Mugwump

Mugwump (pronounced muhg-wuhmp)

(1) A member or supporter of the Republican Party who declined to support the party's nominee James Blaine (1830–1893) during the 1884 US presidential election, (claiming he was corrupt) lending their support to the Democratic Party's candidate Grover Cleveland (1837–1908).

(2) A person who is unable to make up their mind on an issue, especially in politics (mostly US & Australia).

(3) Someone who remains neutral on a controversial issue; a person who purports to stay aloof from party politics (mostly US & Australia).  In a derogatory sense it’s used to suggest someone is a “fence sitter” or maintains an aloof and often self-important demeanor.

(4) One who switches from supporting one political party to another, especially for personal benefit (also used in this sense in Australia).

(5) Used informally (usually humorously), a (male) leader; an important (male) person (sometimes as “big mugwump”).

(6) A foolish person (a now rare Australian slang term which emerged apparently because it was conflated with “mug”).

1832: An Americanism and an artificial, nineteenth century revival of the Massachusett (English spelling) mugquomp & mummugquomp (war leader), a syncopated form of muggumquomp (war leader), the construct being the (unattested) Proto-Algonquian memekw- (assumed to mean “swift”) + -a·pe·w (man).  The alternative etymology was the Algonquian (Natick) mogki (great) + a·pe·w (thus something like “great chief).  It was folk etymology which re-interpreted the word, the re-purposed meaning referring to a person who sat on the fence, deconstructed as “their mug (face) on one side and wump (rump) on the other”.  This graphical description produced a slew of political cartoons in this vein during the 1884 US presidential election.  The original Americanism emerged in 1832 in the New England region and was a jocular word for “a great man, boss; very important person”.  By 1840 it was in satirical use as “one who thinks himself important” but faded from used before being revived for the 1884 presidential contest, originally as a term of abuse but the independents embraced it and from that it picked up the specific sense “one who holds themselves aloof from party politics."  Mugwump is a noun & verb, mugwumpery & mugwumpism are nouns, mugwumpian, mugwumping & mugwumped are verbs and mugwumpian, mugwumpesque & mugwumpish are adjectives; the noun plural is mugwumps.

Originally, the Mugwumps were those Republican Party members (or supporters) who claimed to be appalled by the corruption they said was associated with James Blaine (1830–1893), declining to support his candidacy in the 1884 US presidential election.  Unlike some of the dissident movements in US politics (the Tea Party, the Know Nothings, the Progressives etc) the Mugwumps never formed any sort of organizational structure or even self-identified as a faction.  They gained the name because they “switched sides”, supporting the Democratic Party’s Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) although in their public statements, some Mugwumps would say they were “still Republicans”, hence the association with “fence-sitting”, the term adapted for the purpose because they were sitting with “their mug (face) on one side and wump (rump) on the other”, a theme cartoonists and caricaturists took to with gusto.

Those who rat on political parties, shifting their allegiance to another risk a lifetime of suffering the enmity of their former colleagues, politics attracting haters like few other professions although Winston Churchill (1875-1965; UK prime-minister 1940-1945 & 1951-1955) who ratted twice reckoned the trick was to do it with style.  Fence sitters seem to attract less opprobrium but there’s often a sense of exasperation; at least with the rats one knows where one stands.  Sir John Simon (1873–1954; First Viscount Simon, cabinet minister on several occasions 1913-1945, Lord Chancellor 1940-1945) picked up the nickname “slippery Sam” for a reason (actually many) and David Lloyd George (1863–1945; UK prime-minister 1916-1922) said of him: ”He has sat on the fence so long the iron has entered into his soul.”  That probably wasn’t quite what Boris Johnson (b 1964; UK prime-minister 2019-2022) had in mind when, as Foreign Secretary, he dismissed Jeremy Corbyn (b 1949; leader of the UK Labour Party 2015-2020) as a “mutton-headed old mugwump”, although with Mr Johnson, one can never quite be sure.

MAGAwump's high priest, Mitt Romney, mugwumping (David Horsey in the Seattle Times, September 18 2023).  Note the carpetbag.

