Velvet

Velvet (pronounced vel-vit)

(1) A fabric fashioned from silk with a thick, soft pile formed of loops of the warp thread either cut at the outer end or left uncut.

(2) In modern use, a fabric emulating in texture and appearance the silk original and made from nylon, acetate, rayon etc, sometimes having a cotton backing.

(3) Something likened to the fabric velvet, an allusion to appearance, softness or texture,

(4) The soft, deciduous covering of a growing antler.

(5) In informal use (often as “in velvet” or “in the velvet”), a very pleasant, luxurious, desirable situation.

(6) In slang, money gained through gambling; winnings (mostly US, now less common).

(7) In financial trading, clear gain or profit, especially when more than anticipated; a windfall profit.

(8) In mixology, as “Black Velvet”, a cocktail of champagne & stout (also made with dark, heavy beers).

(9) A female chinchilla; a sow.

(10) An item of clothing made from velvet (in modern use also of similar synthetics).

(11) In drug slang, the drug dextromethorphan.

(12) To cover something with velvet; to cover something with something of a covering of a similar texture.

(13) In cooking, to coat raw meat in starch, then in oil, preparatory to frying.

(14) To remove the velvet from a deer's antlers.

1275–1325: From the Middle English velvet, velwet, veluet, welwet, velvette, felwet veluet & veluwet, from the Old Occitan veluet, from the Old French veluotte, from the Medieval Latin villutittus or villūtus (literally shaggy cloth), from the classical Latin villus (nap of cloth, shaggy hair, tuft of hair), from velu (hairy) and cognate with French velours.  The Latin villus is though probably a dialectal variant of vellus (fleece), from the primitive Indo-European wel-no-, a suffixed form of uelh- (to strike).  Velvet is a noun, verb & adjective, velvetlike & velvety are adjectives, velveting & velveted are verbs & adjective; the noun plural is velvets.

The noun velveteen was coined in 1776 to describe one of first the imitation (made with cotton rather than silk) velvets commercially to be marketed at scale; the suffix –een was a special use of the diminutive suffix (borrowed from the Irish –in (used also –ine) which was used to form the diminutives of nouns in Hiberno-English).  In commercial use, it referred to products which were imitations of something rather than smaller.  The adjective velvety emerged in the early eighteenth century, later augmented by velvetiness.  In idiomatic use, the “velvet glove” implies someone or something is being treated with gentleness or caution.  When used as “iron fist in a velvet glove”, it suggests strength or determination (and the implication of threat) behind a gentle appearance or demeanor.  “Velvet” in general is often applied wherever the need exists to covey the idea of “to soften; to mitigate” and is the word used when a cat retracts its claws.  The adjective “velvety” can be used of anything smooth and the choice between it and forms like “buttery”, “silky”, “creamy” et al is just a matter of the image one wishes to summon.  The particular instance “Velvet Revolution” (Sametová revoluce in Czech) refers to the peaceful transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from in late 1989 in the wake of the fall of Berlin Wall.  Despite being partially in the Balkans, the transition from communism to democracy was achieved almost wholly without outbreaks of violence (in the Balkans it rare for much of note to happen without violence).

Ten years after: Lindsay Lohan in black velvet, London, January 2013 (left) and in pink velour tracksuit, Dubai, January 2023 (right).

The fabrics velvet and velour can look similar but they differ in composition.  Velvet historically was made with silk thread and was characterized by a dense pile, created by the rendering of evenly distributed loops on the surface.  There are now velvets made from cotton, polyester or other blends and its construction lends it a smooth, plush texture appearance, something often finished with a sheen or luster.  A popular modern variation is “crushed velvet”, achieved by twisting the fabric while wet which produces a crumpled and crushed look although the effect can be realized also by pressing the pile of fabric in a different direction.  It’s unusual in that object with most fabric is to avoid a “crumpled” look but crushed velvet is admired because of the way it shimmers as the light plays upon the variations in the texture.  The crushing process doesn’t alter the silky feel because of the dense pile and the fineness of the fibers.  Velour typically is made from knit fabrics such as cotton or polyester and is best known for its stretchiness which makes its suitable for many purposes including sportswear and upholstery.  Except in some specialized types, the pile is less dense than velvet (a consequence of the knitted construction) and while it can be made with a slight shine, usually the appearance tends to be matte.  Velour is used for casula clothing, tracksuits & sweatshirts and it’s hard-wearing properties mean it’s often used for upholstery and before the techniques emerged to permit vinyl to be close to indistinguishable from leather, it was often used by car manufacturers as a more luxurious to vinyl.  The noun velour (historically also as velure & velours) dates from 1706 and was from the French velours (velvet), from the Old French velor, an alteration of velos (velvet) from the same Latin sources as “velvet”.

US and European visions of luxury: 1974 Cadillac Fleetwood Talisman in velour (top left), 1977 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham in leather (top right), 1978 Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL 6.9 in velour (bottom left) & 1979 Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL 6.9 in leather (bottom right).  Whether in velour or leather, the European approach in the era was more restrained. 

