Crisp

Crisp (pronounced krisp)

(1) Hard but easily breakable; brittle (applied especially to food).

(2) Firm and fresh; not soft or wilted (applied especially to food).

(3) Brisk; sharp; clear; decided (applied often to the delivery of words).

(4) Lively; pithy; sparkling.

(5) Clean-cut, neat, and well-pressed; well-groomed.

(6) Invigorating; bracing (usually of the air).

(7) Crinkled, wrinkled, or rippled, as skin or hair.

(8) A snack food, made usually from thinly sliced potato (called chips in some markets).

(9) In cooking, a dessert of fruit, as apples or apricots, baked with a crunchy mixture, usually of breadcrumbs, chopped nutmeats, butter, and brown sugar.

(10) In computing theory, not using fuzzy logic; based on a binary distinction between true and false.

(11) In wine criticism, having a refreshing amount of acidity; having less acidity than green wine, but more than a flabby one.

Pre 900: From the Middle English crisp (curly), from the Old English crisp (curly, crimped, wavy" (of hair, wool etc)), from the Latin crispus (curled, uneven, wrinkled; having curly hair); a doublet of crêpe, crispus was from the primitive Indo-European sker- & ker- (to turn, bend) and cognate with crīnis & crista.  The Old French crespir is related but the English forms came via Latin.  Crisp is a noun, verb & adjective, crisply is an adverb, crisper & crispest are adjectives, crisped & crisping are verbs and crispness & crispation ((1) The act or process of curling, or the state of being curled or (2) a slight twitch of a muscle (both archaic)) are nouns.

The sense of "brittle" may have run in parallel with other meanings but wasn’t recorded until the 1520s and didn’t become a commonly used form until the early nineteenth century, the reason for the sixteenth century evolution unknown but presumably based on the characteristics assumed by certain foods when cooked.  The figurative use to describe something (usually someone) having a "neat, brisk, having a fresh appearance" dates from 1814 and the use to speak of air as “chilly or bracing" apparently didn’t appear until 1869, perhaps surprising give the way earlier romantic poets trawled the language for adjectives.  As a noun, crisp was used from the mid-fourteenth century, originally the name of a light, crinkly material formerly used for kerchiefs, veils etc and a few decades later it was applied to a kind of pastry and by the 1820s, it was a common form of speech by cooks (often a jocular euphemism for "burned to a crisp") to describe anything over-cooked.  Potato crisps, although recipes were circulating in the US as early as 1824, first went on sale in 1897, marketed simply as crisps by 1935 although, in the US, crisps began in 1903 to be used in trade names of breakfast cereals.  The verb crisp (to curl, to twist into short, stiff waves or ringlets (of the hair, beard, mane etc)) was a late fourteenth century derivation from either the adjective or else from the Old French crespir or the Latin crispare, both forms from adjectives.  It was use to mean "to become brittle" after 1805.  The adjective crispy dates from the late fourteenth century in the sense of "curly" and from the 1610s it could also mean "brittle".

Crisps, chips and freedom fries

Smith's "limited edition" Lamington chips, 2020.  The market reaction ensured the edition stayed limited.

The English call them crisps which Australians and New Zealanders once also did but the colonies have long instead called them chips.  They’re called chips also in the US and Canada where it makes sense because what the English call chips, they call French fries which, in the antipodes are called chips.  Despite Australians calling both French fries and crisps “chips”, folk seem not confused, life going on as people adjusting as circumstances dictate.  In Australia, as late as 2003, Smiths still called their chips “crisps” but, bowing to the vernacular, they changed and they’re now definitively “chips”.

About the only place where the names of fried potato snacks proved linguistically controversial was the US when, in the run-up to 2003 invasion of Iraq, after finding the French support for the action insufficiently enthusiastic, the chairman of the committee in charge of operations in the Capitol complex ordered the word "French" removed from all menus, French fries becoming freedom fries and French toast, freedom toast.  It was an echo of one of Washington’s earlier linguistic assaults when, upon the entry of the US to the war in 1917 (which was the act which saw it in 1919 named The World War), German measles had been dubbed liberty measles, hamburgers had become liberty steaks and sauerkraut, liberty cabbage.  Then, even German shepherd dogs had been thought subversive and thus re-named Alsatians although there's no record of the Bush White House taking action against French poodles.  From the Quay d'Orsay, the French Foreign Ministry seemed unimpressed, noting they weren’t devoting much attention to potatoes and that French fries were anyway invented in Belgium in the seventeenth century.  In Washington DC, quietly in 2006 the name changes were reversed.

