Caffeine

Caffeine (pronounced ka-feen, kaf-een or kaf-ee-in)

A white, crystalline, bitter alkaloid with the chemical compound C8H10N4O2.

1830: From the French caféine, the construct being café (coffee) + ine (the chemical suffix).  The earlier German was kaffein, from kaffee (coffee); the adjective is caffeinic.  Technically, caffeine is a trimethyl-derivative of xanthine, a coining as Kaffein in 1830, from German Kaffein, by German analytical chemist Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge (1794–1867).  He chose the name because the alkaloid was found in coffee beans; its presence accounting for the stimulating effect of coffee and tea.  The noun caffeinism was coined as medical jargon in 1880 to describe the "morbid state produced by prolonged or excessive exposure to caffeine" although the condition had for centuries been noted by doctors and others.

Of coffee

Caffeine's molecular structure.

Methyltheobromine (or caffeine) is a central nervous system stimulant and the most widely consumed psychoactive drug which works, inter alia, by reversibly blocking the action of adenosine on its receptor and consequently prevents the onset of adenosine-induced drowsiness.  Caffeine is a bitter, white crystalline purine, a methylxanthine alkaloid, chemically related to the adenine and guanine bases of DNA and ribonucleic acid RNA.

Human caffeine consumption is said to date from circa 3000 BC when, according to Chinese legend, the mythological Emperor Shennong (Divine Farmer) serendipitously invented tea, a story derived from an early book on the history of tea.  Coffee drinking first became common in the mid-fifteenth century in the Sufi monasteries of Yemenin Arabia and it spread first to North Africa and by the sixteenth century was widely consumed throughout the Middle East, Persia and Asia Minor.  The first European coffee houses were in Italy and they soon became common throughout the continent.

Voltaire (1760) by Théodore Gardelle (1722–1761); he doubtlessly agreed with de Fontenelle.

In its pure form, caffeine can be fatal in tiny quantities although in the form usually enjoyed, coffee, one would need to drink over a hundred cups in a day to approach toxicity.  Voltaire (1694–1778), often at the Café de Procope in Paris, drank sometimes as many as forty cups a day, enjoying it so much he ignored the advice of his doctors to stop.  He lived to eighty-four but there’s no evidence the often attributed quotation: “It may be poison, but I have been drinking it for sixty-five years, and I am not dead yet” was his.  The more likely source is French author Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657–1757) whose actual words were: “I think it must be [a slow poison], for I’ve been drinking it for eighty-five years and am not dead yet.”   Fontenelle died a month short of his hundredth birthday.

Depiction of seventeenth century London coffee house.

Whatever the concern about coffee the drink, the coffee house the place attracted its own concerns.  There’s some evidence coffee houses were welcomed by the authorities when first they became popular in seventeenth century London because they seemed a desirable alternative to the ale house where men would drink beer and later gin, leading to all the notorious social ills.  However, it seemed soon to kings and ministers that while having drunken men brawl or beat their wives was hardly good, it was a more manageable problem than having them cluster, share the newly available cheap newspapers and pamphlets, talk and think.  Men taking and thinking might lead to them getting ideas which was worse than them fighting in the street and government made repeated attempts to suppress the coffee shops.  Ultimately, caffeine prevailed.

Johann Sebastian Bach (circa 1760) by Johann Eberhard Ihle (1727–1814).

On the continent, the Habsburgs were no more impressed than the Stuarts in England, the government there encouraging the idea of coffee was a subversive societal vice and there was something of a minor moral panic among good citizens disturbed at the corrupting influences of such places.  This didn’t amuse a German composer famously associated with the late Baroque, JS Bach (1685–1750) who was fond of taking his frequent shots in his favorite coffee shops and, although never noted for his light-heartedness, he took an amusing poem mocking the public’s concerns, written by his frequent collaborator Christian Friedrich Henrici (1700–1764; pen name Picander), and set it to music as Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht (Be still, stop chattering).  Composed between 1732-1735, it’s usually called the Coffee Cantata, although, it’s really a comic operetta.  A satirical commentary, the work makes fun of the concerns respectable folk had about coffee and coffee houses.  In Vienna as in London, caffeine triumphed.

Despite the joys of a Bach cantata and the persuasive (if misattributed) endorsement of Voltaire, the killjoy editors of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) weren’t sure ordinary folk could be trusted to decide how many cups of coffee daily to enjoy and declared more research was needed.  They often conclude more research is needed.  Strangely, the DSM’s editors appear to be less trusting than most clergy, caffeine a drug to which even normally condemnatory priests, rabbis and mullahs don’t object, the only famously abstemious among the major faiths being the Church of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons), the Seventh-Day Adventists and the Rastafarians, the last perhaps a surprise given how well a long black complements some good weed.

Simple pleasure: the long black.

Widely consumed, caffeine is a psychoactive drug which produces its psychomotor stimulant and reinforcing effects through antagonism at adenosine receptors and indirect effects on dopaminergic neurotransmission.  The editors of DSM-5 (2013) were prepared to concede consumption of caffeine at recommended dietary doses is usually at least harmless and may even have some benefits such as the enhancement of analgesia but do caution some may experience caffeine-related health effects and functional impairment and that this can manifest in different people at different levels of consumption.  Higher doses can produce dysphoric subjective effects and caffeine intoxication, including restlessness, nervousness, insomnia and an irregular heartbeat.  It’s also associated in some with gastrointestinal problems, urinary incontinence and anxiety, use during pregnancy said to be associated with especially poor outcomes.