In car interiors, the golden age of velour began in the US in the early 1970s and lasted almost two decades, the increasingly plush interiors characterized by tufting and lurid colors.  Chrysler in the era made a selling point of their “rich, Corinthian leather” but the extravagant velour interiors were both more distinctive and emblematic of the era, the material stretching sometimes from floor to roof (the cars were often labeled “Broughams”).  The dismissive phrase used of the 1970s was “the decade style forgot” and that applied to clothes and interior decorating but the interior designs Detroit used on their cars shouldn’t be forgotten and while the polyester-rich cabins (at the time too, on the more expensive models one’s feet literally could sink into the deep pile carpet) were never the fire-risk comedians claimed, many other criticisms were justified.  Cotton-based velour had for decades been used by the manufacturers but the advent of mass-produced, polyester velour came at a time when “authenticity” didn’t enjoy the lure of today and the space age lent the attractiveness of modernity to plastics and faux wood, faux leather and faux velvet were suddenly an acceptable way to “tart up” the otherwise ordinary.  At the top end of the market, although the real things were still sometimes used, even in that segment soft, pillowy, tufted velour was a popular choice.

1989 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham D'Elegance in velour (left) and a "low-rider" in velour (right).  The Cadillac is trimmed in a color which in slang came to be known as "bordello red".  Because of changing tastes, manufacturers no longer build cars with interiors which resemble a caricature of a mid-priced brothel but the tradition has been maintained (and developed) by the "low-rider" community, a sub-culture with specific tastes. 

At the time, the interiors were thought by buyers to convey “money” and the designers took to velour because the nature of the material allowed so many techniques cheaply to be deployed.  Compared with achieving a similar look in leather, the cost was low, the material cost (both velour and the passing underneath or behind) close to marginal and the designers slapped on pleats, distinctive (and deliberately obvious) stitching, extra stuffing, the stuff covering seats, door panels, and headliners, augmented with details like recessed buttons, leather grab-handles and the off chrome accent (often anodized plastic).  By the 1980s, velour had descended to the lower-priced product lines and this was at a time when the upper end of the market increasingly was turning to cars from European manufacturers, notably Mercedes-Benz and BMW, both of which equipped almost all their flagships destined for the US market with leather and real wood.

The Velvet Underground with Nico (Christa Päffgen; 1938–1988) while part of Andy Warhol’s (1928-1987) multimedia road-show The Exploding Plastic Inevitable (1966-1967 and known briefly as “The Erupting Plastic Inevitable” or The Exploding Plastic Invisible).  Unusually, the acronym EPI never caught on.

The (posthumously) influential US rock band The Velvet Underground gained their name from a book with that title, published in 1963, the year before their original formation although it wouldn’t be until 1965 the band settled on the name.  The book was by journalist Michael Leigh (1901-1963) and it detailed the variety of “aberrant sexual practices” in the country and is notable as one of the first non-academic texts to explore what was classified as paraphilia (the sexual attraction to inanimate objects, now usually called Objectum Sexuality (OS) or objectum romanticism (OR) (both often clipped to "objectum")).  Leigh took a journalistic approach to the topic which focused on what was done, by whom and the ways and means by which those with “aberrant sexual interests” achieved and maintained contact.  The author little disguised his distaste for much about what he wrote.  The rock band’s most notable output came in four albums (The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967), White Light/White Heat (1968), The Velvet Underground (1969) & Loaded (1970)) which enjoyed neither critical approval nor commercial success but by the late 1970s, in the wake of punk and the new wave, their work was acknowledged as seminal and their influence has been more enduring than many which were for most of the late twentieth century more highly regarded.

Polysphere

Polysphere (pronounced pol-ee-sfeer)

(1) In mathematics, a product of spheres.

(2) In mechanical engineering, a design of combustion chamber formed by the two shallow concave domes under the intake and exhaust valve seats.

1955: A compound word, the construct being poly + sphere.  Poly is from the Ancient Greek πολύς (polús or polys) (many, much), from the primitive Indo-European polhiús (much, many) from the root pele (to fill), akin to the Old English fela (many).  Sphere is from the Middle English spere, from the Old French spere, from the Late Latin sphēra, from the Classical Latin sphaera (ball, globe, celestial sphere), from the Ancient Greek σφαῖρα (sphaîra) (ball, globe), of unknown origin.  Despite spread of the myth by some medieval writes, sphere is not related to superficially similar Persian سپهر‎ (sepehr) (sky).  Poly, in modern English (especially in industrial and scientific application) use became a word-forming element meaning "many, much, multi-, one or more" with derivatives referring to multitudinousness or abundance.  It was equivalent to the Latin multi- and should properly be used in compounds only with words of Greek origin but this, etymologically slutty English ignores.  Polysphere is a noun and polyspheric is an adjective; the noun plural is polyspheres.

Chrysler, the poly, the hemi and the hemi which is really a poly

Chrysler didn’t invent hemispherical combustion chambers but they certainly made a cult of them.  In internal combustion engines of the mid-late twentieth century, the hemispherical combustion chamber was one of the best designs with with to provide an efficient burn-space while minimizing thermal loss and permitting the use of large diameter canted-valves to optimize intake and exhaust flow.  The early Chrysler Hemi V8s (1951-1958) were the most powerful of their generation but there were drawbacks.  To take advantage of the large valves at diverging angles, the valve train assembly was both bulky and heavy, needing two rocker shafts rather than the single units used with in-line arrangements.  Adding to the cost and complication were the inherently more expensive casting and machining processes required to produce the hemispherical shape of the combustion chambers in the cylinder heads.  To enable the mass-production of a less expensive V8 to use in their lower-priced lines, Chrysler created new cylinder heads with polyspheric (two shallow concave domes under the valves and named the “Poly”) combustion chambers and a less elaborate system of valve activation which needed only a single rocker shaft.  Although less powerful than the Hemis, the Polys were cheaper and lighter although it wouldn’t be until the 1960s that Chrysler standardized engines across their divisions; an early adoption of such economies of scale might have saved the corporation more money than retaining an exclusively Hemi-headed line would have cost.

