedish (sabotage) & Turkish (sabotaj).  Sabotage is so specific that it has no direct single-word synonym although, depending on context, related words include destruction, disruption, subversion, treachery, treason, vandalism, cripple, destroy, disrupt, hamper, hinder, obstruct, subvert, torpedo, undermine, vandalize, wreck, demolition, impairment, injury & disable.  Sabotage is a noun & verb, sabotaged is a verb & adjective, saboteur is a noun, sabotaging is a verb and sabotagable is an adjectival conjecture; some sources maintain there is no plural of sabotage and the correct form is “acts of sabotage” while others list the third-person singular simple present indicative form as sabotages.

Franz von Papen.

Although his activities as German Military Attaché for Washington DC during 1914-1915 would be overshadowed by his later adventures, Franz von Papen’s (1879–1969) inept attempts at sabotaging the Allied war effort would help introduce the word to the military vocabulary.  He attempted to disrupt the supply of arms to the British, even setting up a munitions factory with the intension of buying up scare commodities to deny their use by the Allies, only to find the enemy had contracted ample quantities so his expensive activities had no appreciable effect on the shipments.  Then his closest aide, after falling asleep on a train, left behind a briefcase full of letters compromising Papen for his activities on behalf of the central powers.  Within days, a New York newspaper published details of Papen’s amateurish cloak & dagger operations including his attempt to induce workers of Austrian & German descent employed in plants engaged in war production for the Allies to slow down their output or damage the goods.  Also in the briefcase were copies of letters he sent revealing shipping movements.

Even this wasn’t enough for the US to expel him so he expanded his operations, setting up a spy network to conduct a sabotage and bombing campaign against businesses in New York owned by citizens from the Allied nations.  That absorbed much money for little benefit but, undeterred, he became involved with Indian nationalists living in the US, arranging with them for arms to be shipped to India where he hoped a revolt against the Raj might be fermented, a strategy he pursued also with the Irish nationalists.  Thinking big, he planned an invasion of Canada and tried to enlist Mexico as an ally of the Central Powers in the event of the US entering the war with the promise California and Arizona would be returned.  More practically, early in 1915 he hired agents to blow up the Vanceboro international rail bridge which linked the US and Canada between New Brunswick and Maine.  That wasn’t a success but of greater impact was that Papen had departed from the usual practices of espionage by paying the bombers by cheque.  It was only his diplomatic immunity which protected him from arrest but British intelligence had been monitoring his activities and provided a file to the US State Department which in December 1915 declared him persona non grata and expelled him.  Upon his arrival in Berlin, he was awarded the Iron Cross.

Hopelessly ineffective though his efforts had proved, by the time Papen left the US, the words sabotage and saboteur had come into common use including in warning posters and other propaganda.  Papen went on greater things, serving briefly as chancellor and even Hitler’s deputy, quite an illustrious career for one described as “uniquely, taken seriously by neither his opponents nor his supporters”.  When one of the Weimar Republic's many scheming king-makers suggested Papen as chancellor, others thought the noting absurd, pointing out: "Papen has no head for politics."  The response was: "He doesn't need a head, his job is to be a hat".  Despite his known limitations, he proved one of the Third Reich’s great survivors, escaping purges and assassination and, despite being held in contempt by Hitler, served the regime to the end.  Even its coda he survived, being one of the few defendants at the main Nuremberg trial (1945-1946) to be acquitted (to be fair he was one of the few Nazis with the odd redeeming feature and his sins were those of cynical opportunism rather than evil intent) although the German courts did briefly imprison him, albeit under rather pleasant conditions.

