Reduction

Reduction (pronounced ri-duhk-shuhn)

(1) The act of reducing or the state of being reduced.

(2) The amount by which something is reduced or diminished.

(3) The form (result) produced by reducing a copy on a smaller scale (including smaller scale copies).

(4) In cell biology, as meiosis, especially the first meiotic cell division in which the chromosome number is reduced by half.

(5) In chemistry, the process or result of reducing (a reaction in which electrons are gained and valence is reduced; often by the removal of oxygen or the addition of hydrogen).

(6) In film production when using physical film stock (celluloid and such), the process of making a print of a narrower gauge from a print of a wider gauge (historically from 35 to 16 mm).

(7) In music, a simplified form, typically an arrangement for a smaller number of parties  such as an orchestral score arranged for a solo instrument.

(8) In computability theory, a transformation of one problem into another problem, such as mapping reduction or polynomial reduction.

(9) In philosophy (notably in phenomenology), a process intended to reveal the objects of consciousness as pure phenomena.

(10) In metalworking, the ratio of a material's change in thickness compared to its thickness prior to forging and/or rolling.

(11) In engineering, (usually as “reduction gear”), a means of energy transmission in which the original speed is reduced to whatever is suitable for the intended application.

(12) In surgery, a procedure to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment, usually with a closed approach but sometimes with an open approach.

(13) In mathematics, the process of converting a fraction into its decimal form or the rewriting of an expression into a simpler form.

(14) In cooking, the process of rapidly boiling a sauce to concentrate it.

(15) During the colonial period, a village or settlement of Indians in South America established and governed by Spanish Jesuit missionaries.

1475–1485: From the Middle English reduccion, from the earlier reduccion, from the Middle French reduction, from the Latin reductiōnem & reductiōn- (stem of reductiō (a “bringing back”)) the construct being reduct(us) (past participle of redūcere (to lead back) + -iōn- (the noun suffix).  The construct in English was thus reduc(e), -ion.  Reduce was from the Middle English reducen, from the Old French reduire, from the Latin redūcō (reduce), the construct being re- (back) + dūcō (lead).  The –ion suffix was from the Middle English -ioun, from the Old French -ion, from the Latin -iō (genitive -iōnis).  It was appended to a perfect passive participle to form a noun of action or process, or the result of an action or process.  Reduction, reductivism, reductionistic & reductionism are nouns, reductionist is a noun & adjective, reductional & reductive are adjectives; the noun plural is reductions.  Forms like anti-reduction, non-reduction, over-reduction, pre-reduction, post-reduction, pro-reduction, self-reduction have been created as required.

Actor Ariel Winter (b 1998), before (left) and after (right) mammaplasty (breast reduction).  Never has satisfactorily it been explained why this procedure seems to be lawful in all jurisdictions.

In philosophy & science, reductionism is an approach used to explain complex phenomena by reducing them to their simpler, more fundamental components.  It posits that understanding the parts of a system and their interactions can provide a complete explanation of the system as a whole an approach which is functional and valuable is some cases and to varying degrees inadequate in others.  The three generally recognized classes of reductionism are (1) Ontological Reductionism, the idea that reality is composed of a small number of basic entities or substances, best illustrated in biology where life processes are explained by reducing things to the molecular level.  (2) Methodological Reductionism, an approach which advocates studying systems by breaking into their constituent parts, much used in psychology where it might involve studying human behavior by examining neurological processes.  (3) Theory Reductionism which involves explaining a theory or phenomenon in one field by the principles of another, more fundamental field as when chemistry is reduced to the physics or chemical properties explained by the operation of quantum mechanics.  Reduction has been an invaluable component in many of the advances in achieved in science in the last two-hundred-odd years and some of the process and mechanics of reductionism have actually been made possible by some of those advances.  The criticism of an over-reliance on reductionism in certain fields in that its very utility can lead to the importance of higher-level structures and interactions being overlooked; there is much which can’t fully be explained by the individual parts or even their interaction.  The diametric opposite of reductionism is holism which emphasizes the importance of whole systems and their properties that emerge from the interactions between parts.  In philosophy, reductionism is the position which holds a system of any level of complexity is nothing but the sum of its parts and an account of it can thus be reduced to accounts of individual constituents.  It’s very much a theoretical model to be used as appropriate rather than an absolutist doctrine but it does hold that phenomena can be explained completely in terms of relations between other more fundamental phenomena: epiphenomena.  A reductionist is either (1) an advocate of reductionism or (2) one who practices reductionism.

Reductionism: Lindsay Lohan during "thin phase".

The adjective reductive has a special meaning in Scots law pertaining to reduction of a decree or other legal device (ie something rescissory in its effect); dating from the sixteenth century, it’s now rarely invoked.  In the sense of “causing the physical reduction or diminution of something” it’s been in use since the seventeenth century in fields including chemistry, metallurgy, biology & economics, always to convey the idea of reduces a substance, object or some abstract quantum to a lesser, simplified or less elaborated form.  At that time, it came to be used also to mean “that can be derived from, or referred back to; something else” and although archaic by the early 1800s, it existence in historic texts can be misleading.  It wasn’t until after World War II (1939-1945) that reductive emerged as a derogatory term, used to suggest an argument, issue or explanation has been “reduced” to a level of such simplicity that so much has been lost as to rob things of meaning.  The phrase “reductio ad absurdum” (reduction to the absurd) is an un-adapted borrowing from the Latin reductiō ad absurdum, and began in mathematics, logic (where it was a useful tool in deriving proofs in fields like).  In wider use, it has come to be used of a method of disproving a statement by assuming the statement is true and, with that assumption, arriving at a blatant contradiction; the synonyms are apagoge & “proof by contradiction”.

