Adultery

Adultery (pronounced uh-duhl-tuh-ree)

(1) Voluntary sexual intimacy between a married person and someone with whom they do not enjoy the benefit of lawful marriage.

(2) Used loosely, based on biblical traditions, lewdness or unchastity of thought as well as act; sinful sexual behavior as a category (priests have long lists of what's deemed sinful).

(3) In historical biblical use, faithlessness in religion (obsolete). 

(4) In English common law, the fine and penalty formerly imposed for the offence of adultery (obsolete).

(5) In historic ecclesiastical jargon, the intrusion of a person into a bishopric during the life of the bishop.

(6) In political economy, adulteration; corruption.

(7) Injury; degradation; ruin (obsolete). 

1325-1375: From the Middle English adulterie, from the Classical Latin adulterium (voluntary violation of the marriage bed).  Adulterie replaced an earlier Middle English form advouterie, drawn from the Old French avoutrie.  So, construct was: adulterie, altered (as if directly from Latin adulterium) from avoutrie, via Old French from Latin adulterium, from adulter, back formation from adulterāre.  Modern spelling, with the re-inserted -d, is from early fifteenth century.  Interestingly, in Middle English, word also applied even to "sex between husband and wife for recreational purposes”, sex for other than procreation being regarded by the church as idolatry, perversion and heresy.  The church variously classified the sin as single adultery (with an unmarried person) and double adultery (with a married person).  In Old English the word was æwbryce (breach of lawful marriage), drawn from the German Ehebruch.  The old English synonym advowtry is long obsolete.  Adultery, adulterousness, adulterant, adulterer & adulteress are nouns, adulter is a noun & verb, adulterize is a verb, adulterate is a verb & adjective, adulterous is an adjective and adulterously is an adverb; the most common noun plural is adulterers (the pleasing feminine form adulteresses seems to have been sacrificed in the quest for gender-neutrality).

In the US, Adultery Dune in Arizona corresponds to the Navajo sei adilehe (adultery sand), the place where, prior to European settlement, illicit lovers met.  It’s apparently something between Hampstead Heath and Death Valley as depicted in Michelangelo Antonioni’s (1912-2007) Zabriskie Point (1970).  Everyone should see Zabriskie Point before they die.

As one might imagine, the tradition of adultery goes way back and so does the condemnation by clerics and others; it is of course proscribed by one of the Ten Commandments (coming in usually at 6 or 7 in most translations) in the Christian Bible's Old Testament and the ever zealous Leviticus (at 20:10) spelled out the consequences: If there is a man who commits adultery with another man's wife, one who commits adultery with his friend's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.  In the hierarchy of sin, that the injunction again adultery appears usually at (6) or (7) in the Ten Commandments has by some been used to suggest it may not be thought by God to be as serious a matter as blasphemy (3) but worse than coveting thy neighbor’s ass.  That’s probably theologically dubious and the order of listing is thought thematic rather than a ranking of relative sinfulness.  The first four commandments focus on the “vertical” relationship between man and God while the later six deal with the “horizontal” relationships between people.  Still, while unlikely much to impress the uncompromising Leviticus, some have tried to gloss over the sinfulness, occasionally on the basis of “the end justifying the means”.  In De vita Caesarum (circa 121) (literally “On the Life of the Caesars” but better known in English as The Lives of the Twelve Caesars (twelve (substantially anecdotal) biographies of Julius Caesar (100-44 BC; Roman general and dictator of Rome 49-44 BC) and the first eleven emperors of the Roman Empire during the Principate)), Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (circa 70-circa 123) wrote of August Caesar (63 BC-14 AD): “That he was guilty of several acts of adultery is not denied, even by his friends; but they allege excuse for in, that he engaged in these intrigues, not from lewdness, but from policy, in order to discover more easily the designs of his enemies, through their wives.”

Double Adultery: adulterousness Cheryl Kernot (left) & adulterer Gareth Evans (right).

