Buffalo

Buffalo (pronounced buhf-uh-loh)

(1) An animal from the subtribe Bubalina, also known as true buffalos, such as the Cape buffalo, Syncerus caffer, or the water buffalo, Bubalus bubalis.

(2) A related North American animal, the American bison (zoologically incorrect but in use thus since the 1630s).

(3) An ellipsis of buffalo robe.

(4) As the buffalo fish, the Ictiobus spp.

(5) In numismatic slang, a clipping of Buffalo nickel (a copper–nickel five-cent piece struck by the US Mint 1913-1938) and still (rarely) used of nickels.

(6) In numismatic slang, a clipping of “American buffalo” (a gold bullion coin), still used by collectors.

(7) A locality name most prevalent in North America, the Lake Erie port in western New York, the best-known,

(8) A shuffling tap-dance step (associated with the popular song “Shuffle Off to Buffalo”, from the musical film 42^nd Street (1933).

(9) As “buffaloed by”, to be puzzled or baffled; to be confused or mystified.

(10) As “to buffalo”, to impress or intimidate by a display of power, importance etc.

(11) To hunt buffalo (archaic).

(12) To assault (historically, to “pistol-whip”).

1535–1545: An early Americanism (replacing buffel, from the French, noted since the 1510s), from the Spanish or Portuguese búfalo (water buffalo), from the Italian buffalo, from Late Latin būfalus (an alteration of the Classical Latin būbalus (wild ox)), from the Ancient Greek βούβαλος (boúbalos).  The Greek form was originally the name of a kind of African antelope, later used of a type of domesticated ox in southern Asia and the Mediterranean lands.  I’s a word of uncertain origin and the elements may include bous (ox, cow, from the primitive Indo-European root gwou- (ox, bull, cow) but it may be a Greek folk-etymology.  The use of “buffalo” to describe the American bison is a mistake dating from the 1630s and it has endured so long as to become institutionalized.  The other Germanic words (the Dutch buffel, the German Büffel, the Danish böffel etc) are from the French while the Russian buivolu, the Polish bujwoł and the Bulgarian bivol came from the Medieval Latin.  The “Buffalo gnat” was first recorded in 1822 while the term “Buffalo chip” (dung of the American bison used as a fuel) was in use by at least the 1840s.  The origin of the name of the city Buffalo in western New York is disputed, not least because there were never any bison in close proximity to the place.  It may have been based on the name of a native American (ie Red Indian) chief or a corruption of the French beau fleuve (beautiful river).  The use of “buffalo” as a verb meaning “alarm” was documented early in the twentieth century and is probably related to the tendency of the beasts to mass panic.  In many fields, “buffalo” is used as a modifier for many words.  The old synonym buffle is extinct.  Buffalo is a noun & verb, buffaloed & buffaloing are (informal) verbs and buffaloish (non-standard) & buffalo-like are adjectives; the noun plural is buffaloes or buffalos but if used collectively (ie of a herd) buffalo is the usual spelling.  The common collective noun for a group of buffalo is “herd” although “gang” is a recorded US regionalism and some prefer the more evocative “obstinacy”, the label gained by virtue of the beast’s well-documented quality of stubbornness.

Classy Leather’s illustration of the difference in texture between bison and buffalo leather.

The clipping “buff” also tracked a varied path.  Predictably, the word seems first to have been simply a short form of “buffalo” but by the 1560s traders were using it to describe the thick, soft leather obtained from the hides of the creatures which were being slaughtered by the million although then it was almost always spelled “buffe” (ie as “buffe leather”) from the French buffle.  Buff was by the 1780s used generally to describe a “light brownish-yellow” color, based on the hue assume by the buffalo leather in its process form and as early as circa 1600 the old association of “hide” with “skin” led to the phrase “in the buff” (naked), strengthened by buff leather and pale human skin being similar in hue.  Over time, “buff naked" emerged and this morphed into "buck naked," possibly influenced by use of the word “buck” which, in American slang, had been used to refer to male deer, Native Americans, or African-American men in certain contexts. The exact etymological connection is debated, but “buck” here may have been used to evoke an image of primal or raw naturalism.  The evolution continued and by the early nineteenth century there was also “butt naked” obviously more explicit and descriptively accessible to a modern audience, emphasizing the state of stark nudity by referencing the buttocks.  It’s now the most popular of the three slang forms.  All three are unrelated to the use of “buff” to mean “polish a metal to a high gloss”, that based on the original “buffing cloths” being off-cuts of a “buff-coat” (a military overcoat originally made from the hide).  A tool for this purpose is often still called “a buff”.  The noting of “polishing up” by “buffing” was taken up in video gaming (especially role-playing) where it meant “to make a character or an item stronger or more capable”.

Jessica Simpson.

The use of buff to mean “an enthusiast for something with a great knowledge of the topic” (eg Ferrari buff (a very devoted crew); film buff (an obsessive lot who take things very seriously); Lindsay Lohan buff (a calling for some)) was related to the color.  Since the 1820s New York City’s volunteer fire-fighters since had been issued buff-colored protective clothing and their image of daring with more than a whiff of danger in the 1890s attracted a following among young men who cherish ambitions to be firemen some day.  This manifested them rushing to the sites of fires at any time of the day or night, just so they could watch the firemen at work, fighting the fire.  There is something about fire which attracts some and in Australia, where bush firs have always been a feature of the hot, dry seasons, there have been cases of volunteer fire-fighters starting fires, apparently just so they can experience the thrill of extinguishing them; fire being fire, sometimes things end very badly.  As early as 1903 the New York Sun was referring to these enthusiasts (had it been later they might have been called “fire groupies”) as “the buffs” and from this use cam the idea of a “buff” being someone devoted to anything although there’s now more often the implication of “great knowledge of the topic).  In the UK military (mostly in plural) a “Buff” was a member of the Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment (1572-1961)) and in numismatic slang, a “buff” was a clipping of Buffalo nickel (a copper–nickel five-cent piece struck by the US Mint 1913-1938.).  In UK slang, Buff also meant “a member of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes” (which is sort of like the Freemasons but without the plotting and scheming”).  The finger food “Buffalo wings” made famous by the admirable Jessica Simpson (b 1980) gained the name because they were first served in 1964 at Frank & Teressa's Anchor Bar on Main Street, Buffalo.  Ms Simpson’s confusion about the dish (made with chicken wings) may have been caused by them often appearing on menus as “buffalo wings) with no initial capital.

The BUFF.