Single-family houses (D-Zug) built in 1922 on the principle of architectural reductionism by Heinrich Tessenow in collaboration with Austrian architect Franz Schuster (1892–1972), Moritzburger Weg 19-39 (the former Pillnitzer Weg), Gartenstadt Hellerau, Dresden, Germany.

As a noun, a reductivist is one who advocates or adheres to the principles of reductionism or reductivism.  In art & architecture (and some aspects of engineering) this can be synonymous with the label “a minimalist” (one who practices minimalism).  As an adjective, reductivist (the comparative “more reductivist”, the superlative “most reductivist”) means (1) tending to reduce to a minimum or to simplify in an extreme way and (2) belonging to the reductivism movement in art or music.  The notion of “extreme simplification” (a reduction to a minimum; the use of the fewest essentials) has always appealed some and appalled others attracted to intricacy and complexity.  The German architect Professor Heinrich Tessenow (1876-1950) summed it up in the phrase for which he’s remembered more than his buildings: “The simplest form is not always the best, but the best is always simple.”, one of those epigrams which may not reveal a universal truth but is probably a useful thing to remind students of this and that lest they be seduced by the process and lose sight of the goal.  Tessenow was expanding on the principle of Occam's Razor (the reductionist philosophic position attributed to English Franciscan friar & theologian William of Ockham (circa 1288–1347) written usually as Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem (literally "Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity" which translates best as “the simplest solution is usually the best”.

Reductio in extrema

1960 Lotus Elite Series 1 (left) and at the Le Mans 24 Hour endurance classic, June 1959 (left) Lotus Elite #41 leads Ferrari 250TR #14. The Ferrari (DNF) retired after overheating, the Elite finishing eighth overall, winning the 1.5 litre GT class.

Weighing a mere 500-odd kg (1100 lb), the early versions of the exquisite Lotus Elite (1957-1963) enchanted most who drove it but the extent of the reductionism compromised the structural integrity and things sometimes broke when used under everyday conditions which of course includes potholed roads.  Introduced late in 1961 the Series 2 Elite greatly improved this but some residual fragility was inherent to the design.  On the smooth surfaces of racing circuits however, it enjoyed an illustrious career, notable especially for success in long-distance events at the Nürburgring and Le Mans.  The combination of light weight and advanced aerodynamics meant the surprisingly powerful engine (a lightweight and robust unit which began life powering the water pumps of fire engines!) delivered outstanding performance, frugal fuel consumption and low tyre wear.  As well as claiming five class trophies in the Le Mans 24 hour race, the Elite twice won the mysterious Indice de performance (an index of thermal efficiency), a curious piece of mathematics actually intended to ensure, regardless of other results, a French car would always win something.

Colin Chapman (1928–1982), who in 1952 founded Lotus Cars, applied reductionism even to the Tessenow mantra in his design philosophy: “Simplify, then add lightness.”  Whether at the drawing board, on the factory floor or on the racetrack, Chapman seldom deviated from his rule and while it lent his cars sparking performance and delightful characteristics, more than one of the early models displayed an infamous fragility.  Chapman died of a heart attack which was a good career move, given the likely legal consequences of his involvement with John DeLorean (1925–2005) and the curious financial arrangements made with OPM (other people's money) during the strange episode which was the tale of the DMC DeLorean gullwing coupé.

1929 Mercedes-Benz SSKL blueprint (recreation, left) and the SSKL “streamliner”, AVUS, Berlin, May 1932 (right).

The Mercedes-Benz SSKL was one of the last of the road cars which could win top-line grand prix races.  An evolution of the earlier S, SS and SSK, the SSKL (Super Sports Kurz (short) Leicht (light)) was notable for the extensive drilling of its chassis frame to the point where it was compared to Swiss cheese; reducing weight with no loss of strength.  The SSK had enjoyed success in competition but even in its heyday was in some ways antiquated and although powerful, was very heavy, thus the expedient of the chassis-drilling intended to make it competitive for another season.  Lighter (which didn't solve but at least to a degree ameliorated the high tyre wear) and easier to handle than the SSK (although the higher speed brought its own problems, notably in braking), the SSKL enjoyed a long Indian summer and even on tighter circuits where its bulk meant it could be out-manoeuvred, sometimes it still prevailed by virtue of sheer power.  By 1932 however the engine’s potential had been reached and no more metal could be removed from the structure without dangerously compromising safety; in engineering (and other fields), there is a point at which further reduction becomes at least counter-productive and often dangerouw.  The solution was an early exercise in aerodynamics (“streamlining” the then fashionable term), an aluminium skin prepared for the 1932 race held on Berlin’s AVUS (Automobil-Versuchs und Übungsstraße (automobile traffic and practice road)).  The reduction in air-resistance permitted the thing to touch 255 km/h (158 mph), some 20 km/h (12 mph) more than a standard SSLK, an increase the engineers calculated would otherwise have demanded another (unobtainable) 120 horsepower.  The extra speed was most useful at the unique AVUS which comprised two straights (each almost six miles (ten kilometres) in length) linked by two hairpin curves, one a dramatic banked turn.  The SSKL was the last of the breed, the factory’s subsequent Grand Prix machines all specialized racing cars.

