Braid & Plait

Braid (pronounced breyd)

(1) To weave together strips or strands of; plait.

(2) To form by such weaving.

(3) To bind or confine (the hair) with a band, ribbon etc.

(4) A braided length or plait, especially of hair; a hair style formed by interweaving three or more strands of hair.

(5) To mix, or make uniformly soft, by beating, rubbing, or straining, as in preparing food (a now rare verb).

(6) To reproach; to upbraid (obsolete).

(7) A narrow, rope-like band formed by plaiting or weaving together several strands of silk, cotton, or other material, used as trimming for garments, drapery, etc; a band, ribbon, etc, for binding or confining the hair.

(8) A stranded wire composed of a number of smaller wires twisted together.

(9) A tubular sheath made of braided strands of metal placed around a central cable for shielding against electromagnetic interference.

(10) A tubular sheath made of braided strands of metal placed around a (usually) rubber) tube carrying (cooling or lubricating etc) fluids.

Pre 950: From the Middle English braiden, breiden & bræiden, from the Old English breġdan (to move quickly, pull, shake, swing, throw (wrestling), draw (sword), drag; bend, weave, braid, knit, join together; change color, vary, be transformed; bind, knot; move, be pulled; flash), from the Proto-Germanic bregdaną (to flicker, flutter, jerk, tug, twitch, flinch, move, swing), from the primitive Indo-European bhrēḱ- & bhrēǵ- (to shine, shimmer).  It was cognate with Scots brade & braid (to move quickly or suddenly), the Saterland Frisian braidje (to knit), the West Frisian breidzje, the Dutch breien (to knit), the Low German breiden, the Bavarian bretten (to move quickly, twitch), the Icelandic bregða (to move quickly, jerk), the Faroese bregða (to move quickly, react swiftly; to draw (sword)) and the Faroese bregda (to plaid, braid, twist, twine). From the same root came the Old High German brettan (to draw a sword).

The sense of "a deceit, stratagem, trick" is attested from circa 1300, the related meaning "sudden or quick movement" (in part from the Old English stems gebrægd (craft, fraud) & gebregd (commotion)) noted in the same era.  The Old Norse bragð (deed, trick) existed in the same sense as the Old English.  The meaning "anything plaited or entwined" is from the 1520s and soon cam especially to be associated with hair.  Braided, the past-participle adjective from braid, came in 1901 to be used by geographers to describe the flow of certain rivers and streams.  The Old English upbregdan (bring forth as a ground for censure) the construct being the adverb up + bregdan (move quickly, intertwine) was mirrored by a similar formation in Middle Swedish: upbrygdha.  The meaning "scold" is first attested from the late thirteenth century.  Braid is a noun, verb & adjective, braiding is a noun & verb, braidless is an adjective, braided is a verb & adjective and braider is a noun; the noun plural is braids.  Forms (hyphenated and not regardless of the conventions) such as re-braid, de-braid & un-braid are created as required.

Plait (pronounced pleyt or plat)

(1) A braid, especially of hair or straw.

(2) A pleat or fold, as of cloth.

(3) To braid, as hair or straw.

(4) To make, as a mat, by braiding.

(5) A loaf of bread of several twisting or intertwining parts

(6) A rare spelling of pleat

1350–1400: From the Middle English pleit & pleyt, from the Middle French pleit, from the Old French ploit, from the Latin plicitum, neuter of plicitus, past participle of plicāre (to fold).  The Latin plectō was akin to Old Norse flétta, the Danish flette and the Russian сплетать (spletatʹ).  Ultimate root was the primitive Indo-European plek- (to plait).  The late fourteenth century spelling of the verb was pleiten, (to fold (something), gather in pleats, double in narrow strips (also "to braid or weave (something)) directly from the noun plait and the Old French pleir (to fold), a variant of ploier & ployer (to fold, bend), again from the Latin plicāre (to fold).

Lindsay Lohan (bottom row, centre) in Sesame Street's "Braid-y Bunch" (episode 3357, 1994).

The often confused platt is from the Middle English platten, and is an obsolete spelling of plat (material made by interweaving, especially material made by interweaving straw, used to make hats); thus the connection.  The verb plat (to interweave) was a late fourteenth century variant of plait, the related forms being platted & platting.  Pleat (to fold or gather in pleats) was from the 1560s, used as the verb version of the noun plait and may even have represented an alternative pronunciation.  The noun pleat (a fold) is from the 1580s and was another variant of the noun plait.  Curiously, all etymologists note the absence of the word from the printed records of the in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries so either it continued only as an oral form or was revived, most suspecting the former.  Plait is a noun, verb & adjective, plaiting is a noun & verb, plaited is a verb & adjective, plaitless is an adjective and plaiter is a noun; the noun plural is plaits.  Forms (hyphenated and not regardless of the conventions) such as re-plait, de-plait & un-plait are created as required.

Famous weather forecaster Greta Thunberg (b 2003) often appears with either a single plait or a pair.  One of the few questions she’s never been asked is what goes through her mind when deciding which.

Although it’s a modern convention to make a distinction when involving hair, plaits and braids are the same thing.  A braid is a structure created by interlacing three or more strands of flexible material such as textile yarns, wire, or hair.  Whereas weaving usually involves two separate, perpendicular groups of strands (warp and weft), a braid is usually long and narrow, with each component strand functionally equivalent in zigzagging forward through the overlapping mass of the others.  The most simple and common hair braid is a flat, solid, three-stranded structure but more complex braids can be constructed from an arbitrary number of strands to create a wider range of structures.

Honeywell Genesis Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) Plenum Communication Cable (Cat6).

In engineering uses such as hoses (typically those which need to withstand high throughput volumes, temperature or pressure) “braided” is a common convention, even if “woven mesh” would often be a more accurate description of the description.  In data cabling (where usually only two strands are involved), the convention is to describe the result as a “twisted” length, a concept of some significance over the last half-century.  In 2023 the industry noted (rather than celebrated) the 50^th anniversary of Ethernet, the networking protocol which prevailed while others died; Ethernet at times wasn’t the best of the fastest of the competing alternatives but it was accessible and it turned out to be adaptable to new technologies with scope for development.  Cables were central to Ethernet and as the protocol evolved, so did the cables which along which travelled most of the packets transmitted: even data sent or received via a WiFi connection has probably spent some time in a twisted pair cable.  The twists are expressed in “twists per inch” (TpI) or (the less common) “twists per centimetre” although surprisingly, this is neither an ISO (a specification set by the International Standards Organization) nor an industry standard, TpIs determined by the manufacturer.  Cables with untwisted wires used to be common (and are fondly remembered by cablers because of the ease of use) but since the advent of the Cat5e standard, twisted pairs have become almost universal, the advantage being the reduction in electromagnetic interference (EMI) and crosstalk between adjacent pairs, twisting also helping to maintain signal integrity over longer distances.