Lindsay Lohan with coffee, leaving Coffee Bean, Los Angeles, December 2007.

Cold turkey may not be the solution either, the editors documenting withdrawal symptoms which some may experience if abruptly discontinuing regular use, including headaches, fatigue, irritability, a depressed mood, difficulty concentrating, and even flu-like symptoms, the DSM-5 codifying the conditions as (1) caffeine intoxication, (2) caffeine withdrawal, (3) caffeine-induced anxiety disorder and (4), caffeine-induced insomnia.  These are listed as the potential diagnoses when symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment and, because some individuals report an inability to reduce their consumption despite clinically significant problems even after seeking treatment, caffeine consumption can be said to lead to substance dependence.

Caffeine is an essential part of the recommended pro ana breakfast.

Thus the DSM-5 proposed three necessary diagnostic criteria for caffeine use disorder: (1) a persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to reduce or control caffeine use, (2) continued caffeine use despite knowledge of (it’s not specified if an explicit acknowledgment is needed) having a persistent or recurrent physical or psychological problem that is likely to have been caused or exacerbated by caffeine and (3), withdrawal, as manifested by the characteristic withdrawal syndrome for caffeine, or caffeine or a closely related substance being taken to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms. Six additional diagnostic criteria included in other substance use disorders, such as craving, tolerance, and taking caffeine in larger amounts or over a longer period of time than intended, were also included as markers for greater severity beyond the three key criteria for caffeine use disorder.  Because caffeine is so widely consumed, to reduce any potential for over-diagnosis, the proposed diagnostic strategy for caffeine, despite sounding onerous, is actually more conservative than for other substances.

Red Bull girls.  One can see the attraction of energy drinks.

The editors did note the paucity of data relating to the prevalence and clinical significance of caffeine use disorder and the suspicion is the interest may have been triggered not the usual suspect, coffee, but the newer generation of energy drinks and diet supplements.  Previous research was apparently too focused on specific, small-subsets rather than the general populations, some of the studies so specialized as to be thought unrepresentative of the general population.  One (very small) study of caffeine use disorder in the United States (reported in the DSM-IV (1994)) found that 30% of caffeine consumers fulfilled the generic DSM-IV criteria for substance dependence as applied to caffeine but this fell to 10% under (the supposedly more realistic) DSM-5 criteria, a hint the concerns of clinical over-diagnosis do need to be taken seriously.  Again, the point was made that more research is required, the extent to which caffeine use disorder is associated with markers of clinical significance such as self-reported caffeine-related distress or impairment, psychological distress, sleep problems, or other drug use is wholly unknown.

The documented study the editors reviewed was the most thorough evaluation yet conducted of the prevalence, clinical significance and correlates of meeting proposed criteria for caffeine use disorder yet it was extensive enough only to inform future research and considerations regarding risk and differential diagnosis, technical points about the parameters of control group populations especially noted.  Despite the apparent lack of robustness, the editors were persuaded the findings did support the inclusion of caffeine use disorder in future editions of the DSM.  Although only a small percentage of sampled caffeine consumers met the proposed key diagnostic criteria, where the standards were met, there were clinically meaningful effects.

All reputable authorities recommend a caffeine intake of not more than 400 mg a day, or two long black coffees.  Many coffee fiends exceed this before breakfast is over.

Caffeine has become more interesting as a drug because of the late twentieth-century phenomenon of the energy drink, the interest not so much in the caffeine content which, can be much more or much less than a cup of coffee but because the pattern of consumption is, in certain sub-groups, so associated with strong alcohol, often on a 1:1 (ie 30-60 ml spirits to 250 ml energy drink) basis, a pattern well known with long-established mixers like Coca-Cola but now in both much greater volume and a much higher caffeine content.  It’s difficult to tell whether a problem has emerged because while the deaths associated with the combination attract attention, the aggregate numbers, impressionistically, seem small and may not be statistically significant.  There's even been the suggestion extreme variations in ambient temperature may have been an at least contributory factor in some deaths.

Caffeine addiction is one of humanity’s most widespread vices and it extends to those driving cars.  In famous tort case, Stella Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants, P.T.S., Inc. and McDonald's International, Inc (1994 Extra LEXIS 23 (Bernalillo County, N.M. Dist. Ct. 1994), 1995 WL 360309 (Bernalillo County, N.M. Dist. Ct. 1994), a passenger in a car (a 1989 model with no cup holders) received severe burns from spilled coffee, just purchased from a McDonald’s drive-through.  Although the matter received much publicity on the basis it was absurd to be able to sue for being burned by spilling what was known by all to be “hot” and the case came to be cited as an example of “frivolous” litigation, there were technical reasons why some liability should have been ascribed to McDonalds.  The jury awarded some US$2.6 million in damages although this was, on appeal, reduced to US640,000 and the matter was settled out of court before a further appeal.

Hertella Auto Kaffeemachine, 1959.