Stocking up on chips: Lindsay Lohan buying Doritos Nacho Cheese chips and other essential groceries, Los Angeles, 2008.  It's not known if her fondness for Doritos (Doritos the singular, plural and collective form, a single chip being "a Doritos chip") was formed or strengthened by them being on the product-placement list for Mean Girls (2004).

Stocking up on crisps: Lindsay Lohan with former special friend, Samantha Ronson, London, 2008.

Technically and legally, Pringles are not potato chips.  In the snack business the Pringle is a curious outlier because although it looks like a potato chip and most consumers probably think of it as one, the word "chip" appears nowhere on the product packaging or the marketing material.  The company used to use the word but, because Pringles are actually dehydrated potato flakes pressed into their distinctive parabolic shape rather than thin slices of potato, other manufacturers objected and the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) agreed, ruling they couldn't be described as "chips".  Procter & Gamble (which then produced Pringles) thought about it and eventually settled on "potato crisp", a label which was continued when in 2012 the brand was sold to the Kellogg Company.  Introduced in 1968, Pringles are popular with many because they are less greasy than the traditional potato chip (or crisp in some markets).  They're produced by combining dehydrated potato flakes with a mix of corn flour, wheat starch & rice flour to which is added a blend of vegetable oils, seasonings, and additives to form a dough which is rolled into thin sheets and cut into the signature shape.  The cut forms are then fried and coated with a layer of seasoning before being packaged in the famous tubular canister.

Pineapple

Pineapple (pronounced pahy-nap-uhl)

(1) The edible, juicy, collective fruit of a tropical, bromeliaceous plant (Ananas comosus), native to South America, consisting of an inflorescence clustered around a fleshy axis and surmounted by a tuft of leaves; the flesh is juicy, sweet and usually yellow.

(2) The plant itself, having a short stem and rigid, spiny-margined, recurved leaves, the flesh housing ovoid in shape.

(3) In military slang, a fragmentation hand grenade (originally applied to those devices with a resemblance to the fruit, later applied more loosely).

(4) In slang, the Australian fifty dollar (Aus$50) note (dated and probably archaic).

(5) A web burrfish (Chilomycterus antillarum (or Chilomycterus geometricus)).

(6) In commercial paint production, a light yellow colour, reminiscent of the flesh of a pineapple (also called pineapple yellow on color charts).

(7) A hairstyle consisting of (1) a ponytail worn on top of the head, imitating the leaves of a pineapple or (2) the whole hair gathered and assembled at the top, there to sit like the leaves of a pineapple.

1350-1400: From the Middle English pinappel (pine cone (literally “pine apple” or “pine fruit”)), the conifer cone (strobilus (plural: strobili)), the seed-bearing organ of gymnosperm plants so named as a jocular comparison with fruit trees).  After being introduced to Europe, the fruit of the pineapple plant picked up the name because of the resemblance to pinecones, this use noted from the 1660s (pine cone adopted in the 1690s to replace pineapple in its original sense except in so regional dialects.  Elsewhere, the forms included the Middle Dutch and Dutch pijnappel, the Middle Low German pinappel, the Old High German pīnapful, the Middle High German pīnaphel, and the early Modern German pinapfel (all developed from the same notion of the “pine cone”.  Related too were the post-Classical Latin pomum pini, the Old French pume de pin, the Middle French and French pomme de pin and the Spanish piña.  To describe the pine-cone, Old English also used pinhnyte (pine nut) and pine-apple appears in some late fourteenth century biblical translations for “pomegranate”.  Pineapple is a noun; the noun plural is pineapples.

Ashley Ferh's Pineapple Crisp

Pineapple Crisp is made with chunks of fresh pineapple, topped with a brown sugar streusel baked until golden.  It is served usually with vanilla ice cream or thickened cream.  The classic recipe uses only pineapple but variations are possible, most adding either mango or orange although where a contrast in taste is desired, it nan be made as pineapple & rhubarb crisp.  Preparation time is 15 minutes; cooking time 45 minutes and as described in this recipe, it will serve six.