Reduction gears: Known casually as "speed reducers", reduction gears are widely used in just about every type of motor and many other mechanical devices.  What they do is allow the energy of a rotating shaft to be transferred to another shaft running at a reduced speed (achieved usually by the use of gears (cogs) of different diameters.

In chemistry, a reduction is the process or result of reducing (a reaction in which electrons are gained and valence is reduced; often by the removal of oxygen or the addition of hydrogen) and as an example, if an iron atom (valence +3) gains an electron, the valence decreases to +2.  Linguistically, it’s obviously counterintuitive to imagine a “reduced atom” is one which gains rather than loses electrons but the term in this context dates from the early days of modern chemistry, where reduction (and its counterpart: “oxidation”) were created to describe reactions in which one substance lost an oxygen atom and the other substance gained it.   In a reaction such as that between two molecules of hydrogen (2H₂)and one of oxygen (O₂) combining to produce two molecules of water (2H₂O), the hydrogen atoms have gained oxygen atoms and were said to have become “oxidized,” while the oxygen atoms have “lost them” by attaching themselves to the hydrogens, and were thus “reduced”.  Chemically however, in the process of gaining an oxygen atom, the hydrogen atoms have had to give up their electrons and share them with the oxygen atoms, while the oxygen atoms have gained electrons, thus the seeming paradox that the “reduced” oxygen has in fact gained something, namely electrons.

Secretary of Defence the younger (left) and elder (right).  Donald Rumsfeld (left) with Gerald Ford (1913–2006; US president 1974-1977) and George W Bush (George XLIII, b 1946; US president 2001-2009).

Donald Rumsfeld (1932–2021; US Secretary of Defense 1975-1977 & 2001-2006) may or may not have been evil but his mind could sparkle and his marvellously reductionist principles can be helpful.  His classification of knowledge was often derided but it remains a useful framework:

(1) Known unknowns.
(2) Known knowns.
(3) Unknown unknowns.
(4) (most intriguingly) Unknown knowns.

A expert reductionist, he reminded us also there are only three possible answers to any question and while there's a cultural reluctance to say “don’t know”, sometimes it is best:

(1) I know and I’m going to tell you.
(2) I know and I’m not going to tell you.
(3) Don’t know.

While (1) known unknowns, (2) known knowns and (3) unknown unknowns are self-explanatory, examples of (4) unknown knowns are of interest and a classic one was the first “modern” submarine, developed by the Germans during the last months of World War II (1939-1945).

German Type XII Elektroboot (1945).

In World War II, the course of the war could have been very different had OKM (Oberkommando der Marine (the Kriegsmarine's (German Navy) high command)) followed the advice of the commander of the submarines and made available a fleet of 300 rather than building a surface fleet which wasn’t large enough to be a strategic threat but of sufficient size to absorb resources which, if devoted to submarines, could have been militarily effective.  With a fleet of 300, it would have been possible permanently to maintain around 100 at sea but at the outbreak of hostilities, only 57 active boats were on the navy’s list, not all of which were suitable for operations on the high seas so in the early days of the conflict, it was rare for the Germans to have more than 12 committed to battle in the Atlantic.  Production never reached the levels necessary for the numbers to achieve critical mass but even so, in the first two-three years of the war the losses sustained by the British were considerable and the “U-Boat menace” was such a threat that much attention was devoted to counter-measures and by 1943 the Allies could consider the battle of the Atlantic won.  The Germans’ other mistake was not building a true submarine capable of operating underwater (and therefore undetected) for days at a time.

It was only in 1945 when Albert Speer (1905–1981; Nazi court architect 1934-1942; Nazi minister of armaments and war production 1942-1945) and Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz (1891–1980; head of the German Navy 1943-1945, German head of state 1945) were assessing the “revolutionary” new design that they concluded there was no reason why such craft couldn’t have been built in the late 1930s because the engineering capacity and technology existed even then (although the industrial and labor resources did not).  It was a classic case of what Donald Rumsfeld (1932–2021: US defense secretary 1975-1977 & 2001-2006) would later call an “unknown known”: The Germans in 1939 knew how to build a modern submarine but didn’t “know that they knew”.  Despite the improvements however, military analysts have concluded that even if deployed in numbers, such was the strength of forces arrayed against Nazi Germany that by 1945, not even such a force could have been enough to turn the tide of war.  However, had the German navy in 1939-1940 had available a fleet of even 100 such submarines (about a third what OKM (Oberkommando der Marine (the Kriegsmarine's (German Navy) high command) calculated was the critical strategic size given at any point only a third would be at sea with the others either in transit or docked), the battle in the Atlantic would have been much more difficult for the British.

