Ameliorate

Ameliorate (pronounced uh-meel-yuh-reyt or uh-mee-lee-uh-reyt)

(1) To make or become better; to improve something perceived to be in a negative condition.

(2) To make more bearable or less unsatisfactory (a contested meaning).

1728: A variant of the Middle English meliorate (to make better; to improve; to solve a problem), from the Medieval Latin amelioratus, past participle of meliorāre (I make better; improve), a verb from the Classical Latin melior (better), from the Proto-Italic meljōs, from the primitive Indo-European mélyōs, from mel- (strong, big) and cognate with multus, the Ancient Greek μάλα (mála) and the Latvian milns (very much, a lot of).  The adoption in English of ameliorate as an alternative to meliorate reflected the influence of the French améliorer (to improve), from the Old French ameillorer (to make better), from meillor (better), again from the Classical Latin melior.  The intransitive sense of the verb to mean "grow better" dates from 1789, the adjective ameliorative (tending to make better) emerging by 1796.  The synonyms include (most obviously) meliorate and also improve & amend.  Ameliorate is a verb, amelioration, ameliorant & ameliorableness are nouns and ameliorable, amelioratory & ameliorative are adjectives; the noun plural is ameliorations.

Purists insist ameliorate is often wrongly used where what is meant is “alleviate”, a habit which seems prevalent among journalists and politicians, two professions noted in recent decades for their marked decline in quality.  Properly used, ameliorate means to improve something thought not satisfactory; it should not be used to mean “make more tolerable or bearable”.  Thus, the frequent appearance of phrases like “ameliorating the pain” should instead be rendered as “alleviating the pain”.  Alleviate was from the Late Latin alleviatus (to lighten) and in this context means to ease the suffering in a specific situation; to make something easier to bear (and it can mean “to decrease”).  Ameliorate refers to changing a circumstance or situation for the better whereas alleviate describes only easing the suffering attached to a bad circumstance or situation.  In use, ameliorate appears most often as the simple present ameliorates, the present participle ameliorating or the past participle ameliorated.

In October 2016, during an Aegean cruise, Lindsay Lohan suffered a finger injury, the tip of one digit severed by the boat's anchor chain.  The detached flesh was salvaged from the deck, permitting micro-surgery to be performed ashore, ameliorating the damage suffered.  Unfortunately, being an extremity, it wasn’t possible immediately wholly to alleviate the pain but despite the gruesome injury, Lindsay Lohan later managed to find husband so all’s well that ends well.

Meliorism

Meliorism (pronounced meel-yuh-riz-uhm or mee-lee-uh-riz-uhm)

(1) A doctrine which holds the world tends to become better or may be made better by human effort.

(2) The theory that there is in nature a tendency to increasingly better development.

1850s: From the Middle English melioracioun (improvement, act or process of making or becoming better), from the Late Latin meliorationem (nominative melioratio) (a bettering, improvement), a noun of action from the past-participle stem of meliorare (to improve), the construct the Classical Latin melior (better) + ism.  The –ism suffix was from the Ancient Greek ισμός (ismós) & -isma noun suffixes, often directly, sometimes through the Latin –ismus & isma (from where English picked up ize) and sometimes through the French –isme or the German –ismus, all ultimately from the Ancient Greek (where it tended more specifically to express a finished act or thing done).  It appeared in loanwords from Greek, where it was used to form abstract nouns of action, state, condition or doctrine from verbs and on this model, was used as a productive suffix in the formation of nouns denoting action or practice, state or condition, principles, doctrines, a usage or characteristic, devotion or adherence (criticism; barbarism; Darwinism; despotism; plagiarism; realism; witticism etc).  Although contested, the coining of meliorism is often attributed to author George Eliot (pen name of Mary Ann Evans, 1819–1880).

The transitive verb emerged in the 1550s in the sense of “to make better, to improve" as a back-formation from the noun melioration or from the Late Latin melioratus, the past participle of meliorare (improve), from the Classical Latin melior (better) and was used as a comparative of bonus “good” but the context of use indicates the original meaning was “stronger” (the link being the primitive Indo-European root mel- (strong; great).  The intransitive verb in the sense of “to grow better; be improved” dates from the 1650s.  The adjective & verb meliorated, the verb meliorating and the adjective meliorative are rare but the verb ameliorate (to make better, or improve, something perceived to be in a negative condition) and its many derivatives are in common use.  In Scottish law, meliorations were “improvements made by a tenant upon rented land”, a concept widely used in common law for various purposes, usually when calculating financial off-sets.  Meliorism & meliorist are nouns, melioristic is an adjective and melioristically is an adverb; the noun plural is meliorisms but meliorists is in more frequent use.