In USAF (US Air Force) slang, the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress (1952-1962 and still in service) is the BUFF (the acronym for Big ugly fat fellow or Big ugly fat fucker depending on who is asking).  From BUFF was derived the companion acronym for the LTV A-7 Corsair II (1965-1984, the last in active service retired in 2014) which was SLUFF (Short Little Ugly Fat Fellow or Short Little Ugly Fat Fucker).  In rail-transport, a “buff” describes the compressive coupler force that occurs during a slack bunched condition (and is related in that sense to “buffer” which is a physical barrier placed to halt the progress of a train to prevent damage to a structure).  In the slang of the dealers of street drugs, “buff” is any substance used to dilute drugs (by volume) in order to increase profits.  The noun “buffware” is not an IT term (although SysAdmins (system administrators) could probably think of a few products which should be so described); it describes pottery in a buff color. 

Highly qualified content provider Busty Buffy (b 1996) in leather braces (unlikely to be of buffalo hide).

As is done in her profession, Busty Buffy appears sometimes “in the buff” which means “in the nude” although, among the more fastidious, there are those who insist porn stars can only ever be “naked”, a “nude” something more respectable.  According to Gary Martin’s authoritative site which traces the origins of phrases, “in the buff” was derived from the “buff coat”, a “light leather tunic worn” by English soldiers (mostly by cavalry and officers and thus something of a precursor of the trench coat) until the seventeenth century and originally, to be “in the buff” was to be wearing one’s coat.  A practical field-garment (it offered some degree of protection against glancing blows from edged weapons and even musket-balls fired at long range), the name was derived from the buffalo or ox hide from which usually it was made.  In The Comedy of Errors (circa 1591), William Shakespeare (1564–1616) makes a reference to the garment, using the word “suit” in two of its senses: (1) clothing and (2) an action filed in a court of law:

ADRIANA: What, is he arrested? Tell me at whose suit.

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE: I know not at whose suit he is arrested well;

But he’s in a suit of buff which ‘rested him, that can I tell.

So, it needs to be explained why the phrase “in the buff” shifted from meaning “wearing a coat” to “wearing nothing”.  That was because the hide used for the coats was a light, brownish yellow and thus similar to what was then the almost universal English skin-tone.  Mr Martin cites the play Satiromastix, or The Untrussing of the Humorous Poet (1601) by the English writer Thomas Dekker (circa 1572–1632) as one of the first known references to the newer meaning, “in buff” likened to “in stag”, then popular slang for “naked”: “No, come my little Cub, doe not scorne mee because I goe in Stag, in Buffe, heer’s veluet too.”  From that ultimately came expressions like “well buffed” or “buffed up” to describe fit types with admirable muscle definition and derived from that came the special use among role-playing video-gamers, “to debuff” being an effect used to make a character weaker (a “negative status” effect.

A “buffster” is someone who is “buffed” (lean, physically fit) and that use of the word emerged from gym culture during the 1980s, under the influence of buff in the sense of “polish to perfection”.  That influenced also the use of buff to mean “physically attractive; desirable” which began in MLE (Multicultural London English) before spreading to other linguistic tribes; the adverb buffly (in a buff manner; attractively or muscularly) can be used of a buffster (one who is fit and with good muscle definition).  In hospital slang, “to buff” means “to alter a medical chart, especially in a dishonest manner”, something which hints there may be something in Evelyn Waugh’s (1903-1966) warning the greatest risk to one in hospital is “being murdered by the doctors”.  In the slang of graffiti writers (the term “graffiti artist” does now seem accepted by the art market) a “buff” is the act of remove a piece of graffiti by someone other than the creator.  Buffy is an adjective meaning “of or tending to a buff color” (the comparative buffier, the superlative buffiest) but it’s probably now most associated with the eponymous pop-culture character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which seems to have made it a popular name also for porn stars).  Of the color, “buffish” is the alternative adjective.

The phrase “It’ll buff out” is a joke-line in the collector car market which references attempts to downplay the extent or significance of damage.  It ranks in the trade with “ran when parked”, “only surface rust” and “air-conditioning just needs a recharge” among the least believed claims.

In 2005, Lindsay Lohan went for a drive in her Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG roadster.  It didn’t end well.  Based on the R230 (2001-2011) platform, the SL 65 AMG was produced between 2004-2012, all versions rated in excess of 600 horsepower, something perhaps not a wise choice for someone with no background handling such machinery though it could have been worse, the factory building 400 (175 for the US market, 225 for the RoW (rest of the world)) of the even more powerful SL 65 Black Series, the third occasion an SL was offered without a soft-top and the second time one had been configured with a permanent fixed-roof.  A production number of 350 is sometimes quoted but those maintaining registers insist it was 400.

Classy Leather’s “Buffalo Hunter”.

Buffalo leather isn’t suitable for all purposes but it is greatly valued because of the combination of its thickness (compared to cow or goat leather or pig skin) and the unique and different grain patterns.  It’s the thickness which adds to the durability of buffalo leather but despite that it remains soft and flexible, making it an ideal material for premium leather goods such as leather bags, leather accessories, jackets etc.  The Classy Leather operation published an informative guide to buffalo leather and included technical information including what must have be a revelation to some: Although the terms “buffalo” and “bison” tend interchangeably to be used in North America, the leathers are quite distinct and what the industry calls “buffalo leather” usually means leather derived from the Asian Water Buffalo.  Buffalo leather comes from domestic buffalos (almost always Asian Water Buffalo) which mostly are raised for milk or meat; at the end of their productive life, the hides are used to make leather and a variety of processing methods are used, designed to suit the skin structure which has large pores.

The “Water Buffalo”: 1974 Suzuki GT750.  The front twin disc setup was added in 1973 and was one of the first of its kind.

The Suzuki GT750 was produced between 1971-1977 and was an interesting example of the breed of large-capacity two-stroke motorcycles which provided much excitement and not a few fatalities but which fell victim to increasingly stringent emissions standards and the remarkable improvement in the performance, reliability and refinement of the multi-cylinder four-stroke machines of which the Honda CB750 (1969-2008) and Kawasaki Z1 900 (1972-1975) were the exemplars.  Something of a novelty was the GT750's water-cooling, at the time rarely seen although that meant it missed out on one of Suzuki’s many imaginative acronyms: the RAC (ram air cooling) used on the smaller capacity models.  RAC was a simple aluminium scoop which sat atop the cylinder head and was designed to optimize air-flow.  It was the water-cooling of the GT750 which attracted nicknames but, a generation before the internet, the English language tended still to evolve with regional variations so in England it was “the Kettle”, in Australia “the Water Bottle” and in North America “the Water Buffalo”.  Foreign markets also went their own way, the French favoring “la bouillotte” (the hot water bottle) and the West Germans “Wasserbüffel” (water buffalo).  Suzuki called those sold in North America the "Le Mans" while RoW (rest of the world) models were simply the "GT750".

