Orchidaceous

Orchidaceous (pronounced awr-ki-dey-shuhs)

(1) In botany, of, relating to, or belonging to the Orchidaceae, a family of flowering plants including (but not limited to) the orchids.

(2) Figuratively, characterized by ostentatiousness; showy; extravagant; excessive in some way.

1830–1840: From the New Latin Orchidace & Orchidaceae, the construct being orchidace + -ous.  It was English botanist John Lindley (1799–1865) who in School Botanty (1845) coined the word orchid from the New Latin Orchideæ & Orchidaceae (Linnaeus), the plant's family name, from the Latin orchis (a kind of orchid), from the Ancient Greek orkhis (genitive orkheos) (orchid (literally “testicle”)) from the primitive Indo-European orghi-, the standard root for “testicle” (and related to the Avestan erezi (testicles), the Armenian orjik, the Middle Irish uirgge, the Irish uirge (testicle) and the Lithuanian erzilas (stallion).  The plant so called because of the shape of its root was said so to resemble testicles (the Greek orkhis also was the name of a kind of olive, named also for its shape).  So striking did the writers of Antiquity fine the double roots of the plant that references appear in some texts.  The Roman historian Pliny the Elder (24-79) was (as was common at the time) also something of a naturalist and he was moved to observe: “Mirabilis est orchis herba sive serapis gemina radice testiculis simili.” (The orchis plant, also known as serapis, is remarkable with its twin roots resembling testicles.)  The noun plural is orchids, the field is orchidology and the breeders, collectors and other obsessives are called orchidologists.  Orchidaceous & orchidean are adjectives and orchidacity is a noun; the noun plural is orchidacities.

Earlier in English (in the Latinesque form) was the mid-sixteenth century orchis while in fourteenth century Middle English it was ballockwort (literally “testicle plant” and related to the more recent ballocks).  The extraneous -d- in the modern spelling was added in an attempt to extract the Latin stem and it is here to stay, the history of that the construct as orch(is) (the plant) + -id(ae).  The irregular suffix –idae is the plural of a Latin transliteration of the Ancient Greek -ίδης (-ídēs), a patronymic suffix which in medieval writing was sometimes interpreted as representing instead the plural of a Latin transliteration of the Ancient Greek adjectival suffix -ειδής (-eidḗs) from εἶδος (eîdos) (appearance, resemblance).  It was adopted in 1811 at the suggestion of British entomologist William Kirby (1759-1850), to simplify and make uniform the system of French zoologist Pierre André Latreille (1762–1833) which divided insect orders into sections; in taxonomy, it’s used to form names of subclasses of plants and families of animals.  The –ous suffix was from the Middle English -ous, from the Old French –ous & -eux, from the Latin -ōsus (full, full of); a doublet of -ose in an unstressed position.  It was used to form adjectives from nouns, to denote possession or presence of a quality in any degree, commonly in abundance.  In chemistry, it has a specific technical application, used in the nomenclature to name chemical compounds in which a specified chemical element has a lower oxidation number than in the equivalent compound whose name ends in the suffix –ic (as an example, sulphuric acid (H₂SO₄) has more oxygen atoms per molecule than sulphurous acid (H₂SO₃).

The sensual orchid.

In the spirit of the figurative use (and usually of women’s fashion), although they’re non-standard, the adjective orchidaceousness and the adverb orchidaceously have been formed and in that vein, the only thing which would make orchidaceous difficult to use as a noun would be forming the plural (orchidaceoux would appall the purists).  Usually though, those commenting on what appears on the catwalks & red carpets seem content with the comparative (more orchidaceous) and the superlative (most orchidaceous).  Henry Fowler (1858–1933) in his A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) noted the old spelling (orchis) was “applied chiefly to the English wild flowers and is accordingly the poetic and country word”.  The very idea of “the country word” is now dated and was a particular sort of regionalism: one used by those tied by linguistic tradition to rural England rather than certain locations, and if orchis endures as a literary or poetic device, it’s rare.  Of flowers, although orchidaceous can mean “of, relating to, or belonging to the Orchidaceae”, such is the beauty of orchids, those who write of the things seem drawn to use sexual imagery and rarely can resist “seductive” and other lovely plants are sometimes also described as orchidaceous.