Mr Rumsfeld however neglected to mention another class of knowledge: the “lost known”, examples of which have from time-to-time appeared and there may be more still to be discovered.  The best known were associated with the knowledge lost after the fall in the fifth century of the Western Roman Empire when Europe entered the early medieval period, once popularly known as the “Dark Ages”.  The lost knowns included aspects of optics such as lens grinding and the orthodoxy long was the knowledge was not “re-discovered” or “re-invented” until perfected in Italy during the late thirteenth century although it’s now understood that in the Islamic world lens continued during the late Medieval period to be ground and it’s suspected it was from Arabic texts the information reached Europe.

What really was a lost known was how the Romans of Antiquity made their long-lasting opus caementicium (concrete) so famously “sticky” and resistant to the effects of salt water.  Unlike modern concrete, made using Portland cement & water, Roman concrete was a mix of volcanic ash & lime, mixed with seawater, the later ingredient inducing a chemical reaction creating a substance stronger and more durable.  When combined with volcanic rocks, it formed mineral crystalline structures called aluminum tobermorite which lent the mix great strength and resistance to cracking.  After the fall of Rome, the knowledge was lost and even when a tablet was discovered listing the mix ratios, caementicium couldn’t be replicated because the recipe spoke only of “water” and not “sea water”, presumably because that was common knowledge.  It was only modern techniques of analysis which allowed the “lost known” to again become a “known known”.

Vantage

Vantage (pronounced van-tij or vahn-tij)

(1) A position, condition, or place affording some advantage or a commanding view, expressed usually as "vantage point".

(2) An advantage or superiority (almost obsolete except when used by Aston-Martin).

(3) In lawn tennis, short for advantage, a "vantage game" the first game played after the set is deuce (40-40) (now thought rare as deliberate use but "advantage" is often heard that way although some umpires may well prefer the clipping).

1250-1300: From the Middle English, from the Anglo-French, by apheresis from the Old French avantage (advantage or profit).  The English advantage was from the early fourteenth century Middle English avantage & avauntage (position of being in advance of another), from the twelfth century Old French avantage (advantage, profit; superiority), from avant (before), either via an unrecorded Late or Medieval Latin abantaticum or from the Latin abante (in front; before), from the primitive Indo-European root ant (front, forehead).  The spelling with a "d" was one of those mistakes which endured to become "correct English", the “a-”, being supposed to be from the Latin ad-(from the preposition ad (to, towards), from the Proto-Italic ad, from the primitive Indo-European héd (near, at).  The meaning “any condition favorable to success, a favoring circumstance” (ie the opposite of “a disadvantage”) emerged in the late fifteenth century while the use in the scoring in tennis is documented from the 1640s.  The familiar modern phrase take advantage of was in used by the late fourteenth century in the sense of (“avail oneself of” & “impose oneself upon” while the meaning “to have the advantage of (someone) (ie have superiority over) dates from the 1560s.  The phrase "vantage point" was first noted in 1865, a variation of the earlier "vantage ground" which was in military & hunting use by the early seventeenth century.  The early English alternative vauntage, soon faded from use and the derived forms, vantages (third-person singular simple present) vantaging (present participle) and vantaged (simple past and past participle) are now wholly obsolete. Vantahe is a noun & verb; the noun plural is vantages.

The phrase “coigne of vantage” (a good position for observation, judgment, criticism, action etc) was from Act 1, Scene 6 in William Shakespeare’s (1564–1616) Macbeth (circa 1605) in which King Duncan and his cohort ride up to Macbeth's castle.

DUNCAN

This castle hath a pleasant seat. The air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses.

BANQUO

This guest of summer,
The temple-haunting martlet, does approve,
By his loved mansionry, that the heaven’s breath
Smells wooingly here. No jutty, frieze,
Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird
Hath made his pendant bed and procreant cradle.
Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed,
The air is delicate.

Coigne was a variant of quoin, from coin and has been used variously to mean (1) a projecting corner or angle; a cornerstone, (2) the keystone of an arch, (3) a wedge used in typesetting, (4) in crystallography, a corner of a crystal formed by the intersection of three or more faces at a point and (5) in geology, an original angular elevation of land around which continental growth has taken place.

Vantage points: Traditionally, the best way to secure a vantage point is to seek a degree of elevation to achieve the desired "line of sight" (Lindsay Lohan (photo shoot for Vogue (Spanish edition) August 2009, left) but the functionality of just about any spot can usually be enhanced by the use of a telescope, binoculars, opera glasses of any appropriate form of magnification (Kim Jong-un (Kim III, b 1982; Supreme Leader of DPRK (North Korea) since 2011, right).

DB2 Vantage DHC

The word Vantage was first used by Aston Martin in 1950 on the DB2.  The title indicated an uprated engine specification: a pair of larger carburetors and a higher compression ratio which added 20bhp to the standard DB2’s 105.  Almost 250 were built with both saloon (AM’s term for a two door coupé) and drophead coupé (DHC, the term then often used by English manufacturers to refer to "formal convertibles (which some call cabriolets)" (as opposed to the more performance-oriented roadsters)) coachwork.