Detail of the unusual 4-3 system: The early version with the ECTS (left), the bifurcation apparatus for the central cylinder's header (centre) and the later version (1974-1977) without the ECTS (right).  Motorcyclists have long had a fascination with exhaust systems and the holy grail may be the Italian straight-six Benelli 750 & 900 Sei (six) (1972-1978) which was offered variously with a 6-into-6 and 6-into-1, both constructions inspiring awe.  

The GT750 shared with the other two-stroke three-cylinder Suzukis (GT380 & GT550) the novelty of an unusual 4-into-3 exhaust system (the centre exhaust header was bifurcated (sometimes referred to as "saimesed")), the early versions of which featured the additional complexity of what the factory called the ECTS (Exhaust Coupler Tube System; a connecting tube between the left & right pipes), designed to improve low-speed torque.  The 4-into-3 existed apparently for no reason other than to match the four-pipe appearance on the contemporary four stroke, four cylinder Hondas and Kawasakis, an emulation of the asymmetric ducting used on Kawasaki's dangerously charismatic two-strokes perhaps dismissed as "too derivative".

Acid

Acid (pronounced as-id)

(1) In chemistry, a compound usually having a sour taste and capable of neutralizing alkalis and reddening blue litmus paper, containing hydrogen that can be replaced by a metal or an electropositive group to form a salt, or containing an atom that can accept a pair of electrons from a base. Acids are proton donors that yield hydronium ions in water solution, or electron-pair acceptors that combine with electron-pair donors or bases; having a pH value of less than 7.

(2) In chemistry, any compound which easily donates protons (a Brønsted acid); any of a class of water-soluble compounds, having sour taste, that turn blue litmus red, and react with some metals to liberate hydrogen, and with bases to form salts; any compound that can accept a pair of electrons to form a covalent bond (a Lewis acid).

(3) A substance sour, sharp, or biting to the taste; tart; having the taste of vinegar.

(4) Something, as a remark or piece of writing, that is sharp, sour, or ill-natured.

(5) A slang term for the hallucinogenic drug Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD).

(6) In metallurgy, noting, pertaining to, or made by a process in which the lining of the furnace, or the slag that is present; functions as an acid in high-temperature reactions in taking electrons from oxide ions: usually a siliceous material, as sand or ganister.

(7) Of or pertaining to an acid; acidic.

(8) In pop music, a genre that is a distortion (as if hallucinogenic) of an existing genre, as in acid house, acid jazz, acid rock etc.

1620-1630: From the French acide, from Latin acidus (sour, sharp, tart (and used also figuratively to suggest "disagreeable” etc)), adjective of state from acere (to be sour, be sharp) and akin to ācer (sharp) & acētum (vinegar), from aceō (I am sour); doublet of agita.  Root was the primitive Indo-European ak (be sharp, rise (out) to a point, pierce).

The figurative use (sour-tempered; acerbic) in English dates from 1775 and came to be applied to intense colors after 1916.  The process of the acid dye was invented in 1888 and used an acid bath. The “acid test” is American English from 1881, originally a quick way to distinguish gold from similar metals by application of nitric acid, it came to be used figuratively (and not always accurately) in the same senses as “litmus test”.  The “Acid drop”, a kind of hard sugar candy flavored with tartaric acid, was first sold in 1835, the noun “drop” applied in the sense of a lozenge.  The noun appeared in the 1690s, derived from the adjective and was originally applied (rather loosely) to just about any substance tasting like vinegar; the more precise parameters defined only in the early eighteenth century as the techniques of modern chemistry came to be refined.  In the chemical sense, the antonym is alkaline.  The term “acid rain” (highly acidic rain caused by atmospheric pollution) was in 1872 coined by Scottish chemist (Robert) Angus Smith (1817–1884) although it wouldn’t be for another hundred years before if came into general use.  Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997) coined a nickname for her step-mother, Raine Spencer (1929-2016): Acid Raine.  

Acid as a slang term for the hallucinogenic drug Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) dates from 1966.  From the same year “acid rock” was originally a descriptor applied to music performed by those who were tripping on LSD (or what they sounded like suggested they might be) but, as acid rockers, soon applied equally to the audience.  The adjective before long was bolted onto a wide variety of pop music (acid jazz, acid folk etc), acid house from 1988 probably the most enduring as a marketing term.  Not until October 1968 was LSD prohibited in the US by being classified as a Schedule I controlled substance under the Staggers-Dodd Bill which meant it became unlawful to manufacture, possess or distribute the stuff.  This was formalized in 1970 when, as part of Richard Nixon's (1913-1994; US president 1969-1974) "War on Drugs", it was listed as a Schedule 1 substance (those considered to have a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use) in the Controlled Substances Act (1970). 

LSD-25 Auto.

Cross-breeding has produced many strains of marijuana but there's also cross-breeding in marketing: "LSD-25 Auto" is a brand-name of weed.  The retailers recommend LSD-25 Auto to those who “love purple strains”, praising her “tightly packed trichomes”… “clustered around the hypnotic purple shining buds that have a stacked and long characteristic”.  “Bag appeal” is said to be “on the next level” and able to “blast you into another dimension and keep you there”.  Being “mind-bending and certainly on the trippy side”, she’s said to be “best suited for smokers with a high tolerance to cerebral roller coasters and those who enjoy high concentration levels and spurts of creativity”.  For those still unsure, they caution that “novice smokers should take in moderation”.

Cutaway drawing of limited slip differential (LSD).

LSD is also the abbreviation for the limited slip differential, a device used in motor vehicles which allows a differential’s two output shafts to rotate at different speeds within a defined permissible difference in speed.  LSDs are used to improve traction under extreme conditions and the usual slang is “slippery-diff”.  LSD was also the historic abbreviation for the currency denominations used by UK prior to the decimalization of Sterling in 1971.  Although pre-1971 Sterling (based on there being 12 pennies to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound) also used guineas, half crowns, threepenny bits, sixpences and florins, LSD referenced just the base units: pounds, shillings and pence.  The abbreviation LSD dates from Ancient Rome when a pound of silver was divided into 240 pence (or denarius) and the Latin currency denominations were librae, solidi, and denarii.  In veterinary science, LSD is also the standard abbreviation for lumpy skin disease, a viral disease of cattle and water buffalo.

Lindsay Lohan in Peter Thomas Roth’s campaign promoting Water Drench Hyaluronic Cloud Hydra-Gel Eye Patches.