Braided radiator hose on Chevrolet 427 cubic inch (7.0 litre) V8 (L89).

Once curious exception is the braided hose.  These are flexible, metallic structures used to strengthen the rubber, synthetic or composite hoses used to carry often pressurised fluids in a variety of machinery.  Fabricated usually with stainless-steel strands, they provide a wrapping around the hose and retain the necessary flexibility of movement while greatly increasing strength, pressure capacity and resistance to wear.  Why the hoses, which technically are a weaved mesh, are called braided is undocumented but it’s presumed the origin was in ad-hoc modifications created out of necessity, probably using braided fibres and the nomenclature became part of the pre-modern engineering vernacular, later to be adopted by commerce.  Used extensively in aviation, they’re popular too with those who build heavy-duty engines and even some who just like the cool visual effect.

A thick, three-strand braid which, by convention, is regarded as a hybrid, becoming a plait at the point at which the construction begins to hang free from the scalp.  The perception of thickness is accentuated by the use of a loose weave.  

Although etymologists insist plait and braid are synonyms, hairdressers distinguish between the two.  To them, a braid is a braiding of the hair where the strands are arranged in a manner which follows the contour of the scalp without hanging free.  A plait is a braid which separates from the scalp and hangs free.  There are also hybrids where the braid begins tightly adhered to the scalp before cascading free.

Celebrity Kim Kardashian (b 1980) with Fulani braids, 2018.

Hair has been braided for millennia across many cultures although it’s only in recent years the politics of hair-styles have been absorbed into identity politics.  Attempts have been made to assert exclusive cultural ownership of certain styles with the claim their adoption by the hegemonic class constitutes cultural appropriation.  In modern identity politics it means it’s wrong for the dominant group which enjoys inherent privilege to borrow cultural signifiers from minorities if they’re to be used merely for purposes of fashion or any other purpose beyond the original cultural context.  By contrast, defined minorities may adopt from the dominant culture because this is an aspect of assimilation (although within minority communities such acts may be criticized as a kind of "constructive cultural imposition").  Still, some continue to test the waters and Condoleezza Rice’s (b 1954; US secretary of state 2005-2009) performances of the works of Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) have only ever been admired while recently, a clip circulated of African American musician Jon Batiste (b 1986) playing the opening notes of Ludwig van Beethoven’s (circa 1770–1827) Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor for solo piano (Für Elise (For Elise)) in the vein of Blues and Gospel Music without (much) adverse comment.

Singer Adele (b 1988), Notting Hill Carnival, 2020.  Instagram responded; posting on X (formerly known as Twitter) would probably have unleashed something worse.

The only exception to the rule appears to be where one is granted a kind of informal certificate as one who practices “cultural appreciation”.  This has no precise meaning and seems to be considered issued when the social media consensus (ie the volume of one pack shouting down another) emerges and is a thing based on the history of the individual who is a suspected appropriator rather than a specific act.  In other words, white folks with runs on the woke board are granted greater leeway.  Conscious perhaps there are no points to be gained from participation in this culture-battle, libertarians have generally stayed uncharacteristically silent but the right has objected.  Generally insensitive to the importance of signifiers to any culture except their own, the prevailing conservative view seems to be (1) that it’s absurd mere hair styles can be taken seriously and (2) part of the culture into which minorities wish to assimilate includes a tradition of tolerance.  The left has also commented, noting that in focusing on matters such as hair braids, activists are allowing themselves to be distracted from the issue of structural economic disadvantage which is the basic causative factor in inequality.  The debate continues.

As a general principle, the longer and thicker the hair, the more spectacular will be the braid or plat.  Ms Alyona Kravchenko (left) from Odessa last had a haircut some 27 years ago, her hair now 72 inches (1.8 m) in length.  Moscow-based Ms Olga Naumova (right) didn't make clear if she was truly an acersecomic but did reveal that in infancy her hair was so thin her parents covered her head, usually with a babushka headscarf.  It's obviously since flourished and her luxuriant locks are now 62 inches (1.57 m) long.  These are both classic three-strand braid-plait hybrids.

Lindsay Lohan with plait, Art Biennale Party, St Regis Venice San Clemente Palace, Venice, May 2015.

Verse

Verse (pronouced vurs)

(1) In non-technical use, a stanza.

(2) A succession of metrical feet written, printed, or orally composed as one line; one of the lines of a poem.

(3) A particular type of metrical line.

(4) A poem or a coherent fragment of a poem (as distinct from prose).

(5) A metrical composition; especially poetically, as involving metrical form.

(6) Metrical writing, distinguished from poetry because it’s defined as inferior.

(7) The collective poetry of an author, period, nation, group etc.

(8) One of the short conventional divisions of a chapter of the Bible.

(9) In music, that part of a song following the introduction and preceding the chorus (may be repeated or there may be several verses); sometimes defined also as those parts of a song designed to be sung by a solo voice.

(1) A line of prose (especially a sentence, or part of a sentence), written as a single line (now rare and used mostly in technical criticism).

(11) Of, relating to, or written in verse.

(12) A subdivision in any literary work (archaic).

(13) A synonym for versify (archaic).

(14) To compose verses, to tell in verse, or poetry (archaic).

(15) In the category system of the Grindr contact app, as a clipping of versatile, a man who enjoys assuming both roles in anal sex.  

Pre 900: From the Late Old English & Middle English verse, vers & fers (section of a psalm or canticle (and by the fourteenth century also poetry)), from the Old French & Old English fers (an early West Germanic borrowing directly from Latin), from the Latin versus (a row, a line in writing, and in poetry a verse (literally “a turning (of the plough)”), the construct being vert(ere) (to turn (past participle of versus)) + -tus (the suffix of verbal action (with dt becoming s)) and related to the Latin vertō (to turn around).  The ultimate root of the Latin forms was the primitive Indo-European wer (to turn; to bend) and the link with poetry is the metaphor of plowing, turning from one line to another as the ploughman turned from one furrow to the next.  Verse was technically being a back-formation from versus and was thus misconstrued as a third-person singular verb verses.

The late fourteenth century verb versify (compose verse, write poetry, make verses) was from the thirteenth century Old French versifier (turn into verse), from the Latin versificare (compose verse; put into verse), from versus, as a combining form of facere (to make), from the primitive Indo-European root dhe- (to set, put).   The transitive sense (put into verse) dates from 1735 and is probably obsolete except in historic use or as a literary device; the related forms are versified; versifying & versifier (existing since the mid-fourteenth century).  Verse is a noun, verb and adjective, versed & versing are verbs.

