Boomerang (pronounced boo-muh-rang)
(1) A bent or curved piece of tough wood used by some of
the Indigenous peoples of Australian as a throwing stick (and for other
purposes), one form of which can be thrown so as to return to the thrower. Such throwing sticks have also been found in archaeological
digs in other places.
(2) Based on the use Indigenous peoples of Australia, an
object in the shape of a flat curved air-foil that spins about an axis
perpendicular to the direction of flight, used for various purposes including
sport, training and aeronautical purposes.
(3) In design, anything using the boomerang shape (not
always symmetrically)
(4) Something which in flight assumes the shape of a boomerang,
such as the “boomerang kick” in certain football codes.
(5) In theatre and other stage environments, a mobile
platform (mobile and height-adjustable) used for setting or painting scenery.
(6) In theatre and other stage environments, a batten,
usually suspended vertically in the wings, used for mounting lighting units.
(7) In theatre and other stage environments, a device for
changing the color of a follow-spot(light).
(8) In psychology, as “boomerang effect”, a strong
opposing response caused by attempts to restrict a person's freedom or change
their attitudes.
(9) In pathology, as “boomerang dysplasia”, a lethal
osteochondrodysplasia in which the bones of the arms and legs are congenitally
malformed into the shape of a boomerang.
(10) In air force (originally Royal Air Force (RAF))
slang, the early return of an aircraft from an aborted mission, often attributer
to mechanical or other technical problems.
(11) A cocktail made with rye whiskey and Swedish punsch.
(12) Figuratively, something or someone which come backs
or returns (as the boomerang behaves when correctly thrown) and when applied to
people used especially of those who habitually return (often as “serial
boomeranger”).
(13) Something (physical and otherwise, such as a scheme,
statement or argument) which causes harm to the originator (the idea of a “rebound”
or “backfire”).
(14) The action of coming back, returning or backfiring:
1827: From būmariny
(missile weapon used by Aborigines), the recorded phonetic form of a word in one
of the now extinct languages spoken by the Dharuk people native to an area in
New South Wales now known to geographers as the Sydent basin. A word pronounced as wo-mur-rang was noted in NSW in 1798 which may have been related but
there’s no documentary evidence. Boomerang
is a noun & verb; boomeranger is a noun, boomeranged & boomeranging are
verbs, the noun plural is boomerangs.
Benson Microfibre Boomerang Pillow. The manufacturers
claim the shape is adaptable to all sleeping positions and provides additional
support for joints and relieves pressure points. It’s also ideal for reading, tablet or laptop
use in bed.
The verb use in the sense of “throw a boomerang” seems to have come
into use in the 1800s while the figurative sense of “fly back or return to a starting
point” was in use by the early twentieth century. A “boomerang baby”, “boomerang child” or boomerang
kid” is one who returns to live in the family home after a period of
independent living and known collective as the “boomerang generation”, the phenomenon
noted in many countries and associated with financial distress, related
especially to the cost of housing.
Indigenous Australian boomerangs from the collections of the Australian National Museum: In pigmented wood (left), a hooked, "number 7" by Yanipiyarti Ned Cox (centre) and with carving of horse and cow (right).
For the Indigenous (Aboriginal) peoples of Australia, the
boomerang is as old as creation and since white settlement it has become also a
symbol of the enduring strength of Aboriginal culture. Although no written form of language (in the structured
sense used elsewhere) evolved among them, an oral tradition now known “the Dreaming”
(apparently no longer “Dreamtime”) extends from the past into the present. In
the Dreaming, many of the physical formations of the (lakes, rivers, rock
structures, mountains etc) were created when Ancestors threw boomerangs and
spears into the earth. Although the
boomerang of the popular imagination is the familiar chevron shape, during the
nineteenth century almost 300 language groups were identified by anthropologists
and the construction of boomerangs varied, the divergences dictated mostly by
the prevailing environment: Larger, heavier boomerangs were associated with inland
and desert people while the lighter versions were thrown by coastal and
high-country inhabitants. Despite the
perceptions, most were of the non-returning variety and were used as hunting weapons
for the killing of birds and game including emu, kangaroo and other marsupials.
Not only was the boomerang a direct-impact
device but the technique was also noted of a hunter making a boomerang ricochet
off the ground to achieve an ideal angle.
The early observers recorded in skilled hands (and over thousands of years
those skills would have been well-honed) the boomerang could be effective when hunting
prey at a range up to 100 yards (90 m).
Back To Me (Cavalier's Boomerang Club Mix, 2020) by Lindsay Lohan.
Combination tactics were also observed. When hunting for birds, a returning boomerang
might be thrown above a flock of ducks to simulate the effect of a hovering bird
of prey, inducing fright which would make the birds fly into nets set up in
their flight path or, if within range, a hunter could cast a non-returning
boomerang in the hope of a strike. A
special application and one which relied on a design with none of the famous aerodynamic
properties was in the harvesting of fish, heavy boomerangs effective killing
weapons of in areas of high tidal variation where fish became trapped in rock
pools. They were also Battle-weapons, used
both to throw from some distance and in close combat, the types seen including small,
hand-held “fighting sticks” device and some even two yards (1.8 m) in length. Remarkably, the much the same implements served
also as digging sticks used to forage for root and could be used to make fire,
the familiar idea of “rubbing sticks together”.