The Simple Sabotage Field Manual (SSFM) was published in 1944 by the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).  Its original purpose was as a resource for OSS field agents to use in motivating or recruiting potential foreign saboteurs and permission was granted permission to print and disseminate portions of the document as needed.  The idea was to provide tools and instructions so just about any member of society could inflict some degree of damage of a society and its economy, the rationale being that of a “death of a thousand cuts”.  In contrast, the more dramatic and violent acts of sabotage (high-risk activities like killings or blowing stuff up) were only ever practiced by a handful of citizens.  The SSFM was aimed at US sympathizers keen to disrupt war efforts against the allies during World War II (1939-1945) in ways that were barely detectable but, in cumulative effect, measurable and thus contains instructions for destabilizing or reducing progress and productivity by non-violent means. The booklet is separated into headings that correspond to specific audiences, including: Managers and Supervisors, Employees, Organizations and Conferences, Communications, Transportation (Railways, Automotive, and Water), General Devices for Lowering Morale and Creating Confusion & Electric Power.  The simplicity of approach was later adopted by the CIA when it distributed its Book of Dirty Tricks.

Of great amusement to students (amateur and professional) of corporate organizational behavior was that a number of the tactics the SSFM lists as being disruptive and tending to reduce efficiency are exactly those familiar to anyone working in a modern Western corporation.

Middle Management

(1) Insist on doing everything through “channels.” Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.

(2) Make “speeches.” Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your “points” by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences.

(3) When possible, refer all matters to committees, for “further study and consideration.” Attempt to make the committee as large as possible — never less than five.

(4) Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.

(5) Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.

(6) Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.

(7) Advocate “caution.” Be “reasonable” and urge your fellow-conferees to be “reasonable” and avoid haste which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on.

Senior Management

(8) In making work assignments, always sign out the unimportant jobs first. See that important jobs are assigned to inefficient workers.

(9) Insist on perfect work in relatively unimportant products; send back for refinishing those which have the least flaw.

(10) To lower morale and with it, production, be pleasant to inefficient workers; give them undeserved promotions.

(11) Hold conferences when there is more critical work to be done.

(12) Multiply the procedures and clearances involved in issuing instructions, pay checks, and so on. See that three people have to approve everything where one would do.

Employees

(13) Work slowly.

(14) Contrive as many interruptions to your work as you can.

(15) Do your work poorly and blame it on bad tools, machinery, or equipment. Complain that these things are preventing you from doing your job right.

(16) Never pass on your skill and experience to a new or less skillful worker.

Bohemian

Bohemian (pronounced boh-hee-mee-uhn)

(1) A native or inhabitant of Bohemia.

(2) A person, as an artist or writer, who lives and acts free of regard for conventional rules and practices (technically should be lowercase but rule often not observed.)

(3) The Czech language, especially as spoken in Bohemia.

(4) Slang term sometime applied to Gypsies (Roma or Travelers), especially in central and eastern Europe.

(5) Of or relating to Bohemia, its people, or their language, especially the old kingdom of Bohemia; a Czech.

(6) Pertaining to or characteristic of the unconventional life of a bohemian (again, should be lowercase).

(7) Living a wandering or vagabond life.

1570-1580:  The construct was Bohemi(a) + -an (the adjectival suffix).  The modern meaning "a gypsy of society" dates from 1848, drawn from the fifteenth century French bohemién, from the country name.  Meaning is thus associative, from the prevailing French view that gypsies (Roma or Travelers) came from Bohemia (and technically, their first appearance in Western Europe may have been directly from Bohemia).  An alternative view is it’s from association with fifteenth century Bohemian Hussite heretics who had been driven from their country about that time; most etymologists prefer the former.

A bohemian was thus something of “a gypsy of society; a person (especially a painter, poet etc) who lives a free and somewhat dissipated life, rejecting the conventionalities of life and having little regard for social standards”.  The transferred sense, in reference to unconventional living, is attested in French by 1834 and was popularized by Henri Murger's (1822-1861) stories from the late 1840s, later collected as Scenes de la Vie de Boheme (which formed the basis of Puccini's La Bohème).  It appears in English in that sense in William Makepeace Thackeray's (1811–1863) Vanity Fair (1848); the Middle English word for "a resident or native of Bohemia" was Bemener.

