Superleggera

Superleggera (pronounced soo-per-lee-ghera)

(1) In automotive coach-building, a method of construction which combined a framework of thin steel tubes with aluminum outer panels, producing a lightweight structure.

(2) In recent years, a designation used as a model name to refer to a “lightweight” vehicle even if not a classic superleggera structure.

1935 (a patent for the technique issued in 1936):  From the Italian superleggera (super light) (feminine singular of superleggero), the construct being super- +‎ leggero.  Super was from the Latin super-, from the Proto-Italic super, from the primitive Indo-European upér (over, above) which was cognate with the Ancient Greek ὑπέρ (hupér) (above) and the Proto-Germanic uber (now familiar in English and translated as “over” although this doesn’t wholly convey the sense in Modern German).  Leggero (light in weight, slight, thin) was from the Old French legier, from the Vulgar Latin leviārius, from the Latin levis, from the Proto-Italic leɣis, from the primitive Indo-European hlengwih-, from hléngus, from hleng (lightweight). The cognates included the Sanskrit लघु (laghú), the Ancient Greek ἐλᾰφρός & ἐλᾰχῠ́ς (elaphrós & elakhús) and the Old English lēoht (the ultimate source of the English light).  Superleggera is a noun & adjective; the noun plural is superleggeras (or in the Italian the masculine plural is superleggeri, the feminine plural superleggere).

Carrozzeria Touring and superleggera

It was in 1926 that two Milanese lawyers discussed how bored they were with mundane, if lucrative, legal work and much preferred the exciting world of the automobile, the industry then something like that of IT in the early twenty-first century in that a critical mass of users had been established, growth was consistent and new ventures were coming and going amid a milieu of M&A (mergers & acquisitions).  The lawyers negotiated a controlling interest in Milan-based coachbuilder Carrozzeria Falco, changing the company’s name to Carrozzeria Touring.  Contracts to provide bodywork soon followed including from some of the industry’s major manufacturers including Citroën, Isotta Fraschini & Alfa Romeo and for some time they continued to adopt Falco’s methods which was an adaptation of the “Weymann” system which involved laying fabric over lightweight frames supported by a traditional separate chassis.  Touring produced elegant coachwork of a high quality and attracted the patronage of both Benito Mussolini (1883-1945; Duce (leader) & prime-minister of Italy 1922-1943) and Victor Emmanuel III (1869–1947; King of Italy 1900-1946) although perhaps more influential was the Queen who was often photographed alighting from one of Touring’s large cars, a more imposing sight than the exit of her diminutive husband.

1938 Alfa Romeo 8C-2900B LeMans with Touring Superleggera (left), a wrought-iron artwork installation based on the idea using the Volkswagen Beetle as a model (centre) and Lindsay Lohan with conventional (body-on-chassis) Beetle (Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005)).

Touring proved innovative in its use of strong, lightweight alloys to support the fabric skins and they enjoyed much success also in applying the technique to aircraft components such as wings and fuselages but during the 1930s with both the military and civilian airlines wanting to fly higher, faster, for longer and in all weather, the shift was beginning towards all-metal construction.  This was an organic evolution of the Weymann technique but the weight and other characteristics of sheet aluminum differed greatly from stretched-fabric and the system needed substantially to be re-engineered and it was the lessons learned from fabricating fuselages which led to Touring developing superleggera, the design patented in 1936.  The essence of superleggera was a skeleton of small diameter tubes which formed a body’s core shape, to which were attached thin aluminum-alloy panels which provided both aerodynamic form and strength.  Compared with earlier methods, as well as being inherently light, the method afforded great flexibility in fashioning shape and Touring took advantage of the properties of the metal to create both complex and flowing curves.  Some of their cars of the era did have lovely lines and in addition to the collaboration with Alfa Romeo which yielded sports cars, gran turismo machines and racing cars, the house attracted business from Lancia, Bianchi and others.

1938 Lancia Astura IV series coupé by Touring (left), 1949 Ferrari 166mm barchetta by Touring (centre), and 2014 Ducati 1199 Superleggera (right).

In the post war years, an era in which demand was high and regulations rare, the number of cars built according to the superleggera system increased as Touring licensed the use of its patent to others including Hundon in the US, Pegaso in Spain and Bristol, Aston Martin & Lagonda in England.  Bristol particularly took to the idea because of their long experience with airframes but perhaps the most influential stylistically was the 1948 Ferrari 166 MM Touring barchetta, a charismatic shape which provided a template which would remain recognizable in Ferraris for a quarter-century, the motif of the egg-crate grill still in use today.  While superleggera was unsuited to volume production, for the exclusive ranges at the upper end of the market it was ideal and both Lamborghini and Maseratis emerged built with the technique.  Although the two are sometimes confused because there are visual similarities under the skin, the space-frame method differs in that it can support the whole structural load whereas a superleggera is attached to an existing chassis.

1960 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato (left), 1961 Aston Martin DB4 Convertible (centre; the Volante designation wasn't then in use) and 1965 Aston Martin DB5 Saloon.