The original etymology survives in medicine as orchidectomy although the construct of that was the Latin orchis (wrongly interpreting orchid- as the stem) +‎ -ectomy (the surgical removal of); the correct term is actually orchiectomy (the surgical removal of one or both testes).  The synonym is testectomy which is interesting because the use of that within the profession (usually by veterinarians) does not of necessity imply something surgical.  The -ectomy suffix was from the Ancient Greek -εκτομία (-ektomía) (a cutting out of), from ἐκτέμνω (ektémnō) (to cut out), the construct being ἐκ (ek) (out) + τέμνω (témnō) (to cut).  In surgery, it was appended to the name of whatever is being removed (eg an appendectomy being the surgical removal of the appendix) although it's borrowed (often for jocular purposes) by plumbers, carpenters and others in professions where there often a need to "cut things off", a "roofectomy" being the process by which a coach-builder converts a coupé (or other closed vehicle) into some sort of convertible.

Lindsay Lohan in a Gucci Porcelain Garden print gown (the list price a reputed £4,040) at the launch of the One Family NGO (non-governmental organization), Savoy Hotel, London, June 2017 (left) and Taylor Swift in Etro navy and yellow silk floral ball gown at the Golden Globes award ceremony, The Beverly Hilton, Los Angeles, January 2020 (right).

Neither cutting-edge nor retro in the conventional sense of the word, Lindsay Lohan’s gown was mostly well-received and for students of intricacy it was worth studying although probably few would have called it orchidaceous because it conveyed such a sense of the conservative; only a burqa could have been more modest.  That’s why the blue was such a good choice; in scarlet there would have been mixed messages.  Some thought it Rococo and perhaps thematically it could have been done with just a ruffled collar, the pussy bow a detail too many, but the patterning was clever and accentuated the lines.  While it’s not certain the vivid floral patterns on Taylor Swift’s gown were actually intended to be suggestive of orchids, the effect was orchidaceous.  It was an exercise in monumentalism which swished around as wafted about, recalling the flowers of an orchid in a breeze.

Orchidacity in Solod colors: Gigi Hadid and the Met Gala, New York, May 2022 (left), Sophie Monk at the TV Week Logie Awards-Gold Coast, June 2019 (centre) and Carolina Gaitan at the Academy Awards ceremony, Los Angeles, March 2022 (right).

Although dedicated (ie obsessional) orchidologists adhere to the language from botanical taxonomy (Epidendrum, Ludisia, Masdevallia, Erythraeum, Promenaea, Spathoglottis, Psychopsis, Angraecum, Encyclia cochleata et al) when classifying their collections, most people describe them in terms of the dominant color or, when a combination is particular striking (as many of the blues & purples especially are) that mix is referenced (orange/yellow, purple/white et al) but that doesn’t mean that for some object to be thought orchidaceous it must be multi-hued.  That’s because the allure of an orchid lies not in the colors but in the sensuality of the shape; they are the sexiest of flowers, soft, feminine things which seem to draw one in to be enveloped.

Giulia Salemie (b 1993, left) & Dayane Mello (b 1989, right), Venice Film Festival, Italy, September 2016.

The trend in recent years for the “naked dress” to become the red carpet motif of the era might have been thought to limit the possibility of the creations being thought orchidaceous because the focus is so much on flesh rather than fabric, of which there’s often precious little.  However, on a fortuitously warm and not too windy September day during the Venice Film Festival, two Italian models proved the naked look could be combined with voluminous folds; it was all in the cut.  For the reasons discussed, the dresses could not be called anything but orchidaceous although the internet had already suggested VVD (visible vag(ina) dress)) which in general was wrong because it correctly the hint was of a visible vulva and on that day in Venice, the models actually wore (that may not be the right word) color-coordinated (ie the same fabric as the dresses) adhesive micro-knickers, held in place with a skin-friendly surgical glue.  In a nice touch, their appearance came during the festival’s premiere of The Young Pope (the first time a television production had been included in the program).