1934 German 40 Pf postage stamp.  President von Hindenburg once vowed never to appoint Hitler Chancellor (head of government), saying the highest office he's grant would be as a postmaster where "he could lick the stamps with my head on them."

As a descriptor of lifestyle, in the West, bohemian sometimes has a romantic association with freedom but it can also be a put-down.  In translation it can also be misunderstood.  Paul von Hindenburg (1847–1934; Field Marshal and German head of state 1925-1934) dismissively called Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; Nazi head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945) a Böhmischer Gefreiter which is usually translated in English as “bohemian corporal”, leading many to conclude it was a reference to his famously erratic routine and self-described (and promoted) artistic temperament.  Actually Hindenburg was speaking literally.  In the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, he’d served as an officer in the Prussian Army, at one point passing through the Bohemian village named Broumov (Braunau in German and now located in the Czech Republic) and knowing Hitler had been born in Braunau, assumed the future Führer had been born a Bohemian.  Hitler however was actually born in the Austrian town of Braunau in Austria although the Field Marshal was right about him being a Gefreiter (an enlisted rank in the military equating with a lance corporal or private first class (PFC)), that being Hitler’s role in the First World War (1914-1918)).  If vague on geography, one would expect Hindenburg to get the military terminology correct; he once claimed the only books he ever read were the Bible and the army manual.

Either way, the president’s slight was a deliberate, class-based put-down, the army’s often aristocratic (and predominately Prussian) officer corps regarding a corporal from somewhere south as definitely not “one of us” and one didn’t even have to come from as far south as Austria to earn Prussian disapprobation; Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898; Chancellor of the German Empire 1871-1890) once described Bavarians as “halfway between an Austrian and a human being”.  Even a Bavarian officer however could think himself superior to an Austrian corporal and Ernst Röhm (1887-1934; the most famous victim of the 1937 Nacht der langen Messer (Night of the Long Knives (Unternehmen Kolbri (Operation Hummingbird)) and referred to by the Nazis as the Röhm Putsch) more than once dismissed Hitler as a lächerlicher Gefreiter (ridiculous corporal).  Hindenburg’s phrase was well-known among the officer corps and generals were known to repeat it when among friends.  Most famously it was reprised by Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus (1890–1957) who is now remembered only for commanding the doomed Sixth Army, surrendering the remnants to Soviet forces in February 1943.  Hitler promoted him to Field Marshal just before the city fell, explaining that he wanted to give him “this last satisfaction”, the sub-text being that no German Field Marshal had ever been captured and that Paulus should draw his own conclusions and commit suicide.  Paulus however decline to shoot himself for that “Böhmischer Gefreiter”.

La Bohème (1896) by Giacomo Puccini

In 1830s Paris, some bohemian youths are living in squalid flats in the Latin Quarter.  Two of them, the writer Rodolfo and the frail Mimi, meet by chance when Mimi knocks on her neighbor Rodolfo’s door because her solitary candle has blown out.  He lights it for her and they fall in love.  These days, they'd be thought a couple of emos.

They have their ups and downs, as Puccini’s lovers do, and Rodolfo, though finding Mimi a bit highly-strung, really loves her but fears her staying with him and living in such poverty will damage her fragile health.  Worried she may die, he decides to leave.  Hearing this, Mimi is overcome with feelings of love and they make a pact to stay together until spring, after which they can separate.

In early spring, in Rodolfo arms, Mimi falls gravely ill and the bohemians rush off to sell their meager possessions so they can buy her medicine.  Together the two lovers recall how they met and talk of their poor, happy days together.  She takes medicine but her condition worsens and she dies, leaving Rodolfo in inconsolable grief.

Maria Callas (1923-1977) was as improbable a Mimi as she was a Madam Butterfly and never performed the role on-stage.  However, in 1956, under Antonino Votto (1896-1985) in Milan, she, with Giuseppe di Stefano (1921-2008) as Rodolfo, recorded the Opera for Decca and it’s one of the great Callas performances.  To this day, it's the most dramatic La Bohème available on disc.