The Hemi, 1951-1958 & 1964-1971 (left), the polyspheric, 1955-1967 (centre) and the new "Hemi" which is really a swirl Chamber, 2003- (right).

However, the Poly proved a cul-de-sac.  In an era of cheap petrol, larger capacity engines proved a more attractive route to horsepower than sophisticated combustion chamber design and the Hemis were retired in 1958, replaced by larger engines with wedge-shaped chambers, used by other manufacturers and much more suited to mass-production.  Consigned to the grave with the Hemis were almost all the Polys, only the 318 V8 (5.2 litre) retained as a rare oddity until 1967.  The Hemi would return, available between 1964-1971 as a 426 cubic inch (7.0 litre) race engine (there were also some reduced displacement versions to satisfy local rules) which, for homologation purposes would in 1966 be released in slightly detuned form detuned for street use.  The name however held such an allure that it was revived in 2003 for Chrysler's new (and perhaps final) generation of V8s although in the narrow technical sense, Hemi is now more a marketing than an engineering term because the twenty-first century combustion chambers are something of a hybrid of hemispheric and polyspheric, the general term describing them for the last fifty-odd years being swirl chambers, a design which makes possible a high out-output of power, low emissions and an economy in operation which would have been thought impossible to achieve as recently as the 1980s.

Lindsay Lohan with polyspheric hair.  Polyspheric hair styles are possible, the classic example of which is the symmetrical “twin dome” look which is difficult exactly to achieve and harder still to maintain for more than a brief time.  They’re thus seen usually only at photo-shoots or for one-off events but the design element is popular with asymmetric styles.

When Chrysler in 1964 introduced the 273 cubic inch (4.5 litre) V8 as the first of its LA-Series (that would begat the later 318, 340 & 360 (the V10 Magnum used in the Dodge Viper is also as descendent)), the most obvious visual difference from the earlier A-Series V8s was the noticeably smaller cylinder heads.  The A engines used as skew-type valve arrangement in which the exhaust valve was parallel to the bore with the intake valve tipped toward the intake manifold (the classic polyspherical chamber).  For the LA, Chrysler rendered all the valves tipped to the intake manifold and in-line (as viewed from the front), the industry’s standard approach to a wedge combustion chamber.  The reason for the change was that the decision had been taken to offer the compact Valiant with a V8 but it was a car which had been designed to accommodate only a straight-six and the wide-shouldered polyspheric head A-Series V8s simply wouldn’t fit.  So, essentially, wedge-heads were bolted atop the old A-Series block but the “L” in LA stood for light and the engineers wanted something genuinely lighter for the compact (in contemporary US terms) Valiant.  Accordingly, in addition to the reduced size of the heads and intake manifold, a new casting process was developed for the block (the biggest, heaviest part of an engine) which made possible thinner walls.  With the exception of the Hemis, the new big-block engines used wedge-heads and the small block polyspheres (the A-Series) were replaced by the LA except for an export version of the 313 (5.1 litre) which in small numbers was manufactured until 1965 and the 318, the last of which was fitted in 1967.  Confusingly, the replacement LA engine was also a 318, a product of carrying over certain components, both the 318-A & 318-LA sharing the same bore & stroke.  In an example of production-line rationalization, when Chrysler Australia bored out their 245 cubic inch (4.0 litre) Hemi-6 to create the 265 (4.3), the bore chosen was the same as the 318s so pistons could have been shared with the V8 although for technical reasons this wasn't actually done.  The Australian "Hemi" straight sixes used another variation of the combustion chamber in that chambers sat in upper third of the globe, hence the "low hemispherical" slang which wasn't wholly accurate but Ford's Boss 429 V8 had already been dubbed the "semi-hemi" and linguistic novelty was becoming hard to find.

Pernoctate

Pernoctate (pronounced per-nok-tait)

(1) In Christianity, to pass the night in vigil or prayer, prior to a feast (archaic).

(2) To stay (somewhere) all night (now a secular, jocular form).

1610s: From the Latin pernoctat- (spent the night), from pernoctatus, past participle of the verb pernoctare, the construct being per- (through) + noct-, nox (night).  In Christianity, the use of pernoctation to describe “a religious watch kept during normal sleeping hours, during which prayers or other ceremonies are performed” is now rare even in ecclesiastical use and has been supplant by vigil.  Vigil was from the Middle English vigile (a devotional watching), from the Old French vigile, from the Latin vigilia (wakefulness, watch), from vigil (awake), from the primitive Indo-European weǵ- (to be strong, lively, awake).  The English wake was from the same root.  Vigil was related to vigour (vigor the US spelling) (and more distantly to vital), from the Middle English vigour, from the Old French vigour, from vigor, from the Latin vigor, from vigeo (thrive, flourish), again from the primitive Indo-European weǵ-.  Pernoctate, pernoctates, pernoctating & pernoctated are verbs, pernoctation is a noun and the noun plural is pernoctations.