Rococo

Rococo (pronounced ruh-koh-koh or roh-kuh-koh)

(1) A style of architecture and decoration, originating in France about 1720, evolved from Baroque types and distinguished by using different materials for a delicate overall effect and by its ornament of shell-work, foliage etc.

(2) A homophonic musical style of the mid-eighteenth century, marked by a generally superficial elegance and charm and by the use of elaborate ornamentation and stereotyped devices.

(3) In fine art (with initial capital letters) noting or pertaining to a style of painting developed simultaneously with the rococo in architecture and decoration, characterized chiefly by smallness of scale, delicacy of color, freedom of brushwork, and the selection of playful subjects as thematic material.

(4) In sculpture, a corresponding style, chiefly characterized by diminutiveness of Baroque forms and playfulness of theme.

(5) Of or pertaining to, in the manner of, or suggested by rococo architecture, decoration, or music or the general atmosphere and spirit of the rococo.

(6) Ornate or florid in speech, literary style etc.

(7) In the abstract (almost always derogatory), relating to old traditions, which may be seen as foolishly outdated; archaic, old-fashioned, obsolete or backwards.

1797: From the French rococo, a blended word from rocaille (an eighteenth century artistic or architectural style of decoration characterized by elaborate ornamentation with pebbles and shells, typical of grottos and fountains from the Vulgar Latin rocca stone) and barroco, pejoratively to denote a "rock" style which fell from fashion; coined by French Neoclassical painter Pierre-Maurice Quays (1777-1803), a pupil of Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825).  David and Quays, devotees of an austere neoclassical ascetic, were influential in nudging high-culture taste in the dying days of the Ancien Régime back from the frivolity of what they came to describe as the rococo.  Their efforts had little impact on the middle-class fondness for decoration and intricate ornamentation.  The adjective appears to have come into use in English in 1836, a direct borrowing from the French and was being used as a noun by 1840 and the general sense of "tastelessly florid or ornate" is from 1844, extended by abstract to just about anything by the 1860s.

Rococo has long been used as a word of disparagement.  It is a critique of stuff excessively ornate or fussy, things which rely on layers of ornamentation to conceal a poverty of elegance in the basic design.  It’s much associated with pretentiousness but that said, there’s often much to admire in the craftsmanship needed to product work of such intricacy and while the taste might be questionable, in painting, engraving, porcelain, stone-masonry etc, there can be a quaint, decorative charm.

Rococo inside and out.

Rococo fashion: Lindsay Lohan in a Gucci Porcelain Garden print gown (the list price a reputed £4,040) at the launch of the One Family NGO (non-governmental organization), Savoy Hotel, London, June 2017.  Although neither cutting-edge nor retro in the conventional sense of the word, the gown generally was well-received.  Some thought it Rococo and perhaps thematically it could have been done with just a ruffled collar, the pussy bow a detail too many, but the patterning was clever and accentuated the lines.  It was one of those designs where a color change would have been transformative, a rendering in scarlet probably would have been less aesthetically pleasing but would have been eye-catching; the blue was a good choice.

Garland

Garland (pronounced gahr-luhnd)

(1) A wreath or festoon of flowers, leaves, or other material, worn for ornament or as an honor or hung on something as a decoration; an accolade or mark of honor.

(2) To crown, adorn or deck with such an object.

(3) A representation of such a wreath or festoon.

(4) In publishing, a collection of short literary pieces, as poems and ballads; a literary miscellany.

(5) In nautical use, a band, collar, or grommet or ring of rope lashed to a spar for convenience in handling.