A generation later, under Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989), Mirella Freni (1935-2020) and Luciano Pavarotti (1935-2007) recorded it for Decca.  Karajan, better known for conducting Wagner with hushed intensity, produced a lush and romantic interpretation.

Lindsay Lohan in a bohemian phase, New York, 2014.

In fashion, the bohemian look (boho or boho chic for short) is sometimes said to be not precisely defined but that’s really not true because the style is well-understood and, done properly, can’t be mistaken for anything else.  Although the trick to the look is in the layering of the elements, the style is characterized by long flowing or tiered skirts and dresses, peasant blouses, clichéd touches like tunics or wood jewelry, embroidery or embellishment with beading, fringed handbags, and jeweled or embellished flat sandals (or flat ankle boots).  Boho dresses owe much to the pre-Raphaelite women of the late nineteenth century although in the popular imagination there’s more of an association with the hippies of the 1960s (and those of the 1970s who didn’t realize the moment had passed).  The terms bohemian & boho obviously long pre-dated the hippie era but as fashion terms boho & boho-chic didn’t come into widespread use until early in the twenty-first century.

Mufti

Mufti (pronounced muhf-tee (U) or muff-tee (non-U))

(1) Civilian clothes, in contrast with military or other uniforms worn (as applied to persons who usually wear a uniform (used in the English-speaking world except North America); the synonym is civvies.

(2) As Islamic scholar & jurist expert in the shari’a law and the interpretation of legal principles written in the Koran who issues fatwas.

(3) In the Ottoman Empire, a deputy to the Sultan’s chief adviser on matters of Islamic law.

(4) As Grand Mufti, a senior figure in some Islamic systems.

(5) The acronym of Minimum Use of Force and Tactical Intervention, used in the military and law enforcement.

1580-1590: From the Ottoman Turkish مفتی‎ (müftî), from the Arabic مُفْتِي‎ (muftī) (one who delivers a fatwa (literally “deliverer of formal opinion”), from مُفْتٍ‎ (muftin), the active participle of أَفْتَى‎ (ʾaftā) (to give), a conjugated form of fata (he gave a (legal) decision).  The use to describe civilian clothes (worn by military officers when off-duty) as opposed to military uniform dates from 1816 and was a term used in the British Indian Army under the Raj.  The origin is murky but is presumed to reference a mufti’s costume of robe and slippers in stage plays of the time and was thus a synecdoche for plain clothes.  The archaic alternative spellings in English were muftee & mufty; the noun plural is muftis.

Of Muftis, the Sheikhs, Mullahs, Imams and Ayatollahs

Sheikh Hasina Wazed (b1947; Prime Minister of Bangladesh 1996-2001 & since 2009).

Like many religions, In Islam there are a number of titles, some of which seem to overlap and the use in one place can in detail differ from the duties and responsibilities undertaken in another.  An added complication is that Islam does not have the same distinctions between religious and other matters familiar in many other faiths.  A Mullah (the word a substitute for molvi or molai) is one who has studied and attained a degree in the fields of Hadith, Tafseer & Fiqh from any authentic Jamia or Madrassah (University of Islamic Sciences) and holds a qualification of Sanad or Ijazat-e-Hadees.   A student is announced Scholar (Molvi) in a graduation ceremony after when he has attained Ijazat e Hadith from his teacher of Hadith (Sheikh-ul-Hadith).  With this qualification, the graduate is deemed able to understand & explain Ahadith (plural of Hadith (the entire collection of hadiths (sayings and deeds) of Muhammad within a particular branch of Islam or Islamic jurisprudence).  A Mufti is one who, after graduating, has undertaken further study in a specialization in one or more of the field such as law or history.  A Mufti is able to issue a fatwa, a written authorized verdict on any of the Islamic problems brought to his attention.  The best known of these judgments are those associated with Dar-ul-ifta (the institution with the authority to write and publish verdicts on the Islamic issues of every nature).  A Grand Mufti is the highest ranked Mufti at a Dar-ul-ifta and can be thought of as something like a chief judge in a court but, because Islam is structurally more integrated than the pattern understood in many countries, such comparisons are merely indicative.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1900-1989; supreme leader of Iran 1979-1989).

