(1) A
small domesticated carnivore, Felis domestica or F. catus, bred in a number of
varieties.
(2) Any
of several carnivores of the family Felidae, as the lion, tiger, leopard or
jaguar.
(3) A
woman given to spiteful or malicious gossip (archaic).
(4) In
historic Admiralty jargon, the truncated term for the cat-o'-nine-tails, a whip
used to administer corporal punishment on ships at sea.
(5) A
contraction of generalized use in words staring with cat (category, catboat, catamaran,
catfish, catapult, catalytic et al).
(6) In nautical
use, a tackle used in hoisting an anchor to the cathead.
(7) A double
tripod having six legs but resting on only three no matter how it is set down,
usually used before or over a fire.
(8) In medieval
warfare, a movable shelter for providing protection when approaching a
fortification.
(9) In
aviation, the acronym for clear-air-turbulence.
(10) In
medical diagnostics, the acronym for computerized axial tomography.
(11) In
computing, the acronym for computer-aided teaching and computer-assisted
trading
Circa
700:From the Middle English cat or catte and the Old English catt
(masculine) & catte
(feminine).It was cognate with the Old
Frisian and Middle Dutch katte, the Old
High German kazza, Old Norse köttr, Irish cat, Welsh cath (thought derived from the Slavic kotŭ), the Russian kot and the Lithuanian katė̃; the Old French chat enduring.The curious Late
Latin cattus or catta was first noted in the fourth century, presumably associated
with the arrival of domestic cats but of uncertain origin.The Old English catt appears derived from the earlier (circa 400-440) West Germanic
form which came from the Proto-Germanic kattuz
which evolved into the Germanic forms, the Old Frisian katte, the Old Norse köttr,
the Dutch kat, the Old High German kazza and the German Katze, the ultimate source being the Late
Latin cattus.
The prefix
meaning “down, against or back,” occurred originally in loanwords from the Greek
(cataclysm; catalog; catalepsy) and on the basis this model, was used in the formation
of other compound words such as catagenesis or cataphyll.The source was the Greek kata, a combining form of katá
(down, through, against, according to, towards, during).A most active prefix in the Ancient Greek, in
English it’s found mostly in Latin words borrowed after circa 1500.As applied, the meanings from the Greek attached
to the constructs: down (catabolism), away, off (catalectic), against
(category), according to (catholic) and thoroughly (catalogue).In Byzantine Greek, spelling was katta and by circa 700 the variations
were in universal European use, the Latin feles
almost wholly supplanted.
In the
literature, a Latin root is cited because it’s documented but, linguists
suggest ultimate source was probably Afro-Asiatic, noting the Nubian kadis, and Berber kadiska, both of which meant "cat" and the Arabic qitt (tomcat) may be from the same
source.Despite that, in English,
meaning extended to the big cats (lions, tigers etc) only after circa 1600. In the
early thirteenth century, it was used as a term of disapprobation for women,
used sometimes as a synonym for prostitute.In African-American use, it was a way of referring to one’s own or other
cohorts while the application to jazz musicians or their audience emerged in
the 1920s, both being adopted as part of the language of the counter-culture in
the 1960s, the latter phase without the earlier racial specificity.
Phrases associated with the cat o’
nine tails
The cat
o’ nine tails ("the cat" in the vernacular), was a short whip used to administer
corporal punishment in the British military, most notably by the Royal Navy.Used as a judicial punishment in many
countries, there are references to in police reports as early as 1691 but the
term became more widely used after 1695 when it was mentioned in the script of
a play, the Admiralty adopting it somewhat later.The cat is widely believed to be the source
of a number of sayings but among etymologists, opinion is divided. Although the British Army formerly abolished flogging in
1881, it the navy it was only ever “suspended” although it's said no sentences have been imposed since 1879.
Cat got your tongue?:Said to refer to those about the be punished
often being somewhat lost for words at the sight of the whip, some linguists
point-out it wasn’t seen in print until the 1880s and suggest its most likely
the invention of children.
Bell the cat: At sea, a bell would sound prior to floggings
being administered.A more prosaic explanation
is the practice of attaching collars with bells to domestic cats to (1) make
them easier to find and (2) protect birds and other small creatures.
Let the cat out of the bag: To avoid the leather of the tails becoming
brittle or stiff, when not in use, the cat was kept in a bag filled with
sea-brine.It’s also suggested it’s a
variation of “pig in a poke (bag)”; a way of cautioning folk not to buy animals
in bags given worthless felines could be substituted for valuable piglets.Letting the cat out of the bag disclosed the
trick.
Not enough room to swing a cat:The sailors’ informal term for decrying the small
spaces below deck.This was long-thought
to reference the dimensions required to use the cat as intended but some
sources, noting the phrase pre-existed the Admiralty’s use, suggest, perhaps
speculatively, it must refer to manhandled felines.In this case, the naval connection is
preferred.
While the cat’s away, the mice will play:Nothing specifically naval, a general
reference to cats and mice, the simile extending to what the untrustworthy get
up to in the absence of figures of authority.
Rubbing salt into the wound: When
the punishment was complete, the wounds were usually cleaned with especially
salty brine or seawater, a basic and sometimes effective precaution against
infection.The modern meaning of the
phrase is derived from the additional pain caused rather than the primitive
infection control and is thus a variation of “adding insult to injury” (or
really, adding injury to injury), the notion of gratuitously or vindictively adding
to existing pain.
Lindsay Lohan clad in cat theme for Halloween party at the Cuckoo Club, London, October 2015.
(1) A
narrow walkway, especially one high above the surrounding area, used to provide
access or allow workers to stand or move, as over the stage in a theater,
outside the roadway of a bridge, along the top of a railroad car etc; any
similar elevated walkway.
(2) By
extension, a narrow ramp extending from the stage into the audience in a
theatre, nightclub etc, associated especially with those used by models during fashion
shows (although the gender-neutral “runway” is now sometimes used in preference
to “catwalk”).
(3) In
nautical architecture, an elevated enclosed passage providing access fore and
aft from the bridge of a merchant vessel.
(4) By
extension, as "the catwalk", industry slang for the business of
making clothes for fashion shows.
1874:
The construct was cat + walk.The use of
catwalk to describe a long, narrow footway was a reference initially to those
especially of such narrowness of passage that one had to cross as a cat walks. It applied originally to ships and then theatrical
back-stages, the first known use with a fashion show runway dating from
1942.In architecture on land and at
sea, the catwalk soon lost its exclusive association only with the narrow and
came instead to be defined by function, used to describe any walkway between
two points.The noun plural is catwalks.For both nautical and architectural purposes,
the English catwalk was borrowed by many languages including Norwegian
(Bokmål & Nynorsk) and Dutch and it’s used almost universally in fashion
shows.Some languages such as the Ottoman
Turkish قات use
the spelling kat and some formed the
plural as catz.