Lindsay Lohan at dawn, resting in a Cadillac Escalade after pernoctating, Los Angeles, May 2007 (right).  The church having adopted vigil, pernoctate and related forms are now words used amusingly to refer to nights spent in decadent pursuits.  The church and the faithful now inhabit the day and the sinners the night.

Beginning apparently during the second century of the existence of the Christian Church, during the night before every feast, a vigil (Vigilia in the Latin; pannychis in the Greek), was kept.  On those evenings, the faithful would gather in the church or wherever it was the feast was to be celebrated and prepared themselves by prayers, readings from Holy Writ (now the Offices of Vespers and Matins); sometimes a sermon would be read (as on fast days in general, Mass was celebrated in the evening, before the Vespers of the following day).  Towards dawn, the people dispersed to the streets and houses near the church, to await the solemn services of the forenoon. This was a formalized structure but in places the intermission gave rise to grave abuses; people would assemble, play music and dance in the streets: clear improprieties.  In the way such things happen, the volume of feasts multiplied so the number of vigils was greatly reduced but the abuses could be stopped only by abolishing the vigils and where they remained, they were shifted to begin in the afternoon, a synod held at Rouen in 1231 prohibited all vigils except those before the patronal feast of a church.  The number of vigils in the Roman Catholic Calendar (besides Holy Saturday) is now seventeen: the eves of Christmas, the Epiphany, the Ascension, Pentecost, the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, the eight feasts of the Apostles, St. John the Baptist, St. Laurence, and All Saints although some dioceses and religious orders have particular vigils.

Pope Benedict XVI (1927–2022; pope 2005-2013, pope emeritus 2013-2022) baptizes a Japanese faithful during the Easter Vigil ceremony, Saint Peter's Basilica, the Vatican, 15 April 2006.

In the Christian tradition, a vigil is now understood as a period of purposeful wakefulness devoted to prayer or ceremonies and although vigils may happen at any time, historically they came to be observed during darkness and became quite common before being restricted to special occasions, such as feasts, solemnities, or important liturgical events.  No longer conducted overnight, during a vigil, participants may engage in prayer, reflection, scripture reading, and hymn singing and the direction of a vigil should be thematic, the purpose to prepare spiritually for a significant religious event or to commemorate a particular occasion.  The best known in Christianity is the Easter Vigil, which takes place on the evening of Holy Saturday, commemorating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and is the most important liturgy of the entire liturgical year.  Typically it will include the blessing of the Easter fire, the lighting of the Paschal candle, scripture readings recounting salvation history and the celebration of the Eucharist.  The reason for the significance of the Easter vigil is that the Resurrection of Christ is the central event of Christianity.  If one accepts the Resurrection, then the internal logic of Christianity is perfect but if not, while the tenants may still appeal as a guide to morality, it’s just another set of competing arguments.  Rationalists who want both can adopt the view of the more radical of the nineteenth century theologians: “One need not believe, one needs only to accept”.

Adjunct

Adjunct (pronounced aj-uhngkt)

(1) Something added to another thing but not essential to it; an appendage; something attached to something else in a subordinate capacity.

(2) A person associated with lesser status, rank, authority, etc., in some duty or service; assistant; things joined or associated, especially in an auxiliary or subordinate relationship.

(3) In higher education, a person working at an institution but not enjoying full-time or permanent status (exact status can vary between institutions).

(4) In systemic English grammar, a modifying form, word, or phrase depending on some other form, word, or phrase, especially an element of clause structure with adverbial function; part of a sentence other than the subject, predicator, object, or complement; usually a prepositional or adverbial group.

(5) In reductionist English grammar, part of a sentence that may be omitted without making the sentence ungrammatical; a modifier.

(6) In the technical language of logic, another name for an accident.

(8) In brewing, an un-malted grain or grain product that supplements the main mash ingredient.

(9) In metaphysics, a quality or property of the body or mind, whether natural or acquired, such as color in the body or judgement in the mind (archaic).

(10) In music, a key or scale closely related to another as principal; a relative or attendant key.

(11) In the syntax of X-bar theory, a constituent which is both the daughter and the sister of an X-bar.

(12) In rhetoric, as symploce, the repetition of words or phrases at both the beginning and end of successive clauses or verses: a combination of anaphora and epiphora (or epistrophe); also known as complexio.

(13) In category theory, one of a pair of morphisms which relate to each other through a pair of "adjoint functors".

1580-1590: From the Latin adjunctus (a characteristic, essential attribute), perfect past participle of adiungō (join to) & adjungere (joined to).  The construct of adiungō was ad- (from the Proto-Italic ad, from the primitive Indo-European haed (near, at); connate with the English at) + iungō (join); a doublet of adjoint.  The usual sense of "to join to" is now applied usually with a notion of subordination, but this is not etymological.  The first adjunct professor appears to have been appointed in 1826.  Adjunct is a noun, verb & adjective, adjunction, adjunctiveness & adjuncthood are nouns, adjunctive is a noun & adjective, adjunctivity is an adjective and adjunctively & adjunctly are adverbs; the noun plural is adjuncts.

