Alloy

Alloy (pronounced al-oi (noun) or uh-loi (verb))

(1) A substance composed of two or more metals, or of a metal or metals with a nonmetal, intimately mixed, as by fusion or electrodeposition.

(2) A less costly metal mixed with a more valuable one.

(3) A standard; quality; fineness.

(4) Admixture, as of good with evil.

(5) To mix (metals or metal with nonmetal) so as to form an alloy.

(6) To reduce in value by an admixture of a less costly metal.

(7) To debase, impair, or reduce by admixture; adulterate.

(8) A slang term for aluminum, applied often to wheels made of the metal.

1590–1600: From the Middle French aloi (a mixture), from aloier (to combine) from the Old French alei, noun derivative of aleier (to combine) from the Latin alligāre (to bind up), the construct being al- (from the Latin adjective suffix -ālis) + ligāre (to bind) (from which English ultimately gained ligament).  It replaced the earlier Middle English allay from the Anglo-French allai.  An alloy is metallic substance made by mixing and fusing two or more metals, or a metal and a nonmetal, to obtain desirable qualities such as hardness, lightness, and strength. Brass, bronze, and steel are all alloys.  Alloys often have physical properties markedly different from those of the pure metals.

Tube Alloys

Tube Alloys was the code name of the UK’s World War II atomic weapon programme.  Work at Cambridge University during the 1930s had witnessed nuclear fission which underpinned the theory a nuclear chain reaction could be started, thereby making possible an atomic bomb.  While the science remained mysterious to most, the term “atomic bomb” had been known since 1913 when HG Wells used it to describe a continuously-exploding bomb in his novel The World Set Free.  The code name was chosen because it was vague enough to be associated with just about any engineering project.

Trinity A-Bomb test, 1945, the world's first detonation of a nuclear weapon.  Trinity was a plutonium device, the uranium bomb used against Hiroshima not tested because the scientists and engineers were certain of its success.    

Because the development of an atomic bomb demanded vast resources, Tube Alloys was later absorbed into the parallel US research; the trans-Atlantic effort picking up its code name from the project’s first headquarters in Manhattan, NYC.  It was originally to be called Development of Substitute Materials but it was thought that might attract unwanted interest so Manhattan Engineer District was instead adopted.  A bit of a mouthful, before long, it was known to all involved as the Manhattan Project.

Of alloys and aluminium

One of the consequences of the ultimate success of the Tube Alloys project was the form the British Land Rover (1948-2016) took.  The Manhattan project was top secret and until well into 1945 it wasn’t certain either if the A-bomb was going to work or if it could be produced in volume as a deliverable weapon.  Accordingly, military procurement plans continued on the assumption the war in the Far East would continue perhaps until the end of 1946 meaning there were big orders in the pipeline for war-planes, notably medium and heavy bombers, both requiring much aluminium.  The sudden end of the war in August 1945 thus resulted in the cancellation of most of these orders but because of the lead-times in industrial production, huge stocks of sheet aluminium were in warehouses and elsewhere in the supply chain.  After the war, the UK was not exactly bankrupt but the economy was poor shape and there was much need to encourage exports, the official mantra at the time “export or die” and it was no idle treat; manufacturing concerns companies not orienting their production towards exports would quickly find they were unable to secure raw materials and had to either build for export or go out of business.

Series 1 Land Rover.  Note the panels fashioned with sheets of aluminium which needed only to be cut or folded.

So steel was in chronically short supply because of the need to re-build so much of the infrastructure which had been damaged or destroyed, mostly by the Luftwaffe’s gravity bombs and the later use of the V1 flying bombs and the big V2 rockets but aluminium was plentiful.  Sheet aluminium was also light, not susceptible to rust and importantly, could be folded into simple shapes, obviating the need for complex and tooling to be built, an expensive and time consuming process.  These qualities appealed to Rover’s engineers who, while working on their modernist range of post-war passenger vehicles and turbine engines, conjured up of the country’s most enduring exports, the Land-Rover which in its original form would remain in production until outlawed in 2016 by humorous European Union (EU) bureaucrats; it also in 1970 begat the Range Rover which didn’t exactly create the niche of the civilized four wheel drive (4WD) but certainly defined it.  Using a simple to build chassis and existing engines, the original Land Rover was developed at remarkably low cost, something helped by most of the external panels being fashioned from flat sheet aluminium, most requiring nothing more than cutting and folding.