Ingredients

4 cups chopped fresh pineapple about one average pineapple

2 tablespoons plus ½ cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon corn starch

1/2 cup cold butter cubed

1 cup large oats

1/2 cup whole wheat flour for Gluten-Free: gluten-free all purpose flour or ground gluten-free oats

Instructions

(1) Preheat the oven to 350^o F (175^o C)

(2) Combine pineapple, 2 tablespoons brown sugar and corn starch. Place pineapple in an 8 x 8″ (200 x 200mm) baking pan, or in individual baking dishes if preferred.

(3) In a large bowl, combine butter, ½ cup brown sugar, oats and flour until combined.  The texture will be that of cookie dough (easily pressed and held together).  Crumble topping over the pineapple in baking dish and press down gently.

(4) Bake for 45 minutes or until bubbly around the edges and golden brown on top. Serve with vanilla ice cream or thickened cream as desired.

The pineapple hairstyle is distinctive and, once done, of low maintenance but the very wildness means it’s not suitable for all hair; those with perfectly straight hair will likely find it just too much trouble because while it can be done, it would demand a lot of product.  There are two variations, (1) a ponytail worn on top of the head, imitating the leaves of a pineapple (left) or (2) the whole hair gathered and assembled at the top, there to sit like the leaves of a pineapple (left).  The pineapple is ideal for those with curly hair and for others, is a less stylized, more naturalistic version of what hairdressers call “the spiky”.

The Mark II hand-grenade.

The military slang to describe hand grenades dates from World War I (1914-1918) and was coined because of the shape of the Mk II grenade (re-named Mk 2 in 1945 as the US military dropped all designations involving Roman numerals as part of the computerization project), a fragmentation-type anti-personnel hand grenade first issued to US armed forces in 1918.  In the Allied forces, it was standard issue anti-personnel device grenade until the end of World War II (1939-1945) and during the was replaced by the M26-series (M26/M61/M57), first used during the Korean War (1950-1953).  However, because supply contracts issued in 1944-1945 had envisaged the conflict with Japan lasting well into 1945, the production levels were such that the US stockpiles of the Mark 2 meant that the inventory wasn’t exhausted until late 1968, by which time the standard-issue item was the M33 series (M33/M67).  In the military way, the American slang was adopted by Japanese soldiers as パイナップル (painappuru).

Reasons to eat pineapple

A member of the bromeliad family, the pineapple is a genuine rarity in that it’s the only edible bromeliad which has survived into the modern era.  Traditionally, it’s eaten by cutting away the spiky casing, then slicing the flesh into bite-sized pieced but it’s actually a multiple fruit, one pineapple actually made up of dozens of individual flowerets that grow together to form the entire fruit.  Each scale on a pineapple is evidence of a separate flower and in a TikTok video which changed the life of some pineapple people, user Dillon Roberts showed how the flowerets can be pealed-off and eaten piece by pyramid-shaped piece, obviating any need to chop and slice.  Not all pineapples have a skim which permits the approach but for those which do, it’s most convenient.  Unlike many fruits, pineapples stop ripening the minute they are picked and no techniques of storage will make them further ripen and although there’s much obvious variation, color is relatively unimportant in assessing ripeness, pineapples needing to be chosen by smell; it the fragrance suggests something fresh, tropical and sweet, it will be a good fruit and, as a general principle, the more scales, the sweeter and juicier it will be.  For those who live in an accommodatingly tropical region, the top can be planted and in most cases it will grow.

Health food advocate Lindsay Lohan with purchased pineapple.

Pineapple has always been prized because of the taste and texture but there are genuine health benefits and it has long be valued for easing the symptoms of indigestion, arthritis and sinusitis, the juice also offering an anthelmintic effect which helps rid the body of intestinal worms.  Pineapple is high in manganese, a mineral critical to bone development and connective tissue, a cup of fresh pineapple enough to provide some 75% of the recommended daily intake and it’s especially helpful to older adults, the bones of whom tend to become brittle.  The essential component of pineapple is bromelain, a proteolytic (literally breaks down protein”) enzyme known to be both an aid in the digestive process and an effective anti-inflammatory, a daily ingestion purported to relieve the joint pain associated with osteoarthritis.  In the Fourth Reich, bromelain is approved as a post-injury medication because of the documented reduction in swelling.  Fresh pineapple is also a good source in Vitamin which, combined with the effect of the bromelain, reduces mucous in the throat which is why it’s a common component in hospital food because it reduces the volume of mucous after sinus and throat surgery.