Although the title has existed for almost two centuries, neither the duties or the nature of appointment of an adjunct professor have ever been (even variously) codified or consistently applied in a way that a generalised understanding of the role could be said to exist as it does for other academic ranks (tutor, lecturer, reader, professor et al).  The terms of appointment of adjunct professors vary between countries, between institutions within countries and even within the one institution.  In the academic swirl of titles there can also be adjunct lecturers, adjunct fellows etc and other adjectives are sometimes used; “contingent” and “sessional” applied sometimes to appointments which appear, at least superficially, similar to adjunct appointments elsewhere.  Beyond the English-speaking world however, the term adjunct, in the context of education, is often just another rung in the academic hierarchy, used in a similar way to “assistant” & “associate”.

In the English-speaking world, it’s probably easiest to understand the title in relation to what it’s not and, grossly simplified, the most important relationship between an adjunct appointment and one unadorned is whether or not the appointee is paid.  In institutions where adjuncts are paid, as a general principle, that’s indicative of an appointment where the emolument package is structured to provide lesser compensation (lower salary, no health insurance, no permanent term etc) and perhaps a limitation of duties (eg a teaching role only without the scope to undertake research).  If paid, an “adjunct” appointee is an employee.  Where the appointment is unpaid, while there are no set rules, there do seem to be conventions of use in that (1) a “visiting” professor is usually a eminent academic from another place granted to a short-term appointment on some basis, (2) an “honorary” professor is someone from outside academia (but whose career path is within the relevant scholastic field) and the title is granted, sometimes in perpetuity, in exchange for services like the odd lecture (often about some very specialised topic where expertise is rare) whereas (3), an adjunct professor can be entirely unconnected with any traditional academic path and may be appointed in exchange for consultancy or other services although, there’s often the suggestion donations to institutions can smooth the path to appointment.  If unpaid (even if able to claim “actual, defined or reasonable” expenses), an “adjunct appointee is not an employee.

Billionaire Adjunct Professor Clive Palmer (b 1954) counts some small change.  House of Representatives, Parliament House, Canberra, Australia, 2016.

More than one university bestowed the title adjunct professor on Australian businessman Clive Palmer.  Gold Coast’s Bond University noted the recognition was extended in recognition of "goodwill, positive endeavours and support" of the institution.  In answer to a critic who suggested styling himself as “Professor Palmer” in documents associated with his commercial interests might be not in the spirit of the generally accepted use of the title, he replied that they were suffering from “academia envy” and should “take a cold shower".

In law, adjunct relief should not be confused with injunctive relief.  Commonly known as “an injunction”, injunctive relief is a legal remedy which may be sought in civil proceedings and it can be something in addition to, or in place of monetary damages and usually takes the form of a court order requiring a person or entity to do, or (more typically) to refrain from doing, certain things.  They are unusual in that even if a judge thinks an application for injunctive relief is without merit, the order will anyway be granted (lasting usually until the matter is resolved in a defended hearing) if the consequences of the act are irreversible and an award of damages would not be a remedy (such as demolishing a building, publishing something or euthanizing an animal).  Injunctive relief can however work in coordination with injunctive relief.  Adjunct relief is the term which describes a class of relief granted to a party in proceedings which is not the primary relief sought.  A typical example of adjunct relief is that in circumstances where the primary relief sought is the award of monetary damages, a plaintiff may also be awarded an injunction as a protection against future breaches.  In that sense,

The word adjunct is also used in contract law.  To be a legally correct contract which will be recognised and enforced by a court, it must contain a number of elements: (1) All parties must have the capacity to enter contracts and the purpose of the contract must be lawful, (2) An offer by one party, (3) Acceptance of the offer by another, (4) An intention between the parties that the agreement is intended to be legally binding, (5) Consideration (an exchange of value between the parties), (6) Certainty of terms which can extend only to acts which are not impossible.  Those principles are the same regardless of whether one is buying an apple at the market or a nuclear-powered aircraft-carrier but there can also be collateral contracts or adjunct clauses.

During her litigation phase, Lindsay Lohan became well-acquainted with the operation of the rules which apply when seeking injunctive relief.  In a brief few years, she sought injunctions against at least two stalkers (one said to be a Freemason), a company she claimed was basing on aspects of her life their "milkaholic" baby, a rap artist who mentioned her in his lyrics and a video game-maker she alleged had usurped her likeness for commercial purposes.  The courts granted relief against the stalkers but her record in seeking injunctive relief generally was patchy.

A collateral contract is a separate contract which exists only because the primary contract has been executed yet it remains separate from it although the two will tend usually to operate in parallel.  Typically, a collateral contract is formed between one party to the main contract and a third party and it arises because a one party has made a promise which has induced another to enter into the main contract.  Other circumstances can apply but the general principle is that a collateral contract relies upon the existence of a primary contract; the reverse does not apply.  If the main contract is breached, the injured party can seek remedies based on the collateral contract.  By contrast, an adjunct clause is a provision (which may only retrospectively be found by a court to be a clause) within the primary contract.  It’s thus not a separate contract and does not include the “essential terms” upon which the contract may stand or fall, adjunct clauses typically serving as a schedule of additional terms & conditions.  Importantly, if the subject of dispute, the violation of adjunct terms may attract some form of compensation or an order for specific performance but not an invalidation of the contract.