(6) In admiralty jargon, a netted bag used by sailors to store provisions.

(7) In mining, a metal gutter installed around the inside of a mineshaft, to catch water running down inside the shaft and funnel it into a drainpipe.

1275–1325: From the Middle English gerlande, gerelande, garlande & garland (used to mean both "wreath of flowers" & "crown of gold or silver), from the Old French garlande, garlaunde, gerlande & guerlande (from which Modern French gained guirlande) from the Frankish wierlōn & wieralōn, a frequentative form of the Frankish wierōn (to adorn, bedeck), from wiera (a gold thread), akin to the Old High German wieren (to adorn) & wiara (gold thread).  The Frankish forms alluded to the notion of "an ornament of refined gold" (most likely "of twisted gold wire"), from the Proto-Germanic wira- & wera-, a suffixed form of the primitive Indo-European root wei- (to turn, twist).  Variations of garland exist in many Romanic languages including the Old Spanish guarlanda, the French guirlande, the Italian ghirlanda and the Portuguese grinalda.  The verb in the sense of "to make a garland" or "to crown with a garland" emerged in the late sixteenth century.  Garland & garlanding are nouns & verbs, garlanded is a verb & adjective, garlander is a noun and garlandless is an adjective; the noun plural is garlands.

Commitment issues: Hamlet and Ophelia by Agnes Pringle (1853-1934)

Flowers appealed to William Shakespeare (1564–1616) as a literary device because their myriad of attributes, color, shape, fragrance, thorns, fragility et al, offered so many metaphors for the human condition.  In the plays, over two-hundred species of plants are mentioned and thirty-odd scenes are set in gardens or orchids.  In Hamlet (Act IV, scene 5), there’s a harvest in Ophelia’s garland speech to her brother Laertes:

There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember.  And there is pansies, that's for thoughts.  There's fennel for you, and columbines. There's rue for you, and here's some for me; we may call it herb of grace o' Sundays.  O, you must wear your rue with a difference.  There's a daisy.  I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died. (Act IV, scene 5)

There were fantastic garlands did she come. Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies and long purples, that liberal shepherds give a grosser name, but our cold maids do dead men’s fingers call them. (Act IV, Scene 7)

There were fantastic garlands did she come, Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies and long purples. (Act IV, Scene 7)

Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus or Rosmarinus officinalis (pre 2017)

Since Antiquity, rosemary has been associated with remembrance, Athenian students at study wore garlands of rosemary as a memory improvement tool.  The name is derived from the Latin rosmarinus (dew of the sea), a reference to its blue petals and habitat atop Mediterranean cliffs.  In Shakespeare's day, rosemary was in both the wedding bouquets carried by bridesmaids and the wreaths laid at funeral wreaths.  A contemporary poet, Robert Herrick (1591-1674) , wrote in a verse “Grow it for two ends, it matters not at all, Be it for my bridall or buriall."  In English folklore, a man who couldn't smell the fragrant shrub was thought incapable of loving a woman though in the same tradition, if rosemary was planted in front of a cottage, it was held to mean the woman was the head of the household.  That was one folk belief said to have caused the up-rooting of not a few plants.  Helpfully, it was said also to repel plague and witches while sleeping with a sprig beneath the pillow prevented nightmares.  But for Ophelia, distraught at her father's death and Hamlet's odd behavior, the mention of rosemary indicates to her brother and the Elizabethan audience her brittle feelings and lack of confidence: "Pray you, love, remember."

