Revoke & Irrevocable

Revoke (pronounced ri-vohk)

(1) To take back or withdraw; annul, cancel, rescind or reverse; rescind or repeal.

(2) To bring or summon back.

(3) In certain card games, to fail to follow suit when possible and required (renege the more common term).

(4) Such an act or instance of revoking.

1300–1350: From the Middle English revoken, from the Latin revocāre (to call again; to call back; withdraw), the construct being re- (in the sense of “again”) + vocāre (to call).  The synonyms (depending on context) are countermand, nullify, recall and retract.  Revoke is a noun & verb, revoker is a noun, revoked & revoking are verbs and revokingly is an adverb; the noun plural is revokers.

Irrevocable (pronounced ih-rev-uh-kuh-buhl (U) or ih-ri-vohk-kuh-buhl (non-U))

Not to be revoked or recalled; unable to be changed, repealed or annulled; unalterable.

1350–1400: From the Middle English, from the Middle French irrévocable from the Latin irrevocābilis (that which cannot be recalled, unalterable), the construct being ir- (the prefix an assimilated form of in- (not, opposite of)) + revocabilis (able to be revoked).  Irrevocable is an adjective, irrevocableness & irrevocability are nouns, and irrevocably is an adverb; the noun plural is irrevocabilities.

The trust, Rupert Murdoch and irrevocably

The trust in its modern form is an invention of English common law.  Although the trustee concept was a part of Roman civil law, its operation essentially was restricted to the a class of ownership of assets held by someone who would now be known as the executor or administrator of the estate of a deceased; the administrator would be the legal owner (though not necessarily the possessor) of the goods but their rights to them was limited to distributing them (or if sold or dissolved, their value) to the beneficiaries named in the deceased testamentary documents (will).  The novel innovation of the English common law was to apply a similar concept to the property of someone living.  During the Crusades (the expeditions by Christian military formations between 1095-1291 attempting to retake the Holy Land (Jerusalem and its environs)), it was the practice for a land-owning Crusader to convey (ie transfer ownership) his property to another so the estate could continue to operate as part of the feudal land system, this done on the basis that upon his return to England, the property would revert to him.  Most such arrangements were honored but some were not and because English law regarded land title as absolute, whomever was the legal “owner” of the land could defend that right against any claim.  A subject’s only recourse was to seek justice by petitioning the king and in most cases the matter would be referred to the chancellor (an office something like a mix of prime-minister & minister of justice) who would decide each case on its merits.  That of course resulted in inconsistencies and led to the development of the Court of Chancery and the emergence of the principles of the law of “equity”, designed both to remove inconsistencies and avoid the injustices sometimes the result of the strict application of the rigid rules of the common law.

Thus the emergence of the trust in which property could be transferred from one to another but with rights of the legal “owner” of the property in the trust restricted by the terms of the trust (typically that the property or its proceeds could be used or applied only to those beneficiaries named); the “legal owner” was thus really the trustee (the administrator).  It was a mechanism which proved useful over the centuries including during the wars of religion when trusts could be created to protect property from confiscation.  The trust is a flexible beast and a variety exist including the “secret trust” (although in most places they’re not as secret as once they were) and although most trusts formally are created an so-named, if an arrangement is found in substance and operation to be “a trust in all nut name”, a court can declare it to be a trust (technically a “constructive trust”).  Trusts are widely used today, mostly tax-minimization platforms because, as a general principle, income gained by a trust is not taxable until paid out to a beneficiary.  That has made trusts of great interest to those advocating tax-reform but because among the most enthusiastic users of trusts are the rich and politicians (society’s most dynamic and influential symbiosis whether in New York, Moscow, Beijing, Islamabad or Pyongyang), not much is likely to change.  A particular flavor of trust is the “irrevocable trust” which, as the name suggests, should be one in which the terms cannot be altered.

Washoe County Courthouse (1910), Reno Nevada.  Built in Classical Revival style, it first gained national attention when the combination of liberal residency requirements and liberal divorce laws created a "divorce boom" which made a significant contribution to the Nevada economy.

In 1999 Rupert Murdoch (b 1931), at the time of his second divorce, created the Murdoch Family Trust (MFT), into which was transferred the shareholdings of a number of companies and the terms of the trust were such that the succession plans for his media empire were settled.  The trust grants the family eight votes, Mr Murdoch controlling four, each of his eldest four children holding one; upon Mr Murdoch’s death, his four would have been distributed equally to them.  The device was created as an “irrevocable trust” as part of the terms of the divorce, the ex-wife waiving the right to a much higher payout in return for the “irrevocable” protection the terms of the trust afforded the four children.  In December 2023, Mr Murdoch filed papers in Reno, Nevada seeing to amend (ie in the technical sense “partially revoke”) the terms of the “irrevocable” MFT to the extent that his oldest son would assume full control over News Corp, the holding company which manages literally hundreds of assets (the best-known of which is now Fox News), excluding the other three siblings.  This was about operational control and did not affect the children’s financial stake in the trust.  The matter (In the Matter of the Doe 1 Trust) was in September 2024 heard before a probate commissioner, in camera, at Washoe County Courthouse, the parties (1) Rupert Murdoch and the eldest son on one side and (2) the three other siblings on the other.