Cacography

Cacography (pronounced kuh-kog-ruh-fee)

(1) Bad handwriting; poor penmanship.

(2) Incorrect spelling.

1570–1580: The construct was caco- + -graphy and was presumably influenced by the Middle French cacographie.  The prefix caco- (used before a vowel as cac-) was a word-forming element meaning “bad, ill, poor” and was from the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek κακός (kakós) (bad) and while the origin is unknown, most etymologists conclude it was probably connected with primitive Indo-European root kakka- (to defecate), the implications of the connections obvious and often reflected in contemporary English (although there are some who suggest a pre-Greek origin).  The ancient Greek word was common in compounds; when added to words already bad, it made them worse; when added to words signifying something good, it often implied too little of it, thus applied as a measure of (1) quality: bad, worthless, useless, (2) appearance: ugly, hideous, (3) circumstances: injurious, wretched, unhappy & character: low, mean, vile, evil.  The Greek form may be compared with the Phrygian κακον (kakon) (harm) and the Albanian keq (bad).  The -graphy suffix was from the French -graphie, from the Latin -graphia, from the Ancient Greek -γραφία (-graphía), from γραφή (graphḗ) (writing, drawing, description).  It was used to create words describing (1) something written or otherwise represented in the specified manner, or about a specified subject & (2) a field of study.  The extinct alternative spelling was kakography.  Cacography & cacographer are nouns and cacographic & cacographical are adjectives; the noun plural is cacographies.

Cacographic: A fragment of the original draft of Karl Marx’s (1818-1883) Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie (Capital: A Critique of Political Economy (1867-1894)).  Marx’s writing was notoriously bad and for his drafts to be acceptable for publishers, they needed first to be re-written by his wife (Jenny von Westphalen (1814–1881)).  Given the drafts of Das Kapital ran to thousands of pages, she had quite a task.

The original sense developed in the sixteenth century and was a reference to poor spelling or punctuation, especially unintuitive spellings considered as a feature of a whole language or dialect.  The antonym was orthography but it must be noted that in the sixteenth century, spelling in English was far from standardized and regional differences were frequent and typically, cacographic texts were those where there were instances of inconsistencies (such as the one word being spelled in more than one way) or the spelling was such that unlike some other variations, the construct was inexplicable.  In the seventeenth century, the meaning extended to bad or illegible handwriting, the antonym being calligraphy, a word which has now come to mean “an intricate or stylized form of script”.  Thus, what might once have been described as cacographical would now variously be condemned as illegible, indecipherable (or the less common undecipherable), indistinct, scrawled, unclear or unreadable.  Sometimes, those with elegant handwriting can use techniques to make their text appear functionally cacographic.  Baldur von Schirach (1907-1974; head of the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) 1931-1940 & Gauleiter (district party leader) and Reichsstatthalter (Governor) of Vienna (1940-1945), when writing the material he had smuggled out of Spandau Prison where he was serving the 20 year sentence he was lucky to receive, wrote in English but in an old-style German script, his object being to make them hard for anyone else to read.

Calligraphic: Coming to attention first during one of her court appearances, there was genuine surprise Lindsay Lohan’s writing (left) was so neat.  It later transpired her style shared a characteristic with that of Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021): tending to write (right) on the diagonal.  Mr Trump prefers to write with a Sharpie (recommended also by Pippa Middleton (b 1983)) and a thick nib is one of the tricks used to lend elegance to one’s handwriting.    

Cacography is the antonym of both calligraphy and orthography which is something unusual in a language which even in the early days of Modern English rejoiced in coining new words to create something unique for every purpose so it may be a reflection of the manner in which, at the time, the content and appearance of a document were considered together; different aspects of the same thing.  The noun calligraphy (the art of beautiful writing, elegant penmanship) dates from the 1610s and was from the French calligraphie, from a Latinized form of the Ancient Greek καλλιγραφία (kalligraphía (literally “pretty writing”)), the construct being κάλλος (kállos) (beauty) + γράφω (gráphō) (to draw).  It was used to mean (1) the art or practice of writing letters and words in a decorative style; the letters and words so written, (2) any such style of decorative writing & (3) a document written in decorative style, the last meaning now the default; the advent of digital fonts and printing has meant the styles have become common although hand-written script is now rare.  Henry Watson Fowler (1858–1933) in A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) cautioned calligraphy should not be altered to caligraphy, noting Greek compounds were made wither with καλλι- (from κάλλος (beauty)) or κάλο- (from κάλος (beautiful)).  The choice thus was between “calligraphy” or “calography” and because the Greek compounds were in the form of καλλιγραφία etc, the former was obviously correct.  The noun orthography was from the mid fifteenth century ortographie & ortografie, (branch of knowledge concerned with correct or proper spelling), from the thirteenth century Old French ortografie, from the Latin orthographia, from the Ancient Greek orthographia (correct writing), the construct being orthos (correct (familiar in the suffix ortho-) + the root of graphein (to write).  The classical spelling was restored in English and French (orthographie) in the early sixteenth century while the meaning “branch of language study which treats of the nature and properties of letters” dates from the 1580s.  As an indication of how spelling used to be, in an early fifteenth century glossary, ortographia was defined as “ryght wrytynge” and that would have be just one of the ways “right writing” might have been written.

