Quango

Quango (pronounced kwang-go)

A semi-public advisory and administrative body supported by the government and having most of its members appointed by the government.

1967, an acronym, cited usually as as...

Qu(asi)-a(utonomous)-n(on-)g(overnmental)-o(rganization)

...and in the occasional historic reference...

Qu(asi)-a(utonomous)-n(ational-)g(overnmental)-o(rganization)

Whether the correct form is QUANGO or Quango hands on which spelling one prefers.  It's certainly an acronym but sometimes such constructs become words such as radar (RA(dio)-D(etection)-A(nd)-R(anging).  As early as World War II (1939-1945), "radar" was in use as a common noun (thus losing all capitalization) at that at a time when many details of the technology remained state secrets although, because big masts and antennae dotted along the coast were impossible to conceal, the existence of the system was well-known.  Pleasingly, quango spawned some non-standard derivatives such as quangocracy and quangocrat.

The concept of the quango is most often used in the UK but exists also in most developed economies such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the US and other English-speaking countries. Many countries with other language traditions have Quangos but tend not to use the term although in the English-speaking world, foreign Quangos may be referred to thus.  A quango is a hybrid form of organization, with elements of both non-government organizations (NGOs) and public sector bodies and typically an organization to which a government has devolved power, but which is still partly controlled and in most cases at least substantially financed by some organ of the state.  Despite the public positions of some, quangos are popular with politicians (of the left & right) because, properly structured, they can be used to execute a political agenda while permitting politicians to attempt to absolve themselves of responsibility for anything unpopular.

The term qango was created in 1967 by Alan Pifer (1921-2005) of the (nominally not politically aligned) Carnegie Foundation, in an essay on the independence and accountability of public-funded bodies incorporated in the private sector.  It describes an ostensibly non-governmental organization performing governmental functions, often in receipt of funding or other state support.  The growth in the number of Quangos over recent decades has been well documented but rarely exactly quantified; in many states where research has been undertaken, a not uncommon finding was that when attempting to define a definitive list, it was difficult to be certain just how many were functionally extant.  The core of the problem appeared to be that some quangos technically still exist in that while they have never formerly been dis-established, it may have been years since they were active.  In 2005, Dan Lewis, author of The Essential Guide to Quangos, claimed that the UK had 529 quangos, many of which were useless and duplicated the work of others.  A Cabinet Office report in 2009 found 766 although that may have represented a decline given there many have been 790 in 2008 although that was a decline from the 827 counted in 2007 but unfortunately, the notion there was ever a Bread Board or Cheese Board seems apocryphal.  Periodically, governments do cull or merge quangos but its inherently a Sisyphean task because (1) the well-documented phenomenon of bureaucratic inertia means organizations tend to remain or expand even if they've outlived their usefulness, (2) politicians are tempted often to add to the numbers because of the need to maintain lucrative dumping grounds for colleagues who are proving tiresome but can't otherwise be disposed of or (3) if a problem can be solved only by electorally unpopular measures, it's a good trick to create or afforce a quango onto which things can be dumped.  

Sunroof

Sunroof (pronounced suhn-roof)

(1) A section of an automobile roof (sometimes translucent and historically called a moonroof) which can be slid or lifted open.

(2) In obstetrics, a slang term used by surgeons to describe the Caesarean section.

1952: A compound word, the construct being sun + roof.

Sun was from the Middle English sonne & sunne, from the Old English sunne, from the Proto-West Germanic sunnā, from the Proto-Germanic sunnǭ, from the heteroclitic inanimate primitive Indo-European sh₂wen-, oblique of the Proto-Indo-European sóh₂wl̥ (sun).  The other forms from the Germanic included the Saterland Frisian Sunne, the West Frisian sinne, the German Low German Sünn, the Dutch zon, the German Sonne and the Icelandic sunna.  The forms which emerged without Germanic influence included the Welsh huan, the Sanskrit स्वर् (svar) and the Avestan xᵛə̄ṇg.  The related forms were sol, Sol, Surya and Helios.

Roof was from the Middle English rof, from the Old English hrōf (roof, ceiling; top, summit; heaven, sky), from the Proto-Germanic hrōfą (roof).  Throughout the English-speaking world, roofs is now the standard plural form of roof.  Rooves does have some history but has long been thought archaic and the idea there would be something to be gained from maintaining rooves as the plural to avoid confusion with roof’s the possessive never received much support.  Despite all that, rooves does seem to appear more than might be expected, presumably because there’s much more tolerance extended to the irregular plural hooves but the lexicographers are unimpressed and insist the model to follow is poof (an onomatopoeia describing a very small explosion, accompanied usually by a puff of smoke), more than one poof correctly being “poofs”.