Daisy (Bellis perennis, bruisewort or woundwort)

The Daisy’s botanical name is friom the Latin bellis (pretty), the English from the Anglo Saxon daeges eage (day’s eye); poetically, that was because the petals open during the day and close at night.  Long associated with childhood and innocence, in Scotland and the north of England it’s known also as Bairnwort (bairn a dialectical word for child).  In Roman mythology, the daisy was the virginal nymph Belides who transformed herself into the flower to escape the sexual advances of the orchard god Vertumnus.  The flower was symbolic of the Greco-Roman goddesses Aphrodite and Venus as well as Freya, the Norse goddess of beauty and love for whom Friday is named. The legend is that daisies picked between noon and one can be dried and carried as a good luck charm and in English fields, to this day some children still make daisy chains although those who do grow up to become emos.  Unlike the other plants in Ophelia's garland, the daisy seems to possess only good connotations but Shakespeare has Ophelia announce the daisy but not hand it out, the implication being there’s no innocence or purity at court.

Pansy (Viola × wittrockiana)

The word pansy is from the French pensée (for thoughts), the botanical name tricolor a referece to the three main shades, white, purple and yellow, the heart shaped petals thought to help heal a broken heart, so it was known also as heartease.  Pansies, as Ophelia notes, are for thoughts and it was also used medicinally, a curative for cramps, hysteria and diarrhea in children.  In A Midsummer Night's Dream, the fairy King Oberon mixes a potion with the flower's juice: if dropped on the eyelids of a sleeper, it was said they would awake to fall in love with whatever they first see, hence the unfortunate Titania, Oberon's wife, falling in love with a donkey.

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)

Apparently, fennel is among the vegetables children most dislike.  Pre-dating Shakespeare, Fennel was long regarded as an emblem of false flattery, noted famously in Robert Greene’s (1558-1592) Quip for an Upstart Courtier (1592), the link apparently being the seeds popularity as an appetite suppressant to aid fasting pilgrims, thus becoming symbolic of things that appear to give sustenance but have none.  Empty flattery to hunger.  Shakespeare used fennel often, Falstaff mentioning it in Henry IV, Part 2 and for Ophelia, it’s an allusion to her sterile love affair with Hamlet.

Columbine (Aquilegia or granny's bonnet)

The Columbine, known also as granny’s bonnet, was a wild flower but its beauty made it a popular Elizabethan garden flower, the botanical name from the Latin aquila (eagle) because the petals were thought to resemble an eagle’s talons.  In a more gentle avian vein, the English is derived from the Latin columba (dove), a reference to its nectaries being vaguely reminiscent of the heads of doves.  To Shakespeare, the columbine had a number of symbolic associations.  The poet George Chapman (1559-1634) suggested it was emblematic of ingratitude and William Browne (1590–1645) declared it stood only for forsaken and neglected love for in England it also symbolized cuckoldom as the nectaries did look like horns.  More helpfully, as the "thankless flower", the seeds, if taken with wine, were said to induce labor.

Rue (Ruta graveolens or herb-of-grace)

By Shakespeare’s time, rue had been for centuries a symbol of sorrow and repentance and it’s a long, fabled history. Rue was the plant that King Mithridates VI of Pontus (135-16 BC) imbibed to protect himself against poisoning and the Greek physician Hippocrates (circa 460-circa 370 BC) recommended it to relieve rheumatic pains, heart palpitations and menopausal symptoms.  The herb's name is derived from the Greek ruta (repentance) and the Athenians used it while dining with foreigners to ward off evil demons, spells and spirits whereas in Ancient Rome it was said to improve eyesight.  Its other names, Herb o' Grace or Herb o' Sundays, refers to the sorrow and resulting grace one feels after true repentance and the suit of clubs in a deck of cards was modeled after rue's fleshy, oblong leaves.  It remains a call to regret and repent past evil deeds; due to its strong aromatic smell and bitter taste, the plant has long been symbolic of sorrow, regret and repentance, hence the expression “you’ll rue the day”.  In Elizabethan England (1558-1603), it was carried around as protection against plague and witchcraft and even as an insect repellent. When Ophelia hands it to Queen Gertrude in Hamlet, it is a subtle rebuke of her faithlessness.  In moderation, rue was used to hasten labor but in larger doses, was known to be an abortifacient, hence the speculation that when Ophelia utters the lines "there's rue for you, and here's some for me", it’s a confession of unwanted pregnancy and another reason for ending her life.