The English New Testament was in the 1550s first was divided fully into verses in the Geneva version.  The colloquial use in video gaming (typically as “verse him” meaning “to oppose, to compete against” remains non-standard.  The meaning "metrical composition" was first noted in circa 1300.  The use to describe the (usually) non-repeating part of modern songs (between repetitions of the chorus) was unknown until 1918 when the US social anthropologist (who would now be styled an ethno-musicologist) Natalie Curtis Burlin (1875-1921) published Negro Folk-Songs.  That work included a structural analysis of what were then called negro spirituals (now known as gospel music) which noted the distinction between chorus and verse, the former a melodic refrain sung by all which opens the song; the latter performed as a solo in free recitative.  The chorus is repeated, followed by another verse, then the chorus and so on until the final rendition of the chorus ends the song.

In poetry, the blank verse (unrhymed pentameter) was a structure frequently used in English dramatic and epic poetry, the descriptor dating from the 1580s although the form was attested in English poetry from the mid-sixteenth century and was of classical origin.  Definitely not of classical origin was the free verse (an 1869 Englishing of vers libre).  Free verse was controversial then and has remained so since among the tiny sliver of the population which takes any notice of the art.  The modernists generally were welcoming of the relaxation of the devotion to rhyme which the English lyric poets had elevated from art to obsession although they were as apt to condemn works as the literary establishment.  Free verse did not demand any adherence to meter and rhyme but sometimes lines or even whole stanzas so structured would appear in free verse, something which might be thought proto-postmodernism.

Verse, stanza, strophe & stave are all terms for a metrical grouping in poetic composition. Verse is often used interchangeably with stanza, but is properly only a single metrical line although in general use, verse is understood also to mean (1) a type of language rendered intentionally different from ordinary speech or prose and (2) a broader category of work than poetry, the latter historically thought serious, structured and genuinely art.  A stanza is a succession of lines (verses) commonly bound together by a rhyme scheme, and usually forming one of a series of similar groups that constitute a poem (the four-line stanza once the most frequently used in English).  The strophe (originally the section of a Greek choral ode sung while the chorus was moving from right to left) is in English poetry essentially “a section” which may be unrhymed or without strict form and may also be a stanza.  A strophe is a divisions of odes.  Stave is a now rare word meaning a stanza set to music or intended to be sung.  Many of those who read poetry for pleasure rather than analysis are probably unaware of this definitional swamp and it’s doubtful their experiences would be any more enjoyable were they to know.

Grindr and the prescriptive binary

Grindr is an app to help the gay community meet one another.  It has attracted criticism because it historically offered users the choice of defining themselves only as (1) a top (a man penetrating or with a preference for penetrating during homosexual anal intercourse (in gay slang also known as the “pitcher”), a bottom (a man who prefers, begs or demands the receptive role in anal sex with men (in gay slang also known as the “catcher”)) or a verse (a clipping of versatile, the sense being a man who enjoys assuming both roles in anal sex (ie is both pitcher & catcher)).

Top in this context was from, the Middle English top & toppe, from the Old English top (highest part; summit; crest; tassel, tuft; a tuft or ball at the highest point of anything), from the Proto-West Germanic topp, from the Proto-Germanic tuppaz (braid, pigtail, end) of unknown origin.  It was cognate with the Scots tap (top), the North Frisian top, tap & tup (top), the Saterland Frisian Top (top), the West Frisian top (top), the Dutch top (top, summit, peak), the Low German Topp (top), the German Zopf (braid, pigtail, plait, top), the Swedish topp (peak, summit, tip) and the Icelandic toppur (top).  Bottom in this context was from the Middle English botme & botom, from the Old English botm & bodan (bottom, foundation; ground, abyss), from the Proto-Germanic butmaz & budmaz, from the primitive Indo-European bhudhmḗn (bottom).  It was cognate with the Dutch bodem, the German Boden, the Icelandic botn, the Danish bund, the Irish bonn (sole (of foot)), the Ancient Greek πυθμήν (puthmḗn) (bottom of a cup or jar), the Sanskrit बुध्न (budhna) (bottom), the Persian بن‎ (bon) (bottom), the Latin fundus (bottom) (from which, via French, English gained fund). The familiar (and to Grindr essential) sense “posterior of a person” dates from 1794.  Versatile was from the Latin versātilis (turning, revolving, moving, capable of turning with ease to varied subjects or tasks), from versātus, past participle stem of versare (keep turning, be engaged in something, turn over in the mind), past participle of versō (I turn, change), frequentative of vertō (I turn), from the primitive Indo-European root wer- (to turn, to bend).  Grindr’s choice of a clipping of versatile may have been influenced by the meaning noted in English since 1762: “Able to do many things well”.

In May 2022 however Grindr added “side”, a category not unknown in the gay community but distinct from either the A (asexual) or P (pansexual) entries in the LGBTQQIAAOP string.  Deviating from the binary which (long pre-dating Grindr) has tended to define gay culture, sides are said to be those men who derive satisfaction from a range of sexual acts not including anal penetration, preferring instead oral, manual and frictional body techniques which deliver emotional, physical and psychological pleasure.  The general term for these activities is “outercourse”.

Grindr in 2022: Age of the Side.

The term “side” in this context was in 2013 defined by US psychotherapist Dr Joe Kort (b 1963) but it attracted little attention outside the mental health community until he used social media to generate interest and provide both a clearing house for information and facilitate contact between sides not catered for by Grinda and others which traditionally imposed the top/bottom categories as absolute.  The reaction was interesting and sides reported being ostracized or otherwise marginalized by the wider gay community which tended even to refuse to accept men could identify as gay if anal penetration wasn’t part of their expectation, either as top or bottom.  Interestingly, reflecting their different tradition, lesbians seem more accepting of variation in expectations, not putting the same premium on vaginal penetration.  Of course the exclusionary exactitude exists also in the heterosexual world, drawn probably from the long insistence by legal systems that it was the act of penetration (by human organs or other devices) which is the crucial threshold in so many of the gradients of sexual assault in criminal law and Bill Clinton (b 1946, president of the US 1993-2001) was famously assertive in saying he “…did not have sex with that woman” (Monica Lewinsky (b 1973)) on the basis there was no vaginal penetration. 

Dr Kort took the view that defining penetration as the sole criterion for “real” sex was just another heteronormative construct and that in accepting it gay men were allowing themselves again to be victims of a patriarchal hegemony and others pointed out that many who defined as asexual were actually those who indulged in sexual activities other than the penetrative.  Perhaps neutral on the sexual politics, Grindr certainly responded to the metrics.  If thousands were interacting with Dr Kort’s social media presence then there was gap in the market and Grindr was there to fill the gap, “side” in May 2022 added as the third way to be gay, hinting perhaps there was something in the old phrase “bit of a homosexual”.  It’ll be interesting to see if the marginalization earlier noted manifests on Grindr because there’s no evidence to suggest the sides have been welcomed to display themselves as an identifiable group in gay pride events and mental health clinicians have noted a definite gay hierarchy with the tops atop.  The other interesting issue is whether a second P needs to be appended to the LGBTQQIAAOP string to accommodate the platonic because the asexuals are clearly having sex, just not as Bill Clinton defines it.  It’s sex Bill but not as you know it.