In the public mind, the most enduring connection was with Aston Martin which was granted a license to use the design and the Superleggera construction method at its Newport Pagnell plant for a fee of £9 for each of the first 500 bodies and £5 for each subsequent unit and the DB4 & DB5 (the latter made famous in the early James Bond films) were both built thus.  However, they represented something of the end of the era because governments were starting to pass laws which demanded road cars attain a certain degree of crash-worthiness, something the superleggera technique couldn’t be adapted conform to without sacrificing the very lightness which was its raison d'etre.  Additionally, the manufacturers were moving swiftly to replace body-on-frame with unit-construction.  Touring attempted to adapt to the changing environment by offering its services as a coach-builder for small, exclusive production runs and made the necessary capital investment but it had become crowded field, the supply of coach-builders exceeding the demand for their skills.  Touring ceased operations in 1966 but four decades on, there was an unexpected revival of the name, the company re-established as Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera, offering automotive design, engineering, coach-building, homologation services, non-automotive industrial design, and the restoration of historic vehicles.  A number of very expensive one-off and limited-production ventures for Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Bentley followed but what attracted most comment was the Sciàdipersia, shown in coupé form at the Geneva Motor Show in 2018, the cabriolet introduced the flowing year.  Based on the underpinnings of the Maserati Grantourismo, although owing no visual debt, it was very much in the tradition of the three Maserati 5000 GTs Touring built in 1959-1960, the first of which had been ordered by the Shah of Iran.  Superleggera however is now just a name with an illustrious history, the method of construction no longer in use and when used as a model designation, it now simply denotes what a literal translation of the Italian suggests: lightweight.

The original Maserati 5000 GT "Shah of Iran" by Touring (left; chassis #103-002) and Touring's Maserati Sciàdipersia in coupé form (centre; 2018) and roadster (right; 2019).

Vickers Wellingtons (B-series, Mark 1) during production, the geodesic structure visible, Brooklands, England, 1939.

There are obvious visual similarities between the classic superleggera method and the geodesic structure used in airframes and some buildings, most famously the “geodesic dome”.  The imperatives of both were strength both aim to create strong and lightweight structures, but they differ in their specific design and application.  As used in airframes, the geodesic structure consisted of a network of intersecting diagonal braces, creating a lattice framework which distributed loads as evenly as possible while providing a high strength-to-weight ratio.  This was of great significance in military airplanes used in combat because it enhanced their ability better to withstand damage better, the stresses distributed across the structure rather than being restricted to a limited area which could create a point-of-failure.  The geodesic framework was based on geometric principles which had been developed over centuries and typically employed hexagons & triangles to render a structure which was both rigid & light.  Superleggera construction differed in that it involves the creation of a lightweight tubular frame, covered with aluminum body panels of a thinness which wouldn’t have been possible with conventional engineering.  The attraction of the superleggera technique was the (relatively) minimalistic framework supported the skin, optimizing weight reduction without compromising strength.  So, structurally, the difference was the geodesic design used a network of intersecting braces to form a lattice, while the superleggera construction used a tubular frame covered with panels.

React

React (pronounced ree-akt)

(1) To act in response to an agent or influence.

(2) To act reciprocally upon each other, as two things.

(3) To act in opposition, as against some force.

(4) To respond to a stimulus in a particular manner.

(5) In physics, to exert an equal force in the opposite direction to an acting force; to act in a reverse direction or manner, especially so as to return to a prior condition.

(6) In chemistry, to act upon each other; to exercise a reciprocal or a reverse effect, as two or more chemical agents; to act in opposition.

(7) In chemistry, to cause or undergo a chemical reaction.

(8) In the hyphenated form re-act, to act or again perform.

(9) To return an impulse or impression; in Internet use, to post a reaction (now often in the form of an emoji), indicating how one feels about a posted message.

1635–1645: From the early Modern English react (to exert, as a thing acted upon, an opposite action upon the agent).  The construct was re- + act, thought to have been modeled on the Medieval Latin reagere, the construct being re- + agere (to drive, to do).  Act was from the Middle English acte, from the Old French acte, from the Latin ācta (register of events), the plural of āctum (decree, law), from agere (to do, to act), ultimately from the primitive Indo-European héǵeti and related to the German Akte (file); it partially displaced deed, from the Old English dǣd (act, deed) which endured and (especially in law), flourished in parallel.  The re- prefix was from the Middle English re-, from the circa 1200 Old French re-, from the Latin re- & red- (back; anew; again; against), from the primitive Indo-European wre & wret- (again), a metathetic alteration of wert- (to turn).  It displaced the native English ed- & eft-.  A hyphen is not normally included in words formed using this prefix, except when the absence of a hyphen would (1) make the meaning unclear, (2) when the word with which the prefix is combined begins with a capital letter, (3) when the word with which the is combined with begins with another “re”, (4) when the word with which the prefix is combined with begins with “e”, (5) when the word formed is identical in form to another word in which re- does not have any of the senses listed above.  As late as the early twentieth century, the dieresis was sometimes used instead of a hyphen (eg reemerge) but this is now rare except when demanded for historic authenticity or if there’s an attempt deliberately to affect the archaic.  Re- may (and has) been applied to almost any verb and previously irregular constructions appear regularly in informal use; the exception is all forms of “be” and the modal verbs (can, should etc).  Although it seems certain the origin of the Latin re- is the primitive Indo-European wre & wret- (which has a parallel in Umbrian re-), beyond that it’s uncertain and while it seems always to have conveyed the general sense of "back" or "backwards", there were instances where the precise was unclear and the prolific productivity in Classical Latin tended make things obscure.  The Latin prefix rĕ- was from the Proto-Italic wre (again) and had a parallel in the Umbrian re- but the etymology was always murky.   In use, there was usually at least the hint of the sense "back" or "backwards" but so widely was in used in Classical Latin and beyond that the exact meaning is sometimes not clear.  Etymologists suggest the origin lies either in (1) a metathesis (the transposition of sounds or letters in a word) of the primitive Indo-European wert- (to turn) or (2) the primitive Indo-European ure- (back), which was related to the Proto-Slavic rakъ (in the sense of “looking backwards”).