Violet (Viola)

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) in his essay Of Gardens (1625) wrote the violet was “that which above all others yields the sweetest smell” and they’ve always been prized too for their beauty.  Despite this, there’s the association with melancholy and early death, expressed in Hamlet when Ophelia laments she has no Violets to give to the court because “they withered when my father died” and it’s Laertes’ wish that violets “may spring” from Ophelia’s grave.  There’s a duality of meaning in Ophelia’s statement; she’s lamenting not only the death of her father the lack of faithfulness and fidelity in the court.

Lindsay Lohan in sheer black gown with embroidered garlands, Francesco Scognamiglio's (b 1975) spring 2015 collection, Naples, June 2015.

Tie

Tie (pronounced tahy)

(1) A knot; a fastening.

(2) A knot of hair (as at the back of a wig).  (a tiewig is (1) a wig having a tie or ties, or one having some of the curls tied up or (2) a wig that is tied upon the head; a court-wig tied with ribbon at the back).

(3) A long narrow piece of material worn, most often by men, under the collar of a shirt, tied in a knot close to the throat with the ends hanging down the front.  Also called necktie (a bow tie is never truncated to tie).

(4) A lace-up she or boot, historically as Oxford ties, Derby ties etc (now a rare use).

(5) As “twist tie”, a piece of wire embedded in paper or a strip of plastic, wound around something (typically a bag, cable etc) and tightened to secure it.

(6) A connection between people (or groups of people) or between people and institutions, ideologies etc, especially a strong connection (familiar in the phrases “ties of friends”, “ties of allegiance”, “ties that bind” etc).

(7) In construction, any of various structural members (beams, rods, stringers etc) used to keep two objects (rafters; haunches of an arch etc), from spreading or separating.

(8) In rail track construction, any of a number of closely spaced transverse beams of concrete, metal or (historically and still mostly) wood, for holding the rails forming a track at the proper distance from each other and for transmitting train loads to the ballast and roadbed (in other places known as a “sleeper”).

(9) In sport and related competitions, the situation in which two or more participants in a competition are placed equally (known variously as a “draw” or stalemate”.  The exception is long-form cricket (test & first class) where a tie (both sides having the same total of runs when the last ball has been delivered) is distinct form a draw (neither side able to force a win).

(10) In sport and related competitions, a meeting between two players or teams in a competition (mostly UK & Commonwealth use).

(11) In music, a curved line connecting two notes of the same pitch denoting that they should be played as a single note with the combined length of both notes (distinct from a slur).

(12) In typography & phonetic transcription, a curved line connecting two letters (⁀), used in the IPA to denote a co-articulation, as for example /d͡ʒ/.

(13) In statistics, one or more equal values or sets of equal values in the data set.

(14) In surveying, a bearing and distance between a lot corner or point and a benchmark or iron off site; a measurement made to determine the position of a survey station with respect to a reference mark or other isolated point.

(15) In graph theory, a connection between two vertices.

(16) To bind, fasten, or attach with a cord, string, or the like, drawn together and knotted.

(17) To draw together the parts of with a knotted string or the like.

(18) To fasten, join, or connect in any way.

(19) To confine, restrict, or limit.

(20) To bind or oblige, as to do something.

Pre 900: From the Middle English teye, tiegh & tegh (cord, rope; chain) from the Old English tēag, tēah, tēagh and tēgh (cord; chain), from the Proto-West Germanic taugu, from the Proto-Germanic taugō, from the Old Norse taug (rope) & tygill, from the primitive Indo-European dewk- and ultimately from the from the prehistoric deuk (to pull, to lead).  It was cognate with the Danish tov.  The Middle English tien and the Old English tīgan (to tie) were both derivative of the noun and related to the Old Norse teygja (to draw, stretch out) and the Old English tēon (to pull).  Tie is a noun & verb, tying is a noun & verb, tied is a verb & adjective; the noun plural is ties.