Lindsay Lohan standing through sunroof: Promotional photo-shoot for Herbie Fully Loaded (2005)

1973 Lincoln Continental Mark IV with moonroof.

Sunroofs existed long before 1952 but that was the year the word was first adopted by manufacturers in Detroit.  The early sunroofs were folding fabric but metal units, increasingly electrically operated, were more prevalent by the early 1970s.  Ford, in 1973, introduced the word moonroof (which was used also as moon roof & moon-roof) to describe the slinding pane of one-way glass mounted in the roof panel over the passenger compartment of the Lincoln Continental Mark IV (1972-1976).  Moonroof soon came to describe any translucent roof panel, fixed or sliding though the word faded from use and all such things tend now to be called a sunroof.  Manufacturers in the 1970s devoted sizeable resources to develop the sunroof because of an assumption US safety regulations would soon outlaw convertibles but the election of Ronald Reagan (1911–2004; US president 1981-1989) in 1980 changed the regulatory climate.  Reagan, not fond of dopey rules which impinged freedom, assured Detroit there’d be no ban and the first American convertibles since 1976 soon appeared, one consequence of which was legal action brought by some who had purchased (and stored with expectations of profit) 1976 Cadillac Eldorados, claiming they had been induced to buy because of the promotional campaign by General Motors (GM) using the phrase "the last American convertible”.  The cases were dismissed on the basis that GM's statements were “reasonable at the time, based on advice from government”.  No action was possible against the government on several grounds, including the doctrines of remoteness and unforeseeability.

The highlight of the ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) was the military parade, held in Beijing on 1 October 2019.  Said to be the largest military parade and mass pageant in Chinese history, the formations reviewed by the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping (b 1953; paramount leader of the PRC since 2012).  Held a few weeks before the first outbreak of COVID-19, the assembled crowd was said without exception to be “enthusiastic and happy”.  His particularly well-cut Mao suit was a nice touch.

Two generals of the Belarus Army in Hongqi L5 four-door convertible parade cars, take the salute during the parade to mark Independence Day of the Republic of Belarus, 3 June 2017.  Belarus is the only known operator of the L5 outside the PRC, the other matter of interest the debate in military circles about whether the hats worn by generals in Belarus are bigger than those of the army of the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)).

Hongqi L5.The car carrying President Xi is the Hongqi L5, the state limousine of the PRC, the coachwork styling a deliberately retro homage to the Hongqi CA770, the last in the line (dating from 1958) of large cars built almost exclusively for use by the upper echelons of the CCP.  Most of the earlier cars were built on the large platforms US manufacturers used in the 1960s and were powered by a variety of US-sourced V8 engines but the L5 is wholly an indigenous product which has been built with both a six-litre (365 cubic inch) V12 and four-litre (245 cubic inch) V8 although neither configuration is intended for high-performance.  Interestingly, although Hongqi L5 have produced a version of the L5 with four-door convertible coachwork as a formal parade car and they have been used both in the PRC and in Belarus, the general secretary conducted his review in a closed vehicle with a sunroof.

US President Richard Nixon (1913-1994, US president 1969-1974) with Anwar Sadat (1918–1981; President of Egypt 1970-1981) in a 1967 Cadillac Fleetwood convertible, Alexandria, Egypt, June 1974; on that day, the motorcade was 180-strong.  Within two months, Nixon would resign.

The CCP didn’t comment on the choice of a car with a sunroof and it may have been made on technical grounds, the mounting of the microphone array presumably easier with the roof available as a mounting point and given the motorcade travelled a higher speed than a traditional parade, it would also have provided a more stable platform for the general secretary.  It’s not thought there was any concern about security, Xi Jinping (for a variety of reasons) safer in his capital than many leaders although heads of state and government became notably more reticent about travelling in open-topped vehicles after John Kennedy (1917–1963; US president 1961-1963) was assassinated in 1963.  Some, perhaps encouraged by Richard Nixon being greeted by cheering crowds in 1974 when driven through Cairo’s streets (a potent reminder of how things have changed) in a Cadillac convertible, persisted but after the attempt on the life of John Paul II (1920–2005; pope 1978-2005) in 1981, there’s been a trend to roofs all the way, sometimes molded in translucent materials of increasing chemical complexity.

Military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), Beijing, China, 1 October 2019.

Phatic

Phatic (pronounced fat-ik)

In linguistics (as phatic communication), denoting speech used to convey any kind of social relationship (of speech, especially of conversational phrases) used to establish social contact and to express sociability rather than any substantive or even specific meaning.

1923: From the Ancient Greek φατός (phat, phatós) (spoken; capable of being spoken) from φημί (phēmí or phánai) (I speak; I say).  Phatic is a verbid of phánai, from the primitive Indo-European root bha (to speak, tell, say), the construct being phat + -ic.  The suffix –ic is from the Middle English -ik, from the Old French -ique from the Latin -icus from the primitive Indo-European -kos, formed with the i-stem suffix -i- and the adjectival suffix -kos.  It was related to the Ancient Greek -ικός (-ikós), the Sanskrit श (śa) & क (ka) and the Old Church Slavonic -ъкъ (-ŭkŭ) and was a doublet of -y.  It attached to noun-stems to convey the meanings “characteristic of; like; typical & pertaining to”; on adjectival stems it acted emphatically.  The term phatic communion (bonding by language) was coined by Polish-born British anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski (1884-1942) in his essay The Problem of Meaning in Primitive Languages (1923).  Phatic is an adjective and phatically is an adverb (the rare phaticesque is non-standard); in the technical use of structural linguistics, phatic can be a noun; the noun plural  being phatics.