Mr Murdoch had not previously been much associated with the state of Nevada but his legal team chose to file in Nevada because the state has the nation’s most flexible (they like to use the term “progressive”) statutes relating to trust law and it was thus concluded it was there that the highest chance existed for amending an “irrevocable” trust.  The Nevada approach in these matters in interesting in that the state permits “decanting”, a process by which a trustee can transfer assets from one trust into a new trust with different terms, in effect modifying the original trust in that the assets become subject to different rules.  Decant (inter alia “to pour from one vessel into another”) was from the French From French décanter, from the Medieval Latin dēcanthāre, the construct being dē- (of; from) +‎ canthus (beak of a cup or jug).  For administrative simplicity, decanting does not require the approval of a court but can be subject to challenge if it’s alleged a trustee lacks the requisite discretionary authority under the terms of the original trust document.

Wedding day: Rupert Murdoch (b 1931) & model Jerry Hall (b 1956).  The ceremony was conducted at Church of England church of St Bride's, Fleet Street, London, March 2016.  The couple divorced in 2022.

Under Nevada law, despite the name, an “irrevocable trust” is not “irrevocable” in an absolute sense because beneficiaries and trustees can agree to modify the terms of such a trust, even if the trust is irrevocable.  This process (a “non-judicial settlement agreement”) avoids the need for a court hearing, thereby reducing the expense and time required and exemplifies the sort of “flexibility” Nevada’s corporate regulators cite as reasons why the state should be a trustee’s jurisdiction of choice.  However, Nevada does require any modifications be consistent with the trust's purpose and not in violation with its fundamental terms and moreover the usual principles of equity governing trusts apply: there can be no unconscionable conduct.  A Nevada court also can modify or terminate an irrevocable trust if the trust's purpose has become impossible, impracticable, or illegal, or if circumstances not anticipated by the original grantor arise.  In that the remit of equity is wider than in contract law where courts have always been reluctant to “write contracts” although they will correct technical errors and a Nevada court can appoint a “trust protector”, an officer with the authority to amend trust terms, change beneficiaries, or even (under specified conditions) terminate the trust.  This authority can extend to the creation of a “directed trust” (a special class of constructed trust) which allow the grantor or beneficiaries to appoint an entity or individual to oversee specific trust decisions, which can include modifications (all of which are subject to the supervision and ultimately the approval of the court).

The decision of the probate commission in Reno will not have pleased Mr Murdoch.  In a 96 page opinion published on 9 December, the commissioner found Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch (b 1971; the eldest son) had acted in “bad faith” in their attempts to change the terms of the irrevocable MFT, suggesting the pair had organized a “carefully crafted charade” to “permanently cement Lachlan Murdoch’s executive roles” inside the empire “regardless of the impacts such control would have over the companies or the beneficiaries” of the MFT.  He didn’t go as far as one New Zealand judge who once damned evidence brought before him as “an orchestrated litany of lies” but the tone was still severe.

One untypical aspect of the matter is that it wasn’t directly about money; most trust cases involve money, indeed, a financial motivation is at the root of most civil matters.  Mr Murdoch was moved to seek to change the terms of the MFT because he’d concluded Lachlan was the only one of the four children who shared his views on how the editorial position of affected media outlets (most notably Fox News) should be maintained, the other three tending to a more liberal (in US terms) stance.  Interestingly, although that may appear a family’s ideological squabble, the documents which emerged from the discovery process in the matter of Dominion Voting Systems v Fox News (Delaware Superior Court: N21C-03-257; N21C-11-082) which culminated (thus far) in Fox settling the matter by paying Dominion some US$790 million, the alternative being to continue the case and allow more of Fox’s internal documents to enter the public domain) suggested that Mr Murdoch’s decisions about such things are led more by a commercial imperative than any political commitment.  In other words, Fox News should do what it does because it attracted viewers (the product) to deliver to advertisers (the customers); were the Fox News audience suddenly to have a moment of mass-catharsis and become a bunch of seed-eating, basket-weaving hippie vegans, so would shift the Fox News editorial stance.

The usual purpose of an irrevocable trust is to protect the beneficiary (or beneficiaries) from others but they have been recommended for those who might be advantaged by being “protected from themselves”.

So what Mr Murdoch wishes to ensure is that Fox News keeps on doing what it does (and whether one agrees with it or not, few would deny at what it does it’s the best in the world) because that is the path to the highest financial benefits for the MFT.  Lachlan understands and the others don’t so Mr Murdoch is trying to protect the three dissident children from themselves.  Whether defiant or deluded, the dissident triumvirate were pleased with the recommendation: “We welcome the commissioner’s decision and hope that we can move beyond this litigation to focus on strengthening and rebuilding relationships among all family members.”  It’s there’s a Murdoch family Christmas dinner, there might be what a diplomatic communiqué would describe as a “frank and robust exchange of views”.

Wedding day: Rupert Murdoch (b 1931) & molecular biologist Elena Zhukova (b 1956).  The ceremony was conducted at Mogara, Mr Murdoch’s Californian vineyard, June 2024.

The procedure in Nevada is the commissioner’s opinion will now be referred to a district court judge, sitting as a court of probate.  The judge can issue a ruling wholly favourable to one side or the other or in some way structure a decision which gives something to each; there will thus be one appeal or two and that may trigger more so although it’s possible the matter may not be finalized before Mr Murdoch dies (God forbid), he recently celebrated his fifth marriage so appears to remain robust and in rude good health.

Woggle

Woggle (pronounced whog-al)

(1) In the scouting movement, a neckerchief clasp or slide, originally a loop or ring of leather.

(2) In dialect, an alternative spelling of waggle (archaic).

1921-1923: The origin is contested.  Some say it was a coining in Australian English, from the earlier US form boondoggle before being popularized by use in the fourteenth edition of Scouting for Boys (1929), by Lieutenant-General Lord Baden-Powell (1857–1941; founder of The Boy Scouts Association) and first published in 1908.  Boondongle (which existed also as boon dongle) was an Americanism with the same meaning.  The alternative history is that 1920 or 1921 the woggle was invented by Francis "Skipper" Gidney (1890-1928), chief of Gilwell scout camp in London where there still stands Gidney Cabin, now used as a training centre.  Woggle is a noun and woggled & woggling are verbs; the noun plural is woggles.