Cat (any
member of the suborder (sometimes superfamily) Feliformia or Feloidea):
feliform (cat-like) carnivoran & feloid or any member of the subfamily
Felinae, genera Puma, Acinonyx, Lynx, Leopardus, and Felis or any member of the
subfamily Pantherinae, genera Panthera, Uncia and Neofelise and (in historic
use, any member of the extinct subfamily Machairodontinae, genera Smilodon,
Homotherium, Miomachairodus etc, most famously the Smilodontini,
Machairodontini (Homotherini), Metailurini, "sabre-toothed cat" (often
incorrectly referred to as the sabre-toothed tiger) but now most associated
with the domesticated species (Felis catus) of felines, commonly and apparently
since the eight century kept as a house pet)) was from the Middle English cat & catte, from the Old English catt
(male cat) & catte (female cat),
from the Proto-West Germanic kattu,
from the Proto-Germanic kattuz, from
the Latin cattus.
Cat has
most productively been applied in English to describe a wide variety of objects
and states of the human condition including (1) a spiteful or angry woman (from
the early thirteenth century but now almost wholly supplanted by “bitch” (often
with some clichéd or imaginative modifier)), (2) An aficionado or player of jazz,
(3) certain male persons (a use associated mostly with hippies or sub-set of
African-American culture), (4) historic (early fifteenth century) slang for a prostitute,
(5) in admiralty use, strong tackle used to hoist an anchor to the cathead of a
ship, (6) in admiralty use, a truncated form of cat-o'-nine-tails (a multi-lash
(not all were actually nine-tailed)) whip used by the Royal Navy et al to
enforce on-board discipline), (7) in admiralty use, a sturdy merchant sailing
vessel (long archaic although the use endures to describe the rather smaller "catboat",
(8) as “cat & dog (cat being the trap), a archaic alternative name for the
game "trap and ball", (9) the pointed piece of wood that is struck in
the game of tipcat, (1) In the African-American vernacular, vulgar slang or
the vagina, a vulva; the female external genitalia, (11) a double tripod (for
holding a plate etc) with six feet, of which three rest on the ground, in whatever
position it is placed, (12) a wheeled shelter, used in the Middle Ages as a
siege weapon to allow assailants to approach enemy defenses, (13) in admiralty slang,
to vomit, (14) in admiralty slang to o hoist (the anchor) by its ring so that
it hangs at the cathead, (15) in computing, a program and command in the Unix operating
system that reads one or more files and directs their content to the standard
output (16) in the slang of computing, to dump large amounts of data on an
unprepared target usually with no intention of browsing it carefully (which may
have been a sardonic allusion of “to catalogue or a shortened form of
catastrophic although both origins are unverified, a street name of the drug
methcathinone, (17) in ballistics
and for related accelerative uses, a shortened form of catapult, (18) for
purposes of digital and other exercises in classification, a shortening of category,
(19) an abbreviation of many words starting with “cat”) (catalytic converter, caterpillar
(including as “CAT” by the manufacturer Caterpillar, maker of a variety of
earth-moving and related machines)) catfish, etc, (20) any (non
military-combat) caterpillar drive vehicle (a ground vehicle which uses
caterpillar tracks), especially tractors, trucks, minibuses, and snow groomers.
Walk
was from the Middle English walken (to
move, roll, turn, revolve, toss), from the Old English wealcan (to move round, revolve, roll, turn, toss) & ġewealcan (to go, traverse) and the Middle
English walkien (to roll, stamp,
walk, wallow), from the Old English wealcian
(to curl, roll up), all from the Proto-Germanic walkaną & walkōną (to
twist, turn, roll about, full), from the primitive Indo-European walg- (to twist, turn, move).It was cognate with the Scots walk (to walk), the Saterland Frisian walkje (to full; drum; flex; mill), the West
Frisian swalkje (to wander, roam), the
Dutch walken (to full, work hair or
felt), the Dutch zwalken (to wander about),
the German walken (to lex, full,
mill, drum), the Danish valke & waulk), the Latin valgus (bandy-legged, bow-legged) and the Sanskrit वल्गति (valgati) (amble, bound, leap, dance).It was related to vagrant and whelk and a doublet
of waulk.
Walk
has contributed to many idiomatic forms including (1) in colloquial legal
jargon, “to walk” (to win (or avoid) a criminal court case, particularly when
actually guilty, (2) as a colloquial, euphemistic, “for an object to go missing
or be stolen, (3) in cricket (of the batsman), to walk off the field, as if
given out, after the fielding side appeals and before the umpire has ruled;
done as a matter of sportsmanship when the batsman believes he is out or when
the dismissal is so blatantly obvious that the umpire’s decision is inevitable,
(4) in baseball, to allow a batter to reach first base by pitching four balls
(ie non-strikes), (5) to move something by shifting between two positions, as
if it were walking, (6) (also as “to full”, to beat cloth to give it the
consistency of felt, (6) in the slang of computer programming, to debug a
routine by “walking the heap”, (7) in aviation, to operate the left and right
throttles of an aircraft in alternation, (8) in employment, to leave, to resign,
(9) in the now outlawed “sports” of dog & cock-fighting, to put, keep, or
train (a puppy or bird) in a walk, or training area, (10) in the hospitality
trade, to move a guest to another hotel if their confirmed reservation is not
available at the time they arrive to check-in (also as to bump), (11) in the hospitality
trade, as “walk-in”, a customer who “walks-in from the street” to book a room
or table without a prior reservation, (12) in graph theory, a sequence of
alternating vertices and edges, where each edge's endpoints are the preceding
and following vertices in the sequence, (13) In coffee, coconut, and other
plantations, the space between the rows of plants (from the Caribbean and most
associated with Belize, Guyana &
Jamaica, (14) in orchids, an area planted with fruit-bearing trees, (15) in colloquial
use, as “a walk in the park” or “a cakewalk”, something very easily
accomplished (same as “a milk-run”) and (16) in the (now rare) slang of the UK
finance industry, a cheque drawn on a bank that was not a member of the LCCS (London Cheque
(check in the US) Clearance System), the sort-code of which was allocated on a
one-off basis; they had to be "walked" (ie hand-delivered by
messengers).
On the
catwalk: Lindsay Lohan in a Heart Truth
Red Dress during Olympus Fashion Week, Fall, 2006, The Tent, New York City.