Phatic communication at the bar table: Lindsay Lohan and her lawyer in court, Los Angeles, December 2011.

In linguistics, phatic communication is that which pertains to words in a perfunctory or procedural manner in accordance with social convention rather than to impart information or to convey some specific or explicit meaning.  Anthony Burgess (1917–1993) in his novel 1985 (1978) used an unusual structure in that the first section contained a number of essays and dialogues discussing George Orwell's (1903-1950) Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) and the deconstruction of some relevant etymology and as a period-piece from "winter of discontent" England, it remains an interesting read.  Burgess suggested the classic example of phatic communication was the frequent and familiar exchange "How are you?" & "Fine", the question not literally disclosing and interest in the well-being of another but merely an acceptable form of greeting.  The response is often far from true but is the correct social convention and merely an acknowledgement of the greeting.

Phatic communication at the bar.  Lindsay Lohan, Lohan Nightclub, Athens, 2017.

In the English-speaking world, phatic communication varies in form between social classes but is almost universally perfunctory.  In other cultures it is more formal and sometimes a part of social rituals.  The Persian تعارف‎ (Taarof or Tarof) is a quasi-codified system of etiquette which, ad hoc, creates social relationships based usually on social rank.  The Japanese use a collection of phatic expressions which, unlike in English, tend more frequently to re-occur during conversations; In Japan they fulfill an essentially structural role and are known as the aizuchi.

Malinowski, Phatics and Social Media

Anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski introduced two concepts for the study of language: context of situation and context of culture onto which he mapped the three strands of his semantic theory.  The first was the context of linguistic data; the second concerns the range of meaning and the third the context of situation which may allow one to disambiguate semantically unclear sentences.  Malinowski’s theories were for decades controversial in both anthropological and linguistic circles but enjoyed a revival of interest with the rise of social media.  What was identified as phatic communication on these platforms turned out to be the remarkable volume of micro-posts which appear to have their origins in the human need for social upkeep.  Unlike earlier forms of digital messaging such as eMail or SMS, a much higher proportion of messaging imparted no substantive information and had no practical value beyond its symbolic value of maintaining social contact.

In Malinowski’s model, the three phatic functions are (1) a social function to establish and maintain social connections, (2) a communicative function to demonstrate that the channel of communication is open and present oneself as a potential communication partner and (3) a validation and recognition function to indicate recognition of one’s interlocutor as a potential communicative partner.  None of this was unique to social media but cotemporary theorists added layers.  There is now (4) indexical information for social categorization (ie to signal different aspects of social identity), (5)  to negotiate the relationship, especially particular relative status, roles and affectivity (manifesting clearly in the forms of greetings and address used according to social or affective relationships) and (6) to reinforce social structure.

Bronisław Malinowski (1884-1942).

In linguistics, this construct came to be known as phatic culture, its social implication in everyday life being phatic function.  As has long been the nature of academic linguistics, something elegant and comprehendible (like Malinowski’s model) soon became a framework for smaller and smaller refinements including (7) the metalinguistic (verifying the code), (8) the emotive (expressing the sender’s state), (9) the conative (inciting the receiver’s response), (10) the phatic (maintaining contact with the receiver), (11) the referential (relating to a context) and (12) the poetic (existing as a construct for its own sake).

It does seem convincing the particular nature of phatic communication on the social is technologically deterministic.  In computing, the defining protocols used in messaging, notably SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and SIMPLE (Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions) create the idea of “presence” as a signal to networks of users that communication is possible.  Historically, in social discourse, “presence” of someone which whom one has a relationship of some kind was physical and communication, phatic or otherwise, almost inevitable.  On the social, “presence” becomes both virtual and omnipresence.

Skullduggery

Skullduggery (pronounced skuhl-duhg-uh-ree)

(1) Dishonorable proceedings; mean dishonesty or trickery.

(2) An instance of dishonest or deceitful behavior; trickery.

(3) Underhand dealing.

(4) As sculdudrie or sculduddery, illicit fornication or something obscene respectively (archaic Scots dialectial forms).

1856: A creation in US English, it was a variant of earlier Scots sculdudrie or sculduddery (both of obscure origin) which had been in use in colonial America.  In Scotland, sculdudrie originally meant “adultery” or “illicit fornication” and, with the unexplained spelling variation sculduddery, by 1821 the meaning had extended to a general sense of “bawdry, an obscenity".  By from the late nineteenth century, as skullduggery, in most of the English-speaking world, it came to refer to dishonest or deceitful behaviour.  Skulduggery is a noun; the noun plural is skulduggeries or skullduggeries.

Skulduggery is general underhanded behaviour or trickery, usually secret or devious. The noun plural is skulduggeries or skullduggeries, though both are rarely used in this form because the reference tends almost always to be to behaviour in a general sense to begin with.  Everybody except Tony Blair seems to understand the profession of politics is a venal business of lies and squalid skullduggery.  By the time of his valedictory address to the House of Commons, he’d managed to forget noble causes like New Labour’s “ethical foreign policy” which lasted only until it was explained to him that the UK’s armaments manufacturers realized great profits by selling weapons to regimes with appalling human rights records:   

"Some may belittle politics but we who are engaged in it know that it is where people stand tall.  Although I know that it has many harsh contentions, it is still the arena that sets the heart beating a little faster. If it is, on occasions, the place of low skullduggery, it is more often the place for the pursuit of noble causes. I wish everyone, friend or foe, well. That is that... the end."