Verse by Lindsay Lohan

Not previously much noted for publishing criticism of poetry, modernist or otherwise (although their reporters have been known to gush about the "poetic skills" of footballers), Rupert Murdoch's The Sun on 3 January 2017 did take note of some verse Lindsay Lohan posted on Instagram:

sometimes i hear the voice of the one i loved the most

but in this world we live in of terror

who i am to be the girl who is scared and hurt

when most things that happen i cannot explain

i try to understand

when i'm sitting in bed alone at 3am

so i can't sleep, i roll over

i can't think and my body becomes cold

i immediately feel older.....

 

than i realise, at least i am in a bed,

i am still alive,

so what can really be said?

just go to bed and close the blinds,

still and so on, i cannot help but want to fix all of these idle isis

minds

because,

there has to be something i can figure out

rather than living in a world of fear and doubt

they now shoot, we used to shout.

 

if only i can keep trying to fix it all

i would keep the world living loving and small

i would share my smiles

and give too Many kisses

Context

Context (pronounced kon-tekst)

(1) In structural linguistics, the factors which may define or help disclose the meaning or effect of a written or spoken statement including (1) the words preceding or following a specific word or passage, (2) the position of the author, (3) the identity of the author, (4) the intended audience, (5) the time and place in which the words were delivered and (6) such other circumstances as may be relevant.

(2) The surroundings, circumstances, environment, background or settings that might determine, specify or clarify the meaning of an event or other occurrence.

(3) In mycology, the fleshy fibrous body (trama) of the pileus in mushrooms.

(4) In Novell’s Netware network operating system, an element of Directory Services (the hierarchical structure used to organize and manage network resources), one’s context being a specific level within the directory tree.

(5) To knit or closely bind; to interweave (obsolete).

(6) In archaeology and anthropology, the surroundings and environment in which an artifact is found and which may provide important clues about the artifact's function, age, purpose, cultural meaning etc.

(7) In formal logic (for a formula), a finite set of variables, which set contains all the free variables in the given formula.

1375–1425: From the late Middle English context (a composition, a chronicle, the entire text of a writing), from (and originally the past participle of) the Latin contextus (a joining together, scheme, structure), the construct being contex(ere) (to join by weaving; to interweave) + -tus (the suffix of a verb of action).  The construct of contexere was con- + texere (to plait or braid, to weave), from the primitive Indo-European root teks (to weave; to build; to fabricate).  The prefix con- was from the Middle English con-, from the Latin con-, from the preposition cum (with), from the Old Latin com, from the Proto-Italic kom, from the primitive Indo- European ḱóm (next to, at, with, along).  It was cognate with the Proto-Germanic ga- (co-), the Proto-Slavic sъ(n) (with) and the Proto-Germanic hansō.  It was used with certain words to add a notion similar to those conveyed by with, together, or joint or with certain words to intensify their meaning.  The verb contex (to weave together) was known as early as the 1540s and was also from the Latin contexere; it was obsolete by the early eighteenth century.

The meaning "the parts of a writing or discourse which precede or follow, and are directly connected with, some other part referred to or quoted" developed in the mid-late sixteenth century.  The adjective contextual (pertaining to, dealing with the context) dates from 1822, on the model of textual and the phrase “contextual definition” appeared first in works of philosophy in 1873.  Contextualization from 1930 & contextualize from 1934 were both products of academic writing.  Many of the derivations (acontextual, contextual criticism, contextual inquiry, contextualist, contextuality, contextualize, metacontextual, non-contextual, sub-contextual) are associated with academic disciplines such as linguistics and anthropology but, predictably, the verb decontextualize (study or treat something in isolation from its context) emerged in 1971 and came from postmodernism where it found a home, along with the inevitable decontextualized, decontextualizing & decontextualization.  Context is a noun, verb & adjective, contextual & contextualistic are adjectives, contextualism, contextuality & contextualization are nouns, contexture is a noun & verb, contextualist is a noun & adjective, contextualize, contextualizing & contexualized are verbs and contextualistically & contextually are adverbs; the noun plural is contexts.

Contextual truth

In the law of defamation law, “contextual truth” describes one of the defences available to a defendant (ie the party accused of defaming the applicant).  It’s an unusual aspect of defamation law (and there are others) in that while it acknowledges certain statements may literally be false yet may still convey a broader truth or accurate meaning when considered in the context in which they were made or considered in the context of other statements (dealing usually with matters more serious) which were part of the case.  Although there have been reforms in many jurisdictions, as a general principle, defamation happens if statements found to be false have harmed the reputation of an individual or entity (although in some places, including some with respectable legal systems, it’s possible to defame with the truth).  Typically though, successfully to establish a claim of defamation, a plaintiff needs to prove (1) a statement was false, (2) that it was published or communicated to a third party and (3) that the plaintiff suffered harm as a consequence.  The defense of contextual truth essentially “runs on top” of the traditional rules in that while the some (or even all in legal theory) of the specific details of a statement may be factually incorrect, but when considered in context, they can be found to convey an underlying truth.

For example, if someone publishes an article stating that a public figure was involved in a scandalous incident, and it later emerges that some of the specific details in the article were incorrect, the defendant might argue contextual truth. They may claim that while the specific details were inaccurate, the overall implication of wrongdoing or impropriety by the public figure was true or substantially true.  Successfully to invoke the defense requires a defendant must demonstrate the impression conveyed by the statement was substantially accurate, even if specific details were incorrect and the form this takes is often that the statement alleged to be defamatory statement was not intended as a recounting of specific facts but rather a representation of a larger truth.  Despite the terminology, the defences of justification and partial justification really don’t sit on a continuum with contextual truth which demands at least one or more imputations complained of to be substantially true, and in light of the substantial truth of those imputations, the remainder of the imputations complained of do no further harm to the plaintiff’s reputation.  Like justification, contextual truth can be a complete defence to a claim and is often invoked as a defense where other statements being considered allege conduct much more likely to damage a reputation.