A classic scout woggle woven in leather (left), a leather woggle with convenient press-stud (centre) and a plastic “woggle” with the Scouting fleur-de-lis (right) which technically is a scarf ring but the term “woggle” tends to be applied if used for a scout's scarf.  Plastic “woggles” appeared as early as the 1960s.

Boondoggle in 1935 gained a second meaning when The New York Times decided it referred to “wasteful or pointless government activities”, the link to the Scout neckerchief accessory being the claim Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s (FDR, 1882–1945, US president 1933-1945) administration was including in its “New Deal” (a series of public work projects and domestic programs) a scheme under which people were being employed to make the small leather braids.  A person labeled a boondoggler is thus “a person who boondoggles; a wastrel”.  The term “white elephant” has a similar meaning although its use has never been restricted to government spending.  In the 1960s, the term moondoggle emerged to describe a particular strain of the boondongle: The space program.  The word was a variant of boondongle and referenced the assertion the immense effort & expenditure being devoted to sending men to the moon was a waste of resources and something of no apparent use.  The origin of boondongle remains murky but may have been based on hornswoggle, first recorded in 1829 and also of unknown origin but believed to be a jocular coinage like the contemporary absquatulate.  Presumably the inspiration was horns + waggle with humorous faux ablaut or in combination with wobble, possibly influenced by the image of lassoed steers trying to escape by moving their head.  In slang, it means “to deceive, dupe or trick.

Scarf buckle (left), an unusual scarf triple ring (centre) and a scarf knot ring (right).

The term “woggle” is specific to scouting but in fashion, devices to tie or otherwise secure scarves are common and are described differently according to their design and function.  The most common are the (1) scarf ring (a circular or decorative ring through which the scarf is threaded, allowing for elegant draping or knotting), (2) scarf clip (a clip with a hinge that holds the scarf in place; these often feature decorative elements to complement the scarf), (3) scarf slide (a device with multiple openings or loops to weave the scarf through, providing various styling options), (4) scarf pin (a brooch or pin used to secure a scarf in place, used often by those wanting to maintain styling theme), (5) scarf buckle (a structured device, similar to a belt buckle, designed for threading and securing scarves and (6) scarf knot ring (a specialized device designed for creating knots, allowing a scarf to be secured in a number of shapes.

Not all scarf users secure their scarves: Lindsay Lohan tends to prefer hers looped or loose.

Men in woggles: Leadership of the Boy Scouts of America, National Scout Jamboree, Washington DC, 1937.  The scouts have always been in the avant-garde of fashion.

Girl scouts: The yellow line indicates the height of the obstacle which would be set for their “woggle hopping”.

“Woggle hopping” is a rule in scouting, used in the physical training program and first documented in England in 1947.  It is a form of high jump which states a scout should be able to jump over an object at the height of their woggle, a form of “equalization” similar to the old rule in schoolboy rugby whereby teams were formed on the basis of weight rather than age.

Rodomontade

Rodomontade (pronounced rod-uh-mon-teyd, rod-uh-mon-tahd, rod-uh-muhn-tadh or roh-duh-mon-teyd.

(1) Vainglorious boasting or bragging; pretentious, bluster.

(2) To boast; to brag.

1605–1615: From the Middle French rodomontade, the construct being the Italian Rodomonte (name of the boastful Saracen king of Algiers in the Italian Renaissance epic poems Orlando innamorato (1483-1495) and its sequel Orlando furioso (1516–1532)) + the Middle French –ade (the suffix used to form nouns denoting action, or a person performing said action), from the Occitan -ada, from the Latin -ata.  In dialectal Italian the name means literally “one who rolls (away) the mountain” (clipped also to “roll-mountain”).  As a verb in the sense of “boast, brag, talk big” it was in use by the 1680s and as early as the 1590s rodomont was used to mean “a braggart”.  Rodomontade is a noun, verb & adjective, rodomontador is a noun and rodomontaded, rodomontading are verbs; the noun plural is rodomontades.  The adjective rodomontadish has been used but is listed as non-standard.

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

The epic poem Orlando innamorato (known in English also as “Orlando in Love) was written by the Italian Renaissance author Matteo Maria Boiardo (1440-1494 and published between 1483 (the first two books) and 1495 (third book, the three concurrently issued as a complete edition)).  The “sequel” was Orlando furioso (The Frenzy of Orlando) by Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533) which appeared first in 1516, the complete work published in 1532.  It was a continuation of Boiardo's unfinished work and in its settings and characters shares some features with the eleventh century chanson de geste (literally “song of heroic deeds”, from the Latin gesta (deeds, actions accomplished)), a medieval narrative (usually in the form of an epic-length poem) which is among the earliest forms of French literature) La Chanson de Roland (The Song of Roland).  La Chanson de Roland was a chivalric romance and tells the tale of the death of Roland (circa 740-778), the Frankish military leader under Charlemagne (748–814; (retrospectively) the first Holy Roman Emperor 800-814).

Because of the way Google harvests data for their ngrams, they’re not literally a tracking of the use of a word in society but can be usefully indicative of certain trends, (although one is never quite sure which trend(s)), especially over decades.  As a record of actual aggregate use, ngrams are not wholly reliable because: (1) the sub-set of texts Google uses is slanted towards the scientific & academic and (2) the technical limitations imposed by the use of OCR (optical character recognition) when handling older texts of sometime dubious legibility (a process AI should improve).  Where numbers bounce around, this may reflect either: (1) peaks and troughs in use for some reason or (2) some quirk in the data harvested.