The Mugwumps have been compared with the “Anyone but Trump” movement which was an attempt by what used to be called “mainstream Republicans” to block Donald Trump’s (b 1946; US president 2017-2021) path to the party’s nomination (and from there the White House).  The movement formed but failed though it’s not far-fetched to imagine if might have gained for traction if it had used a catchy name like MAGAwumps and interestingly, in the “Guilded Age” era of the Mugwumps, their critique of the state their nation sounds little dissimilar to those heard over the last three decades.  Charles Eliot Norton (1827–1908; Harvard professor of art) in 1895 contemplated things and confessed “the greatest apprehension… about a miserable end for this century”, the United States afflicted by the “worst spirit in our democracy, … a barbaric spirit of arrogance an unreasonable self assertion.  I fear that American is beginning a long course of errors and wrong and is likely to become more and more a power for disturbance and barbarism.”  Other agreed, the anyway gloomy historian Henry Adams (1838–1918) at the same time reviewing the closing century concluded it was “rotten and bankrupt”, sunk in “vulgarity commonness, imbecility and moral atrophy”.  It all sounds so modern.

One noted for her mugwumpery is Lindsay Lohan.  In 2008 she made clear her support for Barack Obama (b 1961; US president 2009-2017) yet by 2012 was tweeting she was inclined to vote for Mitt Romney (b 1947; governor of Massachusetts 2003-2007, junior US senator (Republican-Utah) since 2019) on the basis that “employment is really important right now”.  That feeling apparently didn’t last and she reaffirmed her support for Obama, latching onto #ProudOfObama although she did once refer to him as the country's “first colored president”, a black mark against anyone who hasn’t updated their list of politically correct descriptors.  Later, her mugwumpian tendencies continued.  In 2017 she tweeted of Donald Trump: “THIS IS our president. Stop #bullying him & start trusting him” later praising the entire Trump family, calling them “kind people” although during the 2016 election she had endorsed crooked Hillary Clinton (b 1947; US secretary of state 2009-2013), tweeting “I couldn’t understand you more”.  However, like Mr Johnson, while one can always read what Lindsay Lohan has written, what she means can be elusive.  It’s thought she endorsed crooked Hillary but “I couldn’t understand you more” is certainly cryptic.

Eminence

Eminence (pronounced em-uh-nuhns)

(1) A position of superiority; high station, rank, or repute.

(2) The quality or state of being eminent; Prominence in a particular order or accumulation; esteem.

(3) In topography, a high place or part; a hill or elevation; height.

(4) As a color, a dark or deep shade of purple.

(5) In anatomy, a protuberance.

(6) In the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, a title used to address or refer to a cardinal (in the form “eminence”, “your eminence”, “his eminence” or “their eminences”).

(7) As “gray eminence” (the usual spelling of éminence grise), a “power behind the throne”.

1375–1425: From the late Middle English eminence (projection, protuberance (and by the early fifteenth century a “high or exalted position”)), from the Anglo-French, from the Old French eminence, from the Latin ēminēntia (prominence, protuberance; eminence, excellence; a standing out, a distinctive feature, most conspicuous part), the construct being equivalent to ēmin- (base of ēminēre (to stand out) + -entia (-ence) (the noun suffix), from eminentem (nominative eminens) (standing out, projecting (and figuratively “prominent, distinctive”)), from an assimilated form of the construct ex- (out) + -minere (related to mons (hill), from the primitive Indo-European root men- (to project).  The adjective eminent dates from the early fifteenth century and was used in the sense of “standing or rising above other places; exceeding other things in quality or degree” and was from the thirteenth century Old French éminent (prominent) or directly from the Latin eminentem.  From the 1610s, it came be used of those “distinguished in character or attainments”.  The noun pre-eminence (also as pre-eminence) was known as early as the twelfth century and then meant “surpassing eminence; superiority, distinction; precedence, a place of rank or distinction”.  It was from the Late Latin praeeminentia (distinction, superiority), from the Classical Latin praeeminentem (nominative praeeminens), the present participle of praeeminere (transcend, excel (literally “project forward, rise above”)) the construct being prae (before) + eminere (stand out, project).  The alternative for eminency is listed usually as archaic or obsolete.  Synonyms include conspicuousness, distinction, prominence, renown, celebrity, note & fame in the context of status and elevation or prominence when applied to topography.  Eminence & eminency are nouns, eminently is an adverb and eminent is an adjective (and a non-standard noun); the noun plural is eminences or eminencies.

The use in anatomy is to describe certain protuberances including (1) hypothenar eminence (plural hypothenar eminences) (the ulnar side of the human hand; the edge of the hand between the pinky and the outer side of the wrist, (2) ileocecal eminence (plural ileocecal eminences) (the ileocecal valve), (3) median eminence (plural median eminences) (part of the inferior boundary for the hypothalamus in the human brain and (4) frontal eminence (plural frontal eminences) (either of two rounded elevations on the frontal bone of the skull (known also as the “tuber frontale”).