Pronunciation can of course be political so therefore can be contextual.  Depending on what one’s trying to achieve, how one chooses to pronounce words can vary according to time, place, platform or audience.  Some still not wholly explained variations in Lindsay Lohan’s accent were noted circa 2016 and the newest addition to the planet’s tongues (Lohanese or Lilohan) was thought by most to lie somewhere between Moscow and the Mediterranean, possibly via Prague.  It had a notable inflection range and the speed of delivery varied with the moment.  Psychologist Wojciech Kulesza of SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Poland identified context as the crucial element.  Dr Kulesza studies the social motives behind various forms of verbal mimicry (including accent, rhythm & tone) and he called the phenomenon the “echo effect”, the tendency, habit or technique of emulating the vocal patters of one’s conversational partners.  He analysed clips of Lilohan and noted a correlation between the nuances of the accent adopted and those of the person with who Ms Lohan was speaking.  Psychologists explain the various instances of imitative behaviour (conscious or not) as one of the building blocks of “social capital”, a means of bonding with others, something which seems to be inherent in human nature.  It’s known also as the “chameleon effect”, the instinctive tendency to mirror behaviors perceived in others and it’s observed also in politicians although their motives are entirely those of cynical self-interest, crooked Hillary Clinton’s adoption of a “southern drawl” when speaking in a church south of the Mason-Dixon Line a notorious example.

Memo: Team Douglas Productions, 29 July 2004.

Also of interest is the pronunciation of “Lohan” although this seems to be decided by something more random than context although it’s not clear what.  Early in 2022, marking her first post to TikTok, she pronounced her name lo-en (ie rhyming with “Bowen”) but to a generation brought up on lo-han it must have been a syllable too far because it didn’t catch on and by early 2023, she was back to lo-han with the hard “h”.  It’s an Irish name and according to the most popular genealogy sites, in Ireland, universally it’s lo-han so hopefully that’s the last word.  However, the brief flirtation with phonetic H-lessness did have a precedent:  When Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005) was being filmed in 2004, the production company circulated a memo to the crew informing all that Lohan was pronounced “Lo-en like Co-en” with a silent “h”.

Hardtop, Hard Top & Hard-top

Hardtop & Hard Top or Hard-Top ( pronounced hahrd-top)

(1) In automotive design, as hardtop, a design in which no centre post (B-pillar) is used between the front and rear windows.

(2) As "hard top" or "hard top", a rigid, removable or retractable roof used on convertible cars (as distinct from the historically more common folding, soft-top).

(3) Mid twentieth-century US slang for an indoor cinema with a roof (as opposed to a drive-in).

1947-1949: A compound of US origin, hard + top.  Hard was from the Middle English hard, from the Old English heard, from the Proto-West Germanic hard(ī), from the Proto-Germanic harduz, from the primitive Indo-European kort-ús, from kret- (strong, powerful).  It was cognate with the German hart, the Swedish hård, the Ancient Greek κρατύς (kratús), the Sanskrit क्रतु (krátu) and the Avestan xratu.  Top was from the Middle English top & toppe, from the Old English top (top, highest part; summit; crest; tassel, tuft; (spinning) top, ball; a tuft or ball at the highest point of anything), from the Proto-Germanic tuppaz (braid, pigtail, end), from the primitive Indo-European dumb- (tail, rod, staff, penis).  It was cognate with the Scots tap (top), the North Frisian top, tap & tup (top), the Saterland Frisian Top (top), the West Frisian top (top), the Dutch top (top, summit, peak), the Low German Topp (top), the German Zopf (braid, pigtail, plait, top), the Swedish topp (top, peak, summit, tip) and the Icelandic toppur (top).

1970 Imperial LeBaron four-door hardtop.

Although the origins of the body-style can be traced to the early twentieth century, the hardtop, a two or four-door car without a central (B-pillar) post, became a recognizable model type in the late 1940s and, although never the biggest seller, was popular in the United States until the mid 1970s when down-sizing and safety legislation led to their extinction, the last being the full sized Chrysler lines of 1978.  European manufacturers too were drawn to the style and produced many coupes but only Mercedes-Benz and Facel Vega made four-door hardtops in any number, the former long maintaining several lines of hardtop coupés.

1965 Lincoln Continental four-door sedan (with centre (B) pillar).

The convention of use is that the fixed roofed vehicles without the centre (B)-pillars are called a hardtop whereas a removable or retractable roof for a convertible is either a hard top or, somewhat less commonly a hard-top.  The folding fabric roof is either a soft top or soft-top, both common forms; the word softtop probably doesn't exist although it has been used by manufacturers of this and that to describe various "tops" made of stuff not wholly solid.  In the mid-1990s, the decades-old idea of the folding metal roof was revived as an alternative to fabric.  The engineering was sound but some manufacturers have reverted to fabric, the advantages of solid materials outweighed by the drawbacks of weight, cost and complexity.  A solid, folding top is usually called a retractable roof or folding hardtop.

1957 Ford Fairlane Skyliner.

Designers had toyed with the idea of the solid retractable roof early in the twentieth century, and patents were applied for in the 1920s but the applications were allowed to lapse and it wouldn't be until 1932 one was granted in France, the first commercial release by Peugeot in 1934.  Other limited-production cars followed but it wasn't until 1957 one was sold in any volume, Ford's Fairlane Skyliner, using a system Ford developed for the Continental Mark II (but never used) was an expensive top-of-the range model for two years.  It was expensive for a reason: the complexity of the electric system which raised and lowered the roof.  A marvel of what was still substantially the pre-electronic age, it used an array of motors, relays and switches, all connected with literally hundreds of feet of electrical cables in nine different colors.  Despite that, the system was reliable and could, if need be, be fixed by any competent auto-electrician who had the wiring schematic.  In its two-year run, nearly fifty-thousand were built.  The possibilities of nomenclature are interesting too.  With the hard top in place, the Skyliner becomes also a hardtop because there's no B pillar so it's a "hardtop" with a "hard top", something only word-nerds note. 

2005 Mercedes-Benz AMG SLK55.

After 1960, the concept was neglected, re-visited only by a handful of low-volume specialists or small production runs for the Japanese domestic market.  The car which more than any other turned the retractable roof into a mainstream product was the 1996 Mercedes-Benz SLK which began as a show car, the favorable response encouraging production.  Successful, over three generations, it was in the lineup for almost twenty-five years.

Roof-mounted hardtop hoist: Mercedes-Benz 560 SL (R107).

The Fairlane Skyliner's top was notable for another reason: size and weight.  On small roadsters, even when made from steel, taking off and putting on a hard top could usually be done by someone of reasonable strength, the task made easier still if the thing instead was made from aluminum or fibreglass.  If large and heavy, it became impossible for one and difficult even for two; some of even the smaller hard tops (such as the Triumph Stag and the R107 Mercedes SL roadster) were famous heavyweights.  Many owners used trolley or ceiling-mounted hoists, some even electric but not all had the space, either for the hardware or the detached roof.