In the twenty-first century, some now judge cars on the basis of the count, capacity & convenience of its cup-holders but in the less regulated environment of the FRG (Federal Republic of Germany, the old West Germany, 1949-1990) of 1959, one company anticipated the future trend by offering a dashboard-mounted coffee maker for the Volkswagen Type 1 (better known as “the Beetle”).  The Hertella Auto Kaffeemachine was not a success, presumably because even those not familiar with Sir Isaac Newton's (1642–1727) First Law of Motion (known also as the Law of Inertia: “An object at rest will remain at rest, and an object in motion will continue in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced external force”) could visualise the odd WCS (worst case scenario).

A happy caffeine addict, pouring himself a cup of coffee in his VW Beetle.

That it was in 1959 available in 6v & 12v versions is an indication Hertella may have envisaged a wider market because VW didn’t offer a 12v system as an option until 1963 and the company seems to have given some thought to Newtonian physics, the supplied porcelain cups fitted at the base with a disc of magnetic metal which provided some resistance to movement although the liquid obviously moved as the forces were applied.  The apparatus was mounted with a detachable bracket, permitting the pot to be removed for cleaning.  The quality of the coffee was probably not outstanding because there’s no percolation; the coffee added in a double-layer screen and “brewed” on much the same basis as one would tea-leaves and for those who value quality, a thermos-flask would have been a better choice but there would have been caffeine addicts willing to try the device.  The trouble was there clearly weren’t many of them and even in the FRG of the Wirtschaftswunder (the post war “economic miracle”) the fairly high price would have deterred many although now, one in perfect condition (especially if accompanied by the precious documents or packaging) would command a price well over US$1000.

Cereal & Serial

Cereal (pronounced seer-ee-uhl)

(1) Any plant of the grass family yielding an edible grain (wheat, rye, oats, rice, corn, maize, sorghum, millet et al).

(2) The grain from those plants.

(3) An edible preparation of these grains, applied especially to packaged, (often process) breakfast foods.

(4) Of or relating to grain or the plants producing it.

(5) A hamlet in Alberta, Canada.

(6) As Ceres International Women's Fraternity, a women's fraternity focused on agriculture, founded on 17 August 1984 at the International Conclave of FarmHouse fraternity.

1590s: From the sixteenth century French céréale (having to do with cereal), from the Latin cereālis (of or pertaining to the Roman goddess Ceres), from the primitive Indo-European ker-es-, from the root ḱer- (to grow”) from which Latin gained also sincerus (source of the English sincere) and crēscō (grow) (source of the English crescent).  The noun use of cereal in the modern sense of (a grass yielding edible grain and cultivated for food) emerged in 1832 and was developed from the adjective (having to do with edible grain), use of which dates from 1818, also from the French céréale (in the sense of the grains).  The familiar modern use (packaged grain-based food intended for breakfast) was a creation of US English in 1899.  If used in reference to the goddess Ceres, an initial capital should be used.  Cereal, cereology & cerealogist are nouns and ceralic is an adjective; the noun plural is cereals.

Lindsay Lohan mixing Pilk.

Cereal is often used as modifier (cereal farming, cereal production, cereal crop, non-cereal, cereal bar, pseudocereal, cereal dust etc) and a cereologist is one who works in the field of cerealogy (the investigation, or practice, of creating crop circles).  The term “cereal killer” is used of one noted for their high consumption of breakfast cereals although some might be tempted to apply it to those posting TikTok videos extolling the virtue of adding “Pilk” (a mix of Pepsi-Cola & Milk) to one’s breakfast cereal.  Pilk entered public consciousness in December 2022 when Pepsi Corporation ran a “Dirty Sodas” promotion for the concoction, featuring Lindsay Lohan.  There is some concern about the high sugar content in packaged cereals (especially those marketed towards children) but for those who want to avoid added sugar, Pepsi Corporation does sell “Pepsi Max Zero Sugar” soda and Pilk can be made using this.  Pepsi Max Zero Sugar contains carbonated water, caramel color, phosphoric acid, aspartame, acesulfame potassium, caffeine, citric acid, potassium benzoate & calcium disodium EDTA.

TikTok, adding Pilk to cereal and the decline of Western civilization.

A glass of Pilk does of course make one think of Lindsay Lohan but every mouthful of one’s breakfast cereal is something of a tribute to a goddess of Antiquity.  In 496 BC, Italy was suffering one of its periodic droughts and one particularly severe and lingering, the Roman fields dusty and parched.  As was the practice, the priests travelled to consult the Sibylline oracle, returning to the republic’s capital to report a new goddess of agriculture had to be adopted and sacrifices needed immediately to be made to her so rain would again fall on the land.  It was Ceres who was chosen and she became the goddess of agriculture and protector of the crops while the caretakers of her temple were the overseers of the grain market (they were something like the wheat futures traders in commodity exchanges like the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT)).  It was the will of the goddess Ceres which determined whether a harvest was prolific or sparse and to ensure abundance, the Romans ensured the first cuttings of the corn were always sacrificed to her.  It’s from the Latin adjective cereālis (of or pertaining to the Roman goddess Ceres) English gained “cereal”.

For millennia humanity’s most widely cultivated and harvested crop, cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain, the best known of which are rice, barley, millet, maize, rye, oats, sorghum & wheat.  Almost all cereals are annual crops (ie yielding one harvest per planting) although some strains of rice can be grown as a perennial and an advantages of cereals is the differential in growth rates and temperature tolerance means harvesting schedules can be spread from mid-spring until late summer.  Except for the more recent hybrids, all cereals are variations of natural varieties and the first known domestication occurred early in the Neolithic period (circa 7000–1700 BC).  Although the trend in cultivated area and specific yield tended over centuries to display a gradual rise, it was the “green revolution” (a combination of new varieties of cereals, chemical fertilizers, pest control, mechanization and precise irrigation which began to impact agriculture at scale in the mid twentieth century) which produced the extraordinary spike in global production.  This, coupled with the development of transport & distribution infrastructure (ports and bulk carriers), made possible the increase in the world population, now expected to reach around 10 billion by mid-century before declining.