Hansard: Tony Blair’s last official words as prime-minister.  Prime Minister's Questions, 27 June 2007.

Tony Blair, Gordon Blair & Peter Mandelson (left).  In the early 1990s, detesting the Major government, the press were fawning in their admiration and dubbed the trio "the three musketeers" but they're now usually thought of as "the good, the bad and the ugly, a collective moniker which may be generous to at least one of them.  There is no truth in the rumor the three politicians provided the template for the personalities of the "plastics" in Mean Girls (2004, right) although the idea is tempting, reading left to right (works for either photograph): Karen Smith (sincere, well meaning, a bit simple); Gretchen Wieners (insecure, desperately wanting to be liked) and Regina George (evil and manipulative).  

There was plenty of low skulduggery during the New Labour government, led first by Tony Blair (b 1953; UK prime-minister 1997-2007) and later by Gordon Brown (b 1951; UK prime-minister 2007-2010) but to get a good flavour of it it’s necessary to read the memoirs by them both, then the diaries of Alastair Campbell (b 1957; Labour Party apparatchik) and finally Peter Mandelson’s (b 1953; sometime member of the New Labour governments) The Third Man.  The books are best read in that order because it makes easiest the reading between the lines to work out why each included certain things and left out other stuff (or spun it in some strange and inevitably self-serving way.  It’s quite a fun process and actually necessary because while Campbell’s diaries are lively, the other three would otherwise be a hard slog.  It’s now sometimes forgotten that in the distant past of the post-Thatcher, early 1990s, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson were seen as modernizing reformers and in the early years of government actually behaved in a way which suggested that was true.  It didn’t last however and Brown soon became consumed with jealously and eventually hatred for Blair who was denying him the premiership to which he thought himself entitled.  Mandelson meanwhile became resentful at being twice dismissed from office by Blair one grounds he thought unreasonable.  From this ensued what was pretty dirty business.

A practical manual of low skulduggery in four volumes:

Tony Blair, A Journey (2010), Random House, pp 624, ISBN 978-0-09-192555-0

Gordon Brown, My Life, Our Times (2017), The Bodley Head, pp 512, ISBN 978-2-78-739526-6

Alastair Campbell, The Blair Years (2007), Random House, pp 816, ISBN 0-09-179629-6

Peter Mandelson, The Third Man (2010), Harper Press, pp 584, ISBN 978-0-00-739528-6

Stucco

Stucco (pronounced stuhk-oh)

(1) A weather-resistant mixture of dehydrated lime, powdered marble, and glue, mixed with water and laid on wet, used in buildings to create decorative moldings or wall finishes.

(2) Any of various fine plasters for decorative work, moldings.

(3) Any of various finishes made with cement, plaster, or mortar, as albarium.

(4) A wall, facing, molding, or other work made of such materials.

1590–1600: From the Italian stucco (fine plaster used as wall coating; coating made of pulverised gypsum, plaster), from the Lombardic (or Langobardic, an extinct West Germanic language was spoken by the Lombards (Langobardi), the Germanic people who settled in Italy in the sixth century. It was already in rapid decline by the seventh century because the invaders adopted the Latin vernacular spoken by the local Roman population) stucchi and related to the Old High German stucki & stukki (crust; piece; fragment) from the Proto-Germanic stukkjam & stukkiją (stump, piece), ultimately from the primitive Indo-European (s)teu- & (s)tewg- (to push, stick, knock, beat, shock, butt, impact) which evolved also into stock.  It was akin to the German Stück (piece), the Old Saxon stukki (piece, fragment) and the Old English stycce.  The Germanic form survives in Modern German as Stück.  Stucco and stuccoer are nouns, the noun plural being stuccoes or stuccos.  The verb (used with object) is stuccoed or stuccoing, a form attested from 1726.

In English, the meaning of stucco diverged from the Italian and Germanic sense from which it was borrowed.  Whereas in Italian when speaking of stucco, one might be referring either to the raw material or the finished product, in English, it means exclusively the latter.

Stucco relief panel from early Imperial Rome, dated to the second half of the first century AD, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

The female figure is thought to represent a maenad, one of the female followers of Dionysos.  She’s depicted floating, her garment opened to the waist, her left leg revealed.  She holds a long, thin wand-like stick over her left arm, a garland with ribbons in her right hand.  Dionysus was the love child of Zeus and Semele and a rarity among the gods, his mother being a mortal.  While the parentage is certain, there are two different versions regarding the birth, which, in the way of Greek mythology involve infidelity, jealousy, infanticide (by Zeus’ bitter wife) and reincarnation and it’s the idea of re-birth which saw him adopted as a god by several religions.  Still his troubles didn’t end even after being re-born.  Zeus, an early example of the absent father, entrusted the upbringing of Dionysus to the rain-nymphs who proved so diligent they were rewarded by being turned into a star-cluster but this failed to impress Zeus’s wife, Hera, who remained angry the evidence of her husband’s unfaithfulness was still alive and in vengeance, inflicted madness upon the child.  In this state, for years and years he roamed the earth until rescued and cured by the goddess Cybele who instructed him in her rituals and he began to travel, teaching those he met how to make wine.  In symbology Dionysus is thus the god of wine and the grape harvest and, because of his difficult youth, also of ritual madness & religious ecstasy.  He’s depicted usually with a dual nature, the Greek’s cautionary tale about the good and evil of wine for Dionysus was known to bring happiness and joy to those around him but if angered, there could also be rage and brutality.