The source of the mel element was a primitive Indo-European root meaning “strong; great” and is familiar in forms such as ameliorate & amelioration.  What etymologists call “Proto Indo-European” (PIE) is a set of words and fragmentary elements which are hypothetical constructs derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages, a process which can be understood as a kind of abstracted back-formation.  The PIE mel was constructed with reference to the Ancient Greek mala (very, very much) and the Classical Latin multus (much, many) & melior (better).  It can be contrasted with the prefix mal- which was from the Old French mal- (bad; badly) from the Latin adverb male, from malus (bad, wicked).  In English the prefix was applied to create literally dozens of words variously with some denotation of the negative including (1) bad, badly (malinfluence), (1) unhealthy; harmful (malware), (3) unpleasant (malodorous) (4) incorrect (malformed), (5) incomplete (maldescent) & (6) deficiently (malnourished).  Having the homophonic elements mel & mal co-exist in English while operating an antonyms is one of the many obstacles for those learning English and the avoidance of such things was one of the parameters adopted during the development of Esperanto, a Lingvo Internacia (international language) intended to function as an “international auxiliary language”.  Despite that, Esperanto is not without inconsistencies.

In metaphysics, meliorism holds that people (and thus the world in general) tend towards improvement and are at least always capable of becoming better.  It’s manifestation as a political doctrine is essentially the idea of “the improvement of society by regulated practical means” but that is so lacking in what Kevin Rudd (b 1957; Australian prime-minister 2007-2010 & 2013) delighted in calling “programmatic specificity” that it could have been claimed by anyone from comrade Stalin (1878-1953; Soviet leader 1924-1953) to Barack Obama (b 1961; US president 2009-2017).  The philosophers tended to be specific and the classic exponent of the melioristic view (which these days would be called a paradigm) was the French writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) who believed in the goodness of man with an earnest sincerity which was extraordinary given the way he’d been persecuted.

Exécution de Robespierre et de ses complices conspirateurs contre la liberté et l'égalité (Execution of Robespierre and his conspirators against freedom and equality, 28 July 1794), Bibliothèque nationale de France (National Library of France, Paris).  The Terror was one legacy of the way the writings of Rousseau were used and illustrated the recurrent problem of philosophy: It matters less what the philosopher meant and more what his readers decided he meant.

Right to the end Rousseau thought it was only the evils of society which corrupted "basically good" mankind although that society was composed of the same mankind was a puzzle he never quite resolved.  Still, Rousseau had the good sense to drop dead before the French Revolution (1789), the events of which might have challenged even his faith and more than one historian has observed it was his spirit which “loomed over the worst excesses of the revolution”.  The English empiricist philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) laid out some of the groundwork of the Enlightenment and Rousseau acknowledged the debt but Locke’s view was that while all had the capacity for improvement, that shouldn’t be conflated with any sort of inherent goodness, self-interest a more likely motivation.  All of that which Locke held dear (liberation from the tyranny of religion, scepticism toward authority, productive property aimed at material increase, the rights to freedom of movement & association and a strong system of government which protects all rights associated with individual liberty) he thought would lead to progress but for him that was largely material: prosperity and life-spans will rise but we will remain selfish, blinkered creatures.

One historian recently brought controversy to meliorism.  In his book The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined (2011), Canadian-American cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker (b 1954) argued that over time just about all the things which scar civilized life (war, violent death, pogroms) have declined and because this trend-line has continued to assume a downward path despite the hardware and other mechanisms of killing becoming more effective, available and distributed, it must be that the “better angels of our nature” have increasingly prevailed over whatever it is in human nature which compels or at least inclines us towards violence.  Reflecting on the terrible twentieth century, the thesis seemed counterintuitive but Pinker’s book sold well although it was criticized by those who took issue with the statistical methods used and the rather (geographically and chronologically) selective use of data grabs.

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

A more pragmatic (and perhaps the original) use of the word was that of British author George Eliot (pen name of Mary Ann Evans, 1819–1880) who, in a letter written in 1877 to the psychologist James Sully (1842–1923), explained she was neither optimist nor pessimist but a meliorist, which she thought an intermediate outlook between the two “…cheered by the hope and by the belief in gradual improvement of the mass” and the view “…each individual must find the better part of happiness in helping another.”  “I don't know that I ever heard anybody use the word "meliorist" except myself.  But I begin to think that there is no good invention or discovery that has not been made by more than one person. The only good reason for referring to the "source" would be, that you found it useful for the doctrine of meliorism to cite one unfashionable confessor of it in the face of the fashionable extremes”.

Zigzag

Zigzag (pronounced zig-zag)

(1) A line, course, or progression characterized by sharp turns first to one side and then to the other.

(2) One of a series of such turns, as in a line or path (typically in a repeating “Z-like” pattern.

(3) Proceeding or formed in a zigzag:

(4) In sewing, dressmaking etc, a pattern or stitches in this shape.

(5) In military use (land, sea & air), to move or manoeuvre in a zigzaging motion, usually as a form of evasion.

(6) In figurative use, something performed in a non-lineal way, characterized by frequent changes, often in response to external influences such as criticism.

(7) As “zigzag rule”, a rule composed of light strips of wood joined by rivets so as to be foldable, all the opening and closing parts being in parallel planes.

(8) In World War I (1914-1918) US military slang, a slang term for “someone drunk”.