Although adultery can be a difficult, complicated business, to avoid things ending badly, there are really two options.  One is not to commit adultery because, in the words of  English author, Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-1861), "advantage rarely comes of it."  Option two is not to get caught but there is a long list of politicians who made the greatest mistake of all: getting caught.  Although adultery seemed once almost obligatory (and once also tolerated) for French politicians great and humble, in the English-speaking world, it's always a scandal.  Of late, we’ve had the helpfully named Anthony Weiner (b 1964), Bill Clinton (b 1946; US president 1993-2001) who had only himself to blame and Sir John Major (b 1943; UK prime-minister 1990-1997) who really must be admired; an affair with Edwina Currie (b 1946) hardly being safe-sex.  Jim Cairns (1914–2003) perjured himself while lying about his affair and John Profumo (1915–2006) committed adultery with Christine Keeler (1942–2017) while she was enjoying another adulterous affair with a Russian spy.  While leader of the opposition, Ben Chifley (1885–1951; prime minister of Australia 1945 to 1949) told the prime-minister he was going home to read a detective story, dying that night in the company of his mistress; men wept at the news of his death.  John Kennedy's (JFK, 1917–1963; US president 1961-1963) adultery was (within the beltway), famous even at the time and David Lloyd George (1863–1945; UK prime-minister 1916-1922) blatantly took his mistress to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919; one author claimed even the long-assumed faithful Winston Churchill (1875-1965; UK prime-minister 1940-1945 & 1951-1955) may have strayed.  Doing his bit, Gareth Evans (b 1944; Australian Labor Party (ALP) senator or MP 1978-1999, sometime attorney-general & foreign minister) had an affair with then Democrats leader Cheryl Kernot (b 1948) who subsequently rated on them and joined the ALP although whether that was because or in spite of Gareth’s adulterous caresses has never been clear.  Unfortunately, when Ms Kernot published her memoir Speaking for Myself Again (2002), she neglected to discuss her adulterous affair which prompted one journalist to reveal what had until then been only “insider knowledge”.  Whether or not that lack of disclosure contributed to be book being reputedly the least successful Australian political memoir isn’t certain but it was out-sold even by Peter Howson’s (1919–2009) The Howson diaries: the life of politics that, while packed with fascinating details to delight the insiders, also lacked the juicy bits which might have interested a wider audience.

End of the line for Sir Billy Snedden.

Most illustrious are those said to have died on the job, expiring usually in hotel rooms following heart-attacks or strokes.  The list includes the 70 year old Nelson Rockefeller (1908-1979; US vice-president 1974-1977) who was with a 25 year old aide and the 76 year old Albert Speer (1905–1981; Nazi court architect 1934-1942; Nazi minister of armaments and war production 1942-1945) who was in the company of an admirer of 37.  Lord Palmerston (1784-1865; variously UK prime-minister or foreign secretary on several occasions 1830-1865) is rumoured to have died on a billiard table with a housemaid and Pope John XII (circa 933–964; pope 955-964) is said to have died in circumstances not dissimilar.  Famously, Sir Billy Snedden (1926–1987), at 61, breathed his last in a Travelodge at Sydney's Rushcutter’s Bay with a somewhat younger woman who was his son’s ex-girlfriend, an event recorded by what was perhaps the Melbourne Truth's most memorable front page.  Remarkably, despite decades of speculation, her identity has never publicly been confirmed.

Escorting then-wife Natalie (b 1969, left) and noticing mistress Vicki Campion (b 1985, right). Former National Party (the old Country Party) leader Barnaby Joyce (b 1967; thrice (between local difficulties) deputy prime minister of Australia 2016-2022).

Mr Joyce joined a long line of adulterous politicians who made the greatest mistake of all: getting caught.  He's pictured here escorting (then) wife to the parliament's mid-winter ball in June 2017 (left) and casting his mistress an admiring glance (right).  The whip he carried was thought a photo-opportunity prop, verisimilitude for his “rural & regional shtick” rather than an indication of any other proclivities but who knows?  In a sense, Mr Joyce was a victim because when rugby union (and other codes) player Israel Folau (b 1989) in 2019 posted on social media a list of those God condemns to Hell which included “drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolaters”, while there was strident support for the gay community, despite the mention of “adulterers” and “drunks” being obviously a blatant an attack on Mr Joyce's character, not a whisper was heard in his defence.  Still, at the time she became his mistress, Ms Campion was unmarried, Mr Joyce thus guilty only of  “single adultery” so there's that.   

Elan

Elan (pronounced ay-lahn (U) or e-lan (non-U))

(1) Dash; impetuous ardor; a combination of style and vigour.

(2) In astronomy, as ELAN, the acronym of Enormous Lyman-Alpha Nebula (large gas cloud (nebula) larger than galaxies, found in intergalactic space).

1875–1880: From the Modern French élan, from the Middle French eslan (a dash, rush), noun derivative of éslancer to (dart).  Élan was thus a deverbal of élancer, the construct being é- (from the Old French es-, from Latin ex- & ē- (the prefix indicating away, moving away from) +‎ lan(cer) (from Old French lancier, from the Late Latin lanceāre, present active infinitive of lanceō, from the Latin lancea.  It was related to the Catalan llançar, the Italian lanciare, the Occitan and Portuguese lançar and the Spanish lanzar.  The sense is best understood by comparison with the French élancer (to throw forth) from the Classical Latin lancea (lance), the Roman auxiliaries' short javelin; a light spear or lance.  Ultimate root is thought to be Celtic/Celtiberian, possibly from the primitive Indo-European plehzk- (to hit) and connected also to the Ancient λόγχη (lónkhē).  Elan is a noun. 

Lindsay Lohan in hijab and halal make-up at the inaugural London Modest Fashion Week (LMFW), staged by London-based fashion house Haute Elan, February 2018.

Haute Elan is an interesting example of the novel corporate structures made possible by the distributed connectivity of the internet, acting as an umbrella organization for designers and distributers (output) and a kind of clearing house, offering a conduit for access and enquiries by media and customers (input).  For designers, the attraction is the association with a platform which can reduce the cost of promotional activities while allowing a brand to be built.  Pragmatically, it also limits the the consequences of failure.