Amn't

Amn't (pronounced am-uhnt)

A non-standard (except in Irish & Scottish English) contraction of “am not”.

Circa 1600: Am is from the Middle English am & em, from the Old English eam & eom (am), from the Proto-Germanic immi & izmi (am) a form of the verb wesaną (to be; dwell), from the primitive Indo-European hiésmi (I am, I exist).  As a suffix, the contraction –n’t (not) negates the meaning of the clause in which it occurs (don’t, can’t et al).  In English, the suffix -n’t can be added only to auxiliary verbs (including dare and need in certain uses), as well as main verbs be (in almost all uses) and have (in some uses).  Indeed, in some dialects, not even all auxiliary verbs accept -n’t; for example, mayn’t is present in some dialects and absent in others.  Though verbs with -n’t are usually considered contractions of versions using the adverb not, grammatically they behave a bit differently; when subject and verb are inverted, "-n’t" remains attached to the verb, whereas "not" does not (compare: “Isn’t that difficult?” with “Is that not difficult?”)

Contractions

In English, other personal pronouns have two contracted forms that can be used in present-tense negative constructions, such as “we’re not” or “we aren’t”. The first person singular however has “I’m not” and “I amn’t” doesn’t exist.  That’s not wholly true because it’s long been in the dialectical English of Scotland and Ireland but it’s no longer part of Standard English because of shifts in pronunciation associated with a loss of favor generations ago.  Amn’t has a long history, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) citing an example from 1691, but it was almost certainly known earlier, it and many other shortened forms such as can’t, don’t and shan’t, seemingly arriving in the language circa 1600.  Amn’t however was never popular, most etymologists concluding there was some reluctance to “m” and “n” together in one syllable.  So, while centuries old, amn’t isn’t part of Standard English but is common in Ireland, used especially in colloquial speech though not limited to informal registers.  It’s also used in Scotland (alongside amnae and other variants) and, the OED notes, parts of northern England and the West Midlands with even the occasional instance in Wales.  How amn’t came to be so geographically limited is not clear.  Another variant, an’t, probably supplanted it in general usage, again because speakers wanted to avoid sounding an “n” immediately after a “m” so it was therefore a natural development to simplify the consonant cluster.  The final “t” made it more likely the simplification would go to “ant” rather than “amt”, and this is the form which emerged in eighteenth century texts, where it appears as an’t.

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

An’t (also spelt a’n’t), although said to be “phonetically natural and the philologically logical shortening”, fell from favour, but not before morphing in two significant ways. It gave rise to ain’t, famous in its own right for reasons good and bad and also began being spelt aren’t (by “orthographic analogy” in one etymologist’s memorable phrase), which is pronounced the same as an’t in non-rhotic accents.  This certainly explains “aren’t I” which would otherwise seem a grammatical anomaly and its irregularity does sometime offend the fastidious but it has become accepted in much of the English-speaking world.  In that sense, the Irish and Scottish dialects are the exception in retaining and favouring its ancestor, “amn’t I” which James Joyce (1882–1941) used in Ulysses (1922) and the younger Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) certainly liked it although, later in life, he would come to abhor just about every contraction.

Because it’s so rarely heard outside of Scotland & Ireland, the form amn’t has never been as controversial as ain't (often written as aint and occasionally variously as ain', a'n't, arn't, & ar'n't).  According to the authoritative Etymology Online, the first known appearance in print dates from 1706 (in the sense of “am not”) and that’s how it was used until early in the nineteenth century when in the Cockney dialect it began to be used as a generic contraction for “are not”, “is not” etc.  That was the downfall of “ain’t” as respectable English because it was picked up by authors wanting to spice their text with the flavour of “authentic working-class speech” and in class-conscious England, that was enough to see ain’t “banished from correct English” though one interesting outlier was noted in the Dictionary of Americanisms (1848): “hain't” for "have not" recorded as “A contraction much used in common conversation in New England.”  However, while “ain’t lacked the support of the genteel, in the idioms of popular culture, it flourished: “it ain’t necessarily so”, “if it ain't broke, don't fix it” & “you ain't seen nothing yet”.

Henry Fowler (1858–1933) in his A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) had no doubts about ain’t, condemning it as “… merely colloquial, and as used for isn’t is an uneducated blunder and serves no useful purpose.”  Writing a century-odd ago, Henry Fowler long predated cultural relativism but one does wonder, were he writing today, noting the place ain’t has since claimed in popular song and idiomatic use, he might have been more forgiving.  He was however sympathetic to ain’t as a handy substitute for “am not” and lamented amn’t remained trapped in its Gaelic silo, decrying the “… shamefaced reluctance” of the English to adopt the form which “…betrays the speakers sneaking fear that the colloquially respectable and indeed almost universal “aren’t I” is “bad grammar” and that “ain’t I” will convict him of low breeding.”

Slight

Slight (pronounced slahyt)

(1) Something small in amount, degree, etc.

(2) A small increase in something.

(3) Of little importance, influence, trivial.

(4) Slender or slim; not heavily built.

(5) Frail; flimsy; delicate; of little substance or strength.

(6) To treat as of little importance.

(7) A description of a form of deception or trickery, literal and metaphorical.