Extract from xona.com's color list.

As a name for a deep or dark shade of purple, name eminence has been in regular use since the nineteenth century and there have always been variations in the shades so described; on the color charts of different manufacturers, this continues.  In digital use however, eminence as a shade of purple has been (more or less) standardized since 2001 when xona.com promulgated their influential color list.  Although “eminence” is the form of address for a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, it’s presumable this has no relationship with the color eminence because cardinals wear red and it’s the monsignors who don a purple which does look like the shade typically described as eminence.  As far as is known, the name “monsignor” has never been applied to any shade.  Monsignor is one of the honorary titles Popes for centuries granted to priests within their Papal Court and there were many degrees of these, conferred usually on priests worked closely with the Holy Father in Rome.  Over time, the use of monsignor was expanded and could be granted to priests beyond Rome on the recommendation of a bishop.  Recently, Pope Francis (b 1936; pope since 2013) has restricted this, returning to the older ways and this will have please some bishops, not all of whom were anxious to see too much purple in their diocese.  The monsignor’s purple (which most would probably call a magenta) was connected to the tradition in the Roman empire to vest new dignitaries with a purple toga and in medieval heraldry the color symbolized justice, regal majesty and sovereignty although not so much should be made of this in the context of the Vatican’s choices in ecclesiastical fashion: Originally, it was never envisaged monsignors would wander far from the Holy See.

Pope Francis (1936-2025; pope 2013-2025) passes the coffin (casket) at the funeral of Cardinal George Pell (1941-2023), St Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican, January 2023.

Within the Roman Curia (a place of Masonic-like plotting, intrigue and much low skulduggery), Cardinal Pell's nickname was “Pell Pot”, an allusion to Pol Pot (1925–1998, dictator of communist Cambodia 1976-1979) who announced the start of his regime was “Year Zero” and all existing culture and tradition must completely be destroyed and replaced.  

Until the sixteenth century bishops wore green and this use persists on the traditional coat of arms that each bishop chooses when elected.  In the 1500s, the switch was made to “amaranth red,” named after the amaranth flower although, despite the name, the actual hue is more like fuchsia but, being similar to a purple, church historians maintain there’s some symbolic value linking with the bishop being charged to govern his local diocese.  Technically, the Holy See describes the color worn by cardinals as “scarlet” and their eminences are described as “princes” of the church although part of the mystique of the place is that the red symbolizes the blood they’re all supposed to be prepared to spill to defend the pope.  When the Pope places the biretta (the hat with 3 or 4 stiffened corners worn as part of liturgical dress) on top of the cardinal’s head, he says, “(This is) scarlet as a sign of the dignity of the cardinalate, signifying your readiness to act with courage, even to the shedding of your blood, for the increase of the Christian faith, for the peace and tranquility of the people of God and for the freedom and growth of Holy Roman Church.”  As a title of honor within the church, eminence was in use as early as the 1650s although apparently since the 1720s, the honorific has been exclusive to cardinals.

Éminence écarlate and éminence grise: Cardinal Richelieu (1636), oil on canvas by Philippe de Champaigne (1602–1674) (left) and Engraving of Francois Leclerc du Tremblay (circa 1630) by an unknown artist.

The term gray eminence was from the French éminence grise, plural éminences grises or éminence grises (literally “grey eminence” and the French spelling is sometimes used in the English-speaking world).  It was applied originally to François Leclerc du Tremblay (1577–1638), also known as Père Joseph, a French Capuchin friar who was the confidant and agent of Cardinal Richelieu (1585–1642), the chief minister of France under Louis XIII (1601–1643; King of France 1610-1643).  The term refers to du Tremblay’s influence over the Cardinal (who bore the honorific of Eminence), and the colour of his habit (he wore gray).  Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) sub-titled his biography of Leclerc (L'Éminence Grise (1941)): A Study in Religion and Politics.  Huxley discussed the nature of both religion & politics, his purpose being to explore the relationship between the two and his work was a kind of warning to those of faith who are led astray by proximity to power.