The hyphenated form re-act (to act or again perform) began to develop during the 1650s (although the hyphen wasn’t de rigueur for decades) and there’s evidence to suggest there was often either an exaggerated pronunciation of the “re-“ or a slight pause between syllables to distinguish it from react.  Forms like overreact & overreaction (1928), interreact, interreaction (1820s), reactivate (1902 & reactivation et al were coined as required.  React is a noun & verb, reactive is an adjective, reactor, reaction & reactant are nouns, reactionary is a noun & adjective, reactivate, reacted & reacting are verbs,; the noun plural is reacts.

Lindsay Lohan reacting, demonstrating her emotional range (left to right:  happy, surprised, terrified and despairing).

The noun reactant (a reacting thing) came from chemistry and dates from 1901; as an adjective it was noted in the literature by 1911 although it may have been in oral use for some time and the noun reactance had been in the vocabulary of science since at least 1893.  The noun reactor (one that reacts) was a standard entry in the books of Latin instruction by 1825 but came into common use in the electrical industry after 1915 to describe “coil or other piece of equipment which provides reactance in a circuit”.  The word is now most commonly associated with nuclear energy, the reactor technically the component in a power-plant, submarine etc, where the nuclear reactions are contained but in the popular imagination often used of the power-generating installations to describe the entire facility.  The adjective reactive dates from 1712 in the sense of “a repercussive, echoing” although that use is long obsolete.  It was re-purposed in the early nineteenth century to mean “caused by a reaction” and by 1888 as “susceptible to (chemical) reaction” and in chemistry the related forms were reactively, reactiveness & reactivity, the words required as new chemicals and elements were subjected to experiments determining the behavior when exposed to others.

The noun reaction (action in resistance or response to another action or power), although later much used in chemistry, dates from the language of physics & dynamics in the 1640s and came frequently to be seen in discussions of politics and international relations.  It was modeled on the French réaction, from the older Italian reattione, from the Medieval Latin reactionem (nominative reactio), a noun of action formed in Late Latin from the past-participle stem of Latin reagere.  In chemistry it was of course invaluable when describing “a mutual or reciprocal action of chemical agents upon each other” and it was the standard noun thus used by 1836.  The more general sense of "action or feeling in response" (to something said, an event etc) was from the early twentieth century.  The phrase reaction time (time elapsing between the action of an external stimulus and the giving of a signal in reply) was a creation of experimental science and first documented in 1874; it was later widely used (both as a precise measure and something indicative) in fields as varied as zoology, sport and electoral behavior.  Sometimes, the experiments to measure reaction times were conducted in a reaction chamber.

Porträt des Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein in Ritterorden des Godenen vlies (cerimonial robes of the Order of the Golden Fleece) (1836), oil on canvas by Johann Nepomuk Ender (1793-1854).

The adjective reactionary (of or pertaining to political reaction, tending to revert from a more to a less advanced policy) dates from 1831 and was on the model of the French réactionnaire.  It was part of Karl Marx's (1818-1883) standard set of descriptive terms by 1858, used to convey the idea of “tending toward reversing existing tendencies” and was the opposite of the ”revolutionary”.  The classic reactionary era is now that created by the Congress of Vienna (1514-1815) when the old monarchies contrived to ensure they wouldn’t again be threatened by something like the French Revolution (1789).  So dominant did the use in politics become that the use in science (of or pertaining to a chemical or other reaction) became rare.  In political science, the term reactionary is applied with rather more precision than in general use where, like fascist, it’s tended to become a general term of disapprobation for those who espouse an opposing view.  When applied with some academic rigor, it refers properly to the view that a previous political state of society is desirable and that action should be taken to return to those arrangements.  A reactionary is thus different from a conservative who wishes to keep things as they are but perhaps (at least sometimes) synonymous with ultra-conservative or arch-conservative, the classic example in politics being Prince Klemens von Metternich (1773–1859; foreign minister or chancellor of the Austrian Empire 1809-1848) who constructed an intricate model of Europe which was design to avoid another unpleasantness (for the ruling class) like the French revolution (1789) and its aftermath.  It’s usually thought of as somewhere on the spectrum of conservatism although there are logical (as well as linguistic) problems with that and either in theory or historic practice, reactionary ideologies, although radical, haven’t always been the most extreme of the breed.  Even that sort of terminology wasn’t reliably indicative of anything except what the author intended, Sir Garfield Barwick (1903–1997; Chief Justice of Australia 1964-1981) giving his autobiography the title A Radical Tory (1995), a few reviewers enjoying the opportunity to point out he was neither.