Stucco finish on Art Deco house, circa 1935.

In architecture, most building materials and methods of construction were easily adapted to structures designed with straight lines and predictable angles but stucco was especially suited to the shapes and curves of art deco.  Stucco is made from a mix of Portland cement, sand, limestone, water and chemical additives to increase material’s strength and flexibility.  It creates a rigid and durable material and, being fire and pest-resistant, it’s always been popular in residential buildings.  It’s regarded as low-maintenance but shouldn’t be treated as maintenance-fee, cracks can appear, even in high quality installations and, despite appearances, can’t be dismissed a merely cosmetic and should immediately be re-sealed.  Stucco is porous, so may not be suitable to use in a tropical climate, the proneness to moisture absorption meaning mold can appear, either on the surface or underneath and once there, can spread to framing.  The vapor barrier, usually of tar paper, which should be applied prior to installation, does act as a protective layer but in some conditions isn’t all that ameliorative.

Lindsay Lohan’s former residence (2011-2012), 419 Venice Way, Venice, California 90291.  417 & 419 Venice Way are a pair of mirror-image stucco buildings, built in 2007.  Lindsay Lohan lived in the one on the right (419) while the left (417) was occupied by former special friend Samantha Ronson.

Where conditions are suitable, stucco is a good choice for either flat surfaces or creating curves.  Applied with a smooth or textured finish, it can be tinted across a wide spectrum or can be painted although, because of the porousness, many architects recommend against painting because it better to allow the building to “inhale and exhale”.  Stucco is durable, properly maintained stucco buildings over a hundred years old are common, many from the nineteenth century, the survival rate influenced as much by the prevailing climate as the quality of the installation.  The dampness which can cause mold through moisture transfer can also induce cracking in places prone to sub-zero temperatures, severe damage possible during freeze and thaw cycles.  Cracks can happen too in places subject to wide variations in temperature because, being rigid, as a structure expands and contracts, the forces of push and pull will stress the material.  For this reason, it’s ideal also to build in places of known geological stability, stucco more prone to fracture during movement than some other materials.  Cracks in stucco are not uncommon yet should be infrequent, repaired most often with a flexible exterior caulk and most are now elastomeric and thus both strong and very flexible.  Chips can be fixed with either a traditional stucco patch or, if large, set back in place using the acrylic caulk as a glue.

Cokebottle

Cokebottle (pronounced koke-bott-el)

A descriptor for a design where objects either resemble or are inspired by the shape of the classic Coca-Cola bottle.

1965: From an unsuccessful trademark application file in the US by the Chevrolet division of General Motors (GM), cokebottle thus word that never was.  The Coca-Cola name was a deliberately alliterative creation which referred to two of the original ingredients (leaves of the coca plant and kola nuts (source of the caffeine).  Coca is from the Erythroxylaceae family of cultivated plants native to western South America and renowned as the source of the psychoactive alkaloid.  Used since the drink’s debut in 1886, the cocaine was removed from Coca-Cola in 1903, the remainder of the recipe remaining famously secret.  Coke dates from 1908 in US English and was a clipping of clipping of cocaine although it’s not known when the word was first used to refer to the drink but given the rapidity with which slang forms emerge to describe popular products, it’s at least possible it pre-dated the drug reference although the company did not lodge a trade-mark application for Coke until 1944 although in internal company documents it appears at least as early as 1941.  While the drink produced a number of derived forms (Diet Coke, Coke-Bottle, frozen Coke, Coke-float, Coke Zero and the most unfortunate New Coke), those attached to the narcotic are more evocative and include coke dick, cokehead, coke whore and coke-fucked.  Bottle was from the Middle English botel (bottle, flask, wineskin), from the Old French boteille (from which Modern French gained bouteille), from the Medieval Latin butticula, ultimately of uncertain origin but thought by most etymologists to be a diminutive of the Late Latin buttis (cask, barrel).  Buttis was probably from a Greek form related to the Ancient Greek πυτίνη (putínē) (flask) and βοῦττις (boûttis), from the imitative primitive Indo-European bhehw (to swell, puff).