In recent years, although more expensive than steel, aluminium remains an attractive metal for manufacturers, attracted by its light weight and ease of construction.  Before the advent of fibreglass and later more exotic composites, it was the material of choice for many high-performance cars, some special low-volume runs of “alloy bodies” even featuring in the production schedules of models constructed usually from steel.  Sometimes too there was a mix, components like doors, hoods (bonnets) & trunk (boot) lids used to lighten vehicles made substantially from steel, offering a significant weight-reduction without the large cost of re-tooling for the entire platform.  It was done not only to guarantee high-performance but also to do something about low-performance.  After the second oil shock (1979), Mercedes-Benz rushed into production the 300 SD (1978-1980), a diesel version of the S Class (W116 1972-1980) sedan in response to demand for diesel vehicles in North America.  However, even after bolting a turbo-charger to the (OM617) five cylinder 3.0 litre (183 cubic inch) engine, such was the lack of power compared to the familiar petrol V8s that performance was hardly stellar.  Aerodynamic improvements would have to wait for the replacement platform (W126 1979-1991) and the only practical solution was weight reduction so the hood and truck lid were replace with pressings using aluminium.  That helped but not by much and the acceleration offered by the 300 SD was never described as anything but leisurely although the offset was the famously durable OM617 would run for decades.  Priorities had however changed and the 300 SD became a best-seller in the US and was a major factor in helping the company meet the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, mandated in 1975, a reasonable achievement given the infamous thirst of the V8s.  In later years, lightweight parts also proved attractive to owners of the 450 SEL 6.9 which used the 6.9 litre (417 cubic inch) (M100), the diet regime making the Teutonic hot rod faster still.

Mercedes-Benz R230 construction (left) and Lindsay Lohan’s unfortunate SL 65.

Even in the age of carbon fibre and more modern alloys, aluminium remains widely used because it’s light, strong and it’s properties are well understood in manufacturing.  The Mercedes-Benz R230 (SL, 2001-2011) used aluminium for components such as doors (the inner skins the even lighter magnesium), trunk lid and front fenders (wings) and alloys such as high-strength steel for the platform.  Lindsay Lohan’s unfortunate low-speed event in a 2006 SL 65 afforded users an unusual view of the R230's construction via a gash torn in the aluminium door.

Anathema

Anathema (pronounced uh-nath-uh-muh)

(1) Something or someone that one vehemently dislikes.

(2) A formal ecclesiastical curse by a leader or governing council of a church, excommunicating a person or denouncing a doctrine.

(3) A person or thing accursed or consigned to damnation or destruction.

(4) A technical definition of any imprecation of divine punishment.

(5) A curse or execration.

1520s: From the Middle English, from the Church Latin anathema (an excommunicated person or the curse of excommunication) derived from Greek anathema (a thing accursed; dedicated to evil, from anatithenai (to dedicate).  Interestingly, the original meaning was "a thing devoted" (literally "a thing set up” (to the gods)).  The construct was ana (up) + tithenai ("to place").  It was originally a votive offering but by the time it reached Latin, the meaning had progressed through "thing devoted to evil," to "thing accursed or damned" and the meaning in the Ancient Greek term was influenced by the Hebrew herem, leading to the sense of "accursed", especially in religious matters.  In later ecclesiastical use, it became applied to persons, institutions and even ideas as a Divine Curse; the technical, legal meaning of “a formal act or formula of consigning to damnation” dating from the 1610s.  One mistake which has endured for centuries is the use of maranatha, taken as an intensified form.  It’s a misreading of the Syriac maran etha "the Lord hath come", which follows anathema in scripture (I Corinthians 16:22) but is no way connected and the error persists because of the large number of references in medieval texts, written by scribes who for years duplicated the original error.  Anathema is a noun, anathematic & anathematical are adjectives, anathematization & anathematizer are nouns, anathematize is a verb and anathematically is an adverb; the noun plural is plural anathemata (because of the special history, the form anathemas is not an alternative).

Lindsay Lohan and her lawyer in court, Los Angeles, December 2011.

Historically, in the early Christian church, the issue of an anathema signified an exclusion from the community of the faithful on grounds of heresy.  By the late medieval period, canon lawyers had developed a distinction between anathema and excommunication, apparently because of the need for technical devices in the handling of actual heretics (permanently to be excluded from communion) and those behaving badly (subject to a kind of ecclesiastical sin-bin, those punished able to be re-admitted to reception of the sacraments upon repenting).  In the west, the 1917 Roman Code of Canon Law abandoned the distinction between major and minor excommunication but in the east, the Orthodox maintained the rule, something confirmed by Bartholomew I (Dimitrios Arhondonis (b 1940); Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople since 1991) as recently as 2021.  The current (1983) Code of Canon Law does not contain the word anathema but documents of anathema continue to be issued by Orthodox Patriarchs, the most dramatic of which were those around the great disputes within Russian Orthodoxy after the 1917 Russian revolutions.

The Latin forms, for those who think English formations are difficult.