Thou shalt not: Pope Pius IX and friends.

In the UK there were of course already the Tories but it was the French Revolution from which English gained the descriptors "conservative", "right-wing" and "reactionary".  Conservative was from the French conservateur and was applied to those deputies of the French assembly which supported the monarchy (ie they wish to conserve that which was).  The term right-wing came to be used because when the Estates General was summoned in 1789, liberal deputies (the Third Estate) sat usually to left of the presiding officer's chair while the (variously usually either conservative or reactionary) members of the aristocracy (the Second Estate) sat to the right (the clerics were the First Estate and it’s from here is derived the later idea of the press as the Fourth Estate).  Reactionary was from the late eighteenth century French réactionnaire (from réaction (reaction)) and was used to denote "a ideology directed to return the structure of the state and the operation of society to a previous condition of affairs".  The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) dates the first use of the word in English to 1799 and political scientists have managed to coin variations like reactionist and even the (thankfully rare) reactionaryism.  In theology, the classic reactionary was Pope Pius IX (Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti, 1792–1878; pope 1846-1878) who in 1864 published Syllabus Errorum (Syllabus of Errors), a still controversial document which listed all the ideas of modernity which His Holiness thought most appalling and which should be abandoned because the old ways are the best.  Had he lived, his Holiness would have noted with approval the entry in that manual curmudgeons, Henry Fowler's (1858–1933) A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926): "The word derives its pejorative sense from the conviction, once firmly held but now badly shaken, that all progress is necessarily good."

Metal

Metal (pronounced met-l)

(1) Any of a class of elementary substances, as gold, silver, or copper, all of which are crystalline when solid and many of which are characterized by opacity, ductility, conductivity, and a unique luster when freshly fractured.

(2) Such as substance in its pure state, as distinguished from alloys.

(3) An element yielding positively charged ions in aqueous solutions of its salts.

(4) An alloy or mixture composed wholly or partly of such substances such as steel or brass.

(5) An object made of metal.

(6) Formative material; stuff.

(7) In printing, as type metal, the stencils used to apply ink; the state of being set in type.

(8) The substance of glass in a molten state or as the finished product; molten glass in the pot or melting tank (mostly in technical use).

(9) As road metal, the crushed rock used in road construction; small stones or gravel, mixed with tar to form tarmac for the surfacing of roads.

(10) To furnish or cover with metal.

(11) In popular music, verbal shorthand for the genre heavy metal (but apparently usually not other variations (thrash; power; gothic; doom; twisted; black; molten; death)).

(12) In admiralty jargon, the total weight of projectiles that can be shot by a ship's guns at any one time; the total weight or number of a ship's guns.

(13) In heavy element astronomy, any atom except hydrogen and helium.

(14) In heraldry, a light tincture used in a coat of arms, specifically argent (white or silver) and or (gold).

(15) In rail construction, the rails of a railway (almost always plural).

(16) In mining, the ore from which a metal is derived (the use to describe the mine from which the ore is extracted is obsolete).

(17) Figuratively, the substance that constitutes something or someone; matter; hence, character or temper (now archaic and replaced by mettle).

(18) In the jargon of civil aviation, the actual airline operating a flight, rather than any of the code-share operators.

(19) In the jargon of drag-racing, a descriptor applied to the largest capacity (usually big-block) engines.

1250–1300: From the Middle English, from the Old French metal (metal; material, substance, stuff), from the Classical Latin metallum (quarry, mine, product of a mine, metal), from the Ancient Greek μέταλλον (métallon) (mine, quarry, ore).  The Greek work picked up the sense of “metal” only in post-classical texts, via the notion of "what is got by mining”; the original meaning was "mine, quarry-pit," probably a back-formation from metalleuein "to mine, to quarry," a word of unknown origin which may be related to metallan "to seek after" but there’s no evidence in support and it’s thought derived from a pre-Greek source because of the presence of -αλλο- (-allo-).  Metal is a noun, verb & adjective and metallic is a noun & adjective; the noun plural is metals.

In the West, what defined a metal was based on the metals known from antiquity: gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin.  The adjectival form (or or covered with metal) emerged in the late fourteenth century reflecting the advances in metallurgy.  The term metalwork is attested from 1724 and has been used to describe both functional and decorative endeavours and is a common title in technical education (al la woodwork).

Iron Butterfly, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968).  An early heavy metal recording, their previous album was Heavy (1968).

The use to describe a variety of loud forms of popular music (heavy; thrash; power; gothic; doom; twisted; black; molten & death-metal (there may be others, it’s hard to tell)) began with heavy metal, the term coming into general use circa 1970 to describe a genre which had evolved since what came retrospectively to be called the proto-metal pieces of the 1950s such as Link Wray's Rumble.  As a shortened form, “metal” appears to be used properly to reference only heavy metal, presumably because it came first, the other forms almost always identified with the modifier.  The use in popular music seems to have been picked up from counterculture literature, William S Burroughs (1914-1997) using the phrase "heavy metal kid" in the 1962 novel The Soft Machine.  That was not a musical reference but in the subsequent Nova Express (1964), extended the use to a metaphor for drug use and from there, adoption in somewhere in popular culture was probably inevitable; it was the 1960s.