1712: From the mid-seventeenth century French zigzag which replaced the earlier ziczac, from the German zickzack, from the Walloon ziczac, a gradational compound based on Zacke (tack) (familiar in English use as the “zigzagging technique” used in yachting).  It’s thought the coining of the original may have been influenced by the letter “Z” which appears twice, a “Z” able to be interpreted as a representation of a “zigzag movement”.  Less supported among etymologists is the alternative theory the German Zickzack was from Zacke (point; tooth; prong; jagged projection).  The earliest known use in German was to describe military siege approaches, a use adopted (by analogy) by early English landscape architects (then known as “gardeners”) to the layout of appropriately shaped paths in parks.  It was used as an adjective from the mid eighteenth century, the first appearing in 1774.  The brand of cigarette paper (a favorite of many stoners because the glue was said to make joints “easier to roll”) was first sold in 1909.  The adjectival use is common in fabric design and dressmaking, the zigzag pattern widely used.  In sewing, a zigzag stitch is one of the standard set in sewing machines, used usually to finish edges, the attachment to create such stitches known as a zigzagger.  The hyphenated spelling zig-zag is common.  Zigzag is a noun, verb adjective & adverb; zigzaggedness & zigzagger are nouns and zigzagged & zigzagging are verbs; the noun plural is zigzags.

ZIG is used as an acronym for a number of purposes including (1) zoster immune globulin (a globulin fraction of pooled plasma from patients who have recovered from herpes zoster and used prophylactically for immuno-suppressed children exposed to varicella and therapeutically to ameliorate varicella infection), (2) a general-purpose imperative, statically typed, compiled programming language intended as a modern successor to the C language and is (3) the abbreviation of Zimbabwe Gold, the official national currency of Zimbabwe since April 2024; it began in October 2023 as a gold-backed digital token in October 2023.  ZAG is the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) code for Zagreb International Airport, Croatia and to describe Zymosan-Activated Granulocytes (a type of white blood cell (granulocytes) that have been stimulated by exposure to zymosan, a polysaccharide derived from the cell walls of yeast species like Saccharomyces cerevisiae).

Lindsay Lohan with Kim Kardashian (b 1980) with strategically placed “gash” in dress.

The feature may be described as either a “zig” or “zag” because the terms are interchangeable.  However, were there to be two connected gashes which assume opposite directions: that would be a “zigzag”.  While the nature of the formation of the words “zig” & “zag” is not unique, it is unusual in that, dating from the late eighteenth century, both were extractions: back-formation from “zigzag”.  A notable quirk of zig & zag is that interchangeably they can be used to mean the same thing yet when used in the same sentence, they mean “to move in opposite directions”.  In separate use, it thus matters not whether one says “she zigged around” or “she zagged around”; the meaning is the same.  Used together however, the rule is strict: she will always be described as “zigzagging” and never “zagzigging”.  Zigzag is often intended to be humorous and when applied to politicians it’s a way of saying they are “being evasive” or “flip-flopping”.

Lindsay Lohan wearing a Tolani zig zag scarf (given it was winter, the piece should probably be described as a “muffler”) in the style made famous by the Italian fashion house Missoni, New York, November 2007.

Founded in 1953 by Ottavio (1921-2013) and Rosita (b 1931) Missoni, the house became well-known during the 1960s for their vibrant and colorful knitwear, the signature motif of which was a distinctive zigzag pattern.  The technology which made the garments possible was not new, the Missoni’s “re-discovering” the long discarded “Rachel” machines traditionally used to create the shawls worn in the south of Italy, devices which permitted an almost infinite variation of lines and styles within a given design; such things were of course possible using other machinery but the versatile Rachels allowed changes to be integrated into the production line process, making possible economies of scale not available to other manufacturers; all that was required was a quick juggling of the assembly’s array of multi-colored points and what would emerge was fabric with horizontal and vertical lines in a rainbow of colors.  Ottavio Missoni did acknowledge the stylistic debt owed, once saying: “For a thousand years, the Incas have been copying my knit sweaters…”

A swatch of Missoni's signature zigzag.

The event which made Missoni famous was at the time thought scandalous although, given what these days is worn on catwalks and red carpets, it seems quaint indeed.  After their first, well-received, catwalk show in 1966, Missoni was invited to the event held in Florence’s Pitti Palace in April 1967 and it was only during last-minute rehearsals Rosita Missoni became aware the shape and color of the models’ bras were clearly visible, distracting attention from the unique zigzagging patterns which were the brand’s signature.  With no time to arrange a fix like skin-toned bodysuits, her solution was for the models to remove their bras; that solved the problem but replaced one distraction with another, the assembled pack of photographers most impressed because, under venue’s unusually bright lights, the pieces became transparent.  Since dubbed “The Battle of the Bras”, at the time not all thought the look “appropriate” but it generated much publicity and was one of the reasons Milan would in the late 1960s emerge as one of the world’s fashion capitals, the photographers following the Missonis back to Milan.  The couple weren’t invited to the next year’s Pitti Palace show but Vogue, Marie Claire, Elle, and Harper's Bazaar all provided generous coverage and the Rubicon had been crossed, Yves Saint-Laurent (1936–2008) in 1968 displaying the “see-through” look.  Since then, it’s never gone away.