Between its unpromising origin in 1926 as a lower-cost alternative to the anyway non-premium Oakland brand and its demise (with a whimper) in 2010, Pontiac in the 1960s did enjoy a brief shining moment of innovation and style.  Pontiac had been one of a number of companion brands introduced by GM as part of a marketing plan to cover every price segment with a distinct nameplate, Cadillac gaining LaSalle, Oldsmobile gaining Viking, Oakland gaining Pontiac and Buick gaining Marquette; only the high-volume Chevrolet stood alone.  The effects of the Great Depression meant the experiment didn’t last and GM would soon revert five divisions the newcomers Viking and Marquette axed while Pontiac, which had proved both more successful and profitable than the shuttered Oakland, survived, joined LaSalle which lingered until 1940.  Pontiac also returned to the line-up when car production resume late in 1945 and benefiting from the buoyant post-war economy, enjoyed success although much of the engineering was based on the Chevrolet and the side-valve engines were obsolescent.  Things began to change in 1955 when a new overhead-valve (OHV) V8 was introduced, a power-plant which faithfully would serve the line for a quarter century in displacements between 265 cubic inches (4.3 litres) and 455 (7.5L) and unusually for US manufacturers during the era, Pontiac used the one basic block for all iterations.  By 1955, all Pontiacs sold in the US were V8 powered (some sixes were still made for overseas markets) and the division began to become more adventurous, joining the power race, fielding cars in competition and moving up-market.  However, the first real master-stroke which would be one of several innovations which would contribute to such stellar growth in both sales and reputation in the decade to come was the introduction in 1959 of the wide-track advertising campaign.

1959 Pontiac convertibles:  A Canadian Parisienne (left) built on the Chevrolet X-Frame and a US Catalina (right) on Pontiac’s wide-track frame; note the gaping wheel-wells on the Canadian car.

There were not a few visual exaggerations in the wide-track advertising campaign but the underlying engineering was real, the track (the distance between the centre of the tyre-tracks across each axle-line) increased by 5 inches (125 mm).  This improved the handling, giving the Pontiacs a more sure-footed stance than most of the competition and an attractive low-slung look and if anyone had any doubts about the veracity of the “wide track” claim, the Canadian Pontiacs were there for comparison.  Because of internal corporate agreements, the bodies of the Canadian Pontiacs were mounted on the Chevrolet X-frame with its narrow track and the difference is obvious, the wheels looking lost inside the cavernous space created by the overhanging bodywork.  In the US, sales soared although the comparison with the recession-hit 1958 is probably misleading but the success of the wide-track programme did propel the division from sixth to fourth place in the industry and for much of the 1960s Pontiac Motor Division (PMD) was one of the industry's most dynamic name-plates.

1960s Pontiac Wide-Track advertising graphic art by Art Fitzpatrick (1919–2015) & Van Kaufman (1918-1995).

Memorable as the 1960s Pontiacs were, of note too was the graphic art produced by Art Fitzpatrick & Van Kaufman whose renderings were ground-breaking in the industry in that rather than focusing on the machine, they were an evocation of an life-style, albeit one which often bore little relationship to those enjoyed  by typical American consumers.  Still, that was and remains the essence of aspirational advertising and Fitzpatrick & Kaufman influenced their industry with techniques still seen today.  Truth-in-advertising rules in the 1960s were not as demanding as they would become, and although the big Pontiacs after 1959 were genuinely wide-tracked, they weren’t quite as wide as Fitzpatrick & Kaufman made them appear.  Never had longer, lower & wider been so wide.

Envious of what Pontiac had achieved in trade-marking wide-track for the wide track advertising campaigns, GM’s Chevrolet division attempted to claim both cokebottle and coke-bottle for similar purposes, wishing to run a campaign to tie in with their new styling idea for its big cars, using similar curves to those seen on the classic coke bottle. The authorities in Detroit declined the application and legal advice to Chevrolet suggested there was little chance of success against likely opposition from the Coca-Cola Corporation.

Chevrolet Impala two-door hardtops: 1965 (left), 1966 (centre) & 1967 (right).

However, along with much of the industry, Chevrolet did produce cars inspired by the shape which came to be known as coke bottle styling and on the big cars, the cokebottle motif was expressed mostly in the curves applied to the rear-coachwork.  Chevrolet toned-down the look in 1968-1969 but by then it had spread to other manufacturers, including those across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and although by the early 1970s it was dated, the realities of production-line economics meant the look in some places lingered, even into the 1980s, the odd revival (usually in the rear-fender shape) still seen from time-to-time though modern interpretations do tend to be more subtle than the exuberant lines of the 1960s.  Essentially bodies with outward curving fenders with a narrow centre, the technique had also been adopted by the aeroplane designers as a necessary means of dealing with the aerodynamic challenges created by supersonic speeds and although the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) labelled the design principle area rule, most engineers referred to it as coke bottle or, among themselves, the Marilyn Monroe.

Lindsay Lohan seems to tend to prefer her Coca-Cola in cans but occasionally is seen drinking from the bottle.

1969 Chevrolet Corvette L88 convertible.  The classic example of cokebottle styling is the third generation (S3) Chevrolet Corvette (1968-1982) where the idea is executed at both the front and rear.  In the design of twenty-first century sports cars, the motif is still used.

Coca-Cola bottles and a replica of the 1914 A.L.F.A. Aerodinamica Prototipo which used the shape of the bottle introduced in 1900 (in reverese). 

In the narrow technical sense, cokebottle styling had been done (admittedly in reverse) as early as 1914 although there’s nothing to suggest Coca Cola's bottle design of 1900-1914 provided any inspiration.  The A.L.F.A. 40/60 HP Aerodinamica Prototipo was built by Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Castagna in 1914 on a commission from Milanese Count Marco Ricotti.  Although relatively large & heavy, the aerodynamic properties of the teardrop-shaped body permitted an impressive top speed of 86 mph (138 km/h).