The lightness and heaviness of naturally occurring metals has been noted since pre-historic times, probably because of the interest in the malleability of materials which might be used to craft metal ornaments, tools and weapons and until the early nineteenth century, all known metals had relatively high densities, indeed that very quality of heaviness was thought a distinguishing characteristic which defined metals.  However, beginning in 1809, lighter metals such as sodium and potassium were isolated, their low densities demanding a definitional re-think and it was proposed they be categorised as “metalloids” but instead, that was reserved to later refer to a variety of non-metallic elements.

The term "heavy metal" seems first to have been used by German chemist Professor Leopold Gmelin (1788-1853) in an 1817 paper in which he divided the elements into non-metals, light metals, and heavy metals, based on relative density.  Later, “heavy metal” would be associated with elements with a high atomic weight or high atomic number and it is sometimes used interchangeably with the term “heavy element” although, two centuries on, there is criticism of the very usefulness of the now classical categories, the suggestion being they’ve become so diverse as to be meaningless.  Despite that, “heavy metal” in particular remains frequently used in both scientific and popular literature, the latter most often without any definitional rigor.  By comparison, presumably because their less associated with environmental pollution, “light metal” appears most often in association with metal trading, referring usually to aluminium, magnesium, beryllium, titanium and lithium.

The cosmological periodic table.  Chemists do at least agree on what metals are, heavy or otherwise.  Astronomers consider any element heavier than helium to be a metal, the distinction based on whether an element was created directly after the Big Bang (hydrogen and helium) or instead formed through subsequent nuclear reactions.  In the world of cosmology this is well understood but it can cause confusion among a general audience because it means elements such as carbon and oxygen are treated as metals, a most unfamiliar concept.

To astronomers, the production of metals is a consequence of stellar evolution.  Although metals lighter than iron are produced in the interiors of stars through nuclear fusion reactions, only a very small fraction escape (through stellar winds or thermal pulsations) to be incorporated into new stars.  For this reason, the majority of the metals found in the Universe are produced and expelled in the supernova explosions that mark the end for many stars.  This gradual processing of hydrogen and helium into heavier elements through successive generations of stars means that the metallicity of stars (the fraction of the mass of the star in the form of metals) varies.  Very old stars which formed from the almost pristine material of the Big Bang contain almost no metals, while later generations of stars can have up to 5% of their mass in the form of metals.  The percentage of metals in our star (the Sun) is around 2%, indicating it’s a later generation star.

When it comes to money, and not just with precious metals like gold, the choice of metal matters much; aluminum can become quite precious.

1950 Jaguar XK120 (chassis: 670165 (aluminum body))

Jaguar went to the 1948 London Motor Show thinking their big announcement would be the new XK engine, the twin-cam straight-six which faithfully would serve the line for the next forty-four years.  What instead stole the show was the test-bed, the roadster in which it was installed.  It was a sensation, the reaction convincing Jaguar's management to put it into production as the XK120.  However, tooling-up a production-line, even for a relatively low-volume sports car, takes time so the first 242 XK120s were hand-built with aluminum bodies affixed to an ash frame atop a steel chassis substantially shared with an existing model.  By 1950, the factory was ready for mass production and all subsequent XK120s were made with pressed-steel bodies although the doors, bonnet, and boot lid continued to use aluminum; the later cars weigh an additional 112 lb (51 kg).  All the aluminum-bodied cars were open two seaters (OTS (roadster)) and most were destined for the North American market, only fifty-eight being built with right-hand drive.  The most desirable of the XK120s, the record price for a road car at auction is US$396,000, realised in 2016.  Cars with a competition history have attracted more, a 1951 Roadster campaigned by the Scottish race team Ecurie Ecosse, sold for £707,100 in 2015 while the 1954 (steel) Competition Roadster that won its class at the Alpine Rally brought £365,500 in the same year.

1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL (chassis: 550028 (aluminum body))

Intended for those planning to use the things in competition, the aluminum body for the 300SL gullwing was a regular production option, albeit a not inexpensive one although, given the processes required, it may have been a bargain.  Reducing weight by 215 lb (80 kg), the aluminum bodies were hand-crafted in the motorsports department in Untertürkheim and then mounted on the spaceframes sent from the Sindelfingen factory.  Of the 1400 gullwings, only 29 were built in aluminum, 26 of 855 in 1955 and 3 of 308 in 1956 so the option was taken-up only by two percent of customers.

Lindsay Lohan with metallic bags, London, 2014.

Adding to the desirability of the lightweights are the other modifications the factory made to improve competitiveness against the mostly British and Italian opposition.  Plexiglass windows, vented brake drums and stiffer springs were in the package, along with the Sonderteile (special parts (NSL)) engine with tweaked fuel-injection and a more aggressive camshaft, gaining fifteen horsepower.  Curiously, one option intended for use in motorsport actually added a little weight: the Rudge wheels, the seconds the knock-off hubs saved in the pits said to be worth the slight increase.  Available for any gullwing, the Rudge wheels are one of the desirable features, like the fitted luggage, tool kit and factory documents, the presence and condition of which attract a premium at sale.  For some years, the record price at auction for one of these was the US$4.62 million for a 1955 model, paid in 2012 for a car which in 1980 been bought by a German collector for US$57,000.  A new mark was set in 2022 at RM Sotheby's January auction at Scottsdale's Arizona Biltmore Resort when one crossed the block for US$6,825,000.