1962 Pontiac Catalina with Riveria Series 300 hard top.

No manufacturer attempted a removable hard top on the scale of the big Skyliner but at least one aftermarket supplier thought there might be demand for something large and detachable.  Riveria Inc, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, offered them between 1963-1964 for the big (then called full or standard-size) General Motors (GM) convertibles.  Such was GM’s production-line standardization, the entire range of models, spread over five divisions and three years could be covered by just three variations of hard top.  Made from fibreglass with an external texture which emulated leather, weight was a reasonable 80 lb (30 kg) but the sheer size rendered them unmanageable for many and not all had storage for such a bulky item, the growth of the American automobile meaning garages accommodative only a few years early were now cramped.    

1962 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport with Riveria Series 100 hard top.

Riveria offered their basic (100 series) hardtop in black or white, a more elaborately textured model (200 series) finished in gold or silver while the top of the range (300 series) used the same finishes but with simulated “landau” irons.  No modification was required to the car, the roof attaching to the standard convertible clamps, the soft top remaining retracted.  Prices started at US$295 and the company seems to have attempted to interest GM dealers in offering the hard tops as a dealer-fitter accessory but corporate interest must have been as muted as buyer response, Riveria ceasing operations in 1964.

1961 Lincoln Continental four-door hardtop (pre-production or prototype).

One of the anomalies in the history of the four-door hardtops was that Lincoln, in its classic 1960s Continental, offered a two-door hardtop, a four-door pillared sedan and, by then uniquely, a four-door convertible but, no four-door hardtop.  That seemed curious because the structural engineering required to produce a four door hardtop already existed in the convertible coachwork and both Ford & Mercury had several in their ranges, as did all other comparable manufacturers.  A four-door hard top was planned, the factory’s records indicate a handful were built (which were either prototypes or pre-productions vehicles) and photographs survive, as does the odd reference to the model in some later service bulletins but there’s no evidence any ever reached public hands.  Collectors chase rarities like this but they’ve not been seen in sixty years so it’s presumed they were scrapped once the decision was taken not to enter production.

1966 Lincoln Continental two-door hardtop.

The consensus among Lincoln gurus is the rationale for decision being wholly because of cost.  While the Edsel failure of the late 1950s is well storied, it’s often forgotten that nor were the Lincolns of that era a success and, with the Ford Motor Company suddenly being run by the MBA-type “wizz kids”, the Lincoln brand too was considered for the axe.  It did come close to that, Lincoln given one last chance at redemption, using what was actually a prototype Ford Thunderbird; that was the car which emerged as the memorable 1961 Lincoln.  But there was no certainty of success so it seems the decision was taken to restrict the range to the pillared sedan and the four-door convertible, a breakdown on the production costs of the prototype four-door hardtops proving they would be much more expensive to produce, the added inputs both of labour and materials dooming the project.  To attract attention, Lincoln anyway had something beyond the merely exclusive, they had the unique four-door convertible.

1967 Lincoln Continental four-door convertible.

It did work, sales volumes after a slow start in 1961 growing to a level Lincoln had not enjoyed in years, comfortably out-selling Imperial even if never a challenge to Cadillac.  Never a big seller, achieving not even four-thousand units in its best year, the four-door convertible was discontinued after 1967, the two-door hardtop introduced the year before out-selling it by five to one.  The market had spoken; it would be the last convertible Lincoln ever produced.

Deconstructing the oxymoronic  "pillared hardtop"

1970 Ford LTD four-door hardtop (left) and Ford's press release announcing the 1974 "pillared hardtop", September 1973. 

So it would seem settled a hard-top is a convertible’s removable roof made with rigid materials like metal or fibreglass while a hardtop is a car with no central pillar between the forward and rear side glass.  That would be fine except that in the 1970s, Ford decided there were also “pillared hardtops”, introducing the description on a four-door range built on their full-sized (a breed now extinct) corporate platform shared between 1968-1978 by Ford and Mercury.  The rationale for the name was that to differentiate between the conventional sedan which used frames around the side windows and the pillared hardtops which used the frameless assemblies familiar from their use in the traditional hardtops.  When the pillared hardtops were released, as part of the effort to comply with pending rollover standards, the two door hardtop switched to being a coupé with thick B-pillars, behind which sat a tall “opera window”, another of those motifs the US manufacturers for years found irresistible.

1976 Cadillac Eldorado convertible, at the time, “the last American convertible”.  The aluminium wheels were a rarely ordered factory option.  On paper, combining a 500 cubic inch (8.2 litre) V8 with front wheel drive (FWD) sounds daft but even in the early, more powerful, versions GM managed remarkably well to tame the characteristics inherent in such a configuration.  The styling of the original FWD Eldorado (1967) was one of the US industry's finest (as long as buyers resisted ordering the disfiguring vinyl roof) which no subsequent version matched, descending first to the baroque before in the 1980s becoming an absurd caricature.

When ceasing production of the true four-door hardtops, Ford also dropped the convertible from the full-sized line, the industry orthodoxy at the time that a regulation outlawing the style was imminent, and such was the importance of the US market that expectation that accounted also for Mercedes-Benz not including a cabriolet when the S-Class (W116) was released in 1972, leaving the SL (R107; 1971-1989) roadster as the company’s only open car and it wasn’t until 1990 a four-seat cabriolet returned with the debut of the A124.  Any suggestion of outlawing convertibles ended with the election in 1980 of Ronald Reagan (1911-2004, US president 1981-1989).  A former governor of California with fond memories of drop-top motoring and a world-view that government should intervene in markets as little as possible, under his administration, convertibles returned (including Cadillacs) to US showrooms.  In the even then litigious US, that prompted a class action from disgruntled collectors who had stored 1976 Cadillac Eldorados with the expectation of them increasing sharply in value, the suit filed alleging a “breach of promise” on the basis of Cadillac advertising the things as “the last American convertible”.  Historically, breach of promise actions were most associated with women seeking redress against cads who promised marriage and then refused to fulfil the pledge (an action still technically available in some US states) but the courts quickly dismissed the claims of the Cadillac hoarders as “groundless”.  Legal opinion at the time was that the suit might have had a chance had the words been "the last Cadillac convertible" and even then it would have had to withstand (1) the precedents which underpinned the notion of what in contract law was called "mere puffery" and (2) the then still prevalent sentiment that "what was good for General Motors was good for America", something which critics noted was still a detectable feeling among US judges.

1966 Lincoln Continental Sedan (left) and 1974 Buick Century Luxus Colonnade Hardtop Sedan (right).  Luxus was from the Latin luxus (extravagance) and appeared in several Germanic languages where it conveyed the idea of "luxury".   