How to walk
like catwalk model
Traci
Halvorson of Halvorson Model Management (HMM) in San Jose, California, has
written a useful guide for those wishing to learn the technique of walking like
a catwalk (increasingly now called the gender-neutral “runway”) model.Although walking on a wide, stable flat
surface, in a straight line with few other instructions except “don’t fall
over”, doesn’t sound difficult, the art is actually a tightly defined set of
parameters which not all can master.Some models who excel at static shots and are well-known from their
photographic work can’t be used on a catwalk because their gait, while
within the normal human range, simply isn’t a “catwalk walk”.It’s thus a construct, of clothes, shoes, style and even expression and catwalk models need to be adaptable, able to
achieve essentially the same thing whether in 6-inch (150 mm) high stilettos
or slippery-soled ballet flats; it’s harder than it sounds and as all models
admit, nothing improves one’s technique like practice.
(1) The
facial expression.It sounds a strange
place to start but it’s not because if the facial expression is unchanging it
means it’s easier to focus on everything else, the rational being that humans
use their range of facial expression to convey emotion and attitude but this
all has to be neutralized to permit the photographers (paradoxically the
audience is less relevant) to capture what are defined “catwalk” shots.Set the chin to point slightly down though
don’t hang the head; the angle should be almost imperceptible and it
recommended to imagine an invisible string attached to the top of the head
holding the chin in its set position.
(2) Do
not smile.Catwalk models do not smile
because it draws attention away from the product although this does not mean
looking miserable or unhappy; instead look “serious” and this usually is done by
perfecting what is described as a “neutral” expression, one which would defy an
observer being able to tell whether the wearer is happy or sad.To achieve this, the single most important
aspect is to keep the mouth closed in a natural position, something like what
is recommended for a passport photograph and ask others to judge the look but
as a note of caution, there will be failures because some girls just look sort
of happy no matter what.In most of
life, this will be of advantage so a career other than the catwalk will beckon.
(3) On
the catwalk, keep the eyes focused straight ahead.This not only makes walking easier but also
self-imposes a discipline which will help maintain the static facial expression.Because the eyes are focused straight-ahead,
it will stop the head moving and the look will be the desired one of alertness
and purposefulness.Some models recommend
imagining a object moving in front of them and focus on that and in the
situations where there’s a procession on the catwalk, it’s possible usually to
fixate on some unmoving point on the model ahead.
(5) Don’t
fall over.It’s an obvious point but it
does happen and usually, shoes are responsible, either because the nature of
the construction has so altered the model’s centre of gravity or there's contact between footwear and some flowing piece of fabric, either one’s own or one in the
wake of the model ahead.There is no
better training to avoid “catwalk stacks” than to practice in a wide variety of
shoe types.
(5) If
possible, arrange a replica catwalk on which to practice, it need only to be a
few paces long and arranged so the walk is towards a full-length mirror.For side views, film using a carefully
positioned camera and compare the result with footage of actual catwalk models
at work.If possible, work in pairs or a
group because you’ll hone each other’s techniques but remember this is serious
business and criticism will need to be frank; feelings may need to be hurt on the
walk to the catwalk.
(6) Stand
up straight, imagining the invisible string holding the head in place being also attached to the spine.Keep the shoulders
back but not unnaturally so, posture needs to be good but not stiff or exaggerated
and a good posture can to some extent compensate for a lack of height.Again, this needs to be practiced in front of
a mirror and practice will improve the technique, the object being to stand
straight while looking relaxed and comfortable.
(7) Perfecting
the actual catwalk walk will take some time because, although it looks entirely
natural when done by models, it’s not actually the “natural” way most people
walk.To train, begin purely
mechanistically, placing one foot in front of the other and walking with (comfortably)
long strides, the best trick being to mark a line on the floor with chalk and imagine
walking on a rope, keeping one foot in front of the other, allowing the hips
slightly to move from side to side; the classic model look.With sufficient practice, what designers call
the model’s “strut” will evolve and in conjunction with the other techniques, there’ll
be a projection of assuredness and confidence.
(8) However,
the hips need symmetrically and slightly to move, not swing.Catwalk models are hired as platforms for
clothes within a narrow dimensional range and this includes not only the cut of
the fabric but also the extent it is required to move as the body moves and
motion must not be exaggerated.When
practicing this, again it’s preferable to work in pairs or groups.
How it's done. Catwalk models need to look good coming or going.
(9) Limit
the movement of the arms when walking.Let
the arms hang at the sides with the hands relaxed, the swing of the limbs
sufficient only to ensure the look is not unnaturally stylized and certainly
nothing like that of most people on the street.Many report when first practicing that there’s a tendency for the hands
to clench into fists and that’s because of the discipline being imposed on
other body parts but from the start, ensure the hands are relaxed, loosely cupped and with a small (natural) gap (something like ¼ inch (5-6 mm) between the fingers.Allow the arms slightly to bend and they’ll sway (just a little) with
the body.
(10) Practice
specifically for the occasion.Just as even
the best tennis players have to practice on grass if they’ve just come off playing on clay or hard-courts, at least an hour before an actual
catwalk session should be spent practicing in the same style of shoes as will
be worn for the session(s).This applies
even if wearing something less challenging like flats because the change in
weight distribution and the resultant centre of gravity is profound if the last
few days have been spent in 6 inch (150 mm) heels.
(11)
Practice with different types of music because the catwalk walk really is an
exercise in rhythm and if one can find a piece which really suits and makes the
walk easier to perfect, if it’s possible to imagine that while on the catwalk, that’s
good although sometimes there’s music at the shows and not all can focus on
what’s in the head while excluding what’s coming through the speakers.
Traci Halvorson's instructions were of course aimed at neophytes wishing to learn the basic technique but among established models there are variations and the odd stake of the individualistic, the most eye-catching of which is the "fierce strut", a usually fast-paced and aggressive march down the catwalk while still using the classic one-foot-in-front-of-the-other motif which so defines the industry. It's thus not quite Nazi-style goose-stepping or even the hybrid step used most enthusiastically by the female soldiers in the DPRK (North Korean) military but it's clearly strutting with intent.
(1) In
informal use, a cat, especially a kitten (also as puss & pussy-cat).
(2) In colloquial use (now rare), an
affectionate term for a woman or girl, seen as having characteristics
associated with kittens such as sweetness or playfulness.
(3) Anything soft and furry; a bloom form; a furry catkin,
especially that of the pussy willow
(4) An
alternative name for the tipcat (rare).
(5) In
slang, a disparaging and offensive term referring to a timid, passive person
(applied almost exclusively to men).
(6) In
vulgar slang, the vulva (used as an alternative to the many other slang terms
which includes beaver, box, cunt, muff, snatch, twat poontang,
coochie, punani, quim & slit); considered by some to be the least
offensive and probably the one most used by women.