Witenagemot

Witenagemot (pronounced wit-n-uh-guh-moht)

(1) The Anglo-Saxon parliament, the assembly of the witan; the national council attended by the king, aldermen, bishops, and nobles which assembled on several occasions between the sixth and eleventh centuries, initially as a number of bodies which claimed only regional authority, later (and with representative membership), assuming a national jurisdiction.

(2) Any one session of any of these assemblies.

(3) In casual use, other deliberative bodies (obsolete since the late nineteenth centuries).

1585–1595: From the Old English, the construct being witena, (genitive plural of wita (councillor; man of knowledge) + gemōt (assembly, meeting, council), gemōt the source of the Modern English moot.  A learned borrowing the from Old English witena ġemōt, the literal translation was “assembly of the wise”).  The spelling (and capitalization) of Witenagemot was never standardised.  In Modern English, witenagemot was the most common form but historically, more frequently used (in order) were wittenagemot, wittenagemote, wittena-gemote and wittena-gemot, but all of those variations had declined by the early twentieth century and, except in historic citation, are now extinct.  Also long obsolete is the (always rare) use of Witenagemot to describe any institution other than the Anglo-Saxon assembly.  Witenagemot is a noun; the plural is witenagemots.

Anglo-Saxon England.

The Witenaġemot, often in casual conversation spoken of as “the Witan” (which, technically was title granted to the membership), was an embryonic parliament which assembled periodically in England between the late sixth and mid-eleventh centuries.  As an aggregation, it formed by a process of gradual absorption of earlier assemblies with purely regional jurisdiction (Essex, Kent, Mercia, Northumbria, Sussex and Wessex) before eventually asserting national jurisdiction.  The closest modern counterparts of its composition and function were probably the colonial legislative councils; political institutions devoted to the deliberative and empowered to advise the executive (the king and his court).  The Witenagemot’s membership reflected the practice many such assemblies and was restricted to the nobility, the landed gentry and senior clergy.  Historians consider the Witenagemot a particularly English development and adaptation of the old (and more widely representative) Germanic assemblies or folkmoots.  In late sixth century England, these folkmoots had assumed a more aristocratic identity as convocations of the most important, influential and powerful in the land.  Although local, regional and local matters were discussed when the Witenagemot convened, it was a body without legislative authority; it was empowered only to “warn, counsel and advise” the king.

William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, stabbing King Harold of England at the Battle of Hastings while fighting on horseback.  Painting held by the British Library Board, Cotton Vitellius A. XIII.

One of the Witenagemot’s final acts concerned the royal succession in 1066.  Because Edward the Confessor (circa 1003-1066; King of England 1042-1066) died without an heir, it was a resolution of Witenagemot which confirmed Edward's successor to be his brother-in-law Harold Godwinson (circa 1022-1066; King Harold II of England, Jan-Oct 1066) as king.  With no royal blood and fearing rival claims from the Duke of Normandy and the King of Norway, Harold had himself crowned in Westminster Abbey on 6 January 1066, the day after Edward's death.  In September, a Norwegian army, aided by Harold's alienated brother Tostig, Earl of Northumbria, did invade but at the Battle of Stamford Bridge his force was routed so decisively by Harold that barely two-dozen vessels of the invasion fleet of three-hundred were required to ferry home the survivors.  Meanwhile, the Duke of Normandy, claiming Harold had two years earlier acknowledged him as Edward's successor, landed in Sussex.  Harold rushed his seven-thousand strong army south where, on 14 October 1066, he was defeated by the Normans, falling in battle on the field of Senlac near Hastings; after being struck in the eye by an arrow, he was cut down by Norman swords.  Harold was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon king of England.

Primate

Primate (pronounced prahy-meyt or prahy-mit)

(1) In the ecclesiastical hierarchy, an archbishop or bishop ranking first among the bishops of a province or country (in this context usually pronounced prahy-mit). Primate is a title or rank bestowed on some archbishops in some Christian churches and can, depending on tradition, denote either jurisdictional authority or mere ceremonial precedence.

(2) In zoology, any of various omnivorous mammals of the order primates (including simians and prosimians), comprising the three suborders anthropoidea (humans, great apes, gibbons, Old World monkeys, and New World monkeys), prosimii (lemurs, loris, and their allies), and tarsioidea (tarsiers), especially distinguished by the use of hands, varied locomotion, and by complex flexible behavior involving a high level of social interaction and cultural adaptability: a large group of baboons is called a congress which, to some, makes perfect sense.

(3) A chief or leader (archaic).