The active ingredient in the patches is hyaluronic acid, a gooey, slippery substance produced naturally throughout the body and at its highest concentration in the eyes, joints and skin.  Best visualized as a lubricant, it works by providing a fluid cushion between tissues which would otherwise grind against each other.  As a lubricant, hyaluronic acid has remarkable properties, one teaspoon of the stuff able to absorb and retain some 6 US gallons (22¾ litres) of water, a reason why it’s used in the treatment of dry eyes and is a popular additive in in moisturizing creams, lotions, ointments and serums.  Hyaluronic acid is often produced by fermenting certain types of bacteria (rooster combs (the red, Mohawk-like growth on top of a rooster’s head and face) a common source) something the beauty industry dwells on less than the use to enhance the way skin stretches and flexes, reducing wrinkles.  It said also to be helpful in wound healing and the reduction in scarring.

Because of the popular association science fiction and gaming with toxic, flesh dissolving fluids (sometimes flowing through the veins of aliens) the word “acid” evokes horror in many but the body naturally produces many acids and it depends on these interacting with everything else to ensure good health and acids in many forms are in every diet.  An apple (a typical example containing up to 300 chemicals) for example includes pantothenic acid (B5), citric acid, tartaric acid & acetic acid while its taste depends on the concentration of malic acid.  Pantothenic is a combination of pantoic acid and β-alanine, the name pantohenic from the Greek πάντοθεν (pantothen) (from everywhere), the name chosen by chemists because, at least in tiny quantities, it’s present in almost all foods.  Familiar too is the pain-killer aspirin, now taken by many in low-dose form (100 mg or 1½ grains), a regime first recommended as a blood-thinner for those with certain risk factors for heart disease but later adopted by those impressed with the apparent protection offered against many internal cancers.  To a chemist, what we call the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid (usually pronounced uh-seet-l-sal-uh-sil-ik as-id).  

Lysergic acid diethylamide

LSD, known colloquially as acid, is a drug known for its psychological effects. This includes altered awareness of surroundings, perceptions, and feelings as well as sensations and images that seem real though they are not.  It’s thus most often described as a hallucinogenic and the one which first generated a moral-panic although there has never been any evidence to support the stories which circulated telling cautionary tales of users leaping to their deaths from tall buildings, thinking themselves able to fly.  The urban myths persist to this day.  LSD was created in Basel in November, 1938 by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann (1906–2008).  Dr Hofmann synthesized LSD after examining the constituents of the well-known medicinal plant Drimia maritima (squill) and the fungus ergot, the breakthrough moment apparently his understanding of the chemical structure of the squill's Scilla glycosides but the famous properties were discovered only serendipitously, his pharmaceutical research for a unrelated purpose.  It wasn't until 1943 that Dr Hofmann conducted any research on the possibilities LSD might offer using what he then regarded as side-effects.  In a long-known scientific tradition, he tested it on himself, thus enjoying the first acid-trip.

Having no bad trips, he continued the research and LSD (acronym for the German Lyserg-säure-diäthylamid) was in 1947 introduced as a commercial medication under the trade-name Delysid and intended for various psychiatric uses.  In the 1950s, the CIA thought the drug might be useful for mind control and chemical warfare, their tests conducted on young servicemen and students, usually without anything even close to informed consent.  Its possibilities interested psychiatrists and it was a popular subject in experimental research, the design of many of which would today appall ethics committees and terrify the lawyers.

President Richard Nixon (1913-1994; US president 1969-1974) explaining to congress aspects the message sent to the Congress on 17 June 1971, requesting the appropriation of an additional US$155 million for a “war on drugs”.  Egil Krogh (1939-2020 left) was deputy director of the Domestic Council and Dr Jerome Jaffe (b 1933, right) was hired to lead a new drug strategy and was usually referred to as Nixon’s “drugs tsar”.  Egil Krogh was later jailed for his involvement in the Watergate affair.

The subsequent recreational use in the Western world, an outgrowth of the 1960s counterculture, resulted in its worldwide prohibition in 1971, one of the most obvious casualties of the Nixon administration’s “war on drugs” which has around the world been for fifty-odd years waged with many consequences but little apparent effect on the demand for drugs, supply now at historically high levels, outpacing the increase in population.  Fifty years on, LSD remains popular though the extent of its use varies according to supply which tends to be dictated more by the economics of production and distribution than demand, the illicit drug business really preferring other substances because LSD is not addictive.  Of late there’s been much renewed interest in the possibilities offered by therapeutic hallucinogenics, the encouraging findings in DMT, LSD, mescaline & psilocybin research drawing in venture capital, the odd start-up picking up not only where things were left off in 1971 but working with more recently synthesised compounds.  Their difficulties are less scientific than regulatory.

Notable moments in Acid Rock

Todd Rundgren: A Wizard, a True Star (1973).

It’s not known if most listeners recovered from this but Todd Rundgren (b 1948) probably never did, his subsequent output so discursive that the many audiences he sought and sometimes gained never coalesced into a consistent following.   A Wizard, a True Star is there to be enjoyed as his psychedelic phase; just don’t expect more of the same.

Grateful Dead: Aoxomoxoa (1969).

Anthem of the Sun (1968) cast such a shadow that few dead heads list Aoxomoxoa as the band’s finest but none deny it’s the most psychedelic the Dead ever got in the studio.  The hippie-dippy vibe is of course more on display on many of the live releases (bootlegs and otherwise) but on Aoxomoxoa there are enough of the long, circular guitar lines for any tripper to keep tripping.  Unlike some of the European electronica which would follow, the Dead sound best through speakers rather than headphones but, at the time, the effect of Quadraphonic divided opinion.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Electric Ladyland (1968).

Not all of Jimi Hendrix's (1942–1970) Electric Ladyland was as psychedelic as the reputation suggests but, spread over two disks, there was room to move and psychedelia does tinge much of the blues for which it's remembered.  Devoted trippers however resist the epic length Voodoo Chile and go straight to side three of the original vinyl, setting the turntable to repeat.

Spirit: Twelve Dreams of Dr Sardonicus (1970).

Although not released until the era’s historic moment had passed with the implosion of the San Francisco ecosystem which fed the beast, Twelve Dreams Of Dr Sardonicus is the retrospective encapsulation of the psychedelic and is Spirit’s masterpiece.  Lyrically one long, strange trip, it’s also musically playful, mixing (rather than fusing) the most clichéd of the motifs of jazz, pop & rock.  This is acid rock’s period piece.

Pink Floyd: More (1969).