(7) In
vulgar slang, sexual intercourse with a woman
(8) In
vulgar slang of male homosexuals, the anus of a man who
is the passive participant in gay sex (ie “the bottom” as used by “the top”).
(9) In
slang, a disparaging and offensive term for women collectively, a form of
reductionism which treats women as sex objects.
(10) In
medical use (pronounced puhs-ee),
something puss-like or something from which puss emerges; containing or
resembling pus.
(11) As
pussybow (or lavallière, pussycat bow
or pussy-bow) a style of neckwear worn with women's blouses and bodices. A bow,
tied (usually loosely) at the neck, the name is though derrived from the bows
owners sometimes attach to their domestic felines (pussy cats).
1580s: The construct was puss + -y (the diminutive suffix).It may be from the Dutch poesje, a diminutive of poes
(cat; vulva), akin to the Low German pūse
(vulva) and the Old English pusa (bag).Puss was probably
from the Middle Low German pūs or pūskatte or the Dutch poes (puss, cat (slang for vulva)),
ultimately from a common Germanic word for cat, perhaps ultimately imitative of
a sound made to get its attention and therefore similar in origin to the Arabic
بسة (bissa).Some sources declare puss in the sense of
"cat" dates from the 1520s but this is merely the earliest known
documented source and use probably long predates this instance.The same or similar sound is a conventional
name for a cat in Germanic languages and as far off as Afghanistan; it is the
root of the principal word for "cat" in the Rumanian (pisica) and secondary words in the Lithuanian
(puž (word used for calling a cat)), the
Low German (puus) and the Irish puisin (a kitten).It was akin to the West Frisian poes, Low the German Puus & Puuskatte, the Danish pus, the dialectal Swedish kattepus & katte-pus and the Norwegian pus.The form is known in several European, North
African and West Asian languages and may be compared with the Romanian pisică and Sardinian pisittu; there is also a Celtic thread,
the Irish pus (mouth, lip), from the Middle Irish bus.The noun plural was pussies.
The French village Pussy sits on the eastern slope of Mont Bellachat above the left bank of the Isère, 5½ miles (9 km) north-west of Moûtiers; it is part of commune of La Léchère in the Savoie département of France. The name is from Pussius, the owner of the region during the Roman occupation of Gaul.
Pussy
was first used as a term of endearment for a girl or
woman in the 1580s and (by extension), was soon used disparagingly of
effeminate men and) and applied childishly to anything soft and furry.The use to refer to domestic cats &
kittens was exclusive by the 1690s but as early as 1715 it was applied also to rabbits.The use as slang for
"female pudenda" is documented from 1879, but most etymologists don’t
doubt it had long been in oral use; perhaps from the Old Norse puss (pocket, pouch) (related to the Low
German puse (vulva)) or else a
re-purposing of the cat word pussy on the notion of "soft, warm, furry
thing.In this it may be compared with
the French le chat, which also has a double meaning, feline and genital. The earlier uses in English are difficult to
distinguish from pussy, “pussie” noted in 1583 being applied affectionately to
women.Pussy-whipped in the sense of "hen-pecked"
seems to date from 1956, a gentler form perhaps than the fifteenth century
Middle English cunt-beaten (an impotent man).Despite the feeling among many that the history in vulgar slang is long,
etymologists note the rarity (sometimes absence) of pussy in its ribald sense
from early dictionaries of slang and the vernacular before the late nineteenth
century and the frequent use as a term of endearment in mainstream literature.
The pleonastic noun pussy-cat (also pussycat) which describes a domestic
cat or kitten dates from 1773 and came soon to be applied to people although
there appears to be no written record prior to 1859.By the early twentieth century it came to be
applied to smoothly running engines, the idea being they “purred like a
pussycat”.The noun pussy-willow was by
1835 a popular name of a type of common American shrub or small tree, so-called
for the small and very silky catkins produced in early spring; in the 1850s the
tree was also referred to as a pussy-cat but use soon faded.To “play pussy” was World War II Royal Air
Force (RAF) slang for "take advantage of cloud cover, jumping from cloud
to cloud to shadow a potential victim or avoid recognition." The medical use, the other (disgusting) adjectival
forms of which are pussier & pussiest, dates from circa 1890 although in this sense Middle English had the mid-fifteenth century pushi, a variant of the Latin pus (definite
singular pussen or pusset) which in pathology describes the yellowish fluid associated
with infected tissue.
Kate Moss in pussybow blouse on video link.
As a set-piece event, about the only thing
which could have added to the spectacle of the Depp v Heard (John C Depp II v
Amber Laura Heard (CL–2019–2911)) suit & counter-suit defamation trial in
Fairfax County, Virginia, might have been Ms Heard (b 1986) afforcing her legal
team with Rudy Giuliani (b 1944).Whatever difficulties Mr Giuliani has had with judges, he was good with
juries and may have been better at persuading the tribunal assembled in
Virginia to ignore the many irrelevant revelations which so tantalized those
running commentaries on social media.As
it was, there was something in the trial for just about everyone and one thing claimed
by some to have exerted a subliminal influence on judge and jury was what model
Kate Moss (b 1974 and appearing as a character witness for Mr Depp (b 1963)
which whom she’d enjoyed a predictably well-publicized relationship during the
1990s) wore for her brief testimony. That she appeared at all was because Ms Heard made the mistake of mentioning her name during testimony, thereby permitting Mr Depp's counsel to call her as a witness. Looking
stunning as expected, her appearance was quickly deconstructed and pronounced
as crafted to convey “authority and authenticity”, the key points being (1) a
simple hair-style, (2) an “authoritative jacket”, (3) “natural make-up” and (4)
a blouse with a pussybow “casually tied” to avoid the appearance of a contrived
“court appearance look”.In other words,
she’d been styled to look like a witness appearing in court, not an actor playing
a witness appearing in court.Her three
minutes on the stand via a video link should not, according to some lawyers, have
been treated by the jury as substantive but what attracted most comment was her
choice of a white, spotted pussybow blouse, a feature described in one gushing
critique as “…subtly subversive” with an origin as a kind of feminist
battledress for those beginning the march through the institutions of male
space; a challenge to the “traditional dress codes”.
Lindsay Lohan in black, semi-sheer
pussy-bow blouse, Saint Laurent fashion show, Paris Fashion Week, February
2019.