1175-1225: In the sense of "high bishop, preeminent ecclesiastical official of a province" having a certain jurisdiction, as vicar of the pope, over other bishops in his province, primate is from the Middle English primate & primat, from the Old French primat and directly from the Medieval Latin primatem (church primate), a noun use of the Late Latin adjective primas (of the first rank, chief, principal) from primus (first).  The meaning "animal of the biological order including monkeys and humans" is attested from 1876, from the Modern Latin Primates, the order name (linnæus), the plural of the Latin primas; so called for being regarded as the "highest" order of mammals (the category originally included bats, representing the state of thought in biology at the time).

As an adjective, prime dates from the late fourteenth century in the sense of "first, original, first in order of time" from the Old French prime and directly from the Latin primus (first, the first, first part (figuratively "chief, principal; excellent, distinguished, noble") from the Proto-Italic prismos & priisemos, superlative of the primitive Indo-European preis- (before), from the root per (beyond; before; forward), hence the sense "in front of, before, first, chief".  It was the source also of the Italian and Spanish primo and thus a doublet of primo.  The meaning "of fine quality; of the first excellence" is from circa 1400.  The meaning "first in rank, degree, or importance" was first noted in English circa 1610 whereas in mathematics (as in prime number), it wasn’t in the literature until the 1560s.  The prime meridian (the meridian of the earth from which longitude is measured, that of Greenwich, England) was established in 1878.  Prime time which originally was used to describe "spring time" is attested from circa 1500.  The use in broadcasting in the sense of a "peak tuning-in period" dates from 1961.

Some endangered primates.

As a noun prime referred to the "earliest canonical hour of the day" (6 am), from the Old English prim and the Old French prime or directly from the Medieval Latin prima "the first service" from the Latin prima hora (the first hour (of the Roman day)), from the Latin primus ("first, the first, first part").  In classical Latin, the noun uses of the adjective meant "first part, beginning; leading place".  The noun sense "apostrophe-like symbol" exists because the symbol ′ was originally a superscript Roman numeral one.  By extension, "the first division of the day" (6-9 am) was an early-thirteenth century form whereas the sense of "beginning of a period or course of events" is from the late fourteenth.  From the notion of "the period or condition of greatest vigor in life" there came by the 1530s the specific sense "springtime of human life" (taken usually to mean the ages around 21-28 (the division of live in seven-year chunks a noted motif in English) is from the 1590s and at about the same time, prime came to mean "that which is best in quality, highest or most perfect state of anything".

The use as a verb dates from the 1510s, an invention by the military to describe the process (fill, charge, load) required before a musket or other flintlock weapon could be discharged, the assumption being this was derive from the adjective.  From this by circa 1600 evolved the general sense of "perform the first operation on, prepare something for its intended purpose” (applied especially to wood to make ready for painting)".  To prime a pump is noted from 1769 and meant to pour water down the tube to saturate the sucking mechanism which made it draw up water more readily.  This was later adopted in public finance and economics to describe what is now usually called fiscal stimulus (the idea being a little government money attracting more private investment.  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.

Lindsay Lohan and a large primate, King Kong premiere, Loews E-Walk and AMC Empire 25 Theaters, New York City, December 2005.

The Roman Catholic Church

In the Roman Catholic Church, a Primate is almost always an Archbishop though the title is occasionally bestowed on the (Metropolitan) bishop of an Episcopal see who has precedence over the bishoprics of one or more ecclesiastical provinces of a particular historical, political or cultural area.  Also sometimes created are primates where the title is entirely honorific, granting only precedence in on ceremonial occasions and, in the case of the Polish Primates, the privilege of wearing cardinal's crimson robes (though not the skullcap and biretta).  The Vatican likes the old ways and many primates are vested not in the capitals of countries but in those places which were the centres of the country when first Christianized.  For that reason there still exists the Primate of the Visigothic Kingdom, and the Primate of the Gauls.

Some of the leadership functions once exercised by Primates have now either devolved to presidents of conferences of bishops or to Rome itself.  Modern communications as much as reform of canon law have influenced these developments and most changes were effected between the publication of the Code of Canon Law in 1917 and the late twentieth-century implementation of Vatican II’s more arcane administrative arrangements.  Rome has never seemed quite sure how to deal with England.  Unlike in the secular US, where the Holy See’s grant of precedence to the Archbishop of Baltimore dates from 1848, the Archbishop of Westminster has not been granted the title of Primate of England and Wales but is instead described as that of Chief Metropolitan.  Rome has never exactly defined the implications of that though it has been suggested the position is “…similar to that of the Archbishop of Canterbury.”  Most helpful.