The widely used Sheikh is often misunderstood.  It is an honorific title for someone and need not be formally conferred and, unusually, it can be used by women; a mark of respect vaguely similar to “sir” in English or “san” in Japanese.  However, in some parts of the Arab world, Sheikh can be used instead of mufti (or molvi).  An Imam is a leader, the term used for a recognized religious scholar or authority in Islam and in Sunni Islam, it is the Imam is the one who leads formal prayers, even in locations beyond a mosque and for a mosque formally to be constituted, there must be an imam to lead the prayers, even if in circumstances it may be someone from the gathered congregation rather than an appointed official.  Such a person is chosen on the basis of their knowledge of the Quran, and Sunnah (the prophetic tradition) and their good character; their age is not relevant.  Imams, formal and otherwise are almost always male and in some traditions exclusively so but in some cultures women certainly lead women in prayer and there is a long history of women fulfilling the role when the congregation is comprised exclusively of family members, even if it includes men.  The Sunni branch of Islam does not have imams in the same sense as the Shi'a where the role is best understood in the position of Ayatollah, the most famous of which are those of the Islamic Republic of Iran.  The founder of that state, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, was within the country usually referred to as “the Imam”, a courtesy title not extended to his successor.

The Führer and the Grand Mufti, Berlin, 1941.

The 1941 meeting in Berlin between Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; Nazi head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945) and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (Mohammed Amin al-Husseini (1897–1974) Mufti (Grand Mufti after 1922) of Jerusalem 1921-1948) cast a long shadow.  In 2015 then Israeli prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (b 1949; prime minister 1996-1999 & 2009- 2021) claimed Hitler at the time of the meeting was not considering exterminating the Jews, but only expelling them from Europe and that it was al-Husseini who inspired the genocide of the holocaust to ensure they didn’t come to Palestine.  Mr Netanyahu is marvelously unscrupulous and inclined, where there's some gap or inconsistency in the historical record, to insert alternative facts which suit his purposes.

The only record of the meeting is the official German report, published decades ago and there’s nothing in it to support Mr Netanyahu’s accusations.  Of course, an official government record of a meeting involved his head of state may not be a complete record of the conversation and it may be that the views attributed to the mufti by Mr Netanyahu are exactly those expressed to the Führer and not included in the official record for reasons of political sensitivity.  It’s just that there’s no basis for the accusation and that all the available evidence does confirm the Nazis had months before the meeting taken the decision to proceed with the holocaust and the planning was well-advanced before the mufti arrived in Berlin.  The mufti was anti-Semitic and collaborated with the Nazis as a broadcaster and propagandist, helping recruit Balkan Muslims to form a division of the Waffen-SS.  He also appears to have known about the Holocaust as early as 1943 but there is no evidence to support the assertion he was in 1941 either its inspiration or even an advocate.

Australia’s most entertaining mufti was the Egyptian-born Sheikh Taj El-Din Hamid Hilaly (b 1941; Mufti of Australia 1988-2007),  After a quiet start he was never far from the news but his most celebrated moment came in 2006 when he delivered a sermon discussing the relationship between rape and the clothing women choose to wear.  The essence of his message was:

Were one to leave uncovered meat in the street, in the garden, in the park or in the backyard, just leave it without a cover, when the cat comes and eats it, is that the fault of the cat or the uncovered meat?  Of course it is the fault of the uncovered meat.  If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred.

Covered meat: Lindsay Lohan in hijab (al-amira).

After repeating his comments in public, there was an unfavorable reaction and he issued a statement: "I unreservedly apologize to any woman who is offended by my comments. I had only intended to protect women's honor, something lost in (the newspaper’s) presentation of my talk.  I would like to unequivocally confirm that the presentation related to religious teachings on modesty and not to go to extremes in enticements. This does not condone rape. I condemn rape.  Women in our Australian society have the freedom and right to dress as they choose; the duty of man is to avert his glance or walk away."