The figurative sense dates from the 1550s and the adoption in the US to describe railway sleepers is from 1857.  The meaning "equality between competitors" was first noticed in the 1670s although the meaning “to finish equal to a competitor” seems not to have been formalized until the late 1880s.  The tie-breaker (a mechanism used to force a tied match to a win) was first mentioned in 1938 and is most familiar from tennis when it was first widely used in the early 1960s.  In mist forms of sport, the “tie” is interchangeable with “draw “ except in the four-innings cricket in which, apparently uniquely, four results are possible, win, lose, draw and the (rare) tie.  The sense of a “cravat’; necktie” (usually a simple one knotted in front) dates from 1761.  The idea of the bow tie (a necktie tied in the form of a bow or a knot with two loops) was familiar by 1887 although the earlier use in the sense “a ribbon or other fabric tied in a bow-knot) was in use in 1874.

In idiomatic use, to “tie the knot” means “to form a union” (usually marriage) dates from 1707.  To “Tie one on” (get drunk) was first recorded in 1944)" is recorded from 1944.  The phrase “old school tie” has been in use since 1938 and refers literally to the neckties worn by former students of a certain English public (private) schools and is used as an allusion to the way the class system is maintained.  The “tie-in” (a specific connection) was first documented in 1934 and was said to be from a verbal phrase noted since 1793.  The verb “hog-tie” was literally the most efficient way of securing a body (by binding the hands and feet by crossing and tying them) and was first documented (it’s unclear how long the technique had been in use) in 1887.  The verb tie-dye is associated with hippies and their spiritual descendants but the technique was first patented in 1902.  In telecommunications, a "tie-line" is a dedicated line between two extensions.  The origin was in the physical wire which once ran point-to-point ("tying" the two together), the classic example the cables run by the military in the trenches of World War I (1914-1918).  The term is still used to refer to dedicated private services but most are now part of distributed networks and implemented with a combination of physical switching and software.

The RSVP - What to wear

White Tie Dress Code.

White tie, also called full evening dress or a dress suit, is now the most formal evening dress code in western culture.  For men, it consists of a black tailcoat worn over a white starched shirt, Marcella waistcoat and a white bow tie worn around a detachable collar.  High-waisted black trousers and patent leather pumps complete the ensemble; decorations need not be worn unless specified, top hats and canes the only permitted accessories.   White scarves were once frequently seen but seem now frowned upon.  For women, it’s a full-length gown.  Optional is jewelry, a tiara, a small bag and evening gloves though with accessories, fashion critics urge restraint.

Although now the most elaborate western dress code, white tie is derived from the eighteenth century movement towards a less elaborate aesthetic of style and by the 1840s was de rigueur for the small fragment of the population who moved “in society circles”.  The two great events of the twentieth century, the world wars, rent social fissures which rendered white tie extinct for all but a handful of ceremonial and state occasions such as balls at some of the old universities and royal households.  The white tie belongs mostly to the lost, pre-1914 world although still required for the annual Nobel Prize ceremony.

Black Tie Dress Code.

Transcending class distinctions, black tie is a dress code for evening events and social functions.  It emerged and evolved during the late nineteenth century, was essentially codified by the 1920s and, for men, little changed since.  For men, the elements are a white dress shirt with black bow tie, an evening waistcoat or cummerbund, a dinner jacket in black or midnight blue and polished black shoes.  This setup is known in the US as a tuxedo and in France as cravate noire.  Black tie permits variations, lighter colored jackets, dating from hot climates of the Raj, are now not unusual but variations need still to be on the theme.

By contrast with the essentially static men’s code, women's dress for black tie has been subject to trends, both in fashion and social mores.  Traditionally it was evening shoes and ankle or lower-calf length (depending on the hour) sleeveless evening gown, often set-off by a wrap or stole and, almost inevitability, gloves.  In the twenty-first century, women are essentially free to construct whatever seems to suit the occasion, a gown, a cocktail dress, a LBD (little black dress), even trousers and boots; black tie for women is now post-modern and thus more concept than code.