The companion word is the noun éclat (brilliant display or effect), also used by Lotus as a model name (Types 76 & 84; 1975-1982).  For elan, there’s really no exact single-word synonym in English, the closest including animation, ardor, dash, flair, impetus, life, oomph, panache, spirit, style, verve, vigor, vim, zest, zing, brio, esprit & impetuosity.  The usual spelling in English is elan and it’s often used with a modifier (eg “a certain elan”); the alternative spelling is the French élan.  The alternative spelling is the French élite and use of the French pronunciation the "U" ay-lahn rather than the "non-U" e-lan is one of the "class identifiers" on which readers of publications like Country Life focus when meeting folk.  To avoid the condemnation of pedants, the French spelling élan is recommended

The Lotus Elan

1962 Lotus Elan S1 DHC.

Lotus introduced the Elan in 1962, production continuing in four series until 1973, a companion four-seat (though really a 2+2) version made for a further two years.  Unlike the its predecessor, the exquisite Elite, the Elan would be offered as a convertible, the range adopting the English nomenclature of the time, the roadster a drop-head coupé (DHC, Type 26 (later 45)) and the closed version, introduced in 1966, a fixed-head coupé (FHC, Type 36).  

Lotus Elan chassis.

Abandoning the expensive and troublesome monocoque shell of the Elite, the Elan used a steel backbone chassis, the body this time a multi-piece affair, made again from fibreglass but using techniques which made it cheaper to manufacturer while maintaining quality; Lotus would use this method of construction for almost three decades.  Just as important was that for the first time, there would be imposed some rigor in standardization and production-line rationalization.  Profits flowed.  The Elan's pair of Rotoflex "doughnut" couplings are here visible on each side of the differential.

Overcoming the fragility of the Elite did come a cost and that was weight, the 1,500 lb (680 kg) Elan heavier by about 385 lb (175 kg) but by any other standard, the new car was still lithe and to compensate, there was more power.  One prototype Elite had been built the new 1.5 litre "Lotus Twin Cam" engine, based on the mundane but lively and tough Ford Kent four-cylinder unit (the "Kent"), transformed by the addition of an in-house designed, aluminum double overhead camshaft (DOHC) head and this was adopted as the Elan’s power-plant.  In the Lotus community, some regard the two-dozen odd 1.5 litre cars built as something like prototypes, all subsequent Elans built with 1.6 litre engines although the specifications and power outputs would vary according to improvements made and detuning demanded by emission control laws in some markets.   Like the Kent itself, the DOHC would enjoy a long life in both Ford and Lotus vehicles.   

Mrs Emma Peel (Diana Rigg (1938–2020)) in The Avengers (1965–1968) with her 1966 Lotus Elan S3 DHC (previously she had driven a white S2).

With the release of S3 (series 3) in June 1966, fixed side-window frames were fitted to the doors, the only way electric windows could be made to work without a major exercise in re-engineering the structure.  Along with refinements such as full-width, teak veneer dashboard, the luxury of power-windows was an indication Lotus was seeking to extend the Elan's appeal, especially in the lucrative US market and among the Elan cognoscenti, the S3 are regarded as the finest of the breed, collectors drawn especially to the two dozen-odd trimmed in red (all other Elans with black interiors).  One of reasons for the fondness for the S3 is it was the last generation built before it became necessary to conform with the phalanx of regulations (many of which were both a good idea and overdue) imposed by the US DOT (Department of Transportation, established by an act of Congress on 15 October 1966 and beginning operation on 1 April 1967).  To comply with the rules, in 1968 the S4 would be released with changes including flush fitted instruments, rocker switches replacing the toggles, collapsible steering columns and inward facing wheel spinners, these features also on the specification sheet for a run of some 450 S3 SS (Super Safety) cars, an interim release (a la the 1.25 & 1.5 Jaguar E-Types) although in the company's habitually haphazard way, not all of the SS cars included all these changes.

1968 Lotus Elan S3 FHC.

Dynamically, the Elan was from the start acclaimed, even compared to more expensive machines, the performance, handling and economy were the best compromise of the era, the steering especially praised; indeed, that’s one aspect of the Elan which has rarely been matched.  The more professional approach to cost-control and production line efficiencies brought benefits beyond the quality of the cars, Lotus for the first time a genuinely profitable operation, the revenue generating funds not only new models but also the Formula One program of the 1960s which would be the company’s golden era, yielding multiple driver’s and constructor’s championships.  The corollary of being a successful road car however meant it had to be built to appeal to a wider market than the highly strung Elite which had been more at home on the track than the street.  Accordingly, Lotus never envisaged a racing career for the new car, its suspension tuned softly enough to cope with the bumps and undulations of the real world better than the dainty Elite which was at its best exploring its limits on the billiard table-like surface of a racetrack.