PLA Shenyang J-8II (left) and USN Lockheed EP-3E ARIES II (right)

The phrase “he zigged when he should have zagged” came into common use in the mid-twentieth century and is believed to have been popularized by radio sports commentators who needed something “graphical” to paint a “word picture” of why a football player had been tackled.  The origin is thought to be sardonic military humor and a euphemism for “he was killed while attempting an evasive maneuver”.  An example of “he zigged when he should have zagged” was the fate of the unfortunate Lieutenant Commander (shao xiao) Wang Wei (1969-2001) of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy of the PRC (People’s Republic of China), killed when his Shenyang J-8II interceptor (a Chinese knock-off of the old Soviet-era MiG 21) collided with a US Navy Lockheed EP-3E ARIES II signals reconnaissance aircraft (a development of the old P-3 Orion).  The affair became known as the “Hainan Island Incident” because the damaged EP-3 was forced to land on the Chinese territory of Hainan Island, the ensuring diplomatic spat played out over the next ten days, resolved by the US ambassador to Beijing handing to the PRC’s foreign minister the “Letter of the two sorries”; US surveillance flights have continued and the PLA is now more cautious in its shadowing.  US pilots noted the dark linguistic coincidence of the name “Wang Wei” being pronounced “wong way”.

Jewish Museum Berlin (2001), overhead view (left), exterior (centre) and interior (right).

Designed by US architect Daniel Libeskind (b 1946) and opened in 2001, Berlin’s Jewish Museum is noted for the “zigzag” theme reflected in its floor plan, exterior surfaces and interior detailing.  The “gashes”, a recurring motif, are integral to the design and described as “voids”, deep, empty spaces which “cut their way” through the building, serving as symbols representing the absence, loss, and emptiness left by the Holocaust.  The architect’s idea was to evoke a sense of disorientation & fragmentation, recalling the often disrupted history of the Jewish people in Germany (the Holocaust only the most severe of the pogroms suffered).  According to the museum, the voids are intended to summon in visitors periods of reflection, silence, and remembrance; a recall of what irrevocably has been lost.  In terms of design & effect, one of the most celebrated voids is the "Memory Void" in which houses the installation Shalekhet (Fallen Leaves) by Israeli painter & sculptor Menashe Kadishman (1932–2015), constructed with thousands of metallic faces spread across the floor.  On these, visitors walk, producing a haunting sound many report as “intensifying the emotional experience”.  Voids are not unusual in museums, galleries and other exhibition spaces but unlike some, those in the Jewish Museum contain no exhibits, reminding visitor of the void in Jewish culture rent by the Holocaust.

Ormolu

Ormolu (pronounced awr-muh-loo)

(1) Gilded metal, especially cast brass or bronze gilded over fire with an amalgam of gold and mercury, used for furniture mounts and ornamental objects (also called bronze doré or gilt bronze).

(2) An alloy of copper, tin or zinc used to imitate gold (also called mosaic gold).

(3) Gold or gold powder prepared for use in gilding.

(4) A descriptor of objects prepared using the technique (as a modifier).

1755–1765: From the French moulu (ground gold), the source being the Latin aurum (gold) + moulu, past participle of moudre (to grind) from the Old French moudre from the Latin molere, present active infinitive of molō.  Molō was from the primitive Indo-European melh- (to grind, crush) and cognate with the Latin mollis, the Ancient Greek μύλη (múlē) and the English meal; it’s also the source of the English maelstrom.  Ormolu is a noun, verb & adjective; ormolus, ormoluing & ormolued are verbs; the noun plural is ormolus.

Deadly

Image of Lindsay Lohan in Ormolu frame.

Used mostly for the decorative mountings of furniture, clocks, candlesticks, chandeliers and porcelain, ormolu was a technique of gilding used to apply a finely-ground, high-carat gold–mercury amalgam to objects made from an alloy (typically bronze).  The method used high-temperature kilns to remove the mercury, leaving behind a gold coating and in French, was called bronze doré, in English, gilt bronze.  It’s associated especially French Empire clocks (those of the First Empire the most admired) but was also used in nineteenth century English workshops.  The process, sometimes colloquially called mercury-gilding or fire-gilding, was both labor-intensive and dangerous because craftsmen, many of who died young, were exposed to the toxic mercury emissions from the kilns.  A variety of helmet-like devices were used in an attempt to ameliorate the dangers but none were very effective and, after the revolution of 1830 and the overthrow of Charles X (1757–1836; King of France 1824-1830), the process was outlawed in France but use continued well into the twentieth century, some factories operating as late as the 1960s.  The process has been supplanted by modern techniques such as electroplating.

French ormolu and pink porcelain clock set Garniture (1795) by Jean-Baptiste André Furet (circa 1720-1807) in the style of François Rémond (1747-1812).

Biomimic

Biomimic (pronounced bahy-oh-mim-ik)

(1) A synthetic substance, material or device which mimics the formation, function, or structure of biologically produced substances & materials, biological mechanisms or processes.

(2) The act or processes involved in the creation of such substances, materials or devices.

1969: The construct was bio(logy) + mimic.  The bio- prefix was from the Ancient Greek βίο- (bío-), a combining form and stem of βίος (bíos) (life) used widely to construct forms in some way (even if in emulation) related to organic life (ie biological organisms in general).  Mimic was from the Latin mīmicus, from the Ancient Greek μῑμικός (mīmikós) (belonging to mimes), from μῖμος (mîmos) (imitator, actor), the source also of the modern mime.  It was used variously to mean (1) to imitate (applied especially to acts intended to ridicule), (2) to take on the appearance of another, for protection or camouflage (originally from zoology and other biological sciences but later more widely applied) and (3) in IT systems for a range of purposes.  The alternative spelling was mimick which persisted into the nineteenth century.  Biometric is a noun & verb, biomimicry & biomimesis are nouns, biomimetic is an adjective and biomimetically is an adverb; the noun plural is biometrics.