Exsanguinate

Exsanguinate (pronounced eks-sang-gwuh-neyt)

(1) To kill by means of blood loss.

(2) To die by means of blood loss.

(3) To drain a body (living or dead) of blood.

1610–1620: From the Late Latin exsanguinātus (bloodless, deprived of blood), past participle of exsanguināre, the construct being ex- (out) + sanguinem, from sanguis (blood).  The construct in English was ex- + sanguine, + -ate.  The ex- prefix was from the Middle English, from words borrowed from the Middle French, from the Latin ex (out of, from), from the primitive Indo-European eǵ- & eǵs- (out).  It was cognate with the Ancient Greek ἐξ (ex) (out of, from), the Transalpine Gaulish ex- (out), the Old Irish ess- (out), the Old Church Slavonic изъ (izŭ) (out) & the Russian из (iz) (from, out of).  The “x” in “ex-“, sometimes is elided before certain constants, reduced to e- (eg ejaculate).  Sanguine was from the Middle English sanguine, from the Old French sanguin, from the Latin sanguineus (of blood), from sanguis.  The Latin sanquis, perhaps surprisingly, is of uncertain origin but may be from the primitive Indo-European hsh-én- from hésh₂r̥ (blood).  The suffix -ate was a word-forming element used in forming nouns from Latin words ending in -ātus, -āta, & -ātum (such as estate, primate & senate).  Those that came to English via French often began with -at, but an -e was added in the fifteenth century or later to indicate the long vowel.  It can also mark adjectives formed from Latin perfect passive participle suffixes of first conjugation verbs -ātus, -āta, & -ātum (such as desolate, moderate & separate).  Again, often they were adopted in Middle English with an –at suffix, the -e appended after circa 1400; a doublet of –ee.  Exsanguinate & exsanguinating are verbs, exsanguinated is a verb & adjective, exsanguination is a noun; the noun plural is exsanguinations.

As an adjective, exsanguine (bloodless) is attested from the mid-seventeenth century in both literal and figurative use and is now probably a technical word used only by embalmers, in clinical pathology, in the veterinary sciences or in slaughterhouses.  The word being a bit cumbersome, use never extended to kitchens, despite much exsanguination historically being part of the workings of production kitchens (before modern supply chains); where required, chefs prefer the punchier “drain”.  In use the verb is intransitive in the sense of “to die by means of blood loss” and transitive in the sense of “to kill by means of blood loss” or “to drain a body (living or dead) of blood”.

Gory: Lindsay Lohan was photographed in 2011 & 2013 by Tyler Shields (b 1982) in sessions which involved knives and the depiction of blood.  The shoot attracted some attention and while the technical achievement was noted, it being quite challenging to work with blood (fake or real) and realize something realistic but it was also criticized as adding little to the discussion about the pornography of violence against women.  There was a time when such photographs would has shocked but that moment has long passed and the most thoughtful comments on the photographs were that while it's a necessary discussion, it's one that should be conducted with words and such staged images do nothing but add to cultural desensitization.

Technical notes on the process of stunning & exsanguination in a slaughterhouse.  Department of Animal Biosciences, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

(1) Stunning process

Criteria for a good slaughter method:

(1) Animals must not be treated cruelly or unnecessarily stressed.

(2) Exsanguination must be as rapid and as complete as possible.

(3) Damage to the carcass must be minimal, and the method of slaughter must be hygienic, economical and safe for abattoir workers.

To avoid the risk of cruelty, animals must be stunned or rendered unconscious before exsanguination.  When religious reasons do not allow stunning, extra care is needed to ensure exsanguination causes the minimum of distress to the animal.  In the Kosher method of killing, conscious cattle are suspended with the head stretched back, and then the throat and its major blood vessels are severed. Drugs cannot be used in the meat industry to induce unconsciousness in animals for slaughter because unacceptable residues would remain in the meat.

Animals can be effectively stunned by concussion which may be induced by a bullet or a bolt that penetrates the cranium or by the impact of a fast-moving knocker on the surface of the cranium.  In modern abattoirs, the primitive pole-axe has been replaced by devices which use expanding gas, either from an air-compressor or a blank ammunition cartridge. First, the animal is restrained in a narrow pen or knocking box in order to minimize its head movements, then the concussion instrument is then accurately located at a point on the midline of the skull, above the level of the brow ridges of the eye sockets.  Concussion stunning should not be applied on the neck or posterior part of the skull.

The knocker is a heavy instrument held with both hands.  There is a safety catch on the handle, but the actual trigger protrudes from the head of the knocker and is activated as the knocker is tapped against the animal's head.  The captive bolt pistol resembles a heavy hand gun but a blank cartridge rather than a bullet is used to propel a cylindrical bolt into the skull.  After penetration, the bolt is withdrawn into the barrel of the pistol and the pistol is reloaded.  Steers, heifers and cows are normally stunned with a knocker or a heavy captive bolt pistol, but bulls and boars which have massive skulls are sometimes shot with a rifle bullet. Pigs and lambs may be stunned with a light-weight captive bolt pistol.