1965 Lotus Type 26R.

However, although the factory had envisaged the Elan purely as a road car, owners quickly were convinced of its potential and around the world, in both standard and unmodified form, the Elan was soon a popular race-car so the factory began to receive requests for parts suitable for competition.  The customer being always right, Lotus responded, factory support soon forthcoming, culminating as early as 1964 in a racing version, the type 26R which featured lighter components, a strengthened drive-train, stiffer suspension, better brakes and more horsepower from a engine tuned and built by BRM (British Racing Motors, the team which had won the 1962 Formula One world championship).

1971 Lotus Elite Sprint DHC.

For the road cars, upgrades were frequent, a detachable hardtop soon offered and luxuries inconceivable in the Elite, such as lush carpeting, walnut trim and electric windows appeared at intervals.  Power increases over the years appear modest, the early versions rated at 105 bhp (78 kW) and the most potent at 126 bhp (94 kW) and there were variations as laws changed but the general trend was upwards.

1975 Lotus Elan +2S 130/5.

The Elan had been very much in the cottage-industry Lotus tradition, offered even in kit form for owners to assemble themselves, a practice which lasted until 1973 when changes to the UK’s value added tax (VAT, the UK’s consumption tax) rendered the practice unviable.  Very different and a harbinger of the "big" Lotus of the 1970s was the Elan +2 (Type 50), introduced in 1967.  Available only as a FHC, although visually inspired by the Elan, the +2 was wider, built on a longer wheelbase and included two rear seats, although the legroom meant they were suitable only for young children.  That however was the target market: the young men (and increasingly, even then, women), for whom a newly arrived family would otherwise have compelled a purchase from another manufacturer after outgrowing their Elan.  Never a big seller, it filled the same niche as Jaguar’s 2+2 E-Type and was popular enough to remain on sale for two years after Elan production ended in 1973, the last versions the most desirable, fitted with the five-speed gearbox included on a handful of the final Elan Sprints.

Well made imitation, the 1989 Mazda Maita (MX-5).

The Elan name was revived for a run of sports cars produced between 1989-1995 which were said to be very good but, being FWD (front-wheel drive) with all that implies, didn’t capture the imagination in the same way.  The Elan was also the template for Mazda’s very successful MX-5 (labelled in some markets variously as the Roadster or Miata), one of the more blatant pieces of far-east plagiarism, Mazda’s design centre known to have obtained at least two original Elans to study.  A typical Japanese product, the 1989 MX-5 corrected almost all the Elan’s faults and is probably as close to perfect as any car ever made.

Eschatology

Eschatology (pronounced es-kuh-tol-uh-jee)

(1) Any system of doctrines concerning last, or final, matters, as death, final judgments or the future state.

(2) The branch of theology dealing with such matters.

(3) Of or pertaining to the end of times, notably in Jewish, Christian and Islamic theology and in Christianity, associated particularly with the second coming of Christ, the Apocalypse or the Last Judgment.

1844: From the Greek ἔσχατον (éskhaton), neuter of ἔσχατος (éskhatos) (last, furthest, uttermost, extreme, most remote), the construct being was éschato(s) + logy.  Origins were in academic theology, the study of the four last things: death, judgment, heaven & hell.  Eschatology, eschatologism & eschatologist are nouns, eschatological & eschatologic are adjectives and eschatologically is an adverb; the noun plural is  eschatologies.

Most interesting aspect of the etymology is the -logy suffix.  Although use has extended, -logy originates with loanwords from the Greek, usually via Latin and French, where the suffix - λόγος (lógos) is an integral part of the word loaned, a sixteenth century English example being astrology, from astrologia.  The French -logie was a continuation of the Latin -logia, also ultimately from the Greek -λογία (-logía).  Within Greek, the suffix is an abstract from Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos) (account, explanation, narrative), itself a verbal noun from λέγω (légō) (I say, speak, converse, tell a story).  In English, the suffix quickly became productive, applied particularly to the sciences, often analogous to names of disciplines borrowed from the Latin, such as the earlier mentioned astrology and geology from geologia.  By the later eighteenth century, it became applied to compositions of terms with no precedent in Greek or Latin, sometimes imitating French or German templates such as insectology (1766) after the French insectologie or terminology (1801) from the German terminologie.  Linguistic promiscuity soon followed with the rapid application to words long wholly absorbed into English; undergroundology was noted in 1820 and hatology in 1837.  The form -ology is also used when including the connecting vowel -o- that is frequently used in connecting two elements of Greek origin.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are written of in the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament which tells of God summoning four beings who ride out on white, red, black, and pale horses. The four riders are usually described as symbolizing Pestilence (black), War (red), Famine (black) and Death (pale) and in Christian eschatology are sent by God to deliver upon the earth a divine apocalypse as harbingers of the Last Judgment.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (circa 1496), woodcut by Albrecht Durer (1471–1528).

Jewish and Christian eschatology differ but whatever the theological divergence, there are structural similarities in the visions of the Old and New Testaments.  In Ezekiel 1:5-14, God summons another quadrumvirate:

5: And from the midst of it there came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: They had the likeness of a man.