It was never a common word bit now it’s vanishingly rare and appears usually only when referring to certain politicians.  In the nineteenth century the spelling “rhodomontade” was more common, reflecting the pronunciation then often used in English and dictionaries still list “rodomontade” & “rhodomontade” as acceptable spellings while noting the latter is archaic.   As a literary term it can be applied to a style which is inflated, bombastic and generally meretricious in its quest for the exotic.  In the poems, the Saracen king Rodomonte was a brave and honorable warrior but also bombastically boastful.  Of politicians described thus, there’s not of necessity any implication of honor, just the boasting and bluster, often in the most grandiloquent of terms.  The comparative is “more rodomontade”, the superlative “most rodomontade” and, as a modifier, it can be used in the form “rodomontade behaviour” although some suggest this is clumsy.

Donald Trump, mid-rodomontading.

Rodomontade would seem an ideal word to use in the era of Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021; president elect 2024) but, acquaintance with epic poetry of the Italian Renaissance being hardly mainstream, the utterances once so described will now be better understood as “Trumpisms”.  Mr Trump is certainly given to the rodomontadish and seems willing to concede that while George Washington (1732–1799; first president of the United States, 1789-1797) and Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865; US president 1861-1865) might have been his equals, he’s better than any of his other 43 predecessors.  His boasts have included:

“I am a genius and a very stable genius”.
“I would give myself an A+.”
“I did the biggest deal ever done in the history of our country yesterday in terms of trade — and probably other things too, if you think about it.”
“This is the biggest deal there is, anywhere in the world by far.’’
“I think we've done more than perhaps any president in the first 100 days.”
“My administration has accomplished more than virtually any administration in the history of our country”.
“I am one of the best presidents”.
“My presidency has been a tremendous success despite significant opposition and I have unparalleled achievement.”

Mourn

Mourn (pronounced mawrn or mohrn)

(1) To grieve or lament for the dead.

(2) To show the conventional or usual signs of sorrow over a person's death.

(3) To feel or express sorrow or grief over (misfortune, loss, or anything regretted); to deplore (now restricted mostly to literary or poetic use).

(4) To utter in a sorrowful manner.

(5) To observe the customs of mourning, as by wearing black garments (sables).

(6) In jousting, a ring fitted upon the head of a lance to prevent wounding an adversary in tilting (a charging with a lance).

Pre 900: From the Middle English mournen & mornen, from the Old English murnan (to feel or express sorrow, grief, or regret; bemoan, long after and also “be anxious about, be careful” (past tense: mearn, past participle: murnen), from the Proto-Germanic murnaną & murnan (sorrowfully to remember)  It was cognate with the Old High German mornēn (to be troubled), the Old Norse morna (to pine away. also “to dawn (become morning)”), the Greek mermeros (worried), the Gothic maurnan (to grieve) and the French morne (gloomy).  The proto-Germanic was the source also of the Old Saxon mornon and was probably a suffixed form of the primitive Indo-European root mer & smer- (to remember).  The use to mean “to lament the death of” emerged late in the thirteenth century while the sense of “display the conventional appearance of grieving for a period following the death of someone” was in use by the 1520s.  The noun mourning (feeling or expression of sorrow, sadness, or grief) was in use in the late twelfth century and was from the Old English murnung (complaint, grief, act of lamenting), a verbal noun from the verb mourn.  The meaning “customary dress or garment worn by mourners” dates from the 1650s although mourning habit was in use in the late fourteenth century.  The North American mourning dove was named in 1820 and was so-called because of its soulful call.  The adjective mournful (expressing sorrow; oppressed with grief) came into use in the early 1600s.  The spelling morne was used during the fourteenth & fifteenth centuries.  Mourn & mourned are verbs, mourning is a noun & verb, mourner & mournfulness are nouns, mournful is an adjective and mournfully is an adverb; the noun plural is mourners.

Comrade Stalin (1878-1953; Soviet leader 1924-1953, far right) as chief mourner, carrying the coffin of comrade Sergei Kirov (1886–1934; Russian Bolshevik revolutionary & Soviet politician), Moscow 6 December 1934.

Although no documentary evidence has ever been found, most historians believe the execution was approved by comrade Stalin and in a nice touch, within a month, Kirov's assassins were convicted in a show trial and executed.  As the death toll from the purges of the 1930s accelerated, comrade Stalin stopped attending funerals; he just wouldn't have ben able to find the time.  Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; Führer (leader) and German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945) seems not to have appeared as a mourner at the funerals of any of those he’d ordered killed but he certainly issued statements mourning their passing.  Less ominously, UK Prime Minister Lord Salisbury (Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 1830–1903; UK Prime Minister for thirteen years variously 1885-1902) remarked of the long, sad decline of Lord Randolph Churchill (1849–1895) that the deceased had proved to be “chief mourner at his own protracted funeral”.

Political mourning is a special class of lament and when some politicians are buried, their erstwhile colleagues are among the mourners only because such events are a nice photo-opportunity and a useful place for a bit of networking.  The Australian politician Pat Kennelly (1900–1981; senator for Victoria (Australian Labor Party (ALP)) 1953-1971) (who had a chronic stutter) once attended the funeral of a member of parliament (MP).  It was well-attended event with many mourners and later he was heard to observe: “It w-w-w-a-as a v-v—very s-s-sa-ad occasion.  H-h-his w-w-wi-wife and f-f-f-family were there.  There was not a d-d-dry eye in the ce-ce-cemetery.  E-e-everyone w-a-was in t-t-t-tears.  As I w-w-w-watched them f-f-file out of th-th-the ce-ce-cemetery I th-th-thought h-h-how s-s—sad.  Th-th-three h-h—hundred m-m-mourners with a s-s-single th-th-thought: ‘Wh-h-ho’s g-g-oing to w-w-win the pre-pre-pre-selection f-f-for his s-s-seat?’”