1955 D-Type (XKD510) with tailfin used on the tracks with unusually long straights (left), image of a great white shark (centre) and 1948 Tatra T87 II with stabilizing fin (right).

Jaguar’s experience in 1954 running the D-Type on the long Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans had proved the effectiveness of the re-designed bodywork, the cars more than 10 mph (16 km/h) faster in a straight line than the winning Ferrari but all the drivers reported that at speeds above 160 mph (257 km/h), straight line stability had suffered and in the cars not fitted with a tailfin, the lateral movement could sometimes be measured in feet.  Aerodynamics at the time was still in its infancy and most attention had been devoted to reducing drag in the pursuit of speed and much of the available data was from aviation where lift was a virtue; it wouldn’t be until the next decade with the advent of more available wind tunnels that designers began to understand how a compromise between slipperiness and down-force could be attained and even then, the increases in speed for years outpaced the test facilities.  Jaguar’s solution was a tailfin, something which fulfilled essentially the same function as a shark’s dorsal fin; the fish’s tailfin was used for propulsion and directional change, in a car, those dynamics are handled by other means.  The purpose of a dorsal fin is to stabilize, to prevent the rolling action which would otherwise be induced by movement through the water and Jaguar’s device likewise provided stability.  The fin was enlarged in 1955 and better integrated with the bodywork.

The Czech Tatra 87 (1936-1950) is regarded as a mid-century modernist masterpiece (as least visually, its configuration proved a cul-de-sac) and one thing which always attracts attention is the tailfin, something Tatra first put on a car in 1934.  What the fin did was split and equalize the air pressure on both sides at the rear, something designed to ameliorate the behavior induced by physics, the T87 enjoying the unfortunate combination of swing-axles and a rear-mounted V8 engine.  That configuration delivered some specific advantages but also a tendency for the back end of the car to “wander a bit”.  At speed, the fin helped but didn’t eliminate the problem and if corners were approached with too much enthusiasm, the swing axles certainly swung and it wasn’t uncommon for them to slide off the road or even overturn.  The effects of the fin can be emulated by a car towing a trailer at speed.  If a heavy load is placed in the front of the trailer, stability is usually good but if moved to the rear, there’s the danger of fishtailing which, if left uncorrected, can result in both car and trailer overturning.

The legend exists that such was the Tatra accident rate after the country was occupied in 1938-1939 that Germans there as part of the imposed administration were forbidden from driving the things.  A car must be truly evil for use by the SS to be declared verboten but historians have never unearthed the smoking gun of a documented order and declare it probably apocryphal although words of caution doubtlessly were spread.  Some versions of the story claim the order came from the Führer himself and it seems certain, whatever his tendency to micromanage, that definitely is fanciful although he was well acquainted with Tatra’s designs and their influence on the Volkswagen, the so called “peoples’ car” intended to bring to Germany the mass-market automobile which the Ford Model T (1908-1927) had delivered to US society.

Biomimicry: Lindsay Lohan in leopard-print.

Humans have been practicing biomimicry long before the emergence of any form of culture recognizable as a civilization; the use of animal skins or fur for warmth was an early example of what would later evolve into a technology.  Presumably, at least some of those who fashioned some of the early canoes and boats might have been influenced by the appearance of fish when choosing the shape a hull was to assume.  In architecture too nature seems to have provided inspiration and evidence exists of prehistoric structures which seem to owe something to both beehives and termite mounds although there’s obviously no extant documentation to verify the speculation.  Later architects and engineers did leave notes and natural structures including eggshells & mushrooms served as models of how strength and the volume of internal space could be optimized.  However, probably the best known of the early studies of biomimicry was the observation of birds undertaken in the age-old quest for human flight, many of Leonardo da Vinci’s (1452–1519) sketches of the physiology of both men and birds part of the research for his designs of “flying machines”.  For centuries, others would look to birds for inspiration although it wasn’t until the 1950s that the word “biomimic” began to evolve and that happened not among engineers or architects but in the biology labs, and at the time, what was called “bionics” was conceived as a practical application, a synthetic emulation of natural systems, then usually referred to as “biophysics”.  In the following decade, “biomimetic” came to be preferred because it exactly represented the concept and thus the discipline of “biomimmetics” was formalized: the engineering of a device, substance or material which mimics those found in the natural environment.

Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit (Stealth Bomber) and the Peregrine Falcon.

Popular culture played a part in the evolution too.  The word “bionic” fell from academic favor because in the 1970s it was used in science fiction (SF) of sometimes dubious quality and in television programmes which were distant from what was scientifically possible.  The term biomimicry however flourished as products (such as Velcro) which owed much to models observed in the natural environment appeared with increasing frequency and the techniques came to be described as “reverse engineering”, a term later co-opted in IT to refer to the process of deconstructing a piece of compiled software in order to be able to understand the source code which underlay to program.  Biomimicry was also of interest in the social sciences.  Although there had for more than a century been studies of the organization of animal societies including bees, ants and primates, the simultaneous rise of the economist and the power of computers to construct big-machine models meant that it came to be understood there might be a financial value in observations, beyond the academic interest of the behaviorists and psychologists.