6: And every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings.

7: And their feet were straight feet, and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot; and they sparkled like the sight of burnished bronze.

8: And the hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides. And the four of them had their faces and their wings thus:

9: Their wings were joined one to another; they did not turn as they went; each went straight forward.

10: As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man; and the four of them had the face of a lion on the right side, and the four of them had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four of them had the face of an eagle.

11: And thus their faces were. And their wings were spread out upward; two wings of each were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.

12: And each went straight forward; wherever the Spirit was to go, they went; they did not turn as they went.

13: As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches; the fire went to and fro among the living creatures, and the fire was bright; and out of the fire went forth lightning.

14: And the living creatures ran to and fro like the appearance of a lightning bolt.

Amateur painter George W Bush (George XLIII, b 1946; US president 2001-2009) putting the finishing touches to his take on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.  Mr Bush wasn’t noted for his subtle irony so he probably was thinking only of the Book of Revelation when he depicted Pestilence, War, Famine & Death although for many the sight of the painting might summon memories of (1) the former president, (2) Dick Cheney (born 1941; US vice president 2001-2009), (3) Condoleezza Rice (b 1954; US secretary of state 2005-2009) and (4) Donald Rumsfeld (1932–2021: US defense secretary 1975-1977 & 2001-2006).  The art and theology departments in some (liberal) university should include an exam question inviting students to explain which horse each neocon best represented, points to be deducted for anyone who took the easy option and called Dr Rice “Pestilence”.

Skirt

Skirt (pronounced skurt)

(1) The part of a gown, dress, slip, or coat that extends downward from the waist.

(2) A one-piece garment extending downward from the waist and not joined between the legs, worn especially by women and girls.

(3) Some part resembling or suggesting the skirt of a garment, as the flared lip of a bell or a protective and ornamental cloth strip covering the legs of furniture.

(4) In saddlery, in a small leather flap on each side of a saddle, covering the metal bar from which the stirrup hangs.

(5) In the building trades, a baseboard or apron.

(6) In furniture design, a flat horizontal brace set immediately beneath the seat of a chair, chest of drawers, or the like, to strengthen the legs; also called a bed or frieze (a flat brace or support immediately beneath a tabletop).

(7) The bordering, marginal, or outlying part of a place, group etc; the outskirts; to lie along the border of somewhere.

(8) In slang, an older (and usually disparaging or offensive) term used to refer to a woman or girl.

(9) In rocketry, an outer part of a rocket or missile that provides structural support or houses such systems as avionics or gyroscopes.

(10) To avoid, go around the edge of, or keep distant from (something that is controversial, risky etc).

(11) In the wool industry, to remove low-grade wool and foreign matter from the outer edge of fleece.

(12) In the design of internal combustion engines, the lower part of the block which extends to (or below) the centre of the crankshaft line.

(13) In the design of suction or elevating devices, a flexible edging providing a partial seal at the base where the air flow occurs.

(14) In butchery, a cut of beef from the flank.

1250–1300: From the Middle English skyrte & skirte (lower part of a woman’s dress) from the Old Norse skyrta (shirt; a kind of kirtle) from the Proto-Germanic skurtijǭ (skirt).  The sense development from "shirt" to "skirt" is thought most likely related to the long shirts of peasant garb (the Low German cognate Schört, in some dialects translates as "woman's gown").  The meaning "border, edge" (in outskirts, etc) was first recorded in the late fifteenth century and the metonymic use for "women collectively" emerged as early as the 1550s although there’s no evidence the slang sense of "young woman" existed prior to 1906 with “skirt-chaser” (a womaniser) first attested 1942.  The mini-skirt dates from 1965, reputedly the invention of French designer André Courrèges (1923-2016).

Annotated schematic of Ford Y-block V8 (left) and a 430 cubic inch (7.0 litre) MEL V8 during the restoration of a 1958 Lincoln Premiere Coupe in Autumn Rose & White (right).  The MEL V8 was also in the "Y-block" shape but is never referred to as such because the identifier MEL (Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln) is used.  Thus the 239-256-272-292 & 312 Ford V8 and 279-302-317-332-341 & 368 Lincoln V8 families are the Y-blocks while the MEL (383-410-430 & 462) MEL V8 is a Y-block type design.

The Ford & Lincoln “Y-block” V8 engines gained their nickname from the deep skirting of the block which extended below the crankshaft line, making for an unusually robust bottom end, something which would prove of some significance long after the unit had in the US been supplanted by more modern designs.  In many ways the Y-blocks were a curious cul-de-sac in the evolutionary path of the US V8 engine, having an unusual port design which rendered development by conventional means impossible (hence the brief resort to supercharging) and the dimensions limited the potential for increased displacement.  It was noted also for the unique arrangement of the solid valve lifters which had to be installed from below and a firing order which produced a distinctive and pleasing burble from the exhaust.  Compared with Ford’s earlier and later V8s, both the Y-Blocks were short-lived, the Lincoln (some of which were actually used in Ford trucks) used between 1952-1963 while the Ford lasted from 1954 until 1964, their replacements both adopting a more conventional design approach.  However, the Ford lived on in Romania until 1975 where it was produced under licence as a truck engine (the durability of the tough, deep-skirted block an asset in a market where conditions were tough and the quality of oil and fuel sometimes suspect) and in Argentina until 1988, the South Americans improving things greatly with their re-designed heads which used conventional porting.