So much has Dark Side of the Moon (1973) loomed over Pink Floyd that their early work is neglected by all but a few.  In some cases the indifference is not undeserved but, influenced by the late Syd Barrett (1946-2006), before they were a staple of FM radio, Pink Floyd were certainly somewhere on the psychedelic spectrum and while The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967) hints at it, their work in a trilogy of film soundtracks, More (1969), Zabriskie Point (1970) & Obscured by Clouds (1972) tracks the path of acid-rock.  The best approach is said to be to watch Zabriskie Point with the sound turned down while the album plays on repeat and a true aficionado will drop some acid a few minutes before putting on the headphones.

Sheryl Crow (b 1962): There goes the neighborhood

Hey let's party
Let's get down
Let's turn the radio on
This is the meltdown
Get out the camera
Take a picture
The drag queens and the freaks
Are all out on the town
And cowboy Jane's in bed
Nursing a swollen head
 
Sunshine Sally and Peter Ustanov
Don't like the scene any how
I dropped acid on a Saturday night
Just to see what the fuss was about
Now there goes the neighborhood
 
The photo chick made to look sickly
Is standing in her panties in the shower
She plays the guitar in the bathroom
While the police dust her mother's plastic flowers
And Schoolboy John's in jail
Making a killing through the U.S. mail
 
Sunshine Sally and Peter Ustanov
Don't like the scene any how
I dropped acid on a Saturday night
Just to see what the fuss was about
Now there goes the neighborhood
 
This is the movie of the screenplay
Of the book about a girl who meets a junkie.
The messenger gets shot down
Just for carrying the message to a flunkie.
We can't be certain who the villans are 'cuz everyone's so pretty
But the afterparty's sure to be a wing-ding as it moves into your city
 
Sunshine Sally and Peter Ustanov
Don't like the scene any how
I dropped acid on a Saturday night
Just to see what the stink was about
Now there goes the neighbourhood.

Suicide

Suicide (pronounced soo-uh-sahyd)

(1) The intentional taking of one's own life.

(2) By analogy, acts or behavior, which whether intentional or not, lead to the self-inflicted destruction of one's own interests or prospects.

(3) In automotive design, a slang term for rear doors hinged from the rear.

(4) In fast food advertising, a niche-market descriptor of high-calorie products deliberately or absurdly high in salt, sugar and fat.

(5) A trick in the game Diabolo where one of the sticks is released and allowed to rotate 360° round the Diabolo until it is caught by the hand that released it.

(6) In Queensland (Australia) political history, as suicide squad, the collective name for the additional members of the Legislative Council (upper house) appointed in 1921 solely for the purpose of voting for its abolition.

(7) In sardonic military slang, as suicide mission, a description for an operation expected to suffer a very high casualty rate.

(8) A children's game of throwing a ball against a wall and at other players, who are eliminated by being struck.

(9) Pertaining to a suicide bombing, the companion terms being suicide belt & suicide vest.

(10) In electrical power, as "suicide cable (or cord, lead etc)", a power cord with male connections each end and used to inject power from a generator into a structing wiring system (highly dangerous if incorrectly used).

(11) In drug slang, the depressive period that typically occurs midweek (reputedly mostly on Tuesdays, following weekend drug use.

(12) In US slang, a beverage combining all available flavors at a soda fountain (known also as the "graveyard" or "swamp water".

(13) As "suicide runs" or "suicide sprints", a form of high-intensity sports training consisting of a series of sprints of increasing lengths, each followed immediately by a return to the start, with no pause between one and the next.

1651: From the New Latin  suīcīdium (killing of oneself), from suīcīda and thought probably of English origin, the construct being the Latin suī (genitive singular of reflexive pronunciation of se (one’s self)) from suus (one’s own) + cīdium (the suffix forms cīda & cide) from caedere (to kill).  The primitive European root was s(u)w-o (one's own) from the earlier s(w)e and new coining displaced the native Old English selfcwalu (literally “self-slaughter”).  Suicide is a noun & verb, suicidal is a noun & adjective, suicider is a noun; the noun plural is suicides.  Pedantic scholars of Latin have never approved of the word because, technically, the construct could as well be translated as the killing of a sow but, in medieval times, purity had long deserted Latin and never existed in English.  The modern meaning dates from 1728; the term in the earlier Anglo Latin was the vaguely euphemistic felo-de-se (one guilty concerning himself).  It may be an urban myth but there was a story that a 1920s editor of the New York Times had a rule that anyone who died in a Stutz Bearcat would be granted a NYT obituary unless the death was a suicide.  Suicide is a noun & verb, suicidal is a noun & adjective, suicider, suicidology, suicidalist, suicidality, suicidalness & suicidism are nouns, suicidogenic is an adjective, suicided is a verb & adjective, suiciding is a verb and suicidally is an adverb; the noun plural is suicides.

Suicide Squads

HH Asquith (1852-1928) and his youthful friend Venetia Stanley (1887–1948).

Although few were quite as vituperative as Paul Keating (b 1944; Prime Minister of Australia 1991-1996) who once describes the members of the Australian Senate as "unrepresentative swill", governments in the twentieth century often found upper houses to be such a nuisance they schemed and plotted ways to curb their powers or, preferably, do away with them entirely.  As the electoral franchise was extended, governments were sometimes elected with what they considered a mandate to pursue liberal or progressive policies while upper houses, by virtue of their composition and tenure (some with life-time appointments) often acted as an obstruction, rejecting legislation or imposing interminable delays by sending proposed laws to be “discussed to death” in committees from which “nothing ever emerged”.  This was the situation which confronted the glittering Liberal Party cabinet of HH Asquith (1852–1928; UK prime minister 1908-1916) which in 1909 found the Lords, in defiance of long established convention, blocking passage of the budget.  The Lords was wholly unelected, its membership mostly inherited, sometimes by virtue of some service (virtuous or otherwise) by an ancestor hundreds of years before.  Successive elections didn’t resolve the crisis and Asquith resolved to pursue the only lawful mechanism available: the creation of as many peers as would be necessary (in the hundreds) to secure the passage of his legislation.

Terry Richardson's (b 1965) suicide-themed shoot with Lindsay Lohan, 2012.

That of course required royal ascent and the newly enthroned George V (1865–1936; King of the United Kingdom & Emperor of India 1910-1936), while making his reservations clear, proved a good constitutional monarch and made it known he would follow the advice of his prime-minister.  As it turned out, the “suicide squad” wasn’t required, their Lordships, while not at all approving of the government, were more appalled still at the thought of their exclusive club being swamped with “jumped-up grocers” in “bad hats” and allowed the legislation to pass.  Actually, “castration squad” might have been a more accurate description because while the Lords survived, Asquith ensured it would be less of an obstacle, substituting the road block of its power of veto with a speed-bump, a right to impose a two-year delay (in 1949 reduced to six months).  The New Labour administration (1997-2010) introduced further reforms which were designed eventually to remove from the Lords all those who held seats by virtue of descent and even the Tories later moved in that direction although the efforts have stalled and a few of the hereditary peers remain.  As things now stand, the last remaining absolute veto the Lords retain is to stop an attempt by a government to extend a parliament's life beyond five years. 