Items recognizably pussybowish had been worn for centuries but the
re-purposing to an alleged political statement is traced to the early 1960s when
Coco Chanel (1883-1971) added more voluminous bows to silk blouses, the bulk
and projection of the fabric off-setting the more severe linens and tweeds with
which they were paired.From there, the pussybow
as feminist statement is held to have become overt in 1966 with the debut of
Yves Saint Laurent's (1936-2008) Le
Smoking design which legitimized the presence of the pantsuit in catalogues
and, increasingly, on the catwalk.The
1966 piece was a revived tuxedo, tailored to the female form, in velvet or wool
and notable for being softened with a silk pussybow blouse which was
interesting in that had it been combined with the traditional tie worn by men
(which wouldn’t then have been anything novel), it would probably have been
condemned, not as subversive but as a cliché.As it was, the pussybow lent sufficient femininity to the redefined
pantsuit for it to be just radical enough to be a feminist fashion statement
yet not be seen as too threatening.Despite the claims of some, it wasn’t the
first time the pussybow had been paired with trousers but it was certainly the
first appearance at a mainstream European show and it proved influential
although YSL, so pleased with his models, perhaps didn’t envisage the look on
latter-day adopters like crooked Hillary Clinton.
Whether the judge or jury in Virginia were
pussybow-whipped into finding substantially for Mr Depp isn’t known but it was
certainly interesting Ms Heard lost in the US but won in the UK in 2020 despite
both trials being essentially about the same thing: Did Mr Depp subject Ms
Heard to violence and other forms of abuse?Technically, there were differences, Mr Depp in the UK suing not his ex-wife
but The Sun, a tabloid newspaper
which had published a piece with a headline describing Mr Depp as a "wife
beater".By contrast, the US case revolved
around an article in The Washington Post written
by Ms Heard, the critical passages being three instances where she alleged she
had been a victim of domestic abuse. Mr
Depp sued not the newspaper but Ms Heard, claiming her assertions were untrue
and (although he wasn’t explicitly named as the perpetrator), that he’d thus
been defamed.The jury agreed Ms Heard (1)
had indeed implied she was the victim of Mr Depp’s violence, (2) that her
claims were untrue, (3) that purposefully she was being untruthful and (4) that
her conduct satisfied the legal standard of “actual malice”, a critical
threshold test in US law (dating from a ruling by the US Supreme Court in 1964
in New York Times v Sullivan) which imposes on public figures the need to prove
statements (even if anyway technically defamatory) were made with the knowledge
they were false or with reckless disregard of whether they were false or not, before
damages may be recovered.
Melania Trump in pussybow blouse, Federal
Partners in Bullying Prevention (anti-cyber-bullying) summit at the Health
Resources and Service Administration, Rockville, Maryland, 20 August 2018.
More
significant still was probably that in London, the trial took place before a
high court judge who ruled on both matters of law and fact.By contrast, in the Fairfax County
Courthouse, the judge ruled on matters of law but it was the jury which alone
weighed the evidence presented and determined matter of fact.Thus in London one legally trained judge
assessed the evidence which hung on the issue of whether Mr Depp subjected Ms
Heard to violent abuse during their brief and clearly turbulent union.The judge found he had whereas seven lay-people,
sitting as a jury concluded he had not.The
two processes are difficult to compare because judges provide written judgments
(comprising the ratio decidendi (the
reasons for the finding) and sometimes some obiter
dictum (other matters of interest not actually critical in reaching the
decision)) whereas juries operate in secret and what was discussed in the three
days they took to deliberate isn’t known although there are hints in the list
of questions they presented to the judge before delivering the verdict.Those hints however hardly compare with Mr
Justice Nichol’s (b 1951) ruling of some 67,000 words.
Sue Lyon (1946-2019) in pussybow blouse in the film Lolita (1962) (left) and with pussy (right) in an image from a pre-release publicity set for the film, shot in 1960 by Bert Stern (1929-2013).
What happened in the two trials was not
exactly comparable.In the US, much was
made of several statements earlier made by Ms Heard which, although not
directly concerned with the matters being litigated, once proved untrue, were
used by Mr Depp’s legal team to undermine Ms Heard’s credibility.The matter of the US$7 million divorce
settlement was for example mentioned by Mr Justice Nichol as an example of Ms Heard’s
credibility because she didn't profit from divorcing Mr Depp, citing her
announcement that she would donate the settlement to charity.That she failed to do and perhaps remarkably,
it wasn’t something at the time challenged by Mr Depp’s lawyers so the judge
accepted it as fact.Whether, had the
judge known the truth, his findings would have be different will never be
known.Of interest too is that as a
matter of law, Ms Heard's lawyers were not allowed to tell the jury the result
of the UK trial and that in London Mr Depp's lawyers had made it clear they
felt it unfair they were compelled to sue the newspaper and not Ms Heard.In Virginia, as a defendant, Ms Heard became
the focus and it did seem much of what was presented to the jury discussed her credibility,
not of necessity relating to the substantive matters of the case but also of
previous statements and conduct.
When
the judgment in London was appealed, that was rejected by two judges of the
Court of Appeal which may encourage Ms Heard.Proceeding with an appeal in the US is a high-risk business and there
are financial impediments even to lodging the papers but it is something which
will not involve a jury, decided instead on points of law and procedure by
judges less likely than jury members to be influenced by films they’ve seen, pussybows
or other extraneous material.
Pussy Riot band members Yekaterina Samutsevich, Maria
Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova in a glass-walled cage during a court
hearing, Moscow, Friday 17 August 2012.
Even
though it was well into the twenty-first century and the nation had long since succumbed
to decadence, Boris Johnson (b 1964; UK prime-minister 2019-2022) still raided
a few eyebrows when he and his girlfriend moved into No 10 Downing Street, the
Tory Party’s few remaining blue stockings outraged because not only were they
the first couple to take up official residence there without benefit of
marriage but he was at the time still married to his second wife and the mother
of four of his children.History however
recalls things had been more debauched, David Lloyd George (1863–1945; UK
prime-minister 1916-1922) sharing the house during his premiership with not
only his wife bit also his mistress, Frances Stevenson (1888–1972), the former
usually ensconced upstairs in the prime-ministerial bed while he husband
enjoyed his younger companion’s affections a few floors down.
The
very modern-sounding arrangement was made possible by Ms Stevenson having been
appointed by Lloyd-George as his secretary while he was Chancellor of the
Exchequer, a job offer which was conditional upon her accepting concubinage as
part of the job description and it’s never been doubted Lloyd-George was an
earlier adopter of KPIs.The press were
aware of the situation but things were done differently then and not a word of
the unusual domestic setup appeared in the papers.Surprisingly, even foreign journalists turned
a blind eye when Lloyd George attended the Paris Peace Conference (1919) in the
company of Ms Stevenson and though the rumor mill among the diplomats would
have worked as efficiently then as now, the fiction she was “just his secretary”
was maintained by all.In the lovers’ private
conversations, she was his “Pussy” and he her “Tom Cat”, the feline theme taken
up in his son’s 1960s biography when he noted of his father: “…with an
attractive woman he was as much to be trusted as a Bengal tiger with a gazelle”.In 1975, Weidenfeld and Nicolson
published My darling Pussy: The letters of Lloyd George and
Frances Stevenson,
1913-1941 (258 pp; ISBN-13:
978-0297770176).