Three models: Pop artists have often been attracted to similarities between various animals and the human form, either static or in motion but Japanese painter & sculptor Showichi Kaneda san (b 1970) was much taken with the structural alignment between the hammerhead shark and the modern open wheel racing car of which the Formula One machines are the highest evolution (even if in their present form about the most boring yet regulated).

Palliate

Palliate (pronounced pal-ee-yet)

(1) To relieve or lessen (pain, disease etc) without curing or removing; to mitigate; to alleviate.

(2) To attempt to mitigate or conceal the gravity of (conduct (especially as of offenses)) by excuses, reasons, apologies etc; to extenuate.

(3) To cause an offence to seem less serious; some act of concealment.

1490s: From the Late Latin palliāre (to cover up), from palliātus (cloaked, covered), (in Late Latin the past participle of palliare (to cover with a cloak)), from palliāre (to cover up) or pallium (cloak).  Palliate is a verb & adjective, palliation, palliator & pallium are nouns, palliative is a noun & adjective, unpalliated is an adjective, palliated & palliating are verbs and palliatively is an adverb; the common noun plural is palliatives.

Palliate is one of those words in English which has become mostly overwhelmed by the associative meaning of a derived form. Palliative medicine (or palliative care) is a branch of medicine which focuses on those terminally ill (usually with months, at the most, to live) by providing pain relief and attempting to allowing the dying to enjoy the best possible quality of life.  The alternative industry is that of voluntary euthanasia (the so-called right-to-die movement) which is now permitted and regulated by legislation in many jurisdictions.  Palliative medicine gained the name from the idea of the use of “palliatives”, drugs which provide pain relief for those for whom there is no possibility of a cure.  In that sense, the treatment regime “cloaks rather than cures” and expectations are limited to concealment of the consequences of the condition.  Although such practices (along with euthanasia, voluntary and not) had been part of medical practice for centuries, it was in the 1960s it came to be recognized as a discipline and a structural part of (or adjunct to depending on the jurisdiction) the hospital industry, and there are both academic courses in the subject and peer-reviewed journals such as the European Association for Palliative Care’s (EAPC) Palliative Medicine, published since 1987.  Although On Death and Dying (1969) by Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926–2004) is sometimes cited as the intellectual impetus for emergence, it happened really because of the mid-century advances in hygiene, nutrition, pharmaceuticals & surgical techniques and the extension of medical services in the welfare states which extended life-spans but not necessarily wellness, thus the increasing population of those terminally ill and in need of care.  The ability to prolong life (sometimes for decades) of someone in a debilitated condition, combined with the social changes which had seen the decline in numbers of extended family living arrangements, meant a substantially public-funded industry needed to evolve.

Cloaked for the occasion: Lindsay Lohan in appropriate Grim Reaper mode, fulfilling a court-mandated community service order at LA County Morgue, October 2011.

That has meant the word has faded from some of its historic uses.  In law, it used to be part of the language of courtrooms, defense counsel attempting to palliate the conduct of their client in the hop the just or jury would view the alleged act less harshly and deliver a verdict less severe.  That sense came into use in seventeenth century England and in courtrooms it described attempts to cover or disguise the seriousness of an offence by reasons (fanciful & not), excuses (plausible & not) or apologies (sincere & not).  In legal use, palliate has been replace by mitigation (a plea assembling reasons why conduct should be regarded more favourably than it may appear and be thus awarded with a lesser sentence), from the Middle French mitigation, from the Latin mitigation from mītigātus (softened, pacified).  The companion term is exculpation which etymologically and legally is unrelated both to palliate & mitigate.  Exculpate was from the Medieval Latin exculpātus, the perfect passive participle of exculpō, from the Latin ex culpa, the construct being ex- (out, from) + culpa (fault; blame (and familiar in Modern English as “culpability”)).  Whereas a plea of palliation or in mitigation was entered in the context of asking certain matters be considered so a guilty party may receive a lesser punishment, an successful exculpation exonerates the accused.  The lawyers in the 1630s picked-up and adapted palliate’s earlier meaning.  In the fifteenth century, true to the Latin origin derived from “a cloak”, it was used to mean “to relieve the symptoms of; to ameliorate” the sense (concealing the symptoms) to which palliative medicine would in the 1960s return.  This use was extended by the mid-1500s to become a general way to “conceal, hide or disguise” and was used widely in fields such as tailoring, architecture, landscaping, interior decorating and anywhere else where techniques of illusion were valued.

Many of the artistic depictions of scenes from Antiquity are probably at least misleading (no epoch has ever been so idealized) but one aspect of the fashions seems usually faithfully to have reflected what really was: the garb of the physicians, philosophers and teachers which was a woollen cloak, draped over the left shoulder and wrapped around the body; the Romans called it a pallium and it was the stage garment also of the hetaerae (plural of hetaera (in Ancient Greece, a high-price escort of some beauty & culture who entertained upper-class men with company, conversation and other services; they're sometimes referred to as courtesans but this can be misleading and a more accurate modern comparison is probably with the business model of the “sugar-babe”)).