Purpose

Purpose (pronounced pur-puhs)

(1) The reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc.

(2) An intended or desired result; end; aim; goal.

(3) Determination; resoluteness.

(4) The subject in hand; the point at issue.

(5) Practical result, effect, or advantage.

(6) To set as an aim, intention, or goal for oneself.

(7) To intend; design.

(8) To resolve to do something.

(9) To have a purpose.

1250-1300 (noun): The noun form with the meaning "intention, aim, goal" was from the Anglo-French & Middle English purpos from the twelfth century Old French porpos (aim, intention) from porposer (to put forth), the construct being por- (forth) (from the Latin pro- (forth) + the Old French poser (to put, place).  The phrase “on purpose” dates from the 1580s.  The verb followed soon, the first citations noted in the fourteenth century, from the Anglo-French purposer in the sense of "to design" and the Old French porposer (to intend, propose), a variant of proposer.  It’s from the same root Latin gained prō (forth) + pono (hence propono & proponere with conjugation altered based on poser).  Purpose is a noun & verb, purposer is a noun, purposeful & purposeless are adjectives, purposefully is an adverb, purposing is a verb and purposed is a verb & adjective; the noun plural is purposes.

The General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG)

Although the manually-cranked Gatling gun (1861) was the first practical rapid-fire (200 rounds-per-minute (rpm)) battlefield weapon, the fully automatic, water-cooled, Maxim machine gun (1884), with a fire-rate of 600 rpm, revolutionized war.  By the end of the First World War, machine guns had been deployed by all sides, in some battles accounting for over ninety percent of the small-arms ammunition expended.  The concept became entrenched in all branches of the military and a number of forks developed from the original design, each with their own set of special features depending on their application.  Machine guns used by armies, navies and air-forces became increasingly specialized.

Mauser Maschinengewehr 42 (MG 42) (7.92×57mm rounds).

The General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) came later, originating in an innovative 1934 design by Germany’s Mauser which cleverly circumvented restrictions imposed by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles.  Highly adaptable to all military applications, it could be deployed in a traditional infantry role, used either on aircraft or as an air defense weapon, mounted on anything from light vehicles to tanks and just about any warship.  Development was accelerated by the demands of the Second World War, the GPMG an ideal product to which the techniques of mass-production and production-line standardization could helpfully be applied.  Attaining a fire-rate of up to 1500 rpm, the WWII GPMGs represent a technological plateau and there’s been little change since, all the design elements of the 1940s still present in today’s weapons, innovations restricted mostly to improved materials and add-ons such as laser-assisted sighting.  Like the shark and the pencil, the GPMG evolved to attain perfection and possible improvements to the design are not immediately obvious.

Lindsay Lohan with submachine gun.

A GPMG is not simply any machine gun used for “general purposes” (and a definition of that in this context would be impossible exactly to codify) and in the military the GPMG is a specific class of weapon.  A submachine gun (SMG) and a GPMG differ in design, purpose and application although there can be some overlap in the use of parts, tool kits and (less commonly), ammunition.  The classic SMG is (in relative terms) light, compact and those appropriately trained can fire some of them using only one hand although most are fitted with a (sometimes foldable or detachable) shoulder to enhance stability.  Many SMGs feature selective fire modes permitting a choice between a single shot, bursts (typically 3 shots) or fully automatic, continuous firing.  SMGs with an effective maximum range between 100-150 m (300-500 feet) are intended for close-quarters combat (they were designed during World War I (1914-1918) and intended to be decisive in trench warfare but the conflict ended before they could be deployed) in which, with a higher rate of fire than a rifle and a longer range than most side arms, they can be ideal.  Conveniently they often use the same ammunition as a sidearm although with a higher capacity.

The GPMG is larger, heavier and designed to sustain continuous fire for long periods.  They are now almost always belt fed and use rifle-style & size cartridges, requiring a team of two or three effectively to operate.  As “general purpose” suggests, GPMGs are highly mobile, versatile weapons which can be deployed in a range of combat situations including suppressing fire to sustain either attacks or withdrawals and can engage targets at medium range, something especially useful in theatres where the use of artillery would risk causalities from friendly fire.  GPMG offer a high rate of fire and some Western forces in the late twentieth century concentrated on those using the 5.56 x 45mm NATO load because of the expectation the days of the set-piece, medium-range battle was a thing of the past but experience in recent conflicts confirmed the army’s need for heavier loads and many units were re-equipped with GPMGs using the 7.62 x 51mm NATO round, the latter with an effective range of 800-1220 m (2600-4000 feet) and thus suitable for any form of infantry support.

Font

Font (pronounced font)

(1) In Christianity, a receptacle, usually of stone, as in a baptistery or church, containing the holy water used in baptism (now usually as "fount").

(2) A receptacle for holy water; a stoup (now usually as "fount") .

(3) A productive source (often in the form “a fount of wisdom”).

(4) The reservoir for the oil in a lamp, ink for a pen etc (now usually as "fount").

(5) Figuratively, a spring or fountain; a wellspring (archaic but still appears in poetic & literary use as both "font" & "fount").

(6) In the slang of television production, to overlay text onto the picture.