It was actually only the ostensibly oxymoronic nomenclature which was novel, Ford’s Lincoln Continentals combining side windows with frames which lowered into the doors and a B pillar; Lincoln called these a sedan, then the familiar appellation in the US for all four-door models with a centre pillar.  Curiously, in the 1960s another descriptive layer appeared (though usually not used by the manufacturers): “post”.  Thus where a range included two-door hardtops with no pillar a coupés with one, there was among some to adopt “coupé” and “post coupé” as a means of differentiation and this spread, the term “post sedan” also still seen today in the collector markets.  Other manufacturers in the 1970s also used the combination of frameless side glass and a B-pillar but Ford’s adoption of “pillar hardtop was unique; All such models in General Motors’ (GM) “Colonnade” lines were originally described variously as “colonnade hardtop sedans” (Buick) or “colonnade hardtops” (Chevrolet, Oldsmobile & Pontiac) and the nickname was borrowed from architecture where colonnade refers to “a series of regularly spaced columns supporting an entablature and often one side of a roof”.  For whatever reasons, the advertising copy changed over the years, Buick shifting to “hardtop sedan”, Chevrolet & Oldsmobile to “sedan” and Pontiac “colonnade hardtop sedan”.  Pontiac was the last to cling to the use of “colonnade”; by the late 1970s the novelty has passed and the consumer is usually attracted by something “new”.  Because the GM range of sedans had for uprights (A, B & C-pillars plus a divided rear glass), the allusion was to these as “columns”.  Ford though, was a little tricky.  Their B-pillars were designed in such as way that the thick portion was recessed and dark, the silver centrepiece thin and more obvious, so with the windows raised, the cars could be mistaken for a classic hardtop.  It was a cheap trick but it was also clever, in etymological terms a “fake hardtop” but before long, there was a bit of a vogue for “fake soft-tops” which seems indisputably worse.

1975 Imperial LeBaron (left) and 1978 Chrysler New Yorker.  The big Chryslers were the last of the four-door hardtops to be produced in the US.

The Americans didn’t actually invent the pillarless hardtop style but in the post-war years they adopted it with gusto.  The other geo-centre of hardtops was the JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) which refers to vehicles produced (almost) exclusively for sale within Japan and rarely seen beyond except in diplomatic use, as private imports, or as part of the odd batch exported to special markets.  As an ecosystem, it exerts a special fascination for those who study the Japanese industry.  The range of high performance versions and variations in coachwork available in the JDM was wide and for those with a fondness for Japanese cars, the subject of much envy.  By the late 1970s, the handful of US four-door hardtops still on sale were hangovers from designs which dated from the late 1960s, behemoths anyway doomed by rising gas prices and tightening emission controls; with the coming of 1979 (coincidently the year of the “second oil shock”) all were gone.  In the JDM however, the interest remained and endured into the 1990s.

1965 Chevrolet Corvair Corsa (two-door hardtop, left) and 1969 Mazda Luce Coupé (right).

The first Japanese cars to use the hardtop configuration were two-door coupés, the Toyota Corona the first in 1965 and Nissan and Mitsubishi soon followed.  One interesting thing during the era was the elegant Izuzu 117 Coupé (1968-1980), styled by the Italian Giorgetto Giugiaro (b 1938) which, with its slender B-pillar, anticipated Ford’s stylistic trick although there’s nothing to suggest this was ever part of the design brief.  Another of Giugiaro’s creations was the rare Mazda Luce Coupé (1968), a true hardtop which has the quirk of being Mazda’s only rotary-powered car to be configured with FWD.  Giugiaro’s lines were hardly original because essentially they duplicated (though few suggest "improved") those of the lovely second generation Chevrolet Corvair (1965-1969) and does illustrate what an outstanding compact the Corvair could have been if fitted with a conventional (front-engine / rear wheel drive (RWD)) drive-train.

1973 Nissan Cedric four-door Hardtop 2000 Custom Deluxe (KF230, left) and 1974 Toyota Crown Royal Saloon four-door Pillared Hardtop (2600 Series, right).

By 1972, Nissan released a version of the Laurel which was their first four-door although it was only the volume manufacturers for which the economics of scale of such things were attractive, the smaller players such as Honda and Subaru dabbling only with two-door models.  Toyota was the most smitten and by the late 1970s, there were hardtops in all the passenger car lines except the smallest and the exclusive Century, the company finding that for a relatively small investment, an increase in profit margins of over 10% was possible.  Toyota in 1974 also followed Ford’s example in using a “pillared hardtop” style for the up-market Crown, the exclusivity enhanced by a roofline lowered by 25 mm (1 inch); these days it’s be called a “four door coupé” (and etymologically that is correct despite the objections of many) and Rover had actually planned their 3.5 (P5B; 1967-1973) to include a four-door coupé featuring both pillarless construction and the lowered roof; as it was the former proved too difficult within the budget so only the chop-top survived.  In the JDM, the last true four-door hardtops were built in the early 1990s but Subaru continued to offer the “pillared hardtop” style until 2010 and the extinction of the breed was most attributable to the shifting market preference for sports utility vehicles (SUV) and such.  In Australia, Mitsubishi between between 1996-2005 used frameless side-windows and a slim B-pillar on their Magna so it fitted the definition of a “pillar hardtop” although the term was never used in marketing, the term “hardtop” something Australians associated only with two-door coupés (Ford and Chrysler had actually the term as a model name in the 1960s & 1970s).  When the Magna was replaced by the doomed and dreary 380 (2005-2008), Mitsubishi reverted to window frames and chunky pillars.

Standard and Spezial coachwork on the Mercedes-Benz 300d (W189, 1957-1962).  The "standard" four-door hardtop was available throughout the run while the four-door Cabriolet D was offered (off and on) between 1958-1962 and the Spezials (landaulets, high-roofs et al), most of which were for state or diplomatic use, were made on a separate assembly line in 1960-1961.  The standard "greenhouse" (or glasshouse) cars are to the left, those with the high roof-line to the right.

Few European manufacturers attempted four-door hardtops and one of the handful was the 300d (W189, 1957-1962), a revised version of the W186 (300, 300b & 300c; 1951-1957) which came to be referred to as the "Adenauer" because several were used as state cars by Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967; chancellor of the FRG (West Germany) 1949-1963).  Although the coachwork never exactly embraced the lines of mid-century modernism, the integration of the lines of the 1950s with the pre-war motifs appealed to the target market (commerce, diplomacy and the old & rich) and on the platform the factory built various Spezials including long wheelbase "pullmans", landaulets, high-roof limousines and four-door cabriolets (Cabriolet D in the Daimler-Benz system).  The high roofline appeared sometimes on both the closed & open cars and even then, years before the assassination of John Kennedy (JFK, 1917–1963; US president 1961-1963), the greenhouse sometimes featured “bullet-proof” glass.  As well as Chancellor Adenauer, the 300d is remembered also as the Popemobile (although not then labelled as such) of John XXIII (1881-1963; pope 1958-1963).