Serial (pronounced seer-ee-uhl)

(1) Anything published, broadcast etc, in short installments at regular intervals (a novel appearing in successive issues of a magazine (ie serialized); a radio or TV series etc).

(2) In library & publishing jargon, a publication in any medium issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designation and intended to be continued indefinitely.

(3) A work published in installments or successive parts; pertaining to such publication; pertaining to, arranged in, or consisting of a series.

(4) Occurring in a series rather than simultaneously (used widely, serial marriage; serial murderer, serial adulterer etc).

(5) Effecting or producing a series of similar actions.

(6) In IT, of or relating to the apparent or actual performance of data-processing operations one at a time (in the order of occurrence or transmission); of or relating to the transmission or processing of each part of a whole in sequence, as each bit of a byte or each byte of a computer word.

(7) In grammar, of or relating to a grammatical aspect relating to an action that is habitual and ongoing.

(8) In formal logic and logic mathematics (of a relation) connected, transitive, and asymmetric, thereby imposing an order on all the members of the domain.

(9) In engineering & mass-production (as “serial number”), a unique (to a certain product, model etc) character string (which can be numeric or alpha-numeric) which identifies each individual item in the production run.

(10) In music, of, relating to, or composed in serial technique.

(11) In modern art, a movement of the mid-twentieth century avant-garde in which objects or constituent elements were assembled in a systematic process, in accordance with the principles of modularity.

(12) In UK police jargon, a squad of officers equipped with shields and other protective items, used for crowd and riot control.

1823: From the New Latin word seriālis, from the Classical Latin seriēs (series), the construct being serial + -al on the Latin model which was seriēs + -ālis.  It was cognate to the Italian seriale.  The Latin seriēs was from serere (to join together, bind), ultimately from the primitive Indo-European ser- (to bind, put together, to line up).  The -al suffix was from the Middle English -al, from the Latin adjectival suffix -ālis, ((the third-declension two-termination suffix (neuter -āle) used to form adjectives of relationship from nouns or numerals) or the French, Middle French and Old French –el & -al.  It was use to denote the sense "of or pertaining to", an adjectival suffix appended (most often to nouns) originally most frequently to words of Latin origin, but since used variously and also was used to form nouns, especially of verbal action.  The alternative form in English remains -ual (-all being obsolete).  The –alis suffix was from the primitive Indo-European -li-, which later dissimilated into an early version of –āris and there may be some relationship with hel- (to grow); -ālis (neuter -āle) was the third-declension two-termination suffix and was suffixed to (1) nouns or numerals creating adjectives of relationship and (2) adjectives creating adjectives with an intensified meaning.  The suffix -ālis was added (usually, but not exclusively) to a noun or numeral to form an adjective of relationship to that noun. When suffixed to an existing adjective, the effect was to intensify the adjectival meaning, and often to narrow the semantic field.  If the root word ends in -l or -lis, -āris is generally used instead although because of parallel or subsequent evolutions, both have sometimes been applied (eg līneālis & līneāris).  Serial, serializer , serialization serialism & serialist are nouns, serialing, serialize & serialed are verbs, serializable is an adjective and serially is adverb; the noun plural is serials.

The “serial killer” is a staple of the horror film genre.  Lindsay Lohan’s I Know Who Killed Me (2007) was not well received upon release but it has since picked up a cult following.

The adjective serial (arranged or disposed in a rank or row; forming part of a series; coming in regular succession) seems to have developed much in parallel with the French sérial although the influence of one on the other is uncertain.  The word came widely to be used in English by the mid nineteenth century because the popular author Charles Dickens (1812–1870) published his novels in instalments (serialized); sequentially, chapters would appear over time in periodicals and only once the series was complete would a book appear containing the whole work.  The first use of the noun “serial” to mean “story published in successive numbers of a periodical” was in 1845 and that came from the adjective; it was a clipping of “serial novel”.  By 1914 this had been extended to film distribution and the same idea would become a staple of radio and television production, the most profitable for of which was apparently the “mini-series”, a term first used in 1971 although the concept had been in use for some time.  Serial number (indicating position in a series) was first recorded in 1866, originally of papers, packages and such and it was extended to soldiers in 1918.  Surprisingly perhaps, given the long history of the practice, the term, “serial killer” wasn’t used until 1981 although the notion of “serial events” had been used of seemingly sequential or related murders as early as the 1960s.  On that model, serial became a popular modifier (serial rapist, serial adulterer, serial bride, serial monogamist, serial pest, serial polygamy etc)

For those learning English, the existence of the homophones “cereal” & “serial” must be an annoying quirk of the language.  Because cereals are usually an annual crop, it’s reasonable if some assume the two words are related because wheat, barley and such are handled in a “serial” way, planting and harvesting recurrent annual events.  Doubtless students are told this is not the case but there is a (vague) etymological connection in that the Latin serere meant “to join together, to bind” and it was used also to mean “to sow” so there is a connection in agriculture: sowing seeds in fields.  For serial, the connection is structural (linking elements in a sequence, something demonstrated literally in the use in IT and in a more conceptual way in “serial art”) but despite the differences, both words in a way involve the fundamental act of creating order or connection.