Use of the term éminence grise suggests a shadowy, backroom operator who avoids publicity, operating in secret if possible yet exercising great influence over decisions, even to the point of being “the power behind the throne”.  In this a gray eminence differs from a king-maker or a svengali is that those designations are applied typically to those who operate in the public view, even flaunting their power and authority.  Probably the closest synonym of the gray eminence is a “puppet-master” because of the implication of remaining hidden, and although never seen, the strings they pull are if one looks closely enough.  The svengali was named for the hypnotist character Svengali in George du Maurier’s (1834–1896) novel Trilby (1894).  Svengali seduced, dominated and manipulated Trilby who was a young, half-Irish girl, transforming her into a great singer but in doing so he made her utterly dependent on him and this ruthlessly he exploited.

The brown eminence

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945) followed by his "brown eminence", Martin Bormann (1900–1945).

Bormann attached himself to the Nazi Party in the 1920s and proved diligent and industrious, rewarded in 1933 by being appointed chief of staff in the office of Rudolf Hess (1894–1987; Nazi Deputy Führer 1933-1941) where he first built his power base.  After Hess bizarrely flew to Scotland in 1941, Hitler abolished the post of Deputy Führer, assigning his offices to Bormann and styling him Head of the Parteikanzlei (Party Chancellery), a position of extraordinary influence, strengthened further when in 1943 he was appointed Personal Secretary to the Führer, a title he exploited to allow him to act as a kind of viceroy, exercising power in Hitler’s name.  Known within the party as the der brauner Schatten (the brown shadow) which was translated usually as “Brown Eminence” (an allusion to an éminence grise), he maintained his authority by controlling access to Hitler to whom his efficiency and dutifulness proved invaluable.  The "brown" refers to the Nazi's brown uniforms, a color adopted not by choice but because when the cash-strapped party in the 1920s needed uniforms for their Sturmabteilung (The SA, literally "Storm Division" or Storm Troopers and known as the "brownshirts"), what were available cheaply and in bulk was the stock of brown army clothing intended for use in the tropical territories the Germans would have occupied had they won World War I (1914-1918).  Bormann committed suicide while trying to make his escape from Berlin in 1945 although this wasn't confirmed until 1973.

Lindsay Lohan's inner eminence on film.

Lindsay Lohan (2011) by Richard Phillips & Taylor Steele.

Screened in conjunction with the 54^th international exhibition of the Venice Biennale (June 2011), Lindsay Lohan was a short film the director said represented a “new kind of portraiture.”  Filmed in Malibu, California, the piece was included in the Commercial Break series, presented by Venice’s Garage Center for Contemporary Culture and although the promotional notes indicated it would include footage of the ankle monitor she helped make famous, the device doesn't appear in the final cut.

At the festival, co-director Richard Phillips (b 1962) was interviewed by V Magazine and explained: “Lindsay has an incredible emotional and physical presence on screen.  “[She] holds an existential vulnerability, while harnessing the power of the transcendental — the moment in transition. She is able to connect with us past all of our memory and projection, expressing our own inner eminence.”

Directed by: Richard Phillips & Taylor Steele
Director of Photography: Todd Heater
Creative Director: Dominic Sidhu
Art Director: Kyra Griffin
Editor: Haines Hall
Color mastering: Pascal Dangin for Boxmotion
Music: Tamaryn & Rex John Shelverton
Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick

Physiognomy

Physiognomy (pronounced fiz-ee-og-nuh-mee or fiz-ee-on-uh-mee)

(1) The face or countenance, especially when considered as an index to the character.

(2) The art of determining character or personal characteristics from the form or features of the body, especially of the face (also called anthroposcopy).

(3) The outward appearance of anything, taken as offering some insight into its character.

(4) Estimation of one's character and mental qualities by a study of the face and general bodily carriage.

1350-1400: From the Late Middle English phisognomie or phisiognomie (art of judging characters from facial features), from the Medieval Latin physionomi from the Late Latin physonomia, from the Late Greek physiognōmía, a syncopated variant of physiognōmonía (art of judging a person by his features).  The construct in Greek was physio- (from physios (nature) + gnōmōn (genitive gnōmōnos) (a judge, interpreter, indicator) from the primitive Indo-European root gno- (to know).  The word soon replaced the earlier Middle English forms fisenamie, fisnamie & fisnomie (from the Middle French fisonomie & the Old French phizonomie).  There was also the strange medieval linguistic cul-de-sac phusiognōmia, an erroneous form of phusiognōmonia (from phusis (nature) + gnōmōn (judge)).  The related form still occasionally used in technical literature is physiognomical.

There’s nothing in science which proves physiognomy can’t be anthropomorphic.  The website Cats that look like Hitler accepts submissions from owners, victims and others who contribute photographs of führeresque felines.  Everyone knows one can tell if a cat is evil by looking into its eyes.