Few European manufacturers attempted four-door hardtops.  One of the few was the Mercedes-Benz 300d (W189, 1957-1962), a revised version of the W186 (1951-1957) which came to be referred to as the "Adenauer" because several were used as state cars by Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967; chancellor of the FRG (Federal Republic of Germany (the old West Germany) 1949-1963).  Although the coachwork never embraced 1950s modernism, the W186 & W189 obviously an evolution of pre-war practices, much of the engineering was advanced and the factory used the chassis to produce spezials including long wheelbase "pullmans", landaulets, high-roof limousines and four-door cabriolets (Cabriolet D in the Daimler-Benz system).  The W189 is remembered too as the state car of the Holy See, used by popes in the days before fears of assassination.  Most however were the "standard", four-door hardtop.

Pillars, stunted pillars & "pillarless"

1959 Lancia Appia Series III

Actually, although an accepted part of engineering jargon, to speak of the classic four-door hardtops as “pillarless” is, in the narrow technical sense, misleading because almost all used a truncated B-pillar, ending at the belt-line where the greenhouse begins.  The stunted device was required to provide a secure anchor point for the rear door's hinges (or latches for both if suicide doors were used) and in the case of the latter, being of frameless construction, without the upright, the doors would be able to be locked in place only at the sill, the physics of which presents a challenge because even in vehicles with high torsional rigidity, there will be movement.  The true pillarless design was successfully executed by some but those manufacturers used doors with sturdy window frames, permitting latch points at both sill and roof, Lancia offering the configuration on a number of sedans including the Ardea (1939-1953), Aurelia (1950-1958) & Appia (1953-1963).  The approach demanded a more intricate locking mechanism but the engineering was simple and on the Lancias it worked and was reliable, buyers enjoying the ease of ingress & egress.  It's sad the company's later attachment to front wheel drive (FWD) ultimately doomed Lancia because in every other aspect of engineering, few others were as adept at producing such fine small-displacement vehicles.

1961 Facel Vega II (a two door hardtop with the unusual "feature" of the rear side-glass being hinged from the C-pillar).

Less successful with doors was the Facel Vega Excellence, built in two series between 1958-1964.  Facel Vega was a French company which was a pioneer in what proved for almost two decades the interesting and lucrative business of the trans-Atlantic hybrid, the combination of stylish European coachwork with cheap, refined, powerful and reliable American engine-transmission combinations.  Like most in the genre, the bulk of Facel Vega’s production was big (by European standards) coupés (and the odd cabriolet) and they enjoyed much success, the company doomed only when it augmented the range with the Facellia, a smaller car.  Conceptually, adding the smaller coupés & cabriolets was a good idea because it was obvious the gap in the market existed but the mistake was to pander to the feelings of politicians and use a French designed & built engine which proved not only fragile but so fundamentally flawed rectification was impossible.  By the time the car had been re-engineered to use the famously durable Volvo B18 engine, the combination of the cost of the warranty claims and reputational damage meant bankruptcy was impending and in 1964 the company ceased operation.  The surviving “big” Facel Vegas, powered by a variety of big-block Chrysler V8s, are now highly collectable and priced accordingly.

1960 Facel Vega Excellence EX1

Compared with that debacle, the problem besetting the Excellence was less serious but was embarrassing and, like the Facellia's unreliable engine, couldn’t be fixed.  The Excellence was a four-door sedan, a configuration also offered by a handful of other trans-Atlantic players (including Iso, DeTomaso & Monteverdi) and although volumes were low, because the platforms were elongations of those used on their coupés, production & development costs were modest so with high prices, profits were good.  Facel Vega however attempted what no others dared: combine eye-catching suicide doors, frameless side glass and coachwork which was truly pillarless, necessitating latching & locking mechanisms in the sills.  With the doors open, it was a dramatic scene of lush leather and highly polished burl walnut (which was actually painted metal) and the intricate lock mechanism was precisely machined and worked well… on a test bench.  Unfortunately, on the road, the pillarless centre section was inclined slightly to flex when subject to lateral forces (such as those imposed when turning corners) and this could release the locks, springing the doors open.  Owners reported this happening while turning corners and it should be remembered (1) lateral force increases as speed rises and (2) this was the pre-seatbelt era.  There appear to be no confirmed reports of unfortunate souls being ejected by centrifugal force through an suddenly open door (the author Albert Camus (1913–1960) was killed when the Facel Vega HK500 two-door coupé in which he was a passenger hit a tree, an accident unrelated to doors) but clearly the risk was there.  Revisions to the mechanism improved the security but the problem was never completely solved; despite that the factory did offer a revised second series Excellence in 1961, abandoning the dog-leg style windscreen and toning down the fins, both of which had become passé but in three years only a handful were sold.  By the time the factory was shuttered in 1964, total Excellence production stood at 148 EX1s (Series One; 1958-1961) & 8 EX2s (Series Two; 1961-1964).

The Mercedes-Benz R230 SL: Lindsay Lohan going topless (in an automotive sense) in 2005 SL 65 AMG with top lowered (left), 2006 SL 65 AMG with top erected (centre) & 2009 SL 65 AMG Black Series with fixed-roof.

At the time uniquely in the SL line, the R230 (2001-2011) was available with both a retractable hard top and with a fixed roof but no soft top was ever offered (the configuration continued in the R231 (2012-2020) while the R232 (since 2021) reverted to fabric).  Having no B pillar, most of the R230s were thus a hardtop with a hard top but the SL 65 AMG Black Series (2008–2011) used a fixed roof fabricated using a carbon fibre composite, something which contributed to the Black Series is weighing some 250 kilograms (550 lb) less than the standard SL 65 AMG.  Of the road-going SLs built since 1954, the Black Series R230 was one of only three models sold without a retractable roof of some kind, the others being the original 300 SL Gullwing (W198, 1954-1957) and the “California coupé” option offered between 1967-1971 for the W113 (1963-1971) roadster (and thus available only for the 250 SL (1966-1968) & 280 SL (1967-1971)).  The California coupé was simply an SL supplied with only the removable hard top and no soft top, a folding bench seat included which was really suitable only for small children.  The name California was chosen presumably because of the association of the place with sunshine and hence a place where one could be confident it was safe to go for a drive without the fear of unexpected rain.  Despite the name, the California coupé was available outside the US (a few even built in right-hand drive form) although the North American market absorbed most of the production.

1969 Chevrolet Corvette L88 convertible with soft top (or soft-top) erected.

1969 Chevrolet Corvette L88 convertible with hard top (or hard-top) attached.

1969 Chevrolet Corvette L88 convertible, with soft-top lowered (ie topless).