If the position in England remains vague, that of some of the orders is opaque.  The loose structures of the Benedictine Confederation made Pope Leo XIII (1810–1903; pope 1878-1903) exclaim that the Benedictines were ordo sine ordine (an order without order), something about which he subsequently did little.  The Benedictine Abbot Primate resides at Sant'Anselmo in Rome and takes precedence of all other abbots and is granted authority over all matters of discipline, to settle difficulties arising between monasteries, to hold a canonical visitation, exercise a general supervision for the regular observance of monastic discipline.  However, his Primatial powers permit him to act only by virtue of the proper law of the autonomous Benedictine congregations, most of which does not exist.  Charmingly, the Benedictine Order appears still to operate as it’s done for the last few centuries, untroubled by tiresome letters from Rome although other orders have embraced modern ways.  The Confederation of Canons Regular of St Augustine democratically elects an Abbot Primate, though his role, save for prerogative reserve powers, is ceremonial.

The Church of England

Some endangered Primates at the Lambeth Conference, London, 1930.  The once almost exclusively white, male and middle class world of Anglican bishops has in recent decades become increasingly black, evangelical and even female.  It seems likely it may also become increasingly gay.  Although rarely spoken of, it's an open secret the Anglican church in England depends for its operation on its many gay clergy and it may be it will require only the natural processes of generational change for gay bishops to become an accepted thing.  Before that, a state of tolerance or peaceful co-existence may be next step.

Anglican usage styles the bishop who heads an independent church as its primate, though they always hold some other title (archbishop, bishop, or moderator).  In Anglicanism, a primate’s authority is not universally defined; some are executives while others can do little more than preside over conferences or councils and represent the church ceremonially.  However, the when the Anglicans convene a Primates' Meeting, the chief bishop of each of the thirty-eight churches that compose the Anglican Communion acts as its primate, though they may not be that within their own church.  For example, the various United Churches of the sub-continent are represented at the meetings by their moderators though they become primates for the purposes of Anglican conferences.  Primates are thus created for photo-opportunities.

Winds of change: Primates at the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), Jerusalem, 2018.

In both the Churches of England and Ireland, two bishops have the title of primate: the archbishops of Canterbury and York in England and of Armagh and Dublin in Ireland.  The Archbishop of Canterbury, considered primus inter pares (first among equals) of all the participants, convenes meetings and issues invitations.  The title of primate in the Church of England has no direct relationship with the ex-officio right of twenty-six bishops to sit in the House of Lords; were the church to do away with the title, it would not at all affect the constitutional position.

The Orthodox Church

In the Orthodox Church, a primate is the presiding bishop of an ecclesiastical jurisdiction or region.  Usually, the expression primate refers to the first hierarch of an autocephalous or autonomous Orthodox Church although, less often, it’s used to refer to the ruling bishop of an archdiocese or diocese.  In the first hierarch, the primate is the first among equals of all his brother bishops of the jurisdiction or diocese of which he is first, or primary, hierarch, and he is usually elected by the Holy Synod in which he will serve.  All bishops are equal sacramentally, but the most important administrative tasks are undertaken by the bishop of the most honored diocese.  The primate of an autocephalous church supervises the internal and external welfare of that church and represents it in its relations with other autocephalous Orthodox churches, religious organizations, and secular authorities.  During liturgical services, his name will be mentioned by the other bishops of the autocephalous church and the primate mentions the names of the other heads of autocephalous Orthodox churches at Divine services.

The liturgical duties vary between jurisdictions but, normally, the hierarch is responsible for such tasks as the consecration and distribution of the Holy Chrism and providing the diocesan bishops with the holy relics necessary for the consecration of church altars and holy antimins.  To this may extend other administrative duties including convening and presiding over the meetings of the Holy Synods and other councils, receiving petitions for admission of clergy from other Orthodox churches, initiating the action to fill vacancies in the office of diocesan bishops, and issuing pastoral letters addressed to the bishops, clergy, and laity of the Church.  He will also advise his brother bishops, and when required, submits their cases to the Holy Synod. He has the honor of pastoral initiative and guidance, and, when necessary, the right of pastoral intervention, in all matters concerning the life of the Church within the structure of the holy canons.

Trumpery

Trumpery (pronounced truhm-puh-ree)

(1) Something without use or value; rubbish; trash; worthless stuff.

(2) Nonsense; twaddle; foolish talk or actions.

(3) Worthless finery; a mere trinket (archaic).

(4) Deceit; fraud (obsolete).

1425–1475: From the late Middle English trompery (deceit) from the Middle French tromperie from tromper (to cheat).  The construct of tromperie was tromper ((from the Middle & Old French tromper (to tramp, delude; literally “to play on the trumpet”), from trompe (trump, trumpet), from the Frankish trumpa (trump, trumpet), from a common Germanic word akin to the Old High German trumba & trumpa (trump, trumpet); ultimately an imitative form) +‎ -erie (from the Old French -erie, inherited the from Latin -arius & -ator; the suffix denoting, inter alia, nouns describing qualities or properties).  The plural is trumperies.