The Pencil Skirt

Lindsay Lohan in racerback floral crop top and matching high-waisted pencil skirt with cobalt blue suede heels; Suno Spring Collection, 2013.

A pencil skirt is a slim-fitting garment with a severe, narrow cut.  The classic design was approximately knee-length but modern, more flexible fabrics have made possible calf-length styles.  It borrows its name from the writing instrument because, tailored for a close fit, it is pencil-like: long and slender.  Flexible in use, it’s the quintessential mix-and-match item, able to be worn either as a separate piece or as part of an ensemble.  A vent is usually placed in the back (or increasingly at the sides, especially in longer styles) because the slim shape would otherwise impede movement although a more modest kick pleat can instead be used.  Modern stretchy fabrics have made practical functional pencil skirts without either vents or pleats but they seem still popular for aesthetic reasons.  Historically, the industry paired pencil skirts with stilettos or court shoes but they’re now worn in just about any combination, boots proving increasingly popular.  French designer Christian Dior (1905–1957) included a classic pencil skirt in his 1954 Autumn-Winter collection although the style had long been worn.  Economical in the use of fabric compared with more voluminous cuts, its popularity had been boosted by war-time rationing and post-war austerity.

The pencil skirt’s precursor was the hobble skirt, an Edwardian-era fad inspired by the Ballets Russes, a Paris-based ballet company which, between 1908-1929, performed in the Americas and Europe (though paradoxically never in Russia because of the political convulsions).  Highly influential, Ballets Russes brought modernism to ballet with works commissioned from Stravinsky, Debussy, Prokofiev, Satie and Ravel, and their artistic collaborators included Kandinsky, Benois, Picasso and Matisse.  Coco Chanel (1883–1971) was one of their costume designers but it’s not known if she penned the hobble skirt.

Montage

Montage (pronounced mon-tahzh (mawn-tazh in French))

(1) The technique of combining in a single composition, pictorial elements from various sources, as parts of different photographs or fragments of printing, either to give the illusion that the elements belonged together originally or to allow each element to retain its separate identity as a means of adding interest or meaning to the composition; the composition itself.

(2) By analogy, the creation of a thing or concept by combining a number of related elements; any combination of disparate elements that forms or is felt to form a unified whole.

(3) In photography, as photomontage, a juxtaposition or partial superimposition of several shots to form a single image.

(4) In film & television etc, a technique of editing used to present an idea or set of interconnected ideas.

1929: A borrowing from the French montage (assembly, set-up), the construct being mont(er) (to mount; to put up) + -age.  Monter was from the Vulgar Latin montāre, the present active infinitive of monto (to climb, mount, go up), from mōns & montem (mountain), from the primitive Indo-European men- (mountain).  The suffix -age was from the Middle English -age, from the Old French -age, from the Latin -āticum.  Cognates include the French -age, the Italian -aggio, the Portuguese -agem, the Spanish -aje & Romanian -aj.  It was used to form nouns (1) with the sense of collection or appurtenance, (2) indicating a process, action, or a result, (3) of a state or relationship, (4) indicating a place, (5) indicating a charge, toll, or fee, (6) indicating a rate & (7) of a unit of measure.  The French suffix -age was from the Middle & Old French -age, from the Latin -āticum, (greatly) extended from words like rivage and voyage.  It was used usually to form nouns with the sense of (1) "action or result of Xing" or (more rarely), "action related to X" or (2) "state of being (a or an) X".  A less common use was the formation of collective nouns.  Historically, there were many applications (family relationships, locations etc) but use has long tended to be restricted to the sense of "action of Xing".  Many older terms now have little to no connection with their most common modern uses, something particularly notable of those descended from actual Latin words (fromage, voyage etc).

A montage of Lindsay Lohan as Andy Warhol (1928–1987) might have rendered.  Ms Lohan was not yet 12 months old when Warhol died (the start of her modeling career still two years off) but had he lived another two decades he'd almost certainly have painted her.

Montage, although now most associated with photography, painting and other static installations, was originally a term in cinematography, first attested in 1929.  The use was extended in 1931 (as photomontage) to the use of photographs or photographic negatives to make art or illustrations.  The technique can, in many fields, be used to add a veneer of intellectual gloss to what is really an elaborated form of plagiarism.  More helpfully, photomontages have been a vital aspect of the techniques of producing large scale imagery and the first were literally assembled on large tables by technicians armed with scissors, magnifying glasses and adhesive tape, the most prolific of the early adopters being the military who used the small images taken during photo-reconnaissance (PR) missions.  As camera technology improved, definition increased and more detail was captured but this was counted somewhat by increased anti-surveillance measures which forced the PR missions to operate at higher altitude.  Interestingly, the Allied military in World War II (1939-1945) found women much more efficient in both analysing PR and assembling montages.