(1) Any of the numerous mainly freshwater teleost fishes
of the order or suborder Nematognathi (or Siluroidei), characterized by barbels
around the mouth and the absence of scales, especially the silurids of Europe
and Asia and the horned pouts of North America.
(2) A wolffish of the genus Anarhichas.
(3) In casual use, any of various other fishes having a
fancied resemblance to a catfish.
(4) In slang, a person who assumes a false identity or
personality on the internet, especially on social media, usually with an intent
to deceive, manipulate, or swindle.
(5) To deceive, swindle, etc., by assuming a false
identity or personality online.
(6) In casual use, any piece of machinery having a fancied resemblance to a catfish (and applied mostly to cars).
1605–1615: The construct was cat + fish.Dating from circa 700, cat was from the Middle
English cat or catte and the Old English catt
(masculine) & catte
(feminine).It was cognate with the Old
Frisian and Middle Dutch katte, the Old
High German kazza, Old Norse köttr, Irish cat, Welsh cath (thought derived from the Slavic kotŭ), the Russian kot and the Lithuanian katė̃; the Old French chat enduring.The curious Late
Latin cattus or catta was first noted in the fourth century, presumably associated
with the arrival of domestic cats but of uncertain origin.The Old English catt appears derived from the earlier (circa 400-440) West Germanic
form which came from the Proto-Germanic kattuz
which evolved into the Germanic forms, the Old Frisian katte, the Old Norse köttr,
the Dutch kat, the Old High German kazza and the German Katze, the ultimate source being the Late
Latin cattus.
The noun fish was from the pre-900 Middle English fish, fisch & fyssh, from the Old English fisc
(fish), from the Proto-West Germanic fisk,
from the Proto-Germanic fiskaz (fish).It was cognate with the West Frisian fisk, the Dutch vis, the Old Norse fiskr,
the Danish fisk, the Norwegian fisk, the Gothic fisks, the Swedish fisk and
the German Fisch, the ultimate source
probably the primitive Indo-European peysḱ(fish) & pisk (a fish) although there are
etymologist who speculate, on phonetic grounds, that it may be a north-western
Europe substratum word.It was akin to
the Latin piscis, the Irish verb iasc, the Middle English fishen and the Old English fiscian, cognate with the Dutch visschen, the German fischen, the Old Norse fiska and the Gothic fiskôn.The verb fish was from the Old English fiscian (to fish, to catch or try to catch fish).It was cognate with the Old Norse fiska, the Old High German fiscon, the German fischen and the Gothic fiskon.
The plural is fishes, but in a
collective sense, or in reference to fish meat as food, the singular fish
generally serves for a plural, thus the noun plural of catfish tends to be catfish
but zoologists and other specialists, especially when referring to two or more
kinds or species, will tend to prefer catfishes.
The catfish seems to have gained its name early in the
seventeenth century following the practice adopted for the Atlantic wolf-fish, noted
for its ferocity, the catfish picking up its moniker apparently because of the "whiskers"
although the "purring" sound it sometimes makes upon being taken from the water
has (less convincingly) been suggested as the origin; most zoologists and etymologists prefer the
whiskers story while noting the correct name for the appendages is barbels.
The modern term catfishing describes a type on nefarious
on-line activity in which a person uses information and images, typically taken
from others, to construct a new identity for themselves. In the most extreme examples, a catfisher can
steal and assume another individual’s entire identity, enabling the possibility
of using the fake persona to engage in fraud or other illegal
activities.Catfishing attacks may be
targeted or opportunistic and have long been common on dating sites.One niche activity is where only a few (or
legally insignificant) elementsare involved
(usually in an attempt to tempt younger subjects on dating sites) and there is
no attempt to engage in illegal activity; this has been called kitten fishing.
There is nothing new in the concept of catfishing, cases
documented in the literature for centuries, the ubiquity of the internet just
making such scams both easier to execute and easier to detect.The term in this context is derived from the 2010
American documentary Catfish, which
concerned a 26 year old man who, thinking he was building an on-line
relationship with a 19 year old woman, discovered his digital interlocutor was
actually a married women of 40.The documentary
(and thus the on-line behavior) gained the name from a mention the woman's
husband made when comparing his wife’s conduct to the myth that it was once the
practice to include one or more catfish in the tank when shipping live cod, the
rationale said to be the cod would remain active in the presence of codfish
whereas if shipped alone, would become pale and lethargic, reducing the quality
of the flesh.The source of the myth was
the 1913 psychological novel Catfish
by Charles Marriott (1869-1957), the fanciful story repeated that same year by Henry
Wooded Nevinson (1856-1941) in his political treatise, Essays in Rebellion.
Etymologically unrelated (although not wholly dissimilar
in practice) was the earlier internet slang phishing which described a kind of social
engineering in which an attacker sends a deceptive message
designed to trick a person into revealing sensitive information or induce them
in some way to install malicious software such as key-stroke grabbers or ransomware.
Phishing is a leetspeak variant of fishing
which compares the digital activity to actual angling, the idea being the
casting of lines with lures in the hope there will be bites at the bait.The first known reference to phishing dates
from 1995 but there was apparently an earlier mention in the magazine 2600: The Hacker Quarterly, the word
coined following the earlier phreaking.Phishing has for years been the most common attack performed by
cybercriminals.
Catfish and some cars they inspired.
First seen on a few eccentric examples during the 1930s, the
distinctive, if not always pleasing “catfish look” emerged on volume
production automobiles during the 1950s.Even then the look was a stylistic curiosity but it was an age of
extravagance and among the macropteric creations of the era, the catfish cars represented
just one of many directions the industry could have followed.Nor was the catfish look wholly without
engineering merit, the low bonnet (hood) line improving aerodynamic efficiency,
the wide, gaping aperture of the grill permitting adequate air-flow for engine
cooling with headlamps able still to satisfy regulatory height requirements.Classic examples of catfish styling includes
the original Citroen DS, the Packard Hawk and the Daimler SP250.
Daimler SP250 (1959-1964)
The Daimler SP250 was first shown to the public at the 1959
New York Motor Show and there the problems began.Aware the little sports car was quite a
departure from the luxurious but rather staid lineup Daimler had for years
offered, the company had chosen the pleasingly alliterative “Dart” as its name,
hoping it would convey the sense of something agile and fast.Unfortunately, Chrysler’s lawyers were faster
still, objecting that they had already registered Dart as the name for a
full-sized Dodge so Daimler needed a new name and quickly; the big Dodge would
never be confused with the little Daimler but the lawyers insisted.