Although these practical may have declined in significance as Western
technology has been absorbed, boomerangs remain a prominent feature in Aboriginal
dance and music.
Since the techniques developed for the shaping of Perspex
and other plastics were (more or less) perfected during World War II
(1939-1945), they’ve been widely adopted in industrial mass-production, for
better and worse. One thing made
possible was boomerang-shaped taillights on cars which for years were about the
most avant-garde of their type although of late, designers have been unable to
resist the contortions and complexity made possible by the use of LEDs (light
emitting diode). Some critics insist the
“boomerang” tag should be applied only to something in the shale of the “classic”
boomerang and that anything asymmetric is properly a “hockey stick” but most
seem content with the label.
Top row, left to right: 1969 Pontiac Bonneville, 1970
Hillman Avenger and 1967 Plymouth Barracuda. Those which point "up" probably work better than those pointing "down" because the latter imposes a "droopiness".
Middle row, left to right: 1967 Chrysler Valiant VE
Safari (Wagon), 1967 Chrysler Valiant VE Sedan and 1962 Pontiac
Bonneville. Strangely, although the
sedan and wagon versions of the VE Valiant both used the boomerang shape, the
moldings were different.
Bottom row, left to right: 1958 Edsel Bermuda station
wagon, 1960 Chrysler New Yorker and 1975 Mazda RX-5. The Edsel's tail lights worked as indicators
and because the boomerang shape had link with the detailing on the rear quarter
panels, when flashing, they actually "point" in the direction
opposite to which the car is turning. It
was a harbinger of the Edsel's fate.
Louis Vuitton’s Fall 2014 campaign shoot with 1972 Maserati Boomerang, Giardini della Biennale, Venice.
The photo-shoot for Louis Vuitton’s Fall 2014 campaign at
Venice’s Giardini della Biennale featured the 1972 Maserati Boomerang concept
car. Coordinated by Nicolas Ghesquière
(b 1971; LV's women's creative director since 2013) and shot by German
photographer Juergen Teller (b 1964), it was a rare appearance of the Boomerang
which, designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro (b 1938), had first appeared at the Turin
Motor Show as a static mock-up in Epowood (a versatile epoxy used for forming
shapes) before being engineered as a fully-finished and working vehicle, built
on the underpinnings of a Maserati Bora (1971-1978). In that configuration it was displayed at the
1972 Geneva show where it was understood as one of the “high-speed wedges” of an
era which included the original Lancia Stratos, the Lotus Esprit and, most influentially
of all, the Lamborghini Countach, the cluster defining the template around
which exotic machines would for decades be built, the design motif still
apparent in today’s hypercars.
Eye-catching from the outside, the interior also fascinated with a steering
wheel and gauge cluster built as a single console emerging from a distant
dashboard, the wheel rotating as the gauges remained stationary.
1972 Maserati Boomerang by Giorgetto Giugiaro.
It was Italdesign, founded by Giorgetto Giugiaro which
designed the Maserati 3200 GT (Tipo 338; 1998-2002), a car which, although not
exciting in a way many of the marque’s earlier models had been, was an
important element in the establishing Maserati’s twenty-first century reputation
for functionalism and quality.
Importantly, although in production for only four of the transitional
years during which ownership of the brand passed from Fiat to Ferrari and the
solid underpinnings would be the basis for the succeeding Coupé and Spyder (4200
GT, Tipo M138; 2001-2007).
Maserati 3200 GT (left) and 1973 Dino 246 GTS (C&F) by Ferrari. Round lights are better than other shapes.
It was on the 3200 GT that Italdesign used tail-lights in
the shape of a boomerang, much comment upon at the time but also a landmark in
that they were the first production car to be sold with taillights which were
an assembly of LEDs, the outer layer the brake lights, the inner the directional
indicators (flashers). Following the
contours of the bodywork and integrated with the truck (boot) lid, they were the
most memorable feature on what was otherwise an inoffensive but bland execution
which could have come from any factory in the Far East. They generated much publicity but it’s hard
to argue they’re better looking than the classic four round lenses known from many
of the best Italians. Like architects,
designers seem often drawn to something new and ugly rather than old yet timeless,
the former more likely to attract the awards those in these professions award
one-another.
Northrop YB-49 in flight, California, 1952.
The aerodynamic properties of the “flying wing” have long
intrigued aircraft designers. The USAF
(United State Air Force) even contemplated putting into production on of Northrop’s
design but in the mid-1940s, needing a delivery system for its nuclear bombs
which was a known, reliable quantity, opted instead for the Convair B-36 which
they acknowledged was obsolescent but would provide a serviceable stop-gap until
wings of the upcoming Boeing B-52 could be formed. That doubtlessly was the correct decision and
in the decades since, neither a military or civilian case has been made for the
“flying wings”, the machines which have entered service really variations on
the proven delta-wing concept but the big Northrop YB-49 & XB-35 possessed
an undeniable beauty and it’s a shame all were scraped by 1953. The air force personnel actually preferred to
call them “bat bombers”.