Lotus

Lotus (pronounced loh-tuhs)

(1) In Greek mythology, a plant believed to be a jujube or elm, referred to as yielding a fruit that induced a state of forgetfulness and a dreamy languor in those who ate it.

(2) Any aquatic plant of the genus, Nelumbo nucifera, of the water lily family, having shield-like leaves and showy, solitary flowers usually projecting above the water.

(3) Any of several water lilies of the genus Nymphaea.

(4) A decorative motif derived from such a plant and used widely in ancient art, as on the capitals of Egyptian columns.

(5) Any shrubby plant of the genus Lotus, of the legume family, having red, pink, yellow, or white flowers.

(6) An English manufacturer of lightweight sports and racing cars, best known for its successes in Formula One between 1962-1978.

1530–1540:  From the Classical Latin, lōtus or lōtos, perfect passive participle of lavō (wash), from the Ancient Greek λωτός (lōtós) (the lotus plant), the origin of which is unknown but thought probably related to Semitic plant names such as Hebrew לוט‎ (lōt) (myrrh).  The feminine was lōta, the neuter lōtum.  The circa 1500 lote was an Englished form of lotus and it survives as Lote-tree.  The yogic sense is attested from 1848.

From the 1540s, the name was, rather casually, bestowed on many plants, some related, some not even alike and that had been the pattern of the Greek lōtós which was applied to several plants before it came exclusively to mean Egyptian white lotus (a sense attested in English from 1580s), a plant prominent part in the mythology of India, Egypt, China.  The Homeric lotus later was held to be a North African shrub, from which "a kind of wine" can be made and historians conclude that was a reference to the effects rather than the taste.  The name has also been given to several species of water-lilies and a bean that grows in water.   The noun lotion is from the circa 1400 Middle English loscion (liquid preparation for application to the skin), from the fourteenth century Old French lotion, from the Latin lotionem (nominative lotio) (a washing), a noun of action from lotus (varied contraction of lavatus (a popular form of lautus, past participle of lavere (to wash) from the primitive Indo-European root leue- (to wash)).

The circa 1600 noun lotophagi (literally “lotus-eaters”) was from the Greek lotophagoi (plural), the construct being lotos + -phagos (eating), from the primitive Indo-European root bhag- (to share out, apportion; to get a share), the more common literary form of which was lotophagous.  The lotus was believed to induce a dreamy forgetfulness, hence the mention of the lotus-eater as "one who finds pleasure in a listless life" (1812) from the Greek lotophagoi, mentioned in book IX of Homer’s Odyssey.  Odysseus had to force his lethargic sailors back on board after the lotus-eaters had shared with them the narcotic fruit.  It’s one of the earliest warnings against drug use.

Of the plural

Lindsay Lohan with former special friend Samantha Ronson at a charity fundraiser for the Children’s Miracle Network, Lotus Lounge,  Washington DC, October 2008.

The use of plural forms in English is not consistent, though the wise attempt always to append just s or es as required.  This linguistic pragmatism (or Anglo-Saxon laziness if you prefer) simplifies things and plurals like stadia and referenda, while not extinct, are probably now archaic.  That said, plurals can sometimes need to end in an i, aux or a, often more for elegance than sticking to the rules.  Rare plurals persist because they’re useful within niche communities; scientists and statisticians being punctilious in the use of datum, the rest of us calling all such stuff, singular or plural, data.  Patterns of use in English, if of sufficient longevity (though not of necessity breadth of adoption), can re-define words borrowed from other languages.  The modern English agenda (from the Latin agenda (things that ought to be done)) is now singular, the plural being agendas and the individual components, items.  In the original, agenda was plural of agendum.  However, criterion is singular and criteria plural; any other use is a more recent lapse and remains wrong.  English is best evolving its own rules.  Lotuses isn’t pretty which is a good a reason as any for a word to vanish but under Latin rules the plural would be loti which is no better but anyway, lotus is of Greek origin.  So, because both lotos and lotus appear in the Latin texts and the plural in Greek was oi, not i, lotoi can exist in the same same documents.   That’s also why the persistent octopi is wrong and that’s a shame because it’s better than the standard English plural which is octopuses.  However, octopus comes from the Ancient Greek; the correct plural form is octopodes.