In the same way astrology was once respectable science taught in universities, physiognomy was well accepted by ancient Greek philosophers though it fell into disrepute in medieval times when practiced by crooks and con-men.  As a pseudo-science, it was later revived and briefly popularized by the Swiss theologian Johann Kaspar (1741–1801) who actually enjoyed a friendship with Goethe (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; 1749–1832) until the author distanced himself, finding the priest just too weird and superstitious.  There was a revival of interest in the late nineteenth century when people started to apply their own interpretations of Darwin’s theories and observations, physiognomy and physical anthropology among the techniques used as a basis for “scientific” racism.  This period of its popularity, not uncoincidentally, happened during the height of European colonialism.  Of late, there’s been a revival of interest because of the rapid improvements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning for facial recognition.  With big data-sets, it becomes, at least theoretically, possible to determine if correlations really do exist between facial appearance, personality and behavior.

Using just an image of Lindsay Lohan downloaded from Wikipedia, the analysis engine used by physiogomicia.com was able to determine she "practices self-denial" and "gets inspired and fantasizes".  The promotional material for the website physiognomica.com begins by asking: "Do you want to learn more about the people surrounding you?"  It promises to "open all the secrets of identity" so that:

"All human secrets will be accessible to you. Is someone capable of lying, is he/she kind, likely to get rich, intelligent or lazy? After analyzing just one photo, we will tell you about the personality and the motives that lead this person. Everything is spread before the eyes. And it is absolutely free of charge.  Nothing stays buried forever!  You will be literally reading people’s minds.  Even before having a conversation with the person you will know exactly how to behave.  From now on it will be easy to evaluate motives of the person.  No more lie detectors and without long discussions with the psychologist."

Anorexia

Anorexia (pronounced an-uh-rek-see-uh)

(1) In clinical medicine, loss of appetite and inability to eat.

(2) In psychiatry, as anorexia nervosa, a defined eating disorder characterized by fear of becoming fat and refusal of food, leading to debility and even death.

(3) A widely-used (though clinically incorrect) short name for anorexia nervosa.

1590–1600: From the New Latin, from the Ancient Greek ἀνορεξία (anorexía), the construct being ἀν (an) (without) + ὄρεξις (órexis) (appetite; desire).  In both the Greek and Latin, it translated literally as "a nervous loss of appetite".  Órexis (appetite, desire) is from oregein (to desire, stretch out) and was cognate with the Latin regere (to keep straight, guide, rule).  Although adopted as a metaphorical device to describe even inanimate objects, anorexia is most often (wrongly) used as verbal shorthand for the clinical condition anorexia nervosa.  The former is the relatively rare condition in which appetite is lost for no apparent reason; the latter the more common eating disorder related to most cases to body image.  Interestingly, within the English-speaking world, there are no variant pronunciations.  Anorexia & anorexiant are nouns, anorexic is a noun & adjective and anorexically is an adverb; the noun plural is anorexics

Anorexia Nervosa and the DSM

A classic pro-ana image.

The pro-ana community has created its own sub-set of standard photographic angles, rather as used car sites typically feature certain images such as the interior, the odometer, the engine etc.  Among the most popular images posted on "thinspiration" pages are those which show bone definition through skin and, reflecting the superior contrast possible, there's a tendency use grayscale, usually converted from color originals.  The favored body parts include the spine, hip bones, clavicles (collar bones) and the shoulder blades.  Although documented since antiquity, the condition in its modern form wasn't noted in western medical literature until an 1873 paper presented to the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) called “Anorexia Hysterica”, a description of a loss of appetite without an apparent gastric cause.  That same year, a similar condition was mentioned in a French publication, also called “l’anorexie hystérique”, and described food refusal combined with hyperactivity.  Although the author of the earlier work had within a year changed the descriptor to “Anorexia Nervosa”, the implication in all these papers was of an affliction exclusively female, something very much implied in “l’anorexie hystérique”, hysteria then a mainstream diagnosis and one thought inherently "a condition of women".

A slight Lindsay Lohan (during "thin phase") demonstrates the "anorexic look" which is something distinct from the clinically defined condition "anorexia nervosa" although there's obviously sometimes overlap.