(7) In typography, a set of glyphs of unified design, belonging to one typeface, style & weight and usually representing the letters of an alphabet, supplementary characters, punctuation marks and the ten standard numerals.

(8) In phototypesetting, a set of patterns forming glyphs of any size, or the film they are stored on.

(9) In digital typesetting, a set of glyphs in a single style, representing one or more alphabets or writing systems, or the computer code representing it.

(10) In computing, a file containing the code used to draw and compose the glyphs of one or more typographic fonts on a display or printer.

Pre 1000: From the Middle English font, from the Old English font & fant, from the Latin font-, the stem of the Church Latin fons baptismalis (baptismal font, spring, fountain) from the Classical Latin fōns (genitive fontis) (fountain).  The use in printing to describe typefaces dates from the 1570s and was from the Old & Middle French fonte (a founding, casting), the feminine past participle of the verb fondre (to melt), from the unattested Vulgar Latin funditus (a pouring, molding, casting), a verbal noun from the Latin fundere (past participle fusus) (to pour a melted substance) from a nasalized form of the primitive Indo-European root gheu- (to pour).  The meaning was acquired because all the characters in a set were cast at the same time.  Most people use the words font and typeface as synonyms but industry professionals maintain a distinction: the typeface is the set of characters of the same design; the font is the physical means of producing them; that difference was maintained even as printing moved from physical wood & metal to electronics.  The modern practice is for the spelling “font” to apply to use in printing while “fount” is use for receptacles containing liquids.  That must seem strange to those learning the language but it’s how things evolved.  Font is a noun & verb, fonted is a verb & adjective, fonting is a verb and fontal is an adjective; the noun plural is fonts.

The politics of fonts

Great moments in fonts: Always select your font with care.

Dr Stephen Banham (b 1968) is a senior lecturer in typography at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia who has published widely on the subject.  He recently discussed the politics of fonts and offered a number of examples of how fonts have played some significant role in recent history.  He noted the way in which some developments in typefaces have been technologically deterministic, something related not only to the changes in the mechanical devices used in printing (such as the shift from wooden to metal type) but also the speed at which people travelled while reading.  When the development of railways meant people began regularly to travel at speeds beyond that which teams of horses could attain, it meant there was signage which had to be legible to those passing on the train and this was not always simply a matter of scaling-up the existing styles; sometimes new designs were needed with different aspect ratios.

Fonts in transition: Nazi Party poster advertising a “Freedoms Rally” (the irony not apparent at the time), Schneidemuhl, Germany, (now Pila, Poland) in 1931 (left), Edict issued by Martin Bormann (1900–1945) banning the future use of Judenlettern (Jewish fonts) like Fraktur (the irony of the letterhead being in the now banned typeface presumably didn’t disturb the author) (centre) and (in modern Roman script), an announcement in occupied that 100 Polish hostages had been executed as a reprisal for death of two Germans in Warsaw, 1944 (right).

Sometimes too, the message was the typeface itself; it imparted values that were separate from the specific meaning in the text.  The Nazi regime (1933-1945) in Germany was always conscious of spectacle and although in matters of such as architecture customs there was a surprising tolerance of regional difference, in some things it demanded uniformity and one of those was the appearance of official documents.  Early in his rule their rule, Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; Führer (leader), German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945) decreed that “German Black Letter” should be used for all official purposes (and it was used in the cover art of most early editions of Mein Kampf); Hitler, who to the end thought himself an “artist”, liked the heavy, angular form for its encapsulation of the Germanic.  Fraktur is probably the best known of these although it’s but one of a number of variations of the typeface and such was the extend of the state support for the font that the party was critical of newspapers, publishers & magazines which used more modern (and easier to read) forms (and they were used by the German military and civil service when legibility was important), a frequent criticism being the “Roman characters” somehow represented a “Jewish influence”.  In one of the ironies of history however, when it became apparent that when used in letters and notices distributed to enforce rule in the occupied territories the use of the font was counter-productive because it was so hard to read, the Nazis suddenly declared that Fraktur had become contaminated wand was thus proscribed as Judenlettern (Jewish letters), official documents thereafter rendered in modern Roman type.  Martin Bormann's edict was issued thus:

I announce the following, by order of the Führer:

It is false to regard the so-called Gothic typeface as a German typeface. In reality, the so-called Gothic typeface consists of Schwabacher-Jewish letters. Just as they later came to own the newspapers, the Jews living in Germany also owned the printing presses… and thus came about the common use in Germany of Schwabacher-Jewish letters.

Today the Führer… decided that Antiqua type is to be regarded as the standard typeface. Over time, all printed matter should be converted to this standard typeface. This will occur as soon as possible in regard to school textbooks, only the standard script will be taught in village and primary schools. The use of Schwabacher-Jewish letters by authorities will in future cease. Certificates of appointment for officials, street signs and the like will in future only be produced in standard lettering…