Black tie invitation: Lindsay Lohan interprets.

Anorexia

Anorexia (pronounced an-uh-rek-see-uh)

(1) In clinical medicine, loss of appetite and inability to eat.

(2) In psychiatry, as anorexia nervosa, a defined eating disorder characterized by fear of becoming fat and refusal of food, leading to debility and even death.

(3) A widely-used (though clinically incorrect) short name for anorexia nervosa.

1590–1600: From the New Latin, from the Ancient Greek ἀνορεξία (anorexía), the construct being ἀν (an) (without) + ὄρεξις (órexis) (appetite; desire).  In both the Greek and Latin, it translated literally as "a nervous loss of appetite".  Órexis (appetite, desire) is from oregein (to desire, stretch out) and was cognate with the Latin regere (to keep straight, guide, rule).  Although adopted as a metaphorical device to describe even inanimate objects, anorexia is most often (wrongly) used as verbal shorthand for the clinical condition anorexia nervosa.  The former is the relatively rare condition in which appetite is lost for no apparent reason; the latter the more common eating disorder related to most cases to body image.  Interestingly, within the English-speaking world, there are no variant pronunciations.

Anorexia Nervosa and the DSM

The pro-ana community has created its own sub-set of standard photographic angles, rather as used car sites typically feature certain images such as the interior, the odometer, the engine etc.  Among the most popular images posted on "thinspiration" pages are those which show bone definition through skin and, reflecting the superior contrast possible, there's a tendency use grayscale, usually converted from color originals.  The favored body parts include the spine, hip bones, clavicles (collar bones) and the shoulder blades.     

Although documented since antiquity, the condition in its modern form wasn't noted in western medical literature until an 1873 paper presented to the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) called “Anorexia Hysterica”, a description of a loss of appetite without an apparent gastric cause.  That same year, a similar condition was mentioned in a French publication, also called “l’anorexie hystérique”, and described food refusal combined with hyperactivity.  Although the author of the earlier work had within a year changed the descriptor to “Anorexia Nervosa”, the implication in all these papers was of an affliction exclusively female, something very much implied in “l’anorexie hystérique”, hysteria then a mainstream diagnosis and one thought inherently "a condition of women".

A slight Lindsay Lohan demonstrates "an anorexic look" which is something distinct from the clinically defined condition "anorexia nervosa" although there's obviously some overlap.

After its acceptance as a psychogenic disorder in the late nineteenth century, anorexia nervosa (AN) was the first eating disorder placed in the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).  In the first edition (DSM-I (1952)), it was considered a psycho-physiological reaction (a neurotic illness).  In the DSM-II (1968), it was listed with special symptoms & feeding disturbances, which also included pica and rumination.  In DSM-III (1980), eating disorders were classified under disorders of childhood or adolescence, perhaps, at least in part, contributing to the under-diagnosis of later-onset cases.  At that time, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) created two specific categories that formally recognized the diagnosis of eating disorders: AN and binge eating (called bulimia in DSM-III and bulimia nervosa (BN; the obsessive regurgitation of food) in both the revised DSM-III (1987) and DSM-IV (1994).  In the DSM-IV, all other clinically significant eating disorder symptoms were absorbed by the residual categories of eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS) and binge-eating disorder (BED), noting the disorders were the subjects for further research.  Subsequently, When the DSM-IV was revised (2000), eating disorders moved to an independent section.  The DSM-5 (2013) chapter for eating disorders added to the alphabet soup.  In addition to pica, AN, BN and BED, DSM-5 added  avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) and other specified feeding or eating disorder (OSFED), the latter including some other peculiar pathological eating patterns, like atypical AN (where all other criteria for AN are met, but weight is in the normal range).

Carpet

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