Appreciative audience: Phryne revealed before the Areopagus (1861), oil on canvas by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904), Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg.

The painting depicts Phryne (circa 371-320 BC), a legendarily beautiful hetaera of Ancient Greece, on trial before the Areopagus (from the Ancient Greek Ἄρειος Πάγος (Áreios Págos (literally “Rock of Ares”)) which during some periods in classical times functioned as the final appellate court (both civil & criminal matters) in Athens.  As a deliberative body, the Areopagus (it picked up the name from the location where the sittings were conducted) may also at times have been a legislative (or at least an advisory) assembly something like a senate.  The comparison with the UK's House of Lords in its historic role as both the (upper) house of review is sometimes made because of the dual function as both a legislative body and a final court of appeal but the history of the role of the Aeropagus in law-making is sketchy and as a judicial organ it seems also to have sat as a whole, never restricting (as the Lords eventually did) the judicial hearings to committees of those with appropriate legal experience.

Defended (and by dubious legend not very well) by the speech-writer Hypereides (circa 390–322 BC), she was arraigned before the Areopagus on a charge of Asebeia (a criminal indictment alleging impiety, something like blasphemy towards the divine objects and perhaps an occupation risk in her profession and the charge appears to have been brought by a jilted and vengeful ex) and the most told tale of the trial is that acquittal was secured when she bared her breasts to those assembled to judge.  Depending on which imaginative medieval scribe was writing, either her counsel pulled the pallium from her body or she disrobed herself although all agree the unusual legal tactic was resorted to because the defence was going not well.  The famous legal critique of the Roman writer Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (circa 35-circa 100), the verdict was secured “non Hyperidis actione... sed conspectus corporis” (not by Hypereides' pleading, but by the sight of her body") and as a gesture it wasn’t unknown in Athenian culture.  Although the trial and acquittal (by a majority vote) are uncontested history, whether the “boobs offered in mitigation” ever happened is at least suspect but if true, it’s not surprising the venerable gentlemen judging her were impressed because she also modelled her nude form for the sculptor Praxiteles who based his Aphrodite of Knidos on those sessions.  In the late eighteen century, something of a Phryne cult formed among European artists although what is history and what myth in the stories of her illustrious career is mostly uncertain although there’s no doubt she’d often have worn a pallium.

Life Roots Palliate Cream 30ml Twin Pack.

Containing bilberry, witch hazel, mangosteen, sage, rosemary, calendula, rose flower, sea buckthorn, lemon grass, grapefruit, nettle & Iceland moss, Life Roots' Palliate Cream is advertized as an agent to (1) moisturize, (2) reduce inflammation & (3) protect against dryness.  This would suggest the product is thought something which genuinely improves the state of the skin, rather than just “papering over the cracks” (as some skin-care products unashamedly are).  The phrase “to paper over the cracks” is a particular sense of palliation meaning “to use a temporary expedient; to create the semblance of order or agreement; temporarily to conceal problems”.  The phrase (in English translation) is attributed to the Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck (1815-1989; Chancellor of the German Empire 1871-1890) who used the equivalent German expression in a letter dated 14 August 1865 during the negotiations of the Convention of Gastein (1865), a treaty between Austria and Prussia which temporarily would postpone the onset of the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and can thus be thought a prelude to the wars and the subsequent system of intricately interlocked treaties which would be the framework of the Bismarckian form of Reichism: “We are working eagerly to preserve the peace and to cover the cracks in the building.”  Under Bismarck, the stresses inherent in the structure were contained but in the hands of hiss less able successors, the forces became unleashed and consumed the continent ending the rule of four dynastic empires.  Still, “papering over the cracks” remains often the way politics is done, usually the way coalitions are formed and of late, a new flavor of the technique has emerged: Benjamin Netanyahu (b 1949; Israeli prime minister 1996-1999, 2009-2021 and since 2022) doesn’t care if people see the cracks through the paper.

Objectum

Objectum (pronounced ob-jikt-tum or ob-jekt-tum)

(1) In the categorization of human sexuality (also as object sexuality or objectophilia), a form of interest focused on one or a number of particular inanimate objects.  It must not be confused with sexual objectification.

(2) In philosophy, a now mostly obsolete descriptor of that towards which cognition is directed, as contrasted with the thinking subject; anything regarded as external to the mind, especially in the external world.

Pre 1000:  From the Medieval Latin objectum (something thrown down or presented (to the mind)), noun use of the neuter of objectus (past participle of objicere) from obicere, the construct being ob- (against; facing (a combining prefix found in verbs of Latin origin)) + jec- (combining form of jacere (to throw)) + -tus (past participle suffix) and a gloss of the Ancient Greek ἀντικείμενον (antikeímenon).  From this Middle English gained objecten (to argue against), from the Middle French objecter & objeter from the Latin objectāre (to throw or put before, oppose) and later (circa 1325-1375), the more familiar object (something perceived, purpose, objection).  The sense of object describing a “tangible and visible thing” emerged in the late fourteenth century from the Old French object and directly from Medieval Latin obiectum (thing put before (the mind or sight)).  Objectum is a noun & adjective and objectism is a noun; the noun plural is objectums. 