The preserved Legislative Council chamber in Queensland's Parliament House.

Some upper house assassins however truly were a suicide squad.  In Australia, the state of Queensland followed the usual convention whereby the sub-national parliaments were bicameral, the Legislative Council the upper house and like the others, it was a bastion of what might now be called "those representing the interests of the 1%" and a classic example of white privilege.  Actually, at the time, the lower houses were also places of white privilege but the Australian Labor Party (ALP) had long regarded the non-elected Legislative Council (and upper houses in general) as undemocratic and reactionary so in 1915, after securing a majority in the Legislative Assembly (the lower house) which permitted the party to form government, they sought abolition.  The Legislative Council predictably rejected the bills passed by the government in 1915 & 1916 and a referendum conducted in 1917 decisively was lost; undeterred, in 1920, the government requested the governor appoint sufficient additional ALP members to the chamber to provide an abolitionist majority.  In this, the ALP followed the example of the Liberal Party in the UK which in 1911 prevailed upon the king to appoint as many new peers as might be needed for their legislation to pass unimpeded through an otherwise unsympathetic House of Lords.  That wasn’t needed as things transpired but in Queensland, the new members of the Legislative Council duly took their places and on 26 October 1921, the upper house voted in favor of abolition, the new appointees known forever as "the suicide squad".  Despite the success, the trend didn't spread and the Commonwealth parliament and those of the other five states remain bicameral although the two recent creations, established when limited self-government was granted to the Northern Territory (NT) and Australian Capital Territory (ACT), both had unicameral assemblies.

Margot Robbie (b 1990) in costume as Harley Quinn (a comic book character created by DC Comics), Suicide Squad (2016).

Across the Tasman Sea (which locals call "the ditch"), the New Zealand upper house lasted another three decades but it’s eventual demise came about not because of conflict but because the institution was increasing viewed as comatose, rejecting nothing, contributing little and rarely inclined even to criticize.  Unlike in England and Queensland, in New Zealand the abolition movement enjoyed cross-party support, left and right (although the latter in those days were pretty leftist), united in their bored disdain.  One practical impediment was the New Zealand parliament couldn’t amend the country’s constitution because no government had ever bothered to adopt the Statute of Westminster (1931) by which the Imperial Parliament had granted effective independence to the Dominions but in 1947 this was done.  Despite that, the Labour Party didn’t act and after prevailing in the 1950 general election, it was a National Party administration which passed the Legislative Council Abolition Act, its passage assured after a twenty-member “suicide squad” was appointed and the upper house’s meeting of 1 December 1950 proved its last.  Opposition from within the chamber had actually been muted, presumably because to sweeten the deal, the government used some of the money saved to pay some generous “retirement benefits” for the displaced politicians.  New Zealand since has continued as a unitary state with a unicameral legislature.

Pineapples.

In the Far East (the practice documented in Japan, the PRC (People's Republic of China) and the renegade province of Taiwan), fruit sellers offer pineapples for sale of the basis of “Murder” (谋杀 and variants) or “Suicide” (自殺する and variants).  Ominous as it sounds, it's just commercial shorthand.  Pineapples being more difficult to handle than many fruits, fruit shops offer the “murder” service in which staff will (for a small fee) peel and chop as required.  Those prepared to do their own preparation at home can take the “suicide” option and (at a lesser cost) purchase the whole fruit, skin and all.  There are many reasons to eat pineapple.

Suicide doors

1928 Mercedes-Benz Nürburg (W08) with four rear-hinged doors.

It wasn’t until the 1950s the practice of hinging doors from the front became (almost) standardized.  Prior to that, they’d opened from the front or rear, some vehicles featuring both.  The rear-hinged doors became known as suicide doors because they were genuinely dangerous (in the pre-seat belt era), the physics of them opening while the car was at speed had the effect of dragging the passenger into the airstream.  Additionally, it was said they were more likely to injure people if struck by passing vehicles while being opened although the consequences of being struck by a car sound severe whatever the circumstances.

2021 Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII Tempus.

Still used in the 1960s by Lincoln, Ford and Rolls-Royce, they were phased out as post-Nader safety regulations began to be applied to automotive design and were thought extinct when the four door Ford Thunderbirds ceased production in 1971.  However, after being seen in a few design exercises over the decades, Rolls-Royce included them on the Phantom VII, introduced in 2003, the feature carried over to the Phantom VIII in 2017.  Like other manufacturers, Rolls-Royce has no fondness for the term suicide doors, preferring to call them coach doors; nomenclature from other marketing departments including flex doors and freestyle doors.  Engineers are less impressed by silly words, noting the correct term is rear-hinged and these days, mechanisms are included to ensure they can be opened only when the vehicle is at rest.  Encouraged by the reaction, Rolls-Royce brought back the rear-hinged door for their fixed (FHC) and drop-head (DHC) coupés although, despite the retro-touch, the factory seems now content usually to call them simply coupés and convertibles.  

1971 Ford Thunderbird Landau.

In a nod to a shifting market, when the fifth generation Thunderbird was introduced in 1967, the four-door replaced the convertible which had been a staple of the line since 1955.  Probably the only car ever visually improved by a vinyl roof, the four-door was unique to the 1967-1971 generation, its replacement offered only as a coupé.  The decision effectively to reposition the model was taken to avoid a conflict with the new Mercury Cougar, the Thunderbird moving to the "personal coupé" segment which would become so popular.  So popular in fact that within a short time Ford would find space both for the Thunderbird and the Continental Mark III, changing tastes by the 1970s meaning the Cougar would also be positioned there along with a lower-priced Thunderbird derivative, the Elite.  Such was the demand for the personal coupé that one manufacturer successfully could support four models in the space, sometimes with over-lapping price-points depending on the options.  The four-door Thunderbirds are unique in being the only car ever built where the appearance was improved by the presence of a vinyl roof, the unusual semi-integration of the rear door with the C pillar necessitating something be done to try to conceal the ungainliness, the fake "landau irons" part of the illusion.

1967 Lincoln Continental convertible.  The later cars with the longer wheelbase are popular as wedding cars because the suicide doors can make ingress & egress more elegant for brides with big dresses although those with big hair often veto the lowering of the roof until after the photos have been taken.