Potential gig: Lindsay Lohan in mourning garments (sables), Sohu Fashion Achievement Awards Ceremony, Shanghai, China, January, 2014.  Acting is of course a good background for a professional mourner and the career part is sometimes available to even the well-known because their presence at a funeral would be an indicator of the wealth of the deceased.

Culturally, the mourners at one’s funeral can matter because their measure in both quantity & quality greatly can influence how one is remembered and to some (and certainly their surviving friends & family), greatly that matters.  While it’s true that once one is dead, that’s it, the memory others have of one is affected by whether one drank oneself to death, was struck by a meteorite or murdered by the Freemasons and the spectacle of one’s funeral also leaves a lasting impression.  A funeral with a scant few mourners presumably says much about the life of the deceased but for those facing that, there’s the ancient tradition of the professional mourners (known in some places as moirologists, sobbers, wailers, or criers.  In South Africa, those after greater drama can hire someone hysterically to cry and threaten to jump into the grave to join the departed forever wherever they’re going (it’s said this is an “extra-cost” service).

There is reference in both the Old and New Testaments to the profession: In 2 Samuel 14 it was recorded: “…and fetched thence a wise woman, and said unto her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and anoint not thyself with oil but as a woman that had a long time mourned the dead.”  It does seem the practice of paid mourning began in China or the Middle East but it was a thing also in ancient Egypt and Rome.  In Egypt, it was actually a formalized part of the ritual (at least for the urban wealthy) in that part of the order of service required the family to pay for the provision of “two professional women mourners”, there as representatives of the psychopomps ( conductors of souls to the afterworld) Isis (inter alia the guardian deity who protected her followers in life and in the afterlife) and her sister Nephtys (protector of the deceased and guardian of the dead).

In Rome, it was more an expression of conspicuous consumption and the more rich or more illustrious a celebrity someone had been while walking the Earth, the better attended and more ostentatious would be the funeral procession, professional mourners making up usually a goodly proportion of the count.  They earned their money because the cultural expectation was they were expected to cry and wail, look distraught, tear at their hair and clothes and scratch their faces with their fingernails, the drawing of a little blood a sign of grief; the more professional mourners in a procession, the higher the implied status of the deceased.  Historically (and apparently cross-culturally), professional mourners have tended to be women because such displays of emotions from them were accepted in a way that wouldn’t have been accepted if exhibited by a man.

Monoleg

Monoleg (pronounced mon-oh-leg)

(1) An object, structure or system with a single supporting leg (used typically of furniture).

(2) In speculative writing (usually in SF (science fiction) naturally one-legged creatures.

(3) In slang a one-legged human or a single prosthetic leg.

(4) In fashion, a garment (trousers, leggings etc) with only one fabric leg.

(5) In fashion, a measure (as “good monoleg” & “bad monoleg”) of how well the slit on a dress or skirt has been implemented.

1980s: The construct was mono- + leg.  Mono was from the Ancient Greek μόνος (monos) (alone, only, sole, single), from the Proto-Hellenic mónwos.  Oἶος (oîos) (only, single) was from óywos while the etymology of the initial element is uncertain but it may be from the primitive Indo-European men- (small), hinted at by the Ancient Greek μανός (manós) (sparse, rare), the Armenian մանր (manr) (slender, small) and even the Proto-West Germanic muniwu (small fish, minnow).  As a prefix, mono- is often found in chemical names to indicate a substance containing just one of a specified atom or group (eg a monohydrate such as carbon monoxide; carbon attached to a single atom of oxygen).  Leg was from the Middle English leg & legge, from the Old Norse leggr (leg, calf, bone of the arm or leg, hollow tube, stalk), from the Proto-Germanic lagjaz & lagwijaz (leg, thigh).  Although the source is uncertain, the Scandinavian forms may have come from a primitive Indo-European root used to mean “to bend” which would likely also have been linked with the Old High German Bein (bone, leg).  It was cognate with the Scots leg (leg), the Icelandic leggur (leg, limb), the Norwegian Bokmål legg (leg), the Norwegian Nynorsk legg (leg), the Swedish lägg (leg, shank, shaft), the Danish læg (leg), the Lombardic lagi (thigh, shank, leg), the Latin lacertus (limb, arm), and the Persian لنگ (leng).  After it entered the language, it mostly displaced the native Old English term sċanca (from which Modern English ultimately gained “shank”) which was probably from a root meaning “crooked” (in the literal sense of “bent” rather than the figurative used of crooked Hillary Clinton).  Monoleg is a noun; the noun plural is monolegs.

Three thoughts on the monoleg by Sarah Aphrodite (b 1979).

Although never likely to be seen on high streets, one-legged trousers always attract the eye of editors when seen on catwalks which is of course something of an end in itself.  The look was first seen in 2018 when the consensus seemed to be it was one of those absurdities shows can get away with once for the sake of the click-bait but in 2024 the monoleg returned with contributions from estimable fashion houses including Louis Vuitton, Bottega Veneta and Coperni and Louis Vuitton.  Apparently responsible for one-legged pairs of trousers was Dutch-born US designer Sarah Aphrodite who may not have imagined there would be many imitators but South Korean label Pushbutton launched a range of legged jeans, appealing presumably at least some of what has in the last decade become a nation of trend-setters.