In English, the original meaning of the mid-fifteenth century noun trumpery was deception & trickery and as late as 1847, British statesman and novelist Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881; prime-minister Feb-Dec 1868 & 1874-1880) wrote of a political movement being condemned as “…fraud and trumpery”.  The French original (tromperie from the verb tromper) also meant “to deceive” but its original, literal meaning was “to blow a trumpet” so tromper quelque chose (literally “to trump something”) meant to announce something to the sound of a trumpet, and tromper quelqu’un, (literally “to trump someone”), meant “to announce something to someone to the sound of a trumpet.  Etymologists believe the figurative sense of tromper (“to deceive”) emerged because the perception evolved that such announcements were often false, truth thought likely to be in inverse proportion to the volume of the advertising.

The English noun trump is now obsolete in the senses related to trumpets except in the Biblical expression “the last trump” (Revelation 11:15), denoting the trumpet blast that will wake the dead on Judgment Day.  Trump continues in English in card games in the sense a playing card of a suit that ranks higher than any other suit but that meaning developed separately and is a variant of triumph, once used in card games in the same sense; the French and Italian masculine nouns triomphe and trionfo were used in the same way.  The first known user of trump in the sense of a winning card was the English Protestant prelate and martyr Hugh Latimer (circa 1485-1555) in the first of his Sermons on the Card (circa 1529): “We must say to ourselves, “What requireth Christ of a christian man?” Now turn up your trump, your heart (hearts is trump, as I said before), and cast your trump, your heart, on this card; and upon this card you shall learn what Christ requireth of a christian man.”

At the GOP Shop, every card was once a Trump.  Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the GOP Shop seems to have removed all Donald Trump merchandise from its catalogue but the decks of waterproof Donald Trump 24k gold plated playing cards have been off-loaded and are available on Amazon at US$7.88, only a little more than when last advertised by the GOP Shop when they listed at US$6.25 (reduced from US$19.95).

A deck of waterproof Donald Trump 24k gold plated playing cards for US$7.88 would seem good value because a 54 card (52 + 2 jokers) Lindsay Lohan deck costs US$36.

Duplicity

Duplicity (pronounced doo-plis-i-tee or dyoo-plis-i-tee)

(1) Deceitfulness in speech or conduct, as by speaking or acting in two different ways to different people concerning the same matter; double-dealing.

(2) An act or instance of such deceitfulness.

(3) In law, the act or fact of including two or more offenses in one count, or charge, as part of an indictment, thus violating the requirement that each count contain only a single offense.

1400–1450: From the Late Middle English, from the Old French duplicite, from the Late Latin duplicitatem (nominative duplicitas (doubleness)).  Technically, the word wa borrowed from Latin duplicāre (double), present active infinitive of duplicō and the Medieval Latin duplicitās differed with ite replacing itās.  The notion is of being "double" in one's conduct ultimately is derived from the Ancient Greek diploos (treacherous, double-minded) which translates literally as "twofold, double".  Related in Medieval Latin was ambiguity, noun of quality from duplex, genitive (duplicis (two-fold)).

Duplicity good and bad

Because such conduct is inherent to human interaction, there are many words either similar in meaning or a synonym of duplicity.  Duplicity is the form of deceitfulness that leads one to give two impressions, either or both of which may be false.  Deceit is the quality that prompts intentional concealment or perversion of truth for the purpose of misleading.  The quality of guile leads to craftiness in the use of deceit; one uses guile and trickery to attain one's ends. Hypocrisy is the pretence of possessing virtuous qualities such as sincerity, goodness or devotion.  Fraud refers usually to the practice of subtle deceit or duplicity by which one may derive benefit at another's expense.  Trickery is the quality that leads to the use of tricks and habitual deception.  In modern English usage, the most common sense of duplicity is “deceitfulness.”  The roots of this meaning are in the initial dupl from the Latin duplex (twofold, or double).  We do seem a duplicitous lot.

Alexander Haig (1924–2010; US Secretary of State 1981-1982) & Ronald Reagan (1911–2004; US President 1981-1989) (left) and Lord Carrington (1919–2018; UK Foreign Secretary 1979-1982) & Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013; UK Prime Minister 1979-1990) (right).

To accuse someone duplicity is usually to allege or suggest something negative, the idea that someone has acted in a manner perhaps not dishonest but certainly misleading or dishonorable.  However there are fields of endeavor where the successfully duplicitous are often admired and the most Machiavellian can be held in awe.  In international relations, it’s true in the upper reaches of diplomacy.

Duplicity, art and science: Haig and Carrington, the White House, 26 February 1981.