After its acceptance as a psychogenic disorder in the late nineteenth century, anorexia nervosa (AN) was the first eating disorder placed in the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).  In the first edition (DSM-I (1952)), it was considered a psycho-physiological reaction (a neurotic illness).  In the DSM-II (1968), it was listed with special symptoms & feeding disturbances, which also included pica and rumination.  In DSM-III (1980), eating disorders were classified under disorders of childhood or adolescence, perhaps, at least in part, contributing to the under-diagnosis of later-onset cases.  At that time, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) created two specific categories that formally recognized the diagnosis of eating disorders: AN and binge eating (called bulimia in DSM-III and bulimia nervosa (BN; the obsessive regurgitation of food) in both the revised DSM-III (1987) and DSM-IV (1994).  In the DSM-IV, all other clinically significant eating disorder symptoms were absorbed by the residual categories of eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS) and binge-eating disorder (BED), noting the disorders were the subjects for further research.  Subsequently, When the DSM-IV was revised (2000), eating disorders moved to an independent section.  The DSM-5 (2013) chapter for eating disorders added to the alphabet soup.  In addition to pica, AN, BN and BED, DSM-5 added  avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) and other specified feeding or eating disorder (OSFED), the latter including some other peculiar pathological eating patterns, like atypical AN (where all other criteria for AN are met, but weight is in the normal range).

Logo of the Butterfly Foundation for Eating Disorders.

Strikingly, although there are Western countries in which anorexia kills more people than road trauma, even within among mental health clinicians there appears to be some reticence in dealing with patients.  Despite it being a mental health condition with a high fatality rate, there seems still a perception the root cause is “mere vanity” and something of a self-indulgent among young, white, middle class females who spend too much time on TikTok and Instagram middle; essentially, they’re often thought exemplars of the “worried well”.  The problem is acknowledged by some specialists who claim because of these perceptions within the mental health community; treatment regimes have in recent decades shown few advances.  Among psychiatrists and psychologists the notion of anorexia being a “self-inflicted problem of the privileged” is not universal but critics do say that despite the disturbing death toll (some studies claiming a fifth of patients die within 20 years), there is still some tendency to trivialise the condition.  In Australia, the Butterfly Foundation is a national charity offering services to those affected by eating disorders and body image issues, the coverage not limited to sufferers but available also to friends, families and support communities.  Although Anorexia Nervosa is the best known of the eating conditions, Butterfly Foundation functions as a kind of clearing house for all, listing the most frequently diagnosed as:

Anorexia Nervosa is characterised by restrictive eating that leads to a person being unable to maintain what is considered to be a normal and healthy weight. People experiencing Anorexia Nervosa possess an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming overweight, no matter their current weight and appearance.

Bulimia Nervosa is characterised by repeated episodes of binge eating, followed by compensatory behaviours, such a purging or excessive exercise. People experiencing Bulimia Nervosa often place an excessive emphasis on their body shape or weight.

Binge Eating Disorder is characterised by episodes of eating large amounts of food over very short periods of time, with no compensatory behaviours. People who experience binge eating often feel a loss of control during episodes of binge eating.

Unspecified Feeding or Eating Disorder (UFED) refers to disordered feeding or eating behaviour that causes clinically significant distress but which does not meet the full criteria for any of the other eating disorder categories. UFED is one of the most common eating disorders.

Other Specified Feeding and Eating Disorders (OSFED) may present with many symptoms of other eating disorders, but where the person doesn’t meet the full criteria for diagnosis of those eating disorders. OSFED is no less serious and with treatment, recovery is possible.

Disordered eating is a disturbed and unhealthy eating patterns. They can include restrictive dieting, compulsive eating or skipping meals. Disordered eating behaviours, and in particular dieting are the most common indicators of the development of an eating disorder.

Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) involves significant aversion and avoidance of food and eating, and may include highly selective eating habits, disturbed feeding patterns, or both.

PICA is an eating disorder where people eat things that aren’t considered food. For example, they may eat dirt, chalk, soap, hair, laundry detergent, among other things.

Orthorexia isn’t currently recognised as an official eating disorder diagnosis, however there is growing recognition that this may be a distinct eating disorder. It involves an obsession with healthy, or “clean” eating. People will often obsess about the benefits of healthy foods, food quality, but not necessarily quantity of food.

Chthonian

Chthonian (pronounced thoh-nee-uhn)

(1) In Classical mythology, of or relating to the deities, spirits, and other beings dwelling under the earth.

(2) Dwelling in, or under the earth

1840–1850: From the Greek chthóni(os), the construct being chthon (stem of chthṓn (earth) + -ios (the adjectival suffix, accusative masculine plural of –ius) + -an (from the Latin -ānus, which forms adjectives of belonging or origin from a noun.  It was akin to the Latin humus (earth).  The alternative spelling in Ancient Greek was khthonios (in or under the earth), from χθών (khthṓn) (earth, ground, soil).