The combination of the suicide door, the four-door coachwork and perhaps even the association with the death of President Kennedy has long made the convertible a magnet for collectors but among American cars of the era, it is different in that although the drive-train is typical of the simple, robust engineering then used, it's packed also with what can be an intimidating array of electrical and hydraulic systems which require both expertise and equipment properly to maintain.  That need has kept a handful of specialists in business for decades, often rectifying the mistakes of others.  It was unique; after the last of the even rarer Mercedes-Benz 300d Cabriolet Ds left the line in 1962, Lincoln alone offered anything in the once well-populated niche.

LBJ's 1964 Lincoln Continental convertible.

The four-door convertible's most famous owner was Lyndon Johnson (LBJ, 1908–1973; US president 1963-1969) who would use it to drive visitors around his Texas ranch (often with opened can of Pearl beer in hand according to LBJ folklore).  While never a big seller (21,347 made over seven years and it achieved fewer than 4,000 sales even in its best year), it was the most publicized of the line and to this day remains a staple in film & television productions needing verisimilitude of the era.  The convertible was discontinued after 1967 when 2276 were built, the two-door hardtop introduced the year before out-selling it five to one.  The market had spoken; it would be the last convertible Lincoln ever produced and it's now a collectable, LBJ's 1964 model in 2024 selling at auction for US$200,000 and fully restored examples without a celebrity connection regularly trade at well into five figures, illustrating the magic of the coach-work.

A mother watching her daughter enter her 1963 Lincoln Continental, the door held open by the girl's brother.  These are two of the family's 2.66 (1964 average) children.

Ford's advertising agency rose to the occasion when producing copy for the four-door convertible.  They certainly had scope because it was unique so many superlatives and adjectives which usually were little more than "mere puffery" would in this case have been literally true.  It was though a case of making "a silk purse from a sow's ear" because Lincoln adopted the suicide doors only because the car's wheelbase was too short for conventionally (forward) hinged doors to provide a sufficiently wide gap for entry and exit.  While that may sound a strange thing to plague a new design, the 1961 Continental was built on the platform of a proposed Ford Thunderbird which would have been available only with a two-door body and despite what the advertising copy suggests, even with the use of suicide doors, access to the rear compartment was tight, something not rectified until the wheelbase (123 inches (3,124 mm) for 1961-1963 & 126 inches (3,200 mm) for 1964-1969) was extended.     

Lincoln Continental concepts, Los Angeles Motor Show, 2002 (left) and New York Motors Show 2015 (right).

The Lincoln Continental for decades remained successful after the "great des-sizing" began in 1979 and despite the perceptions of some, the generation which was least-well received was that (1982-1987) based on Ford's smaller "Fox" platform, sales rebounding when the larger eighth generation (1988-1994) made it debut and that was despite the switch to FWD (front-wheel-drive) and the lack of a V8; clearing for Lincoln buyers it was size which mattered rather than the details of what lay beneath and presumably many neither knew, could tell or cared it was FWD.  Interest by the late 1990s was however dwindling and the nameplate suffered a fourteen year hiatus between 2002-2016.  Unfortunately, the resuscitation (without suicide doors) used as its inspiration the concept car displayed at the 2015 New York International Auto Show rather than the one so admired at Los Angeles in 2002.  The LA concept might not have been original but was an elegant and accomplished design, unlike what was offered in NYC fifteen years later: a dreary mash-up which looked something like a big Hyundai or a Chinese knock-off of a Maybach.  The public response was muted.

2019 Lincoln Continental Eightieth Anniversary Edition.

The tenth generation (2017-2020) managed what were by historic standards modest sales but by 2019, it seemed clear the thing was on death-watch but Lincoln surprised the industry with a batch of eighty LWB (long wheelbase) models with suicide doors to mark the eightieth anniversary of the Continental’s introduction in 1939.  Although there were those who suggested the relatively cheap process of a stretch and a re-hinge of the back-doors was a cynical way to turn a US$72K car into one costing US$102K and was likely aimed at the Chinese market where a higher price tag and more shiny stuff is thought synonymous with good taste, the anniversary models were sold only in the home market. Although even at the high price there was enough demand to induce ford to do a run of another 150 (non-commemorative) suicide door versions for 2020, the retro gesture proved not enough to save the breed and it was announced production would end on 30 October 2020 with no replacement listed.  Not only was the announcement expected but so was the reaction; the market having long lost interest in the uninspiring twenty-first century Continentals, few expressed regret.  The name-plate however, one of the most storied in the Ford cupboard, will doubtless one day return.  What it will look like is unpredictable but few expect it will match the elegance of what was done in the 1960s.

Haile Selassie I (1892-1975; Emperor of Ethiopia 1930-1974) being received by a ceremonial guard after alighting from the 1966 Vanden Plas Princess 4 Litre (DM4) Limousine of the Governor-General of Jamaica, 21 April 1966 (left) and Vanden Plas Princess with suicide doors open (right).

Emperor Haile Selassie’s 1966 state visit to Jamaica and the Caribbean has since been celebrated by Rastafari as “Grounation Day”, the term based on the emperor declining to walk on the red carpet provided in accordance with protocol because he wished to “make contact with the soil”.  Among many of the Rastafari (a movement which emerged in the 1930s, taking its name from Ras (the emperor’s pre-imperial name Ras) Haile Selassie was worshipped as God incarnate, the messiah who deliver the peoples of Africa and the African diaspora to freedom.  The limousine had been delivered to the island some six weeks earlier for the use of Elizabeth II (1926-2022; Queen of the UK and other places, 1952-2022) during her royal tour after which, she returned to London and the car was re-allocated to Government House as the viceroy’s official vehicle.  While it looked like something left over from the pre-war years, for its intended purpose it was ideal, the rear compartment capacious, luxuriously trimmed and tall, making it suitable for those wearing even the highest plumed hats.  Into this welcoming space, occupants stepped through suicide doors which offered unparalleled ease of entry and departure.

1965 Vanden Plas Princess 4 Litre (DM4) Limousine Landaulette (left) and 1940s advertisement for Dickson automatic rear door-locks.

Based on a car which was even upon its debut in 1952 was rather old fashioned, by 1968 when production finally ended, the Vanden Plas Princess was, stylistically and technically, a true relic and it’s remarkable that complete with a split windscreen, it was a contemporary of machines like the Lincoln Continental, Jaguar XJ6 and NSU Ro80.  It was very much a case it being better to be inside a DM4 looking (and for some, waving) out than on the outside looking in.  What must seem even more remarkable was that despite picking up a nickname like “suicide doors”, governments for decades did nothing to compel manufacturers to fit the small, cheap mechanisms (available on the aftermarket for US$3.95 a pair) which would prevent the doors opening while the car was in motion.  These potentially life-saving devices were not expensive and if installed in bulk on production lines, the unit cost would not much have exceeded US$1.00.  It was another world and not until the 1960s did the rising death toll compel legislatures to take seriously the matter of automotive safety.