Lindsay Lohan in a white ensemble by Michael Kors (b 1959) demonstrates the “momoleg” look offered by the “slit-cut” in a skirt or dress, New York, 2022.  Critics distinguish between the “good monoleg” & “bad monoleg”, the distinction between a cut which accentuates and one which just looks awkward.  This one is good.

The industry does like asymmetry and monolegs are about as jarring a look as fashion permits and of course, displaying only a leg, the look is lawful just about anywhere (except places run by ayatollahs, the Taliban etc),  It’s also correct to talk about “a pair of monolegs” despite that being an apparent linguistic paradox.  Like “pants” (which was from the French pantalon) which had its origin in a garment something like the leg-warmers of the 1980s (ie a separate one for each leg), trousers were originally separate pieces for each leg but obviously were always bought and worn in pairs, thus reference to “pair” (a la “a pair of gloves”.  Trousers dates from the early seventeenth century and was from the earlier trouzes, extended from trouse with the plural ending appended to follow the convention of such use for other garments.  The source was the Irish & Scottish Gaelic triubhas (the close-fitting trews (best understood as leggings)) and via the Middle Scots trewsers it entered English during the late Middle Ages.  The idea of a “pair of trousers” thus evolved from a “pair of garments” to the modern practice of describing bifurcated articles (in this case one for each leg) in a way which might suggest two items (al la “pair of glasses”, another thing which began a term meaning “two lens supplied together”, the definitely singular monocle a reminder of this history).  So a “pair of monolegs” is correct and in the tailoring sense there are (in a sense) two legs in a pair of monolegs; one much shorter than the other.

Monolegs on the catwalk, 2024.

Beyond the catwalk or those looking to be in the avant-garde of a short-lived trend, the monoleg might have some appeal for those with one heavily tattooed leg and one “clean-skin” (another asymmetry which seems to have some appeal) but the appeal is not likely to be wide because, unlike the long-established “fingerless glove”, a functional purpose is not immediately obvious.  There could though be a small (but presumably appreciative) audience among those diagnosed with the condition Body Integrity Dysphoria (BID and oreviosuly referred to as Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID) or Apotemnophilia, the latter term more specific and now dated.

Stensele monoleg bar table in anthracite by Ikea.  Thoughtfully, the Stensele included "handbag hooks", Swedish designers thinking about women more than most (it was Volvo which featured hollow headrests to accommodate pony-tails).

In the revision to the fifth edition (DSM-5-TR (2022)) of the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), BID was listed among those conditions awaiting “further study”.  That means BID is not yet an officially recognized disorder but has been identified as an area requiring more research to validate its inclusion as a formal diagnosis.  The core symptoms were detailed as (1) A strong and persistent desire for amputation or disability in a specific limb or body part, despite it being healthy and (2) significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning due to this desire.  It manifests as a patient’s mismatch between their physical body and their internal sense of how their body should be, the “mismatch” due not to delusional thinking but reflecting a deeply ingrained identity issue.  It seems symptoms begin often in childhood or adolescence and may persist into adulthood, the feelings tending to be enduring and not fleeting.  Rare and unusual in most aspects, BID is distinct from conditions such as body dysmorphic disorder, gender dysphoria, or somatic delusions although there are overlapping features.  The inclusion in DSM-5-TR in “conditions for further study” indicates the profession’s growing recognition of the condition but also the need to discuss the ethical dilemmas presented, most obviously the implications of “providing a cure” (eg amputation a patient’s healthy leg).  There are cases in the literature of individuals who have reported an improved quality of life after elective amputation but for many reasons this is not accepted as a standard treatment and some suggest it should be contemplated only when a patient’s focus on amputation is such that there is an imminent danger of self-harm (ie performing a self-amputation).

Florence Griffith Joyner (1959-1998, left) and Serena Williams (b 1981, right).

The US sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner (1959-1998) in 1988 made a splash with a monoleg outfit and the tennis player Serena Williams (b 1981) paid tribute to her when she adopted the look in 2021.  Even those who liked the look concluded it was in each case worn as a promotional device (possibly for the inevitable clothing line) rather than something which might improve sporting performance although, if not causative, there was certainly correlation in this for Ms Griffith Joyner.  In the 100m event she ran an 11.06 in 1983 and in 1987 achieved a brace of 10.97s but in 1988 (at the age of 29) she set a new world record of 10.49, a mark which stands to this day.  Her late career improvement remains of the most remarkable in the history of athletics and one upon which many have remarked.

Snoot

Snoot (pronounced snoot)

(1) In slang, the nose (of humans, animals, geological formations, distant galaxies and anything else with a feature even vaguely “nose-like”).

(2) In slang, an alcoholic drink.

(3) In slang, a police officer (especially a plain-clothed detective, the use explained by the notion of police “sticking their noses into” things).

(4) In clothing, the peak of a cap.

(5) In photography and film production, a cylindrical or conical e-shaped fitment on a studio light to control the scene area illuminated by restricting spill light.

(6) In informal use, a snob; an elitist individual; one who looks down upon those “not of the better classes”.

(7) In linguistics, a language pedant or snob; one who practices linguistic elitism (and distinct from a “grammar Nazi”).

(8) In engineering, as “droop snoot”, a design in which the nose of a machine is lowered (temporarily or permanently) for reasons of visibility or to optimize aerodynamics.

(9) To behave disdainfully toward; to condescend to (usually as “snooty”).

(10) To apply a snoot attachment to a light.