Using one of his trademark outdoor settings, Norman Parkinson (1913-1990) photographed model Suzanne Kinnear (b 1935) adorning a Daimler SP250, wearing a Kashmoor coat and Otto Lucas beret with jewels by Cartier. The image was published on the cover of Vogue's UK edition in November 1959.
Imagination apparently exhausted, Daimler’s
management reverted to the engineering project name and thus the car became the SP250 which was innocuous enough even for Chrysler's attorneys and it could have been worse.Dodge had
submitted their Dart proposal to Chrysler for approval and while the car found
favor, the name did not and the marketing department was told to conduct
research and come up with something the public would like.From this the marketing types gleaned that “Dodge
Zipp” would be popular and to be fair, dart and zip(p) do imply much the same
thing but ultimately the original was preferred and Darts remained in Dodge’s
lineup until 1976, for most of that time one of the corporation's best-selling
and most profitable lines.The name was
revived between 2012-2016 for an unsuccessful and unlamented compact sedan.
1961 Daimler SP250.
Daimler’s SP250 didn’t enjoy the same longevity, the last
of the 2654 produced in 1964, sales never having approached the projected 3000
per year, most of which were expected to be absorbed by the US market.The catfish styling probably didn’t help, a
hint being the informal poll taken at the 1959 show when the thing was voted “the
ugliest car of the show” but under the skin of the ugly duckling was a virile swan.The heart of the SP250 was a jewel-like 2.5
litre (155 cubic inch) hemi-headed V8 which combined the structure of Cadillac’s
V8 with advanced cylinder heads which owed much to those of the Triumph
Thunderbird motorcycle engine.Indeed, the
designer, Edward Turner (1901–1973), owned a Cadillac and was responsible for
the Triumph heads so the influences weren’t surprising and the little engine
had an interesting gestation.It was
Turner’s first car engine and so tied was he to the principles which had proved
so successful for his motorcycles that the original concept was air-cooled and
fed by eight carburetors.Automotive
reality however prevailed and what emerged was a compact, light (190 KG (419 lb)),
water-cooled V8 with the inevitable twin SU carburetors, the project yielding
also an only slightly bulkier (226 KG (498 lb)) 4.6 litre (278 cubic inch) version
which would be tragically under-utilized by a British motor industry which could
greatly have benefited from a wider deployment of both instead of some engines
which proved pure folly.The Daimler V8s
are notable too for their intoxicating exhaust notes, perhaps not a critical
aspect of engineering but one which adds much to the pleasure of ownership.
Daimler SP250, winner of the 1962 Bathurst 6 Hour Classic (Leo Geoghegan & Ian Geoghegan).
Under-capitalized and lacking the funds needed to revitalize
their dated range, let alone develop new high-volume models, the SP250 was
created on a shoestring budget, the body built in the then still novel
fibreglass, not by deliberate choice but because the tooling and related
production facilities could be fabricated for a fraction of the cost had steel
or aluminum been used.It also lessened
the development time and promised a simpler and cheaper upgrade path in the
future but also brought problems of its own.New to the material, Daimler’s engineers were confronted with many of
the same problems which Chevrolet encountered during the early days of the
Corvette, issues which even with the vast resources of General Motors, proved
troublesome.Other than the fibreglass
body, the SP250 was technologically conventional, using a chassis little
different from that of the Triumph TR3, built in a 14 gauge box section with
central cruciform bracing.The chassis
was designed to be light and that was certainly achieved but at the cost of
structural rigidity, again an issue of the use of fibreglass, the engineers (in
pre-CAD times) under-estimating the stiffness which would be demanded in a
structure without metal panels further to distribute the loadings.
1962 Daimler SP250 prepared for competition in British Racing Green (BRG) with factory hardtop and Minilite wheels.
The lack of sufficient torsional rigidity meant the SP250s
were beset with the same teething problem as the first Corvettes: the
fibreglass panels could become crazed or even crack and, most disconcertingly,
doors were prone to springing open during brisk cornering and the bonnet (hood)
sometimes popped open as the body flexed at high speed.The SP250 was a genuinely fast car so these
were not minor issues.Still, there was
much to commend the SP250.Wind-up
windows and the availability of an automatic transmission sound hardly
ground-breaking but they were an innovation unknown on the MG, Triumph and
Austin-Healy roadsters of the time and the V8 was unique.The suspension was conventional but
competent, an independent front end with upper and lower arms, coil springs,
and telescopic shock absorbers while the rear used semi-elliptic leaf springs
with lever arm shock absorbers. The unassisted
cam and peg system steering lacked the precision the Italians achieved even
without using a rack and pinion system but, aided by a larger than usual
steering wheel, it offered a reasonable compromise for the time although at low
speed it was far from effortless.More
commendable were the brakes.The
four-wheel discs had no power assistance but the SP250 was a light car and the
servo systems of the time, lacking feel and impeding the progressiveness
inherent in the design of the early discs, meant unassisted systems were
preferable for sports cars although, efficient and fade-free though they were,
an emergency stop from speed did demand high pedal effort. One curiosity in the configuration was the bumper bars. Considering the issue bumpers would become in the 1970s, that they were once optional is an indication of how different the regulatory environment was at the time. The A spec SP250s had no bumpers as standard equipment but were fitted at the front with what are sometimes mistakenly called nerf-bars but are actually “bumperettes” although the English seem to like “whiskers”. At the rear were over-riders attached to nerf-bars. The B spec models didn’t include these but, like the A spec, the full bumpers were an optional extra and this setup was continued for the C spec. The SP250s used by the British Metropolitan Police as high speed pursuit cars always had the optional bumpers because of the need to mount the warning bell and auxiliary spotlight.
1960 Daimler SP250 (automatic) in UK police pursuit specification.
So, developed to the extent possible with the resources
available, production began in 1959, shortly before the Birmingham Small Arms
Company (BSA) announced the sale of Daimler to Jaguar.Jaguar, attracted by Daimler’s extensive manufacturing
facilities and its skilled workforce regarded most of the Daimler range as
antiquated but allowed some production to continue although their engineers
decided the chassis of the SP250 needed significant modifications to improve
rigidity.The strengthening was
undertaken and the revised cars became known as the “B” models, the original
1959-1960 versions retrospectively labeled as A-Spec.The changes were actually not extensive, a steel
box section hoop added to connect the windscreen pillars, two steel outrigger
sill beams along each side of the chassis, complimented with a couple of strategically
placed braces.The stiffer structure
solved the problems and improved the driving experience, the B-spec cars
produced between 1960-1963. A subsequent
upgrade, dubbed C-spec included some features such as a cigar lighter and a
heater/demister and in this form, the cars remained in production until 1964.