When used by the wedding and hire car industries, some operators took advantage of many of the English limousines from the 1950s & 1960s being fitted with version of the GM (General Motors) Hydramatic automatic transmission, installing in each centre-post a dead-bolt activated by an electrical solenoid, the system triggered by “on” by the shift lever being in drive (locking the rear doors) and “off” by moving the lever to neutral (withdrawing the bolt).  Vanden Plas did at least on some models include on the dashboard a pair of red lights which brightly would glow if the corresponding left or right door was not completely closed.  The much more expensive Rolls-Royce limousines had no such “safety lights”; passengers in those were on their own.  It was not a theoretical problem because there were many documented cases of passengers, especially those sitting (without seat belts) in the jump-seats leaning against the doors, sometimes pressing down the handle, cause the door to open.

1960 Facel Vega Excellence EX1 which featured suicide doors which were among the most potentially dangerous because of the dubious (though the look was elegant) engineering in the locking mechanisms.  Note also the "dog leg" of the A-Pillar (windscreen), a styling trend borrowed from Detroit which caused many injuries to knees and one victim was Richard Nixon (1913-1994; US president 1969-1974) who who in August, 1960 suffered a hit during his doomed campaign for that year's presidential election.  It resulted in a staphylococci infection which for two weeks confined him to bed in Walter Reed Hospital at a time when his opponent (John Kennedy (JFK, 1917–1963; US president 1961-1963) was travelling the country campaigning and for a born politician like Nixon it wouldn't have been much consolation that his bedside well-wishers included Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater (1909–1998; Republican Party nominee for the 1964 US presidential election).  One biographer suggested it happened because his team deliberately chose to use a Chevrolet rather than a "larger" Cadillac in order to project a less elitist image.  While the reason for the choice of car was true, the impact injury would anyway likely have happened because, beginning with the 1959 range, for reasons of production-line rationalization, Chevrolet & Cadillac (along with Buick, Oldsmobile & Pontiac) all shared GM's corporate C-Body platform and while between divisions there were sometimes dimensional differences (notably in wheelbases), the front doors, A-Pillars and seat mounting points were identical in all.    

If compatible (which seems improbable given the novelty of this French approach to door-latch design), the Dickson locks would have been a worthwhile addition for the Facel Vega Excellence (1956-1964) which, in a triumph of fashion over function, had no B-Pillar (ie the central one between the doors) at all, the suicide doors secured only by a locking mechanism in the door sill, something which worked well in static testing but on the road, lateral stresses induced during cornering meant the doors were apt to “fly open”.  The completely pillarless look did however look good so there was that.  Powered by a variety of Chrysler V8s, the "big" Facel Vegas (1954-1964 and mostly coupés, 156 sedans & a handful of cabriolets) were France's finest cars of the post-war years but the decision to produce a smaller range doomed the company.  The idea was sound and the market existed but the French-made four-cylinder engine proved chronically (and insolubly) unreliable and by the time a version powered by a robust Volvo unit was ready, warranty claims and the costs of the re-engineering had driven Facel Vega bankrupt.

Lure of the tragic

Evelyn McHale: "The most beautiful suicide".

Predictably, it’s the suicides of celebrities (however defined) which attract most interest but there’s a fascination also with those by young women and that’s understandable because of the lure of youthful beauty and tragedy.  The photograph remembered as “the most beautiful suicide” was taken by photography student Robert Wiles (1909-1991), some four minutes after the victim's death.  Evelyn Francis McHale (1923–1947) was a bookkeeper who threw herself to her death from the 86th-floor observation deck of New York's Empire State Building, landing on a Cadillac limousine attached to the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) which was parked on 34th street, some 200 feet (60 m) west of Fifth Ave.  The police would later find he last note which read: “I don’t want anyone in or out of my family to see any part of me. Could you destroy my body by cremation?  I beg of you and my family – don’t have any service for me or remembrance for me.  My fiance asked me to marry him in June.  I don’t think I would make a good wife for anybody. He is much better off without me.  Tell my father, I have too many of my mother’s tendencies.”  It was reported her mother suffered from “an undiagnosed and untreated depression”.

Mary Miller and the "Genesee Hotel Suicide".  Earlier postcard of the Genesse Hotel with eighth floor ledge indicated by yellow arrow (left) and Mr Sorgi's photograph (centre) of the suicide's aftermath (right).

In many parts of the world, it’s now unusual if someone is not carrying a device able instantly to capture HD (high-definition) images & video footage but until relatively recently, cameras rarely were taken from the home unless to use them at set piece events such as vacations or parties.  Not only are people now able to record what they see but within seconds, images and clips can be transmitted just about anywhere in the world, some “going viral”.  This proliferation of content has had many implications, one noted phenomenon it seeming now more likely someone will film another at imminent risk of death or injury than offer to assist; psychiatrists, sociologists and such have offered views on that but the behaviour, at least in some cases might be better explained by lawyers and economists.

In 1942 it was mostly professional photographers who routinely would have to hand a camera and the devices were not then like the instantly available “point & shoot” technology of the digital age, the process then a cocktail of loading physical film-stock, assessing the light, adjusting the aperture and maybe even swapping lens.  The photograph (the lens wide-open and the shutter was set to a 1000th of a second), of Mary Millar (1907-1942), mid-flight in her leap to death from an eighth-floor ledge of the Genesee Hotel in Buffalo, New York was a thing most unusual: an anyway rare event happening when someone stood ready to take the picture.  When published, the photograph was captioned “Suicide” or “The Genesee Hotel Suicide” but the popular press couldn’t resist embellishment, one using the title “The Despondent Divorcee” which was in the tabloid tradition of “making stuff up”; Ms Millar had never been married and not in a relationship.  She left no suicide note.

Ignatius Russell Sorgi (1912-1995) was a staff photographer on Buffalo’s Courier Express who on 7 May, 1942 happened to take a different route back to the office when he saw a police car speeding down the road, sirens blaring.  Accordingly, in the “ambulance chasing” tradition, he followed, not knowing what he’d see but knew it might be news-worthy and gain him a front-page credit: “I snatched my camera from the car and took two quick shots as she seemed to hesitate…As quickly as possible I shoved the exposed film into the case and reached for a fresh holder.  I no sooner had pulled the slide out and got set for another shot than she waved to the crowd below and pushed herself into space.  Screams and shouts burst from the horrified onlookers as her body plummeted toward the street.  I took a firm grip on myself, waited until the woman passed the second or third story, and then shot.”