1861: From the Scots snoot (a variation of snout (nose or projecting feature of an animal), from the Middle English snowte, from the Middle Dutch snute, ultimately from the Proto-West Germanic snūt, from the Proto-Germanic snūtaz, source also of the German Schnauze (the basis of schnauzer, a name for a type of dog) and it’s presumed the slang schnoz (a nose, especially if large) is probably related.  Snoot is a noun & verb, snootiness, snooter & snootful are nouns, snooting & snooted are verbs, snooty, snootier & snootiest are adjectives and snootily is an adverb; the noun plural is snoots.

Lindsay Lohan's snoot.

The noun snootful dates from 1885 and was a synonym of skinful (to have imbibed as much liquor as one could manage).  It was based on the use of snout to mean “an an alcoholic drink” whereas skinful was an allusion to the time when wine was transported in containers made from animal skin (ie in original use skinful meant “the container is full”).  The adjective snooty (proud, arrogant) was first noted as university student slang in 1918 and presumably was in some way related to the earlier snouty (insolent, overbearing) which was in use by at least 1857, doubtlessly on the basis of “looking down one's nose at someone or something”.  In dialectal or slang use a snout (in the sense of “nose” is not of necessity derogatory and in fields like engineering, cosmology, geography, geology, cosmology or zoology, it is merely descriptive.  However, when used as a slang term for a snob (a snooty person), the sense is almost always negative although there are some elitists who are proud of their snootiness.  Those who don’t approve of barbarisms such as country & western music sometimes make sure their snootiness is obvious but as a general principle it’s usually better just to ignore such things.  The adjective snooty is in much more common use than the noun snoot and it appears often with a modifier such as “a bit snooty”.  That may seem strange because one is either snooty about someone or something or one isn’t but there are degrees of severity with which one can allow ones snootiness to manifest (the comparative “snootier”, the superlative “snootiest”.

In engineering, “droop snout” is used to describe a design in which the nose of a machine is lowered (temporarily or permanently) for reasons of visibility or to optimize aerodynamics.  The term was apparently first used between engineers in the late 1950s while working on the first conceptual plans for the Anglo-French supersonic airliner which became the Concorde although the first known use in print dates from 1963 (“droop nose” appearing in the same era).  The idea wasn’t developed for use on the Concorde.  An experimental British supersonic test-bed with a droop-nose had flown as early 1954 and proved the utility of the concept by being the first jet aircraft to exceed 1000 mph (1600 km/h) in level flight, later raising the world speed record of to 1132 mph (1822 km/h), exceeding the previous mark by an impressive 310 mph (500 km/h).  In aviation, the basic idea of a sloping nose had been around for decades and one of the reasons some World War II (1939-1945) Allied fighter pilots found targeting easier in the Hawker Hurricane than the Supermarine Spitfire was the nose of the former noticeably tapered towards the front, greatly enhancing forward visibility.

How the Concorde's droop snoot was used.

On the Concorde, the droop snoot wasn’t a mere convenience.  The combination of the engineers slide-rules and wind tunnel testing had proved what the shape had to be to achieve the combination of speed and fuel economy (the latter an under-estimated aspect of the development process) but that shape also meant the pilots’ view was so obstructed during take-offs, landings and taxiing that safety was compromised.  The solution was the “droop nose” mechanism which included a moving transparent visor which retracted into the nose prior to being lowered.  At supersonic speeds, the temperatures are high and so are the stresses so much attention was devoted to “fail-safe” systems including the droop snoot because a structural failure at Mach 2 would potentially be catastrophic for the entire airframe (and obviously every soul on board).  Thus, the hydraulic systems controling the droop snoot’s movement was duplicated and, as a last resort, the pilots had access to a simple mechanical lever which would disengage the pins holding the structure in place, the apparatus afterwards gracefully (hopefully) descending into its lowered position by the simple operation of gravity.  Droop snoots appeared also on Soviet supersonic aircraft including the short-lived Tupolev Tu-144 (visually close to a Concorde clone) and the Sukhoi T-4 strategic bomber which never entered production.  Interestingly, the USAF’s (US Air Force) North American XB-70 Valkyrie (a Mach 3 experimental bomber) didn’t use a droop snoot because it was developed exclusively for high-altitude, high-speed strategic bombing missions and, being a military airplane, would only ever operate from large, controlled airbases where additional ground support systems (monitoring and guidance) negated the need for the mechanism.

1955 Ford Customline (left) and the 1967 “droop snoot” “Custaxie” (right), the construct being Cust(omline) + (Gal)axie, the unusual hybrid created by merging (some of) a 1955 Customline with a 427 cubic inch (7.0 litre) Ford Galaxie V8.  The bizarre machine won the 1967 New Zealand Allcomers (a wonderful concept) saloon car championship, the modifications to the nose reckoned to be the equivalent of an additional 40-50 horsepower.

At sub-supersonic speeds, throughout the 1960s race-cars proved the virtue of the droop snoot (though a fixed rather than a moveable structure.  While sometimes weight-reduction was also attained, overwhelmingly the advantage was in aerodynamics and the idea began to spread to road cars although it would be decades before the concept would no longer be visually too radical for general market acceptance.

1972 Vauxhall Firenza coupé promotional material for the Canadian launch, a market in which the car was a disaster (left) and 1975 High Performance (HP) Firenza "dropsnoot".  GM in South Africa actually made a good car out of the Firenza coupé, building 100 (for homologation purposes) with the 302 cubic inch (4.9 litre) V8 used in the original Z/28 Chevrolet Camaro.  In South Africa, they were sold as the "Chevrolet Firenza".  