Thirsty work.  A vampire exsanguinates.

(2) Exsanguination process

Cattle and pigs are usually exsanguinated by a puncture wound which opens the major blood vessels at the base of the neck, not far from the heart (the trade name for this process is sticking).  In sheep, lambs and small calves, the major blood vessels may be severed by a transverse cut across the throat, near to the head.  Poultry can be exsanguinated with a diagonal cut from the corner of the jaw towards the ear on the other side, or by a knife thrust through the roof of the mouth to severe the brain and its major blood vessels. For poultry, the cut may be made on the side of the head if the head is later to be removed automatically by machine.

If the sticking wound is inaccurately placed, exsanguination may be too slow, and it may be almost halted by the formation of large blood clots.  The formation of blood clots is accelerated when large areas of tissue are damaged by repeated inaccurate punctures.  If the trachea is severed by the sticking wound, blood may be drawn into the lungs as the animal breathes. Later in the slaughter procedure, this may necessitate the trimming of blood clots from the pleural membranes after they have been inspected.  If the oesophagus is severed, the vascular system may be contaminated by the entry of food particles into the venous system. If the connective tissues of the shoulder are opened, blood may seep into the shoulder region to form blood clots between the muscles.

Incomplete exsanguination increases the amount of residual blood in the carcass.  The lean meat may then appear unduly dark and the fat may become streaked with blood. On the surface of incompletely exsanguinated poultry, the skin may appear dark and bloody over the breast, neck, shoulders and wings. The microscopic tissue damage that may later be caused by the freezing and thawing of poultry enables residual blood to leak from skin capillaries.  Thus, the results of incomplete exsanguination are often more noticeable to the consumer than to the producer.

The exsanguination or sticking of meat animals in an abattoir is usually performed by severing the carotid arteries and the jugular vein at the base of the neck.  In poultry, these vessels may be cut only on one side of the neck. The sticking knife must be kept clean otherwise bacteria might be introduced into the venous system and spread through the otherwise relatively sterile muscles of the carcass.  Once exsanguination has started, the pulse and mean blood pressure decline rapidly because of the reduced stroke volume of the heart. Blood pressure changes are monitored physiologically by baroreceptors in the carotid sinuses. During exsanguination, respiratory movements of the thorax may be stimulated, and neurogenic and hormonal mechanisms attempt to restore the blood pressure by increasing the peripheral resistance by vasoconstriction.  The heart keeps beating for some time after the major blood vessels are emptied, but stops rapidly if exposed and cooled.  Electrical stunning of pigs may terminate cardiac activity so that, at the start of exsanguination, the blood escapes by gravity rather than being pumped out.  In pigs, cardiac arrest does not affect the rate and extent of exsanguination.  After exsanguination has started, the heart usually re-starts and attempts to pump, until it runs out of energy. Thus, in many cases, there is no reason why animals such as pigs and sheep cannot be killed by electrocution rather than being merely electrically stunned.  In cattle stunned by concussion, more or less complete exsanguination may be obtained without ventricular pumping. Similarly, normal exsanguination is obtained in poultry that have been killed by electrocution rather than by being electrically stunned. In meat animals, "head to back" stunning may be used to stop the heart.

Blood loss as a percentage of body weight differs between species: cows, 4.2 to 5.7%; calves, 4.4 to 6.7%; sheep, 4.4 to 7.6%; and pigs, 1.5 to 5.8%.  Blood content as a percentage of live weight may decrease in heavier animals since the growth of blood volume does not keep pace with growth of live weight. Approximately 60% of blood is lost at sticking, 20-25% remains in the viscera, while a maximum of 10% may remain in carcass muscles. Different stunning methods may modify the physiological conditions at the start of exsanguination and, also, the neural responses to exsanguination.  Electrically stunned sheep lose more blood than those stunned with a captive bolt, but they also have more blood splashes in their carcasses.

Reduction of blood flow to the kidneys causes the release of a proteolytic enzyme, renin, which acts on a plasma protein to produce a polypeptide, angiotensin I.  This polypeptide is converted enzymatically to angiotensin II which then causes widespread vasoconstriction. Vasoconstriction is important because it decreases the retention of blood in meat. Angiotensin II vasoconstriction is operative in both conscious and anaesthetized animals.  Catecholamines and antidiuretic hormone (ADH) may also enhance vasoconstriction during exsanguination.  Speed of exsanguination may modify the balance between neural and hormonal vasoconstrictive mechanisms, with hormonal vasoconstriction predominating in rapid exsanguination.  However, asphyxia prior to exsanguination may result in vasoconstriction due to the activity of the sympathetic nervous system.

Traditionally it has been maintained that poor bleeding leads to dark meat with poor keeping qualities due to microbial spoilage and rancidity but there is little scientific evidence in support of this view and it may be false, even in animals which retain massive amounts of blood in their carcasses.  Delayed exsanguination of cattle may lead to a slight reduction in the amount of blood removed so that the carcass and spleen are slightly heavier but the effects on meat quality are negligible. It is not suggested poor exsanguination is a good thing, but should it occur, it is not the disaster some meat inspectors suppose.