Serial art by Swiss painter Richard Paul Lohse (1902–1988): Konkretion I (Concretion I, 1945-1946), oil on pavatex (a wood fibre board made from compressed industrial waste) (left), Zwei gleiche Themen (Two same topics, 1947), colored pencil on paper (centre) and  Konkretion III (1947), oil on pavatex.

In modern art, “serial art” was a movement of the mid-twentieth century avant-garde in which objects or constituent elements were assembled in a systematic process in accordance with the principles of modularity.  It was a concept the legacy of which was to influence (some prefer “infect”) other artistic schools rather than develop as a distinct paradigm but serial art is still practiced and remains a relevant concept in contemporary art.  The idea was of works based on repetition, sequences or variations of a theme, often following a systematic or conceptual approach; the movement was most active during the mid-twentieth century and a notable theme in Minimalism, Donald Judd (1928-1994), Andy Warhol (1928–1987), Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) (there must have been something “serial” about 1928) and Richard Paul Lohse (1902-1988) all pioneers of the approach.  Because the techniques of the serialists were adopted by many, their style became interpolated into many strains of modern art so to now speak of it as something distinctive is difficult except in a historic context.  The embrace by artists of digital tools, algorithms, and AI (Artificial Intelligence) technologies has probably restored a new sort of “purity” to serial art because generative processes are so suited to create series of images, sculptures or digital works that explore themes like pattern, progression, or variation, the traditional themes of chaos, order and perception represented as before.  In a way, serial art was just waiting for lossless duplication and the NFT (Non-fungible token) and more conservative critics still grumble the whole idea is little different to an architect’s blueprint which documents the structural framework without the “skin” which lends the shape its form.  They claim it's the engineering without the art.

Relics of the pre-USB age; there were also 25 pin serial ports.

In IT hardware, “serial” and “parallel” refer to two different methods of transmitting data between devices or components and the distinction lies in how data bits are sent over a connection.  In serial communication, data was transmitted one bit at a time over as little as single channel or wire which in the early days of the industry was inherently slow although in modern implementations (such as USB (Universal Serial Bus) or PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express)) high speeds are possible.  Given what was needed in the early days, serial technology was attractive because the reduction in wiring reduced cost and complexity, especially over the (relatively) long distances at which serial excelled and with the use of line-drivers, the distances frequently were extended to hundreds of yards.  The trade-off was of course slower speed but these were simpler times.  In parallel communication, data is transmitted multiple bits at a time, each bit traveling simultaneously over its own dedicated channel and this meant it was much faster than serial transmission.  Because more wires were demanded, the cost and complexity increased, as did the potential for interference and corruption but most parallel transmission was over short distances (25 feet (7½ metres) was “long-distance”) and the emergence of “error correcting” protocols made the mode generally reliable.  For most, it was the default method of connecting a printer and for large file sizes the difference in performance was discernible, the machines able to transmit more data in a single clock cycle due to simultaneous bit transmission.  Except for specialized applications or those dealing with legacy hardware (and in industries like small-scale manufacturing where such dedicated machines can be physically isolated from the dangers of the internet, parallel and serial ports and cables continue to render faithful service) parallel technology is effectively obsolete and serial connections are now almost universally handled by the various flavours of USB.

Androgynous

Androgynous (pronounced an-droj-uh-nuhs)

(1) Being both male and female; hermaphroditic (archaic).

(2) Having both masculine and feminine characteristics.

(3) Having an ambiguous sexual identity.

(4) Neither clearly masculine nor clearly feminine in appearance.

(5) In botany, having staminate and pistillate flowers in the same inflorescence.

1622: From the Latin androgynus (androgyne + ous), derived from Greek androgynos (hermaphrodite, male and female in one, womanish man).  Historically used as an adjective (of baths) with meaning "common to men and women," from andros, genitive of aner (male) (see anthropo) + gyne (woman).  Gyne is ultimate root of queen.  Related forms include androgyny, androgenous, androgynous. Androgyny was first used as a noun circa 1850, nominalizing the adjective androgynous.  Adjectival use dates from the early seventeenth century, derived from the older French and English terms, androgyne.  The older androgyne is still in use as a noun with overlapping meanings.  Androgynous is an adjective, androgyny is a noun, androgynously is an adverb; the noun plural is androgynies.

Marlene Dietrich (1901–1992) as Amy Jolly in Morocco (1930).

In an amusing political conjunction, it appears the Central Committee of the PRC’s (People’s Republic of China) ruling Communist Party (CCP) seems now to agree with California’s most recent Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger (b 1947; governor of California 2003-2011), that “girly men” are a bit of a problem.  The committee has been for some time concerned with the habits of the young and in addition to cracking down on ideologically unreliable actresses, introduced restrictions on the amount of time the young could spend frittering away their (ie the state’s) time playing video games instead of studying agricultural techniques, developing surveillance systems or something useful.  Around the republic, it’s suspected parents gave thanks to the committee for at least attempting to achieve what their years pleas and nagging failed to achieve although, being an inventive and clever lot, no one is expecting the caffeine-fuelled youth easily to abandon their obsession.  Work-arounds are expected soon to emerge. 