In 1973, officially, Vauxhall called their new version of the Firenza coupé the “High Performance (HP) Firenza” but quickly the press, noting the Concorde (then still three years from entering commercial service), dubbed it the “droopsnoot”, the reference obviously to the distinctive nosecone designed for aerodynamic advantage.  The advantages were real in terms of performance and fuel consumption but Vauxhall had the misfortune to introduce the model just as the first oil crisis began which stunted demand for high-performance cars (BMW’s 2002 Turbo another victim) and triggered a sharp recession which was a prelude to that decade’s stagflation.  Vauxhall had planned a build of some 10,000 a year but in the difficult environment, a paltry 204 were built.

Ford Escort Mark 2 in the 1977 Rally of Finland (left) and 1976 Escort RS2000  with the droop snoot (right).

In 1976, Ford launched their own take on the droop snoot, the Mark 2 Escort RS2000 featuring a similar mechanical specification to that of the Mark 1 but with a distinctive nosecone.  Ford claimed there was an aerodynamic benefit in the new nose but it was really a styling exercise designed to stimulate interest because the Escort was the corporation’s platform for rallying rather than something used on high-speed circuits and it certainly achieved the desired results, the model proving popular.  Ford Australia even offered it with four doors as well as two although emission regulations meant the additional horsepower on offer in Europe was denied to those down under.  Interestingly, although the range’s high-performance flagship, the factory rally team didn’t use the droop snoot version, those in competition using the standard, square-fronted body.

Godox Pro Snoot S-Type Mount SN-05

Anomphalous

Anomphalous (pronounced uh-non-muh-luhs or un-no-muh-luhs)

(1) Having no navel; without an umbilicus.

(2) In biology (especially botany), an organism or structure lacking a central point or depression (ie a feature resembling a navel).  The best known use is of an anomphalous fruit (one lacking a central scar or mark where it was attached to the plant).

1742: A Latinized compound from the Ancient Greek, the construct being an- + (from ὀμφαλός (omphalosi) (navel)), from the primitive Indo-European hm̥bhl, from hnebh (navel, centre), the cognates including the Sanskrit नभ्य (nabhya), the Latin umbilīcus and the Old English nafola (from which English gained “navel”).  The an- prefix was an alternative form of on-, from the Middle English an-, from the Old English an- & on- (on-), from the Proto-Germanic ana- (on), from the Ancient Greek ἀν- (an-).   It was used to create words having the sense opposite to the word (or stem) to which the prefix is attached; it was used with stems beginning either with vowels or “h”.  It was used in anomphalous in the sense of “without” (ie the opposite of the usual case of “with”).  The use in marine biology is exemplified by the shells of the Anomphalidae, an extinct family of gastropods (molluscs including snails and slug in the family Anomphalidae).  The Anomphalidae lived during the Paleozoic (the geologic era within the Phanerozoic eon that comprises the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian periods (542-250 million years ago)).  The name is gained from the shells in which the aperture is oval, without exhalent slit or crease.  Anomphalous & anomphalic are adjectives and anomphalously is an adverb.

A digitally edited image depicting an anomphalic Lindsay Lohan.

One thing which did trouble some medieval artists was the matter of whether Adam and Eve had navels.  The orthodox theological position was they had no navels because the pair were not born to parents in the conventional manner and that must be right because there were no flesh & blood parents from whom to be born: Adam and Eve were the first human beings, created in the image of God Himself.  So, no need for umbilical cords, thus no navels, another implication of course being the “made in His own image” thing being God must have no navel and although it’s doubtful medieval theologians often commented on that, whether or not God could be said to have a bodily human form was discussed, the usual conclusion being he did not and that depictions in art were merely to facilitate worship.  In medicine, the absence of the navel (belly button) is a rare congenital defect, the medical term for which is omphalocele, usually something ultimately of no physiological significance but because it can cause psychological distress, plastic surgeons can re-construct one, a relatively simple procedure.  The alternative for an omphalocelic is to shun omphalophiliacs and hook up with someone who suffers omphalophobia (fear of the belly button); they should live happily ever after.  The phobia koumpounophobia (fear of buttons) is unrelated and references only the manufactured objects.

Creazione di Adamo by Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel, The Vatican, Rome.

In some medieval art, Adam and Eve were depicted as anomphalous, respecting the theology and emphasizing the pair had been created directly by God rather than born of a woman and were thus a unique couple.  It was though not a universal practice and on the basis of the surviving paintings, not all that common to “go anomphalous”.  Michelangelo’s (Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni; 1475–1564) famous fresco Creazione di Adamo (The Creation of Adam) which is a component of Sistine Chapel's ceiling (1508–1512) depicts the part of the Biblical creation narrative from the Bible’s Book of Genesis in which God gives life to Adam, the first man.  Michelangelo gave Adam a navel and concerned Christians have over the years explained that too, pointing out God thought ahead and knew there would be offspring and didn’t want his two creations to be getting tiresome questions from children asking about why they had navels when mom & dad did not.  Theological fudges have been around since the early church and by now, Christianity has an answer for everything.

De aanbidding van het Lam Gods (the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb; better known in the English-speaking world as The Ghent Altarpiece), oil on oak polyptych winged altarpiece by Hubert (circa 1387–1426) & Jan (circa 1385-1441) van Eyck.  One of the landmark works which marked the transition from medieval to Renaissance art, Adam & Eve appear (with navels) on the panels to the far left & right.

Adam and Eve by Jan van Scorel (1495-1562): tempera on panel (circa 1527; left, omphalous) and tempera on panel (circa 1540; right, anomphalous).  Nor were artists always theologically committed, some sometimes including navels on their Adam & Eve and sometimes omitting the feature.  It was an age of artistic patronage and it may be some cardinals insisted things be done anomphalously and some were less emphatic.  They may also have had some say in the presence or size of fig leaves.