A montage of Lindsay Lohan as Andy Warhol (1928–1987) might have rendered.

The techniques honed in wartime proved valuable in peacetime for creating large-scale maps and renderings from sometimes even thousands of small fragments.  This was the way big areas on the surface of the earth were able to be visualized as if a single photograph and in the 1950s work began on the task of mapping the ocean floor, something of interest not only oceanographers & nautical geographers but also to navies, commercial shipping companies and miners, the oil & gas industry long aware that vast untapped resources lay under the waves.  The concept of mapping the seabed is simple in that all that is required is to have the images in the form of a grid which could then be assembled in a single montage (the world’s biggest).  However, while the scale in terms of the surface area proved manageable, obtaining the data at depths in which pressures are immense and darkness total proved as challenging as predicted and although the maps are in a sense complete, the deepest parts of the oceans remain to some extent mysterious.  The available montages (which scientists call bathymetric data sets) include the GEBCO (General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans which is an international project), Seabed 2030 (a collaborative project between GEBCO and the Japanese Nippon Foundation which plans to have a comprehensive map of the entire ocean floor by 2030), the EMODnet (European Marine Observation and Data Network which publishes highly detailed bathymetric maps for European waters) and the US NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration which offers maps of US waters and contributes to global programmes, their material available through the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

A montage of Lindsay Lohan as Andy Warhol (1928–1987) might have rendered.

The difference between collage and montage is that while a collage weaves together things of difference to create a unified whole, a montage uses complete things of some similarity to create something visually coherent although, with some modern artists, coherence can prove elusive, however cohesive a whole the glue might produce.  At the definitional margins however, the distinctions can be significant in the production but be undetectable in the result.  To create what appeared to be the montage of the seabed, what was done was technically a collage, the assembled components including photographs, renderings from ship-based sonar measurements and satellite altimetry as well as some enhancement in software.  However big might have been the ambition to create a unified montage of the ocean floor, cosmologists & astronomers thought bigger still and as space-based cameras and wandering craft became available, montages were assemble of objects such as the moon and the lovely rings of Saturn.  Aiming to produce the grandest montage of all is the European Space Agency which (ESA), using observations from their Euclid space mission (launched in July 2023) will explore dark matter and dark energy; over time billions of galaxies will be viewed.  What makes Euclid different from the Hubble Telescope and JWST (James Webb Space Telescope) is it can survey large parts of the sky at once, the agency describing the difference as between looking through a window compared with a keyhole.  In time, all the known objects in the universe might be photographed which will permit quite a montage but what really interests the cosmologists is the dark matter (which may actually be dark energy or a combination of the two) so it’s a quest for the known unknowns and unknown unknowns.

Pterodactyl

Pterodactyl (pronounced ter-uh-dak-til)

Any of a number of genera of flying reptiles of the extinct genus pterodactylus from the late Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, having membranous wings supported on an elongated fourth digit and a highly reduced tail and teeth with a bird-like beak.  The general term, now less used, is pterosaurs (pterosauria in the plural) (flying reptiles).

1826: From the early nineteenth century French ptérodactyle from the Modern Latin genus name pterodactylus, the construct being the Greek pteron (wing) + the Latinised form daktylos (finger).  Pteron’s root was the primitive Indo-European pet- (to rush, to fly).  The pteranodon, an extinct flying reptile of the Cretaceous period, has a name based on pterodactyl with the stem of Greek anodous (toothless), the construct being an- (not, without) + odon (genitive odontos) (tooth) from the primitive Indo-European root dent- (tooth).  Thought remarkable because of the size, the wings never less than twenty-five feet (7.6m), they differed greatly from the Pterodactyls of the old world, especially in the absence of teeth and were accordingly placed by in a new order, Pteranodontia, from the typical genus Pteranodon when Yale Professor of Paleontology and President of the National Academy of Sciences, Othniel Charles Marsh (1831–1899), published Principal Characters of American Pterodactyls (1876).

Depiction of Pterodactyl.

Dactyl is interesting, entering Middle English in the late 1300s from the Latin dactylus, derived from the Ancient Greek δάκτυλος (dáktulos or daktylos), used most often in the sense of “a finger-breadth” but meaning also "a fruit of the date tree” or “a date" and in literal translation "a finger" (and even "toe" though some etymologists insist this is a mistake); a word of unknown origin.  It lives on in the discipline of prosody, the study of poetic meter; the patterns of sounds and rhythms in verse where a dactyl describes the metrical foot of three syllables, one long followed by two short in quantitative meter, or one stressed followed by two unstressed in accentual meter.  Put simply, in English versification it means an accented syllable followed by two unaccented, the word adopted in this sense because a dactyl refers to the three joints of the finger, this corresponding to three syllables.  Globally, this aspect of prosody is practiced professionally by the handful of academics who care about such things and is something like poetry’s version of structuralism.