More than General Colin Powell (b 1937; US Secretary of State 2001-2005) and more even than General Dwight Eisenhower (1890–1969; US President 1953-1961), General Alexander Haig (1924-2010) was an exemplar of that uniquely Washington DC creature, the political soldier, whose career shuttled between the military, diplomacy and politics.  After a meeting in 1981, Haig was heard to remark the UK Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington, was a "duplicitous bastard".  Beyond the beltway, that would be a disparaging comment, but, in the world of international diplomacy, it’s more an expression of admiration of professional skill.

Mean Girls (2004), a story of duplicity, low skulduggery, Machiavellian manipulation, lies & deceit.  As a morality tale, the message can be reduced to: “Women would rather hear brilliant lies than honest truths”.

Draft

Draft (pronounced drahft)

(1) An initial drawing, sketch, or design.

(2) A first or preliminary form of any writing, subject to revision.

(3) The act of drawing; delineation.

(4) A current of air in any enclosed space, especially in a room, chimney, stove or through a door or window frame; a current of air moving in an upward or downward direction.

(5) A device for regulating the current of air in a stove, fireplace etc.

(6) The act of drawing or pulling loads; something that is drawn or pulled; a haul; an animal or team of animals used to pull a load.

(7) The force required to pull a load; in rail transport, the pulling force (tension) on couplers and draft gear during a slack stretched condition.

(8) The taking of supplies, forces, money etc, from a given source.

(9) A selection or drawing of persons, by lot or otherwise, from a subset of the population; levy; conscription or the persons so selected; in professional sport, the selecting or drawing of new players from a choice group of amateur players by professional teams, especially a system of selecting new players so that each team in a professional league receives some of the most promising players.

(10) In military use, a selection of persons already in military service to be sent from one post or organization to another; detachment.

(11) A written order drawn by one person upon another; a writing directing the payment of money on account of the drawer; bill of exchange; A drain or demand made on anything.

(12) As draft beer, a type drawn from a keg or barrel rather than glass or can.

(13) Something that is taken in by drinking or inhaling; a drink; dose.

(14) A quantity of fish caught; the catch or haul (archaic).

(15) In admiralty use, the depth to which a vessel is immersed when bearing a given load.

(16) In Metallurgy, the slight taper given to a pattern so that it may be drawn from the sand without injury to the mold; also called leave.

(17) In steel fabrication, the change in sectional area of a piece of work caused by a rolling or drawing operation.

(18) In stone masonry, a line or border chiseled at the edge of a stone, to serve as a guide in leveling the surfaces.

(19) In the production of textiles, the degree of attenuation produced in fibers during yarn processing, expressed either by the ratio of the weight of raw to the weight of processed fiber, or by the ratio between the varying surface speeds of the rollers on the carding machine.

(20) An allowance granted to a buyer for waste of goods sold by weight.

(21) Ad drafting, in cycling & motorsport, to drive or ride close behind another car so as to benefit from the reduction in air pressure created behind the car or bike ahead; also called slipstreaming.

(22) In hydrology, the divergent duct leading from a water turbine to its tailrace.

(23) To separate a group of livestock from the rest of the herd (Australia & NZ).

(24) In apothecarial use, a measured portion of a liquid or aerosol medication; a dose.

(25)In politics, a system of forcing or convincing (at least nominally unwilling) people to take an elected position.

(26) A checker: a game piece used in the game of draughts.

(27) In medicine, a mild vesicatory (UK, obsolete).

(28) An outhouse: an outbuilding used as a lavatory (obsolete).

(29) In pre-modern military use, a sudden attack upon an enemy (obsolete).

Circa 1500: A spelling variant of the Middle English draught, from Old English dræht, related to dragan (to draw, drag), from Proto-Germanic drahtuz, noun form of draganą.  Root in English is draw, from the Middle English drawen, draȝen, dragen, from Old English dragan (to draw, drag, pull”), from Proto-Germanic draganą, from the primitive dreǵ (to draw, pull).  It was cognate with the West Frisian drage, the Dutch dragen, the German tragen (to carry), the Danish drage, the Albanian dredh (to turn, spin), the Old Armenian դառնամ (daṙnam) (to turn) and the Sanskrit ध्रजस् (dhrájas) (gliding course or motion).  Draught is a variant spelling of draft and is normally pronounced the same way (draft or drahft or with a vowel somewhere between “a” and “ah”). The pronunciation drawt is sometimes heard for draught, perhaps because “aught” is frequently pronounced awt elsewhere, as in caught and taught.

Caught in the draft:  A Lindsay Lohan wardrobe malfunction, MTV Movie Awards, 2008.