The Furies (Erinyes)

In Greek mythology, the Furies were the three chthonic female deities of vengeance; known also as Erinyes (the avengers), their counterparts in Roman mythology, the Dirae.  The names of this grumpy triumvirate were Alecto (the angry one), Tisiphone (the avenger) and Megaera (the grudging one).  In the literature, they’re sometimes called the infernal goddesses.

In Internet mythology, three chthonic female deities of vengeance.  Opinion might be divided about the allocation of the labels Angry, Avenging & Grudging. 

There are several myths of the birth of the Furies.  The most popular is they were born simultaneously with Aphrodite but in Hesiod’s Theogony, he claimed the Furies were born out of Uranus’ blood while Aphrodite was being born from sea foam when Titan Cronus castrated his father Uranus and cast his genitals to the sea; implicit in this version is the Furies preceded the Olympian Gods.  Another myth suggests they were born of a union between air and sea while according to Roman Poets (Ovid's (Publius Ovidius Naso; 43 BC–17 AD) Metamorphoses and Virgil's (Publius Vergilius Maro (70–19 BC)) Aeneid, they were the daughters of Nyx (the Night). In some old Greek hymns and Greco-Roman poet Statius' (Publius Papinius Statius (circa 45-circa 96) Thebaid they were the daughters of Hades and Persephone, serving them in the kingdom of underworld.  Furies listened to the complaints and callings of victims in the world when these people cursed the wrongdoers.  Those who murdered their mothers or fathers were especially important for Furies because (at least according to the Ancient Greek poet Hesiod (7-8^th century BC)), they were born of a child’s wrongdoing to his father.  They punished people who committed crimes against gods, crimes of disrespect, perjury and those who broke their oaths, but they thought murder the most vile crime and one demanding the most cruel punishment.

Virgil pointing out the Erinyes (1890), engraving by Gustave Doré (1832–1883).

The Furies served Hades and Persephone in the underworld.  When souls of the dead came to the kingdom of Hades, firstly they were judged by three judges; that done, the Furies purified souls the judges deemed good and permitted their passage. Souls deemed wicked were condemned to the Dungeons of the Damned in Tartarus to be subjected to the most awful torture, overseen by Furies.  Descriptions of the Furies (almost always by male writers or artists) varied in detail but mostly they were depicted as ugly with serpents about their hair and arms, wearing black robes with whips in their hands.  Some claimed they also had wings of a bat or bird with burning breath and poisonous blood dripping from their eyes.

Denunciate & Denounce

Denunciate (pronounced dih-nuhn-see-yet or dih-nuhn-shee-yet)

To denounce; openly to condemn.

1585-1590: From the Latin dēnuntiātus (announced), past participle of denuntio (I declare) & dēnunciāre (to declare) and, in English, the same word as denounce except directly from Latin.  It’s a strange word in that as a verb it’s rare to the point of obscurity yet is common as the noun denunciation.  Denunciate is a verb (used with or without object), denunciated & denunciating are verbs, denunciable is an adjective, denunciator & denunciator are nouns and denunciatory is an adjective.

Denounce (pronounce dih-nouns)

(1) To condemn or censure openly or publicly; to deplore, vehemently or openly to condemn.

(2) To make a formal accusation against an individual or institution, usually to the authorities.

(3) In law and international relations, to give formal notice of the termination or denial of a treaty, pact, agreement etc (rare except in technical use).

(4) To announce or proclaim, especially as something evil or calamitous (archaic in a secular context, still used in religious circles).

(5) To portend (obsolete).

1250–1300: From the Middle English denouncen, from the Old French denoncier (to speak out; to proclaim), from the Latin dēnuntiāre (make an official proclamation, to threaten), the construct being dē- (from) + nuntiāre (to announce), from nuntius (messenger).  Denounce (used with object), denounced & denouncing are verbs, denouncement & denouncer, noun and denounced is an adjective.