The Guangzhou Circle (the doughnut).

Fashionistas and rabid gamers weren’t the committee’s only target, an actual culture war declared on androgyny, many young men deemed too effeminate banned from the wildly popular television genre they seem to have co-invented with the TV broadcasters impressed by the ratings.  Having called in the executives to tell them to promote "revolutionary culture" instead of Western decadence, the crackdown on girly men is seemingly part of President Xi Jinping’s (b 1953; paramount leader of China since 2012) campaign to tighten control over business and society so the CCP can impose and enforce an official morality.  The president’s vision is certainly all-encompassing.  As well as “deviant” young men, Mr Xi also doesn’t like the “weird architecture” he’s noticed is part of the world’s biggest ever building boom, disapproving of intriguing structures like the doughnut-shaped Guangzhou Circle skyscraper by Italian architect Joseph di Pasquale (b 1968) and to demonstrate it’s not merely a criticism of foreign influence, he’s also condemned some of the works by Chinese designers.  The president expects buildings to be like Chinese youth: cost-conscious, structurally sound, functional and environmentally friendly.  That’s it; no deviation allowed.      

The new headquarters of the state media’s China Daily during construction.  When finished if looked less confronting but one can see why the president was concerned.

But the architects got off lightly compared with the androgynous, the state’s regulator of television content ruling that broadcasters must "resolutely put an end to sissy men and other abnormal aesthetics", telling them to ban from the screens the niang pao (derisive slang for girly men which translates literally as "girlie guns”).  Culturally, the new interest shouldn’t be surprising given a narrow definition of gender roles has long been a theme in the identity and propaganda of authoritarian administrations, the imagery, campaigns and policies of twentieth century communist & fascist regimes being well documented, those not conforming suffering much.

Lindsay Lohan is androgynous mode.

Like the West, modern China has some history with LGBTQQIAAOP issues and, certainly in the twentieth century, many in the LGBTQQIAAOP communities were treated as mentally ill undesirables and sometimes prosecuted but, reflecting changes in the West, in 1997, Beijing decriminalized homosexuality and in 2001 removed it from the official list of mental disorders.  Before long, officially recognized gay bars appeared in Shanghai and gay pride marches were held and it appeared state tolerance of such things had become, if not state policy, then certainly the practice.  However, under President Xi, things began to change, films and other material with LGBTQQIAAOP themes often censored or actually banned, universities compiling lists of students who identify as gay and the pride marches have been cancelled although this was officially a COVID-19 infection-prevention measure.  In a prelude to the committee’s statement on the suppression of androgyny, in July 2021, the government ordered the Tencent-owned messaging app WeChat to delete accounts connected to LGBTQQIAAOP groups.

Wrong: The androgynous men on Chinese TV.

Some medical experts have suggested the government is under no illusion about homosexuality and understand it’s always going to exist but they just want it to remain invisible; in the closet as it were, something done behind closed doors between consenting adults but something which dare not speak its name, must less be shown on television.  Others suspect the crackdown on degeneracy may reflect the regime’s fiscal and demographic concerns, a feeling the younger generation are suffering from the “curse of plenty”.  Having grown up knowing little but relative affluence and abundance, youth and working-age adults are starting to rebel against the heavy workload they’ll have to bear for the rest of their lives to maintain an aging population, a cultural movement called "lying flat" identified which rejects the “996” (working 9am-9pm 6 days a week, ie 72 hours) culture.  The party seems to have realised 996 may not be something helpful for regime survival and, in August 2021, arranged for the Supreme People's Court on to declare it illegal.  However, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t endure as a cultural expectation, especially in companies employing younger workers.

996: When first seen by US pilots over Korean skies in 1950, the Mikoyan-Gurevich (MiG-15  (NATO reporting name=Fagot)) made an impact like few others.  Unlike the British and Americans who had trouble keeping things secret from the Soviets, the MiG-15's existence was unknown and unexpected.  Clearly influenced by the German war-time experience and the North-American F86 Sabre, it used an (illegal) copy of a Rolls-Royce turbojet and so instantly did it transform the control of the Korean War skies that the Americans were compelled to rush squadrons of Sabres to the theatre to augment the now out-paced P51 Mustangs.  MiG-15 996 (NX996) was first assigned to the USSR Air Force but in 1955 was transferred to the People's Liberation Army Navy (the then correct term for the Chinese Navy).

Right: The manly men of the CCP’s Central Committee.

Making connections between the strands has been a rich environment for conspiracy theorists searching for hidden agendas and ulterior motives.  Blaming video games, entertainment, and androgyny for making men "too soft to work hard" is said to be just blame-shifting for the consequences of the 996 culture burning out whole generations.  State-sanctioned statistics do show extraordinary gains in productivity over the last dozen years, economic output having doubled but the gains disproportionately have been accrued by a relatively few oligarchs and those well-connected to the senior echelons of the party with even many in the upper middle-class complaining the purchasing power of their incomes are consistently falling, not keeping pace with the rising cost of housing and raising children.  Reaction to the party’s announcement that the one-child policy was finished and couples should now have two or three was thus muted; in the absence of anything actually to help parents afford to have another child, a baby-boom is not soon expected.  Still, one of the advantages of living in a communist state running a regulated capitalism as a sort of public-private partnership, is the compulsory education in Marxist theory so at least the people will understand where the alienated surplus profits from their labour went and the party does seem aware of the problem, another of their crackdowns directed against the oligarchs.  However, unlike the androgynous, they’re not expected to be banned, instead they’ll be “encouraged” to spread the wealth.  Just a little.