DB4 Vantage Saloon

Strangely, although the Vantage moniker caught on with aficionados, it wouldn’t be again used by the factory for almost a decade.  The DB4 Vantage was released with the Series IV cars in 1961, now with triple carburetors and a higher compression ratio, the cylinder head was also revised with bigger valves, the package yielding 266bhp, some ten per cent more than a standard DB4.  The Vantage this time was visibly distinct as well as technically upgraded, gaining the faired-in headlights and bright aluminum trim from the earlier DB4 GT.

DB5 Vantage Saloon

While mechanically almost identical to the Series IV, the more spacious Series V Vantage of 1962, the last in the DB4 line, was stylistically different, being essentially a prototype for the upcoming DB5.  The two are virtually indistinguishable; indeed one Series V DB4 Vantage was used alongside a DB5 in the filming of the James Bond film Goldfinger (1964).  Of the 141 built, the rarest and most desirable were the half-dozen with the optional DB4 GT engine.

DB5 Vantage DHC

The Vantage option remained on the books when the DB5 was released in 1965.  Now with triple Weber carburetors, the factory rated the Vantage at 325bhp, a jump of 40 over the standard engine and only 68 of the 887 saloons were built to the Vantage specification.  More rare still was the DB5 Vantage convertible, a mere eight of the 123 built although, over the decades, a great many of both have be upgraded to the Vantage standard.

DB6 Vantage Saloon

Introduced in 1965 and made in two series, the now Kham-tailed DB6 remained in production until 1970.  The DB6 Vantage was mechanically identical to its predecessor but there were detail changes.  Retained was the Vantage badge introduced with the DB5, but the nomenclature was now added as a discreet script on the side strakes and much attention was devoted to improving passenger comfort.  At this point, while coupés continued to be labelled saloons, convertibles were now styled Volantes (a derivation of the Italian word for "flying").  Spread between two series, out of a total DB6 production of 1739, 405 Saloons and 42 Vantage Volantes were built.

DBS Vantage Saloon

By the mid 1960s, the market in which Aston Martin competed, although larger, was more contested than even a decade earlier.  As early as 1961, Jaguar’s E-Type had, at a fraction of the cost, matched the DBs in style and performance, if not quality and their V12 project was known to be well-advanced.  The Italian thoroughbreds, Ferrari, Maserati and Lamboghini, all with eight and twelve cylinder engines, were setting new standards and there was now an array of trans-Atlantic hybrids which combined exquisite European coachwork with cheap, effortless and reliableAmerican V8 power.  Aston Martin’s six cylinder engine, Vantage tweaked or not, was starting to look technologically bankrupt.  Accordingly, the factory developed both a new car, the DBS, and their own V8.  For a variety of reasons, the V8 wasn’t ready by the time the DBS, a typical Aston Martin mix of traditional and modern, was released in 1967 so the familiar six, again available in Standard or Vantage form was carried over from the DB6 although, to counter increased weight, the Vantage version boasted revised camshafts.

Vantage Saloon

The DBS and DB6 were produced in parallel until 1970, the last few DB6s built after the DBS V8’s release the previous year.  The last of the six cylinder DBSs came in a run of seventy named simply Vantage, all with the revised twin-headlight coachwork introduced in 1972 which would serve the line essentially unchanged until 1989.  Historically, the final seventy were then a unique anomaly, the first time a Vantage was not the most but the company's least potent offering.  After the last was built in 1973, there would not for twenty years be another six-cylinder Aston Martin.

V8 Vantage Volante

That historical quirk was certainly rectified after the Vantage’s half-decade hiatus, during which the first oil crisis of the early 1970s had transformed the market.  Most of the trans-Atlantic hybrids had been driven extinct, Jaguar had moved in a different direction, Mercedes-Benz had chosen not to compete, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and Maserati all had their own brushes with bankruptcy, Porsche were moving up-market to become a competitor and governments were imposing more and more regulations.  The 1977 Aston Martin Vantage took a different approach to the mid-engined Italian or turbo-charged German opposition.  Although there was much attention to aerodynamics and chassis dynamics, mostly it was about simple brute force, the additional power over the standard V8 gained by the traditional methods used in Vantages past and it proved effective, able to run with the Lamborghini Countach, the Ferrari BB and even the Porsche 911 Turbo of the time.  This time, the factory didn’t release a claimed power output, describing it instead as “adequate”.  Introduced in 1969, by the time production ended in 1989, the V8 range was regarded as "a glorious anachronism".

V8 Vantage Zagato Saloon

The Vantage, as both saloon and volante, remained in production until 1989 and served as the basis of the shorter, radical, and very rare, V8 Vantage Zagato coupé & convertible (presumably in deference to the Italian contribution, the tags "saloon" & "volante" were never used).  Zagato's coachwork during the 1950s had been sometimes quirky (the double-bubble roof a signature) but they tended to the orthodoxy of the era, exemplified by the DB4 GT Zagato coupé, twenty of which were built between 1960-1963.  As the century unfolded however, Zagato's lines became increasingly rectilinear and "interestingly unique" were sometimes described as "not conventionally beautiful" and the Vantage Zagato (1986-1990) was one of the less confronting.  Still, Zatago survives to this day while many European coachbuilders did not and the business has been in continuous operation since 1919, some half-dozen years after the formation of Aston Martin.