The O in LGBTQQIAAOP

Objectum Sexuality (OS) and objectum romanticism (OR), both often clipped to "objectum", is the attraction to inanimate objects, a feeling which can be sexual, romantic or both and can be a form of tertiary attraction.  The objects to which an objectum individual is attracted are often called "beloved objects" and not infrequently have names and personalities given to them by their objectum lover.  Beloved objects have included buildings, light fittings, bridges, cars, statues, fences, water, musical instruments, articles of clothing, and amusement park rides although objects do not have to be tangible and can include logos or letters, thus the linking by some psychiatrists to synesthesia.  Some objectum people are poly-amorous, dedicated to many objects, some are devoted to a single thing and both may either be also attracted to people or drawn exclusively to objects.  Objectum sexuality is different from a sexual paraphilia as a paraphilia does not imply a devoted personal relationship, feeling mutual and reciprocal attraction, and usually does not include animistic beliefs.  Academic work has developed a spectrum defining the differences between object fetishism and objectum orientation, the most interesting interactions presumably at the margins.

The modern, somewhat opportunistic, adoption of objectum by the OS/OR community wasn’t widely embraced by the medical profession which preferred first objectophilia and later, object sexuality although, in American psychiatry, prior to the publication of the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), objectophilia was regarded as just another example of "psychopathic personality with pathologic sexuality".  The DSM-I (1952) included sexual deviation as a personality disorder of a sociopathic subtype although objectophilia attracted little professional interest, probably, and quite reasonably, because the “victims” were inanimate.  The DSM-II (1968) and subsequent DSM editions, up to DSM-IV-TR (2000) continued this neglect of the topic, DSM-IV-TR noting a paraphilia is not diagnosable as a psychiatric disorder unless it causes distress to the individual or harm to others.  The DSM-5 (2013) formalised this approach, both the definitional and clinical distinctions now focused on harm to individuals rather than deviations from defined norms.

Some objects are so beautiful, people fall in love.  Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916-1993) gazing at the Lamborghini Miura (1963-1973), Sant’Agata, Italy, 1966.

The Lamborghini Miura first appeared (without the bodywork) at the 1965 Turin Motor Show when a rolling chassis was displayed, the packaging intriguing knowing onlookers, the mid-mounted transverse V12 engine the highlight of what was clearly a revolutionary design though even at the time, engineers speculated about how layout would affect its driving characteristics.  The interest at Turin however was nothing like the reaction the following year when the Miura was displayed at the Geneva Salon.  It had been at Geneva half-a-decade earlier when the Jaguar E-Type (1961-1974) had created such a sensation but while the E-Type was the final stylistic evolution of the classic 1930s-1950s roadster, the Miura was a glimpse of the future, the influence of its lines seen still in the hypercars of the twenty first century.  Built in three distinct versions, the factory introduced changes designed to ameliorate some of the characteristics induced by the physics of unusual layout and while the behavior (exhibited at the very high speed of which it was capable) was to some extent tamed, a Miura at the limits was never something predictable in the manner of contemporary front-engined Ferraris.  None of that now much matters because the Miura is achingly beautiful and were it not contrary to the laws of man and God, there would be those who would marry one.

Flag of the Objectum movement.

In the spirit of the rainbow banner which began as the symbol of the gay liberation movement (though it's now used generally by a number of the sub-sets in the LGBTQQIAAOP aggregation), the objectum community has its own flag.  Blue represents physical objects, whether man-made or nature based; gray references abstract or non-tangible inanimate objects; yellow is eye catching and bright, representing public objects; purple is muted and calming, representing personal objects; white represents the animistic belief held by many of the OS & OR; the red circle represents the objectum community and is filled in with the flag’s core color of white to represent the spirit the objectum sense in their beloved objects.

A tactile relationship: Mr & Mrs Eiffel.

Erika Eiffel (b 1972, née LaBrie) was probably the woman who brought objectum sexuality to a wider (if not wholly receptive) audience when in 2008 the documentary Married to the Eiffel Tower appeared online.  It "celebrated" a long-term relationship which dated back a decade although Mrs Eiffel changed her surname only in 2007 after a commitment ceremony and she heads Objectum Sexuality Internationale (OSI), a 400-strong association of object-oriented individuals.  The documentary would have been more interesting had it not focused on the least interesting aspects of OS & OR: The sexual nature of the relationships and the notion the inclination is a quest for control attributable to prior abuse and mental illness.

Just good friends: Lindsay Lohan in polka dots with la tour Eiffel, Paris Fashion Week, 2019.

Being click-bait, that was of course as inevitable as the ferocity of the reaction but whatever the feelings of YouTube viewers, the profession has moved on and for some time has not diagnosed objectum sexuality as a psychiatric disorder and both the definitional and clinical distinctions now focus on harm to individuals rather than deviations from defined norms.  The basis for the change in view appears to be that OS & OR should be thought of as just another fork of the human condition, the logical (if not commonly pursued) conclusion for those (like Henry Ford (1863-1947) and others) happy to admit they are at their most content when alone with a machine.  That was certainly Mrs Eiffel’s profile.  A world-class recurve archer, while never attracted to romantic associations with people in her lifetime there have been many significant relationships with inanimate objects including a Japanese sword, her archery bows, a bridge, machinery she’s operated and of course, la tour Eiffel.