Task for Mr & Mrs Dactyl: Choosing name for daughter.

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia (pronounced on-uh-mat-uh-pee-uh)

(1) The formation of words or names by imitation of natural sounds; the naming of something by a reproduction of the sound made by it or a sound associated with its referent.

(2) A word so formed.

(3) The use of imitative and naturally suggestive words for rhetorical, dramatic, or poetic effect.

1570s: From the Late Latin onomatopoeia, from the Ancient Greek ὀνοματοποιία (onomatopoeia) (the making of a name or word in imitation of a sound associated with the thing being named), from ὀνοματοποιέω (onomatopoiéō), from ὄνομα (ónoma) (genitive onomatos) (word, name) from the primitive Indo-European root no-men- (name) + a derivative of ποιέω (poiéō & poiein) (to make, to do, to produce; compose”), related to the Modern English poet.  Two of the adjectival forms, onomatopoeial (1670s) & onomatopoeous (1660s) are considered obsolete except in linguistic scholarship; only onomatopoetic (1825-1835) has survived in general use.

The adjective onomatopoeic (pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of onomatopoeia) was variously from the French onomatopoéique or else a construct of the noun onomatopoeia + -ic.  The suffix -ic is from the Middle English -ik, from the Old French -ique, from the Latin -icus, from the primitive Indo-European -kos & -ḱos, formed with the i-stem suffix -i- and the adjectival suffix -kos & -ḱos.  The form existed also in Ancient Greek as -ικός (-ikós), in Sanskrit as -इक (-ika) and the Old Church Slavonic as -ъкъ (-ŭkŭ); A doublet of -y.  In European languages, adding -kos to noun stems carried the meaning "characteristic of, like, typical, pertaining to" while on adjectival stems it acted emphatically.  In English it's always been used to form adjectives from nouns with the meaning “of or pertaining to”.  A precise technical use exists in physical chemistry where it's used to denote certain chemical compounds in which a specified chemical element has a higher oxidation number than in the equivalent compound whose name ends in the suffix -ous; (eg sulphuric acid (H₂SO₄) has more oxygen atoms per molecule than sulphurous acid (H₂SO₃).

Examples

Words Related to Water: Often begin with sp- or dr. Words that indicate a small amount of liquid often end in -le (sprinkle/drizzle): Splash, squirt, drip, drizzle.

Words Related to the Voice: Sounds that come from the back of the throat tend to start with a gr- sound whereas sounds that come out of the mouth through the lips, tongue and teeth begin with mu-: Giggle, growl, grunt, gurgle, mumble, murmur, chatter.

Words Related to Collisions: Collisions can occur between any two or more objects. Sounds that begin with cl- usually indicate collisions between metal or glass objects, and words that end in -ng are sounds that resonate. Words that begin with th- usually describe dull sounds like soft but heavy things hitting wood or earth: Bam, bang, clang, clank, clap, clatter, click, clink, ding, jingle, screech, slap, thud, thump.

Words Related to Air: Air doesn’t make a sound unless it blows through something so these words describe the sounds of air blowing through things or of things rushing through the air: Flutter, fist, fwoosh, gasp, swish, swoosh, whiff, whoosh, whizz, whip, whisper.

Animal Sounds: Literally imitative of the sounds made by animals: Arf, baa, bark, bray, buzz, cheep, chirp, chortle, cluck, cock-a-doodle-doo, cuckoo, hiss, meow, moo, neigh, oink, purr, quack, ribbit, tweet, warble.

Onomatopoeia by Todd Rundgren (b 1948), from The Hermit of Mink Hollow (1977).  It’s sometimes suggested the critics were “divided” on the merits of the song but the split appears to have been about 99:1 against.  Generally though, The Hermit of Mink Hollow seems to have been well-received.

Onomatopoeia by Todd Rundgren, © Warner Chappell Music, Inc

Onomatopoeia every time I see ya

My senses tell me hubba

And I just can't disagree

I get a feeling in my heart that I can't describe

It's sort of lub, dub, lub, dub

A sound in my head that I can't describe

It's sort of zoom, zip, hiccup, drip

Ding, dong, crunch, crack, bark, meow, whinnie, quack

Onomatopoeia in proximity ya

Rearrange my brain in a strange cacophony

I get a feeling somewhere that I can't describe

It's sort of uh, uh, uh, uh

A sound in my head that I can't describe

It's sort of whack, whir, wheeze, whine

Sputter, splat, squirt, scrape

Clink, clank, clunk, clatter

Crash, bang, beep, buzz

Ring, rip, roar, retch

Twang, toot, tinkle, thud

Pop, plop, plunk, pow

Snort, snuk, sniff, smack

Screech, splash, squish, squeek

Jingle, rattle, squeel, boing

Honk, hoot, hack, belch