Virage Vantage V550 Saloon

High-priced brute force remained a gap in the market and Aston Martin continued its commitment with a Virage-based supercharged Vantage in 1993 which, by 1998, was running twin superchargers, its 600bhp making it then the most powerful production powerplant in the world, making the Vantage capable of close to 200 mph (320 km/h) and for those who wanted even more power there was a run of forty V8 Vantage Le Mans" versions, built to mark the fortieth anniversary of the victory in the 24 hour endurance classic of Carroll Shelby (1923–2012) & Roy Salvadori (1922–2012) in an Aston Martin DBR1/300; Shelby would go on to found Shelby American and produce the AC Cobra, the mid century's benchmark in brute force.  Virage production ended in 2000 and for a platform which started life in 1969 it endured remarkably well.  By the year 2000, some of the competition were objectively "better cars" but there was nothing else like the big Aston Martins left and its retirement was regretted by many.

DB7 Vantage Saloon

The DB7, first shown at the now defunct Geneva Motor Show in 1993, was the first six-cylinder Aston Martin in twenty years.  It was conservatively styled but the lines were greeted with acclaim and it proved an immediate success.  In 1999, a Vantage version was released and with the company now under the Ford corporate umbrella, it used a 5.9 litre (362 cubic inch) V12 engine developed in co-operation with Cosworth Technology.  It was the first time a Vantage wasn’t a development of the standard engine, the straight six in the DB7 being a different configuration and remarkably, by historic standards, the DB7 Vantage verged on mass-production: over four-thousand built were built over a four and a half year run which ended in 2003.

VH V8 Vantage Coupé

Ford were pleased by the sales and in 2003, again at the Geneva Motor Show, unveiled on the VH platform the AMV8 Vantage Concept, so well-received the order books were bulging by the time the production version was released in 2005.  It proved to be the most successful car in Aston Martin’s history and this time it really was mass-produced, necessitating construction of a second production line; eventually more than fifteen thousand would leave the factory.  Less brute force than before, the new V8 Vantage relied on technology to exceed the performance of most of its predecessors.  For those attracted by more performance or more exclusivity, in 2009, Aston Martin unveiled the V12 Vantage, weighing little more than its V8 sibling but boasting an additional hundred-odd horsepower and able to reach 190 mph (305 km/h).  In 2012, the V12 Vantage Zagato was added to the books.

V12 Vantage S

However, after the GFC (Global Financial Crisis), the expansion of the money supply (essentially governments giving cash to the rich) at the upper end of the market meant there was increasing taste for conspicuous consumption.  Like other manufacturers anxious to meet demand with supply, Aston Martin responded with a bespoke programme, offering degrees of customisation to the point of one-off creations but also, new product lines, hence the 2013 V12 Vantage S.  It joined the new generation of machines now able routinely to attain the 200mph (320 km/h) speeds first promised by the Italians in the early 1970s but not realised because of the means available at the time to defeat the formidable opposition of physics.  At a tested 205mph (330 km/h), the terminal velocity of the V12 Vantage S made it the fastest Aston Martin ever and, in a nicely nostalgic touch, in 2016, even a manual gearbox was offered.

Vantage Roadster

The times were changing and there was an end-of-an-era feel when the new Vantage was released in 2018.  Fitted with a Mercedes-Benz-AMG four litre V8 (with fuel consumption and emissions generation numbers which even half a decade earlier would have been thought unfeasibly low), it didn't quite match the top-end performance of the V12 but was judged by reviewers to be a more practical day-to-day proposition to own while being less environmentally thuggish.  There was some regret that things were not quite the way things used to be done but to the surprise of many, the factory late in 2021 announced there would be one, last V12 Vantage and it was released the following March, 333 of the 700 horsepower machines produced, a convertible version announced some months later in a run limited to 249.  For 2024 and beyond, the 4.0 litre V8 Vantage will continue and advances in electronics and aerodynamics now guarantee each will top 200 mph.  The commendable reductions in emissions notwithstanding, Aston Martin will not have been struck from any of Greta Thunberg’s (b 2003) lists so those who can are advised to enjoy a V8 or V12 Vantage while they can.

Aston Martin Vantage Production Numbers

DB2 Vantage: 248 saloon and DHC

DB4 Vantage: 135 (plus 6 DB4 GT Vantages)

DB5 Vantage: 68 saloon (plus 8 DHCs)

DB6 Vantage: 335 saloon (plus 29 Volantes)

DB6 Vantage MkII: 70 saloon (plus 13 Volantes)

DBS Vantage:290 saloons

Vantage 70 saloons

V8 Vantage: 372 saloon (plus 194 Volantes)

V8 Vantage Zagato: 52 coupés (plus 37 convertibles)

Vantage/V8 Vantage: 273 saloon (plus 40 specials)

DB7 V12 Vantage: 2,086 coupe (plus 2,056 Volantes)

V8 Vantage (VH): 15,458 coupe (plus 6,231 Roadsters)

V12 Vantage: 2,957 (all types including V12 Vantage S)

V12 Vantage (2021-2022) (333 coupés plus 249 convertibles)

Vile

Vile (pronounced vahyl)

(1) Wretchedly bad.

(2) Highly offensive, unpleasant, or objectionable.

(3) Repulsive or disgusting, as to the senses or feelings; repellent.