In the post war years, fonts (the word had come by them to be used generically of typefaces except by printers) reflected the mood of the times and in the unexpectedly buoyant years of the 1950s there emerged in West Germany (the FRG) “Optima”, (1958) intended to convey the optimism engendered by the Wirtschaftswunder (the economic miracle) while in France, “Univers” (1957), the product of a Swiss designer, was in a similar vein and intended to be suitable for all purposes in all languages.  Doubtlessly though, no font compares with the Swiss "Helvetica" (1957) which, by virtue of its elegance, simplicity & adaptability, quickly enjoyed a popularity which endures to this day and it remains the only font which has been the subject of a full-length feature film.  It spawned a number of imitators, especially after it was included in Adobe’s PostScript set, the best known of which is probably the ubiquitous Arial (1982).  The optimism of the 1950s is long gone although Optima remains available and names still reflect something of the concerns of their era: “Exocet” (1981), “Stealth” (1983) and “Patriot” (1986) all part of the late Cold War Zeitgeist.  Fonts can also reflect environment concerns and there are now some which no longer use solid forms, instead being made of lines, thereby reducing the consumption of ink or toner by up to 12%.  The trick isn’t detectable by the naked eye and is actually not new, “outline” typefaces long available although in those the technique was designed to be apparent and there were limitations in their application; below a certain size they tended to fragment.

More great moments in fonts.

During the Covid-19 pandemic when we were all spend much time in a form of house arrest, the font download sites all noted a spike in demand for script-like fonts, especially those which most resembled handwriting (and it is possible to have one’s own handwriting rendered as a font), the demand presumed to be induced by a longing for a way to express feelings in a more “human” way than the default serif and san serif sets which ship with email and messenger services.  That over arching binary (serif & san serif) has also attracted criticism because humanity’s most obvious binary (male & female) in now under siege as a form of oppression so binaries in general seem no longer fashionable.  With fonts, the most obvious micro-aggression is the way fonts are often categorized as “masculine” (Arial; Verdana etc) and “feminine” (Brush Script; Comic Sans (maybe in fuchsia) etc) and though the relevant characteristics can’t exactly be defined (except for the fuchsia), the differences probably can be recognized although that of course is a product of the prejudices and suppositions of the observer.  Presumably, if offered a third category (gender-neutral), a sample group would put some fonts in there but even that would seem based on the prejudices and suppositions constructed by the original binary.  The mechanics (as opposed to the content) of typology is one of the less expected theatres of the culture wars.

Verzoening, Geffen, the Netherlands.

The simultaneously derided yet still popular font Comic Sans (1984) has been more controversial than most.  The design was intended to recall the sort of writing which appeared in the speech bubbles of cartoons and it first came to wide public attention in 1995 when it was used in Microsoft Bob, the software which was an attempt to use a cartoon-like interface to make navigating Windows 95 easier for neophytes.  Even less popular than Windows Me, Windows Vista or DOS 4.0, Bob was allowed quietly to die but Comic Sans survived and found a niche, much to the disgust of some in major corporations who banned its use, demanding the staff use only “dignified” or “serious” (presumably masculine) fonts rather than something from a comic book.  Unfortunately, this news appeared not to reach whoever it was in the Netherlands who in 2012 approved the use of Comic Sans on the World War II memorial Verzoening (Reconciliation) erected in the town of Geffen.  That attracted much criticism but not as much as the decision to have the names of Jewish, Allied and German military deaths all to be etched (in Comic Sans) on the same stone.  After it was pointed out that reconciliation with the SS was not a national sentiment, the offending names were removed although for the rest, Comic Sans remained, albeit modified by the stonemasons so the text was rendered thicker, the local authorities justifying the retention on the grounds the shape of the text was in accord with the stone (it’s difficult to see the connection) and easily legible at a distance (certainly true).  It may be the only monument in the world, dedicated to the dead, which uses Comic Sans.

Crooked Hillary Clinton updating her Burn Book which, during the primary campaign for the Democrat Party nomination for the 2016 presidential election, probably would have been referred to internally as her "Bern Book" because it would have been so filled with tactics designed to sabotage the campaign of Bernie Sanders (b 1941; senior US senator (Independent, Vermont) since 2007) (digitally altered image).  In Mean Girls (2004), the Burn Book's cover used the "ransom note" technique which involved physically cutting letters from newspapers & magazines and pasting them onto a page, a trick of the pre-DNA analysis age which left no identifiable handwriting.  There are a number of "ransom" fonts which emulate the appearance in software.

Politicians do maintain burn books although few are much discussed.  Richard Nixon's (1913-1994; US president 1969-1974) "enemies list" became famous in 1973 when it emerged during congressional hearings enquiring into the Watergate break-in and that such a list existed surprised few although some did expect it to contain more names than the twenty included; it was common knowledge Nixon had many more enemies than that.  That view was vindicated when later lists were revealed (some containing hundreds of names) though had the net been cast a little wider, it could well have run to thousands.  At least one Eurocrat has also admitted to keeping a burn book although Jean-Claude Juncker (b 1954; president of the European Commission 2014-2019) calls his "little black book" Le Petit Maurice (little Maurice), the name apparently a reference to a contemporary from his school days who grew taller than the youthful Jean-Claude and seldom neglected to mention it.  Although maintained for some thirty years (including the eighteen spent as prime-minister of Luxembourg) to record the identities of those who crossed him, Mr Junker noted with some satisfaction it wasn't all that full because people “rarely betray me”, adding “I am not vengeful, but I have a good memory.”   It seems his warning “Be careful.  Little Maurice is waiting for you” was sufficient to ward of the betrayal and low skulduggery for which the corridors of EU institutions are renowned.