(8) To treat someone with indifference; ignore, especially pointedly or contemptuously; snub.

(9) To defame with a casual or off-hand comment; a pointed and contemptuous discourtesy; an affront.

1350-1400: From the Middle English slight (bad, of poor quality, unimportant, trivial, slender, slim, smooth, level), from the Old English sliht (smooth, level), derived from the Proto-Germanic slihtaz (smooth, plain, common).  Cognate with the Danish slet (bad, evil, poor, nasty, wrong), the Dutch slecht (bad), the Icelandic sléttur (even, smooth, level), the German schlecht (bad) & schlicht (plain, artless, natural), the Norwegian slett (even), the Low German slecht (bad) and the Swedish slät (smooth).  The early fourteen century sense of “flat, smooth” is thought to come from a Scandinavian source akin to the Old Norse slettr (smooth, sleek), derived from the Proto-Germanic slikhtaz (smooth).  It also mean “plain or common” as in the Old Saxon slicht, the Low German slicht and the Old English sliht (level) is documented as as eorðslihtes (level with the ground).  Related too are the Old Frisian sliucht (smooth, slight), the Middle Dutch sleht (even, plain) the Old High German sleht, the Gothic slaihts (smooth), all thought most likely ultimately derived from a collateral form of the primitive sleig (to smooth, glide, be muddy) from the root slei (slimy).

In the (sometimes) organic way of English, from the original meaning(s) “plain, smooth, common, level”, there emerged in the 1520s “small amount or weight” and, in the 1590s, the adjectival sense of “having little worth”.  The meaning "act of intentional neglect or ignoring out of displeasure or contempt" is from 1701, almost certainly from the seventeenth century phrase “to make a slight of”, first attested in 1608.  Interestingly, in German, schlecht likewise developed from "smooth, plain, simple" to "bad, mean, base," and as it did it was replaced in the original senses by schlicht, a back-formation from schlichten (to smooth, to plane), a derivative of schlecht in the old sense.  In English, the original meaning went extinct.  Slight, slightness & slighting are nouns, verbs & adjectives, slighten is a verb, slighted is an adjective & verb, slightful, slighty, slighter, slightest & slightish are adjectives and slightingly & slightly are adverbs; the noun plural is slights.

A slight Lindsay Lohan during her "thin phase", early in the third millennium.  Note the fine ribcage definition.

Slights: Boris on crooked Hillary Clinton and others

Few have managed so often to slight so many as former UK prime minister Boris Johnson (b 1964; UK prime-minister 2019-2022) and unusually, those best remembered tend to be where the victim was friend rather than foe.  It should be noted that when referring to Mr Johnson having friends, the word is used in a specific technical sense, vaguely similar to the form pioneered by Facebook.

Long before there was Crooked Hillary, there was Hillary Clinton (b 1947; US secretary of state 2009-2013) and she had been promised the Democratic Party nomination for the 2008 presidential election.  It had all been fixed up at head office "and the middle-class was quite prepared" but her 1990s style campaign fell apart.  Johnson had tried to help.  In November 2007, writing in his Daily Telegraph column, he endorsed Clinton as candidate, helpfully adding… “She's got dyed blonde hair and pouty lips, and a steely blue stare, like a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital."  “Clinton…” he continued, had done the job of First Lady like "…Lady Macbeth, stamping her heel, bawling out subordinates and frisbeeing ashtrays at her erring husband."  Actually, it was the husband (Bill Clinton (b 1946; US president 1993-2001)) he wanted back in the White House.  "For all who love America, it is time to think of supporting Hillary, not because we necessarily want her for herself but because we want Bill in the role of First Husband." he concluded.

Years later, in mid-2016, confident Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021) would never become president, Johnson said Trump was "clearly out of his mind" and his "ill-informed comments are complete and utter nonsense...", accusing him of "stupefying ignorance".  He finished by saying "…the only reason I wouldn't go to some parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump".

Another head-of-state slighted was Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (b 1954; prime-minister or president of the Republic of Türkiye since 2003).  Upset about the lawsuit brought by Mr Erdogan against a German comedian who recited a poem the president found insulting, the conservative weekly The Spectator ran a competition to find who could write the most offensive poem about the president.  Johnson won, his entry an ode to Mr Erdogan enjoying intimacy with a goat.  The president met Mr Johnson in 2016 during his brief stint as foreign secretary; the two seemed to get on well.

Slights can be avoided with a little luck.

World War II (1939-1945) veteran George HW Bush (1924–2018; US President (George XLI 1989-1993)) would have remembered Winston Churchill's (1875-1965; UK prime-minister 1940-1945 & 1951-1955) wartime "V for victory" sign and that’s the meaning the gesture gained in the US.  Unfortunately he wasn’t aware of the significance of "the forks" in the antipodes: when given with the palm facing inwards, it’s the equivalent to the upraised middle finger in the US.  On a state visit to Australia in 1992, while his motorcade was percolating through Canberra, he made the sign to some locals lining the road.  What might have been thought a slight worked out well, the crowd lining the road cheering the gesture which must have been encouraging.  That same day, the president gave a speech advocating stronger efforts “to foster greater understanding” between the American and Australian cultures. The Lakeland Ledger, reporting his latest gaffe, wrote, “...wearing mittens when abroad would be a beginning”.