(4) Morally debased, depraved, or despicable; vulgar, obscene.

(5) Foul; filthy.

(6) Poor; wretched.

(7) Of mean or low condition; menial; lowly.

(8) Degraded; ignominious.

(9) Of little value or account; paltry

(10) Vicious, evil iniquitous.

(11) Unpleasant or bad weather.

1250–1300: From the Middle English vil, from the Anglo-French ville, from the Old French vil (shameful, dishonorable; low-born; cheap; ugly, hideous), from the Latin vīlis (cheap, worthless, base, common), possibly from the primitive Indo-European wes-li, a deverbal adjective with passive meaning (which can be bought), from the root of venus (sale).  It was cognate with the Latin vīlis, the Ancient Greek ὦνος (ônos) & ὠνέομαι (ōnéomai) (to buy), the Sanskrit वस्नयति (vasnayati) (to haggle) and वस्न (vasna) (price).  Related forms are the adjectives viler and vilest, the adverb vilely and the noun vileness (the thirteenth century vilety appears to be extinct).  Handy synonyms include repugnant, horrid, contemptible, depraved, noxious, vulgar, humiliating, vicious, disgusting, sleazy, ugly, despicable, repulsive, revolting, miserable, nasty, appalling, immoral, shocking and disgraceful.  The verb revile was from the late fourteenth century revilen (debase, degrade (a sense now obsolete)) and by the mid-fourteenth century meant "insult, taunt, vilify, assail with abusive language".  It was from the Old French reviler (consider vile, despise, scorn).  The mid-fifteenth century vilify (to lower in worth or value) was from the Late Latin vilificare (to make cheap or base; to esteem of little value) is from the Latin vilis (cheap, worthless, base, common).  The meaning "to slander, speak evil of" dates from the 1590s.  Vile, viler (the comparative) & vilest (the superlative) are adjectives and forms like vilish & vilishness are non-standard, usually used humorously.  

Lindsay Lohan pouring from modern civilization's most ubiquitous phial (or vial), PepsiCo Pilk promotion, December 2022.  

The aluminium can used to contribute much to litter, both as thoughtlessly they were discarded when empty and because the sealing tabs were detachable, beaches & parks in the 1970s notorious for being strewn with the things.  The problems substantially were solved by (1) making a fee payable when the cans were handed in to a recycling centre and (2) changing the tab's design so the whole mechanism remains attached.  Aluminium does consume large amounts of electricity during the production process but if "green energy" can be used it's one of the less environmentally destructive metals and, (1) being light it reduces the fuel load required during transportation & storage and (2) being non-ferrous it doesn't rust.  It is one of the best and most economical efficient metals to recycle.

Phial is a doublet of vial.  In technical use (in science), some institutions have drawn distinctions between the two: (1) phials being larger than vials and (2) vials are for liquids related to medicine and phials for other fluids but in general use they remain interchangeable (although consistency within documents is obviously recommended) although phial is now rare.  In the US, early in the twentieth century, phial became close to extinct after hundreds of years of being nearly as common as vial while elsewhere in the English-speaking world, vial emerged as the preferred form during the post-war years and, except in laboratories, phial seems now a romantic form restricted to fiction, historical and spiritual writing.

Crooked Hillary Clinton (b 1947; US secretary of state 2009-2013), probably deleting something.

But for the judgment of the Trump election campaign team, she might now be remembered as "vile Hillary Clinton".  Like phial, vial must never be confused with its homophone vile, another example of an aspect of English which must annoy those learning the finer nuances of the language,  So a vial (or phial) is a noun describing a vessel in which liquids are kept while vile is an adjective, applied most often to morally dubious or otherwise unpleasant and objectional characters.  Donald Trump's (b 1946; US president 2017-2021) use of monikers for political opponents (and others) had been a little noticed feature of his conversation before becoming one of the features of the 2016 presidential election ("low energy Jeb" (Bush), "lying Ted" (Cruz), "little Marco" (Rubio), "crazy Bernie" (Sanders) et al but by far the most effective was "crooked Hillary" (Clinton) which is being recycled as "crooked Joe Biden" for the 2024 contest.  Mr Trump's team apparently puts some effort into finding the best (ie most appropriately insulting) although it seems a beltway myth that focus groups were assembled for testing to determine some sort of metric of effectiveness.  Bridget Jones in Helen Fielding's (b 1958) Bridget Jones's Diary (1996) liked "vile" and "vile Richard" was so evocative for readers, the word for some reason genuinely a pleasure to say the word, the meaning emphasized by lengthening the sound.  "Vile Hillary" works well.

Esthetic

Esthetic (pronounced es-thet-ik)

(1) An alternative spelling of aesthetic (mostly North American).

(2) In US commercial use, a term applied to cosmetic surgery (as esthetic surgery) and other fields in the beauty business.

1920s: A re-purposing of an existing word (originally in the form “esthetic surgery” by a US doctor as a means of product differentiation (plastic surgery for cosmetic rather than reconstructive purposes).  Esthetic is an adjective (and when used as an alternative spelling of aesthetic the comparative is more esthetic, the superlative most esthetic) and esthetician is a noun; the noun plural is estheticians.  The alternative spelling esthetic began life as one of those Americanisms which annoy some but it reflected simply the wholly sensible approach in US English that it’s helpful if spelling follows pronunciation and esthetic remains the alternative spelling of aesthetic, used predominately in North America although, as the internet has achieved for so many variants, it is now an internationalism.