Cokebottle

Cokebottle (pronounced koke-bott-el)

A descriptor for a design where objects either resemble or are inspired by the shape of the classic Coca-Cola bottle.

1965: From an unsuccessful trademark application file in the US by the Chevrolet division of General Motors (GM), cokebottle thus word that never was.  The Coca-Cola name was a deliberately alliterative creation which referred to two of the original ingredients (leaves of the coca plant and kola nuts (source of the caffeine).  Coca is from the Erythroxylaceae family of cultivated plants native to western South America and renowned as the source of the psychoactive alkaloid.  Used since the drink’s debut in 1886, the cocaine was removed from Coca-Cola in 1903, the remainder of the recipe remaining famously secret.  Coke dates from 1908 in US English and was a clipping of clipping of cocaine although it’s not known when the word was first used to refer to the drink but given the rapidity with which slang forms emerge to describe popular products, it’s at least possible it pre-dated the drug reference although the company did not lodge a trade-mark application for Coke until 1944 although in internal company documents it appears at least as early as 1941.  While the drink produced a number of derived forms (Diet Coke, Coke-Bottle, frozen Coke, Coke-float, Coke Zero and the most unfortunate New Coke), those attached to the narcotic are more evocative and include coke dick, cokehead, coke whore and coke-fucked.  Bottle was from the Middle English botel (bottle, flask, wineskin), from the Old French boteille (from which Modern French gained bouteille), from the Medieval Latin butticula, ultimately of uncertain origin but thought by most etymologists to be a diminutive of the Late Latin buttis (cask, barrel).  Buttis was probably from a Greek form related to the Ancient Greek πυτίνη (putínē) (flask) and βοῦττις (boûttis), from the imitative primitive Indo-European bhehw (to swell, puff).

Lindsay Lohan seems to tend to prefer her Coca-Cola in cans but occasionally is seen drinking from the bottle.

Between its unpromising origin in 1926 as a lower-cost alternative to the anyway non-premium Oakland brand and its demise (with a whimper) in 2010, Pontiac in the 1960s did enjoy a brief, shining moment of innovation and style.  Pontiac had been one of a number of companion brands introduced by GM as part of a marketing plan to cover every price segment (the so-called "Sloan Ladder" conceived by Alfred P Sloan (1875–1966; president of General Motors (GM) 1923-1937 and Chairman of the Board 1937-1946)) with a distinct nameplate, Cadillac gaining LaSalle, Oldsmobile gaining Viking, Oakland gaining Pontiac and Buick gaining Marquette; only the high-volume Chevrolet stood alone.  The idea was that as one's wealth increased, one would take the "next step on the ladder" so that after the ninth and final step, the man who once bought a Chevrolet now bought a Cadillac, after which there was nowhere else to go except another new Cadillac.  The effects of the Great Depression meant the experiment didn’t last and GM would soon to revert six divisions, the newcomers Viking and Marquette axed while Pontiac, which had proved both more successful and profitable than the shuttered Oakland, survived, joined LaSalle which lingered until 1940 and then there were five.  Pontiac also returned to the line-up when car production resumed late in 1945 and, benefiting from the buoyant post-war economy, enjoyed success although much of the engineering was based on that of Chevrolet while the side-valve engines were obsolescent.  Things began to change in 1955 when a new overhead-valve (OHV) V8 was introduced, a power-plant which faithfully would serve the line for a quarter century in displacements between 265 cubic inches (4.3 litres) and 455 (7.5L) and, unusually for US manufacturers during the era, Pontiac used the one basic block for all iterations.  By 1955, all Pontiacs sold in the US were V8 powered (some sixes were still made for overseas markets) and the division began to become more adventurous, joining the power race, fielding cars in competition and moving up-market.  However, the first real master-stroke (one of several innovations which would contribute to such stellar growth in both sales and reputation in the decade to come) was the introduction in 1959 of the "wide-track" advertising campaign.

1959 Pontiac convertibles:  A Canadian Parisienne (left) built on the Chevrolet X-Frame and a US Catalina (right) on Pontiac’s wide-track frame; note the gaping wheel-wells on the Canadian car.

There were not a few visual exaggerations in the wide-track advertising campaign but the underlying engineering was real, the track (the distance between the centre of the tyre-tracks across each axle-line) increased by 5 inches (125 mm).  This improved the handling, giving the Pontiacs a more sure-footed stance than most of the competition and an attractive low-slung look,  If anyone had any doubts about the veracity of the “wide track” claim, the Canadian Pontiacs were there for comparison.  Because of internal corporate agreements, the bodies of the Canadian Pontiacs were mounted on the Chevrolet X-frame with its narrow track and the difference is obvious, the wheels looking lost inside the cavernous lacunas created by the overhanging bodywork.  In the US, sales soared and while a comparison with the recession-hit 1958 is probably misleading, the success of the wide-track programme did propel the division from sixth to fourth place in the industry and for much of the 1960s Pontiac Motor Division (PMD) was one of the industry's most dynamic name-plates.