Daimler SP252 prototype (1964)
Unfortunately, Jaguar was never enthusiastic about
Daimler except as a badge which could be used on up-market Jaguars sold at a
nice profit.However, whatever the
opinions of the catfish styling, the SP250 had proved itself in motorsport and, capable of a then impressive 122 mph (196 km/h), had been used as a high-speed pursuit vehicle by a number of police forces,
interestingly usually with an automatic transmission, the choice made in the
interest of reduced maintenance, a conclusion rental car companies would soon
reach.For that reason, the potential
was clear and Jaguar explored a way to extend the appeal with a restyled
body.The result was the SP252, rendered
still in fibreglass but now more elegantly done, hints of both the MGB and
Jaguar E-Type (XK-E) while the rear owed some debt to Aston Martin’s DB4.Aesthetically accomplished though it was, economic
reality prevailed.The factory was tooled-up to produce no more than 140 of the V8 engines each week, demand for which
was already exceeding supply since it had been offered in the Jaguar Mk2-based
Daimler 2.5 (later 250) saloon and Jaguar lacked the production capacity even to make enough E-types to meet demand.Given
that and the engineering resources it required to devote to the new V12
engine and the XJ6 saloon for which it was intended, another relatively
low-volume project couldn’t be justified.
Produced between 1955-1975, the Citroën DS, although long
regarded as something quintessentially French was actually designed by an
Italian.It was offered as the
DS and the lower priced, mechanically simpler ID, the names apparently an
deliberate play on words, DS in French pronounced déesse (goddess) and ID idée
(idea).The goddess nickname caught on
though idea never did; a curiously configured version built exclusively for the
UK market was called the DW which appears to have meant nothing in
particular.The frontal aspect, combined
with the efficiency of the rest of the body, delivered outstandingly good
aerodynamics but the catfish look was tempered a little because the low, gaping
grill associated with the motif wasn’t adopted, reputedly because the ancient
engine, a long-stroke and agricultural relic of the 1930s, produced so little
power there wasn’t enough surplus energy to induce overheating, the need for a
cooling flow of air correspondingly low.That’s wholly apocryphal but later progress in design anyway softened
the catfish effect.It was most obvious
on the series 1 cars (top) which were made between 1955-1962.The Series 2 changes (1964-1967; centre) were
effected further to improve aerodynamics and permitted also some increase to
the airflow ducted for interior ventilation; the changes in appearance were
said to be incidental to the process. The catfish look vanished entirely when the series 3 cars (bottom) were introduced
in 1967.
Now with four headlamps mounted behind glass canopies,
the shape of which was integrated into the front fenders (top left), the
arrangement was noted for the novelty of the inner set of lens being controlled
by the steering (top right), the light thus being projected “around the corner”
in the direction of travel, swiveling by up to 80°.It was a simple, purely mechanical connection
and the idea had during the 1930s used with auxiliary driving or fog-lights and
the central (Cyclops) unit on the abortive Tucker Torpedo (1948) had been
configured the same way but the DS was the first car to use adaptive headlights
in volume.Both the covers and the
turning mechanism fell afoul of US regulations (lower left) so there the lens
were fixed and exposed.Another
variation was in Scandinavian markets were miniature wipers were fitted.
1958 Packard Hawk
Fittingly perhaps, the gaping-mouth of the catfish style
was applied to what proved one of the last gasps for Packard, a storied marque with
roots in the nineteenth century which in the inter-war years had been one of
the most prestigious in the US and it had been the sound of the V12 Packards
which inspired Enzo Ferrari (1989-1988) to produce his own. After spending World War II engaged in military production, notably a version of the Merlin V12 aero-engine built under license from Rolls-Royce, Packard emerged in 1945 in
sound financial state but found the new world challenging, eventually in 1953 merging
with fellow struggling independent, Studebaker.Beset with internal conflicts from the start,
things went from bad to worse and after dismal sales in 1958-1959 of the final
Packards (which were really modified Studebakers and derided by many as
"Packardbakers"), the Packard brand was retired with the coming of 1959. The Studebaker-Packard Corporation in 1962 reverted to again become Studebaker but it was to no avail, the last Studebaker being produced in 1967.
1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk. Whatever the criticism of the catfish-like Packard, the car on which it was based was perhaps even more ungainly.
The origins of Packard’s swansong, the Hawk, lay in a 1957
Studebaker Golden Hawk 400 which was customized in-house for executive
use. The front end and bonnet (hood)
were rendered in fiberglass, eliminating the familiar upright grille and small
side inlets which were replaced with the low, wide air intake so characteristic
of the catfish look. Covering all bases, for those unconvinced by the catfish look, a pair of modest dagmars were added. Because the engine
was supercharged, like the Studebaker, the hood included a bulge but because
of the lower lines, it rose higher on the Packard. Lacking the funds to create anything better,
the Hawk was approved for production as a standard 1958 model but it was from
the start doomed. It was expensive and its
debut coincided with the recession of that year when all auto-makers suffered
downturns but, with the rumors swirling of Studebaker-Packard's impending demise,
Packard suffered more than most and only 588 Hawks were built.
1958 Packard
Packard’s rather plaintive swansong was another set of cobbled-together
Packardbakers, available as a two-door hardtop and a four-door sedan or wagon.In 1958, fins were a thing at the rear but
what really exited the stylists was that quad headlamps were now permitted in
all 48 states.Unlike the majors
however, the corporation had no funds to re-tool body dies to accommodate
the change so hurriedly, fibreglass pods were created which when fitted, looked
as tacked-on as they really were.Also
tacked on were the new fins which sat atop the old although these were at
least genuine steel rather than fibreglass.
1958 Chrysler Royal (AP2) and 1960 Chrysler Royal (AP3) (Australian)
They were also definitely always standard equipment on all the
Packards, unlike the 1958 Australian Chrysler Royal (AP2) which featured
similar appendages grafted to pre-existing fins, Chrysler listing them as an optional extra called "saddle fins".However, no Royal apparently was sold without saddle fins attached so either (1) they were very popular option or (2) Chrysler
changed their mind after the promotional material was printed and decided to
invent mandatory options, a marketing trick Detroit would soon widely (and profitably) adopt.In 1960, the Australians also solved the
problem of needing to add quad headlamps without either a re-tool or plastic
pods, changing instead the grill and mounting the lights in a vertical stack,
an expedient Mercedes-Benz had recently used to ensure their new W111 (Heckflosse) sedans satisfied
US legislation.