Often, when an image appears in which a celebrity seems somewhat “changed”, Instagram lights up with speculation about possible esthetic surgery.  If there’s enough interest, this will spread to the mainstream celebrity sites which will deconstruct the possibilities and sometimes publish interviews with esthetic surgeons who will offer an opinion.  Once, esthetic interventions were almost always denied but now they’re sometimes admitted and even publicized.

In the early twentieth century the US cosmetic surgery industry (even then inventive and profitable), re-purposed the word; linguistic differentiation to create product differentiation: “esthetic surgery”, the business of performing surgery for aesthetic purposes rather than reasons strictly medical or reconstructive and the most significant figure in this was the German-Jewish cosmetic physician Jacques Joseph (1865–1934), now remembered as the “father of modern cosmetic surgery”.  Under the auspices of first the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS, 1931) and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS, 1967), the business of esthetic surgery has since boomed and related (even if remotely) professions such as nail technicians, the lip-plumpers and the body-piercers also append “esthetic” to their advertising; the first “estheticians” were the skin care specialists (exfoliation, massage, aromatherapy, facials and such) but the title soon proliferated.

Forbes on Miami Swim Week 2024

With their coverage of Miami Swim Week (MSW 2024; South Beach, Miami, 29 May-5 June 2024), Forbes must have delighted etymologists looking for case studies.  MSW is self-described as “The premier fashion event of the year!” which may elicit a wry smile from some in New York, Paris, London or Milan but the phase “swim week” is no perhaps too modest from an event which has grown from being in 1998 essentially somewhere for manufacturers and retailers to display the new season’s swimsuits to a place where, in addition to hundred of vendor spaces and multiple runways (no catwalks at MSW) there are seminars, panel discussions and “beach lifestyle events” like yoga + mimosas; MSW is now very much a “vibe occasion”, noted for vendor hospitality and after-parties.  It has of course also moved with the times and those times have changed from when DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) was achieved with a smattering of brunettes among the bronzed blondes on what then were the catwalks.  Now there is obvious ethnic diversity and some “plus-size” models (up to a certain point) and it’d be interesting to have an artificial intelligence (AI) engine review the footage of the last few MSW and similar events to calculate if there’s appears to be an industry “quota” for those not of the (still secretly) desired body type and skin color.  The suspicion is there may be such quotas and those numbers are “creeping up”, presumably to plateau at some “threshold of plausible acceptability”.

What Forbes explored in the headline: "Aesthetics meets Esthetics" was one of the panel discussions conducted at the Gabriel Hotel as part of the Art Hearts Fashion run of show which included runway shows from men’s swimwear line Hunk and The Black Tape Project with its conceptualized futurist swimwear designs.  On Friday, the intriguingly named “Snatched Plastic Surgery” hosted an intimate panel discussion exploring the symbiotic relationship between body trends and fashion.  On the panel were industry experts including designers & fashion house CEOs, magazine editors and a plastic surgeon specializing in cosmetic procedures (esthetic surgery).  The symbiosis explored was about (1) the part esthetic procedures (not all are surgical) contribute to demand for clothing which reveals more of the body’s surface (ie skin) of which swimwear is the most extreme example and (2) the demand for such procedures generated by the desire to wear such clothing.  There are technical aspects to that which involve the intricate details of surgeries which make certain cuts of swimwear wearable by those who would otherwise be precluded but that didn’t appear to make the panel’s agenda.

Structural determinism in action: At MSW 2024, rosettes came in sizes to suit the coverage required (or desired).

What MSW 2024 did reveal was that the trend which disproportionately was over-represented in the coverage continued to be the most minimal but one notable return was one of the industry’s older fig leaves: the rosette.  Having lost the association with high-society and neglected in political campaign wear (except in the UK and to some extent in New Zealand) since the advent of digital advertising, rosettes in fashion were last seen at scale (and occasionally en masse) in the years around the turn of the twentieth century but on the MSW runways they were back.  Although coverage in the press was limited, whether as a three dimensional attachment or a printed motif, rosettes appeared often on the swimwear designed actually to be worn in the water but what caught the eye of photographers were the most minimal, most of which would be unlikely long to survive secure in the surf.  Still, that was unlikely to have been a design objective and as a static display or worn while walking (carefully), they probably work well.

MSW 2024: External superstructure was more apparent al la the exposed plumbing in some of the architecture of mid-century modernism.

The other thing the critics noted was the increasing migration of the “cage bra” look to swimwear.  If well designed, the exposed superstructure can genuinely function as a structural device but the real attraction was that it permits the volume of material (already hardly generous) further to be reduced.  That certainly is a design objective but one which creates the problem of having less surface area with which to work to create something, hence the attraction of making the superstructure a feature.  It’s essentially an underwire which is shaped rather more than is required to fulfil the functional purpose and sometimes even a little wider (a rare case of a minimalist bikini’s component getting bigger) so accessories can be added or more of the fabric covering is displayed.