1960s Pontiac Wide-Track advertising graphic art by Art Fitzpatrick (1919–2015) & Van Kaufman (1918-1995).

Memorable as the 1960s Pontiacs were, of note too was the graphic art produced by Art Fitzpatrick (1919–2015) & Van Kaufman (1918-1995) whose renderings were ground-breaking in the industry in that rather than focusing on the machine, they were an evocation of an life-style, albeit one which often bore little relationship to those enjoyed  by typical American consumers.  Still, that was and remains the essence of aspirational advertising and Fitzpatrick & Kaufman influenced their industry with techniques still seen today and students of art history would identify elements from mannerism.  The pair didn't take things so far they became surrealists but truth-in-advertising rules in the 1960s were not as demanding as they would become; although the big Pontiacs after 1959 genuinely were wide-tracked, they weren’t quite as wide as Fitzpatrick & Kaufman made them appear.  Never had "longer, lower & wider" really been that wide.

Envious of what Pontiac had achieved in trade-marking wide-track for the wide track advertising campaigns, GM’s Chevrolet division attempted to claim both cokebottle and coke-bottle for similar purposes, wishing to run a campaign to tie in with their new styling idea for its big cars, using similar curves to those seen on the classic coke bottle. The authorities in Detroit declined the application and legal advice to Chevrolet suggested there was little chance of success against likely opposition from the Coca-Cola Corporation.

Chevrolet Impala two-door hardtops: 1965 (left), 1966 (centre) & 1967 (right).

However, along with much of the industry, Chevrolet did produce cars inspired by the shape which came to be known as coke bottle styling and on the big cars, the cokebottle motif was expressed mostly in the curves applied to the rear-coachwork.  Chevrolet toned-down the look in 1968-1969 but by then it had spread to other manufacturers, including those across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and although by the early 1970s it was dated, the realities of production-line economics meant the look in some places lingered, even into the 1980s, the odd revival (usually in the rear-fender shape) still seen from time-to-time though modern interpretations do (except on sports cars and their ilk) tend to be more subtle than the exuberant lines of the 1960s.  Essentially bodies with outward curving fenders with a narrow centre, the technique had also been adopted by the aeroplane designers as a necessary means of dealing with the aerodynamic challenges created by supersonic speeds and although the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) labelled the design principle area rule, most engineers referred to it as coke bottle or, among themselves, the Marilyn Monroe.

1969 Chevrolet Corvette L88 convertible.  The classic example of cokebottle styling is the third generation (S3) Chevrolet Corvette (1968-1982) where the idea is executed front and rear.  In the design of twenty-first century sports cars, the motif still appears.

Coca-Cola bottles and a replica of the 1914 A.L.F.A. Aerodinamica Prototipo (aerodynamic prototype) which used the shape of the bottle introduced in 1900).  The replica is now exhibited at the Alfa Romeo Historical Museum in Arese. 

In the narrow technical sense, cokebottle styling had been done as early as 1914 although there’s nothing to suggest Coca Cola's bottle design of 1900-1914 provided any inspiration.  The A.L.F.A. 40/60 HP Aerodinamica Prototipo was built by Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Castagna in 1914 on a commission from Milanese Count Marco Ricotti (the distinctive machine at the time described as the Siluro Ricotti (the Ricotti Torpedo)).  Although relatively large & heavy, the designers assumed the aerodynamic properties of the teardrop-shaped body (the coach-builder listed it as a "droplet", an instance of Italian borrowing from English) would permit the then impressive top speed of 150 km/h (93 mph), a useful increase of 25 km/h (16 mph) over the standard 40/60.  Unfortunately, the additional weight meant rendered it no faster although the appearance certainly was memorable.  The 40/60 used an overhead valve (OHV) in-line four cylinder engine with a displacement of 6.1 litres (371 cubic inches) with a rating of 70 HP (51 kW).

Going topless: The count takes countess and children for a post-roofectomy drive.

It took the industry some decades to work out that while men might be signing the checks (cheques), women exerted much influence on the choice of car to be purchased and as early as the 1930s some manufacturers did add women to their design teams for "look and feel" stuff like interiors (it took longer for them to infiltrate the engineering offices).  Countess Ricotti however made her impact early.  The shape of the Siluro Ricotti was optimized to achieve the best possible aerodynamic efficiency while providing enough internal space comfortably to accommodate six, the original benchmark the top-speed number.  That proved illusory but, dictated by the fluid dynamics of air-flow, the radiator and engine had been placed within the passenger compartment and while this had certain advantages, it also meant heat soak through the aluminium skin and a tendency for the cabin to fill with fumes of gas (petrol) and oil.  That was what the countess disliked and she refused to let her children be driven in the thing.  The count had envisaged it as the ideal family car so in a spirit of marital compromise had Carrozzeria Castagna remove most of the roof, turning it into a kind of phaeton to be enjoyed during Milan's many warm, sunny days.

Sometime during Italy's turbulent inter-war period the Siluro Ricotti was lost but over two years during the 1970s, Alfa Romeo's engineers, using old photos and the extant original blueprints, created a replica on a surviving 40/60 chassis.  That machine is now on display at the Alfa Romeo Historical Museum in Arese and the website confirms the top speed as only the 139 km/h (86 mph) the factory had verified for the Corsa (racing) version of the 40-60 which used distinctly non-aerodynamic bodywork but with an engine tuned to deliver 73 HP (54 kW).