By 1968, the makers of the Lotus Formula One and sports cars responded to having their machinery called Loti and Lotaux by issuing a press release advising the company would henceforth adopt Lotus as both plural and possessive and hinted everyone should do the same.  Lotus thought all others, including the historically correct Lotuses, “horrible words”.  The press release had no effect.

The footnote: The Lotus 43

BRM H16 engine.

The change from the 1.5 litre (92 cubic inch) voiturette formula (1961-1965) to a 3.0 litre (183 cubic inch) displacement for the 1966 Formula One season meant not only would the teams need new engines but also bigger, stronger chassis.  Lotus had an advantage in solving the latter problem because it was able to modify the Lotus 38 which had won the 1965 Indianapolis 500 when fitted with a 4.2 litre (256 cubic inch Ford V8).  The 38 was a strong and adaptable design, many of the elements of which would be incorporated into the later Lotus 49 and many racing cars of the era were to some extent Lotus 38 clones.  For an engine, for a number of reasons, Lotus choose to use the BRM H16, a unit created by reconfiguring the successful 1.5 litre BRM V8 into a 180^o (flat) configuration and mounting one atop another, thereby creating a 3.0 litre H16 which had the advantage of a relatively short development cycle because so many existing components were able to be used but the drawbacks were weight, size and height.

BRM H16 in Lotus 43.

Although commendably short, the H16 was tall which meant a high centre of gravity, something exacerbated by having to mount the block high in the chassis to permit sufficient clearance for the exhaust systems of the lower banks of cylinders.  It was also wide, too wide to fit into a monocoque socket and thus was taken the decision to make the engine an integral, load-bearing element of the chassis.  There was no other choice but that aspect worked well.  Had the H16 had delivered the promised horsepower the Lotus 43 might have been a success but the numbers were never realized.  The early power output was higher than the opposition but it wasn’t enough to compensate for the drawbacks inherent in the design and, these being so fundamental they couldn’t be corrected, the only hope was even more power.  The path to power was followed and modest increases were gained but it was never enough and time ran out before the plan to go from 32 to 64 valves could come to fruition, an endeavor some suggested would merely have “compounded the existing error on an even grander scale.”  Additionally, with every increase in power and weight, the already high fuel consumption worsened.

Lotus 43, US Grand Prix, Watkins Glen, 1966.

In winning the 1966 US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, the Lotus 43 delivered the H16 its sole victory, something BRM never managed when the engine was mounted in their chassis.  The 1.5 litre BRM V8 had enjoyed outstanding reliability but of the forty times the H16 started a race, twenty-seven ended prematurely.  The irony of the tale is that in the two seasons BRM ran the 400 horsepower H16 with its sixteen cylinders, two crankshafts, eight camshafts and thirty-two valves, the championship in both years was won by the Repco-Brabham, its engine with 320 horsepower, eight cylinders, one crankshaft, two camshafts and sixteen valves.  Adding insult to the exquisitely bespoke H16’s injury, the Repco engine was based on an old Oldsmobile block which General Motors had abandoned several year earlier (the engine blocks used by Brabham could be purchased by any customer for around US$20, a number which must have astonished outfits like Scuderia Ferrari).  After two seasons the H16 venture was retired, replaced by a conventional V12; Lotus sold the two 43s to a privateer who installed 4.7 liter (289 cubic inch) Ford (Windsor) V8s and campaigned them in Formula 5000 events.  The new Lotus 49 used the 3.0 litre Ford Cosworth (DFV) V8, a combination which enjoyed, remarkably, three successful seasons.