The emergence of draft circa 1500 reflected a change in pronunciation although both it and draught are now pronounced the same.  The meanings "rough copy of a writing" and “something drawn" is attested from the fourteenth century; that of "preliminary sketch from which a final copy is made" is from the 1520s; that of "flow of a current of air" was first noted circa 1770.  The descriptor of a type of beer is from the 1830s, in reference to the method of "drawing" it from the cask.  As applied to a bank draft, later extended to bills of exchange, meaning emerged in 1745. The meaning "a drawing off a group for special duty" is from 1703 and applies especially to military service; the verb in this sense first recorded 1714.  Related forms are the adjectives draftable, undraftable, undrafted & antidraft, the nouns drafter & redraft (also a verb) and the verb redraft.

Except in the US and places which have adopted US English, draft and draught seem now to be alternative spellings and while the old distinctions of use remain technically correct, modern practice appears to be to use them interchangeably.  Draft almost universal in American English and draught persists elsewhere for purposes where the historical association is most strong (draught horse, draught beer etc).  Draftee (person conscripted for military purposes) dates from 1864 in US English, the adjectival homophone drafty (exposed to drafts of air) is from the 1580s, draftiness a few years later.  Updraft (US) and updraught (rising air current) is from 1909, one of a rush of words created or adapted from others to serve the new field of aviation.  Draftsman (one who draws or prepares plans, sketches, or designs) is from the 1660s, a variant of the earlier draughtsman.  In finance, overdraft (action of overdrawing an account) dates from 1841 and by 1891 the meaning had extended to "amount by which a draft exceeds the sum against which it is drawn".  Unrelated was the use by 1884 of overdraft to describe “a draft of air passing over, but not through, the ignited fuel”, a use applied to ovens & furnaces.

Draught (act of pulling or drawing; quantity of liquid that one drinks at a time), the source of all this dates from circa 1200, from the Old English dreaht & dræht and related to dragan (to draw, drag).  The oldest recorded sense besides that of "pulling" is of "drinking", one suggestion being the idea of "so much as is drawn down the throat at once", a similar relationship drag has to the act of inhaling from a cigarette.  Draught is attested from circa 1300 as having some connection with "that which is drawn or written" although it seems clear the original meaning referred to writing in general, not “first draft” as is now understood.  In the UK, more than anywhere else, draught retains the functions (horses, beer etc) that did not branch off with draft.

Catching the draft, the Mercedes-Benz of Valtteri Bottas & Lewis Hamilton, Italian Grand Prix qualifying, Monza, September 2020.

In motorsport, drafting (also called slipstreaming) is a driving technique which exploits being in the slipstream of the vehicle to reduce the drag suffered by one’s own vehicle.  As a general principle, the higher the speeds involved, the lower the average energy expenditure required to maintain a certain speed.  Because it can have the effect also of reducing the turbulence between the vehicles, it can also offer a slight advantage to the lead vehicle.  The advantage gained in reducing the energy expenditure manifests as reduced fuel consumption which can be a strategic advantage but the most dramatic effect of “catching the draft” is the so-called “slingshot effect” whereby a vehicle coming out of the slipstream can use the conserved power to pass the vehicle it’s been deliberately following.

Six-Pack: Three drafters and three draftees drafting, Daytona 500, Daytona Beach, Florida, 2011.

The technique began to be well-understood in the 1960s but wasn’t without risk.  A vehicle of one shape could produce a different slipstream than another and at high-speed, slight differences can have a pronounced effect, the results for the trailing car unpredictable.  Additionally, sitting in the draft, enjoying the lower wind-resistance, although it allowed a higher speed to be attained, also meant a reduction in down-force and consequent instability.  The advantages and dangers are best illustrated on the faster oval speedways used by NASCAR.  On the straights, two or more vehicles will race faster when aligned front-to-rear than a single car, the low-pressure wake behind the leading car reducing the aerodynamic resistance on the front of the trailing car allowing the second car to pull closer.  As the second car nears the first it pushes high-pressure air forward so less fast-moving air hits the lead car's spoiler.  The result is less drag for both cars, allowing faster speeds.  On curves however, the load on one side of the car is higher, this accentuated by changes caused by the draft: the leading car has normal front downforce but less rear downforce.  The trailing car has less front downforce but normal rear downforce.  In a group of three or more, the vehicles with drafting partners both ahead and behind will lose downforce front and rear.

Firecracker 400, Daytona Beach, Florida, 1974.

In NASCAR’s 1974 Firecracker 400, the lead changed forty-five times, a record which would stand until 2010 and it’s remembered also for one of the sport’s most audacious uses of drafting.  As he was about to start the final lap, David Pearson (1973 Mercury #21) feigned engine troubles by slowing and dropping low on the track, forcing the slipstreaming Richard Petty (1974 Dodge #43) to swerve into the lead.  Person then was able to sit in Petty’s slipstream, drafting past on the final corner to win the race.  Petty’s reaction, recorded in the press box after the race, was so memorable it was transcribed and published in next morning’s Orlando Sentinel.