Denunciate & Denounce

Technically, the difference between the two is that denounce is a synonym of denunciate and denunciate is a related term of denounce.  As verbs, the historic difference was that denunciate meant “openly to condemn” while denounce meant “to make known in a formal manner; to proclaim; to announce; to declare”, a use long obsolete.  By inclination a reductionist and polished by the party pros in the practice of delivering easy-to-understand slogans and messages using simple words, repetitively recited, Scott Morrison (b 1968; Australian prime-minister 2018-2022) wasn't noted for linguistic flourishes but, late in November 2021, chose to say he was “…denunciating any violence…”.  The context was an earlier public protest against certain COVID-19 measures and what he said was a clarification his of earlier remarks which some had claimed were in the spirit of Donald Trump's (b 1946; US president 2017-2021)  “…good people on both sides” comment when discussing a protest in the US at which a fatality occurred.  That hadn’t gone down all that well and Mr Morrison probably wanted to avoid the accusation of being "neutral in the battle between the fire and the fire brigade", Winston Churchill's (1875-1965; UK prime-minister 1940-1945 & 1951-1955) vivid evocation of what he thought the BBC's nihilistic attitude to things he though bad.

While the noun denunciation is in common use, the verb denunciating is so rare there were some who mistakenly assumed he’s conflated denouncing with enunciating, either misunfortunistically (in the George W Bush (George XLIII, b 1946; US president 2001-2009) way) or, as one tweet more ominously observed: “You don’t need Freud to understand the mixed message.”  Whatever might be the take on the politics, grammatically, the prime-minister was correct but the use was so unusual that one might wonder if it was tossed in as a linguistic distraction.  Mr Morrison was often denouncing things, individuals and ideas he found abhorrent, whether it be anti-corruption bodies which look a little too closely as how politicians operate or the CEOs of public corporations being a bit generous with bonuses not served in the politicians' troughs.  If again he needs to seek inspiration, he may turn to the Bible, both the King James Version (KJV; 1611) and New International Version (NIV; 1978-2011 and said to be most popular with Pentecostal preachers) often using the word and, if ever things seem a bit obscure, there’s always Leviticus and Ezekiel, both offering plenty about what demands some denunciating.

Balaam proclaimed his poem:Balak brought me from Aram;the king of Moab, from the eastern mountains:“Come, put a curse on Jacob for me;come, denounce Israel!”  (Numbers 23:7)

How can I curse someone God has not cursed?How can I denounce someone the Lord has not denounced?  (Numbers 23:8)

I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. (Deuteronomy 30:18)

Hannah prayed, "My heart rejoices in the Lord; my horn is exalted high because of the Lord. I loudly denounce my enemies, for I am happy that you delivered me. (1 Samuel 2:1)

Who would denounce his behavior to his face?Who would repay him for what he has done? (Job 21:31)

Whoever says to the guilty, “You are innocent”—people will curse him, and tribes will denounce him; (Proverbs 24:24)

I will denounce your righteousness and your works, for your collections of idols will not benefit you. (Isaiah 57:12)

Then certain ones said, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah, for instruction will never be lost from the priest, or counsel from the wise, or an oracle from the prophet. Come, let’s denounce him and pay no attention to all his words.” (Jeremiah 18:18)

Indeed, I hear many people whispering, "Terror on every side. Denounce him, let's denounce him!" All my close friends watch my steps and say, "Perhaps he will be deceived, and we can prevail against him and take vengeance on him." (Jeremiah 20:10)

Just then, certain influential Chaldeans took this opportunity to come forward and denounce the Jews. (Daniel 3:8)

Then He proceeded to denounce the towns where most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent: (Matthew 11:20)

Blessed [morally courageous and spiritually alive with life-joy in God’s goodness] are you when people hate you, and exclude you [from their fellowship], and insult you, and scorn your name as evil because of [your association with] the Son of Man. (Luke 6:22)

The world cannot hate you [since you are part of it], but it does hate Me because I denounce it and testify that its deeds are evil. (John 7:7)

Therefore you have no excuse or justification, everyone of you who [hypocritically] judges and condemns others; for in passing judgment on another person, you condemn yourself, because you who judge [from a position of arrogance or self-righteousness] are habitually practicing the very same things [which you denounce]. (Romans 2:1)

This testimony is true. Therefore sternly denounce them, that they may be robust in their faith (Titus 1:13)

However, do this with gentleness and respect, keeping your conscience clear, so that when you are accused, those who denounce your Christian life will be put to shame. (1 Peter 3:16)

The film Mean Girls (2004) was based on Rosalind Wiseman's (b 1969) book Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence (2002) which explored the interaction of the shifting social cliques formed by schoolgirls.  A tale of chicanery & low skullduggery, once deconstructed, Mean Girls can be understood as a series of denunciations which act as the pivot points, both within and between scenes.