There is evidence to suggest pineapple consumption can assist with troublesome sinuses and for those who wish to experiment, pineapple is one of the safer fruits because it’s low-risk for allergies.  More speculative is a possible role in reducing a propensity towards blood-clotting which would make pineapple a useful dietary addition for frequent fliers or others at heightened risk from deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) but it may be that any increase in the consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables would show similar benefits.  Also unproven is the efficacy of the old folk remedy which suggests pineapple juice is helpful in countering the symptoms of morning sickness.  Of late, there’s also the suggestion the effect is heightened if the juice is taken with a handful of nuts but at this stage that seems a new folk remedy added to the old.  Still, as long as one’s stomach has no great sensitivity to the acidic nature of the fruit, most can take it in small doses without any problems and, because the fresh juice discourages the growth of plaque, it’s makes for a healthier mouth.

Ulotrichous, Leiotrichous & Cymotrichous

Ulotrichous (pronounced Ulotri-c-hous)

Having crisp, woolly or curly hair.

1827: From the New Latin ulotrich(ī) (curly hair) from the Ancient Greek οὖλος (oulos) (curly) + the root τριχ (trikh) of θρίξ (thríx) (hair) +‎ -ous.  The -ous suffix was from the Middle English -ous, from Old French -ous & -eux, from the Latin -ōsus (full, full of) and a doublet of -ose in unstressed position; it was used to form adjectives from nouns, to denote possession or presence of a quality in any degree, commonly in abundance

Leiotrichous (pronounced leiotri-c-hous)

Having smooth (straight) hair.

1827: From the New Latin leiotrich(i) (smooth hair) from the Ancient Greek λεῖος (leîos) (smooth) + the root τριχ (trikh) of θρίξ (thríx) (hair) +‎ -ous.  The -ous suffix was from the Middle English -ous, from Old French -ous & -eux, from the Latin -ōsus (full, full of) and a doublet of -ose in unstressed position; it was used to form adjectives from nouns, to denote possession or presence of a quality in any degree, commonly in abundance

Cymotrichous (pronounced cy·motri·c·hous)

Having hair somewhere between curly and smooth; includes the wavy spectrum.

1827: From the New Latin cymotrich(i) (wavy hair) from the Ancient Greek κῦμα (kûma) (wave) + the root τριχ (trikh) of θρίξ (thríx) (hair) +‎ -ous.  The -ous suffix was from the Middle English -ous, from Old French -ous & -eux, from the Latin -ōsus (full, full of) and a doublet of -ose in unstressed position; it was used to form adjectives from nouns, to denote possession or presence of a quality in any degree, commonly in abundance

Lindsay Lohan: Ulotrichous.

That these three words exist is due to the French military officer, naturalist and politician Jean-Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent (1778-1846).  A biologist and geographer, his early academic interests lay in volcanology and botany and in the early nineteenth century he travelled extensively in Europe, Africa and the Caribbean studying plants, the need to document and classify his findings meaning he became expert in systematics and this skill he adapted to the classification of people into races.  For a number of reasons, his 1825 volume Essai zoologique sur le genre humain (Zoological essay on the human race) is now just a footnote in the discipline but was for decades influential.  The book was an attempt to classify humans with straight hair into the Leiotrichi and those with woolly or tufted hair into the Ulotrichi, with many sub-groups below these headings, a third category, the Cymotrichi, later added, apparently to accommodate those inconsiderate to have hair not quite straight yet not sufficiently curly to be properly ulotrichous.

Lindsay Lohan: Leiotrichous.

The terms he used to describe the method of racial classification for the purpose of human taxonomy added to existing systems of classifications, Bory (the shorthand in the literature which references his work) in his 1825 book adding leiotrichi, japeticus, arabicus, indicus, scythicus, sinicus, hyperboreus, neptunianus, australasicus, columbicus, americanus, patagonicus, oulotrichi, aethiopicus, cafer, hottentotus & melaninus.  His classification was a technically competent exercise in systematics and was thought a scientifically orthodox document, seriously studied for most of the nineteenth century and quoted by many noted figures including TH Huxley (1825–1895) and Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and his classifications remain used by many specialists in zoology and even botanists for their vivid, illustrative value.  The politics of language does however intrude on the zoologists and some, especially in the United States, prefer lissotrichous (smooth-haired from the Greek lissos) because of the history attached to Bory. 

Lindsay Lohan: Cymotrichous.

What later became controversial was the adoption of the scheme, especially the word ulotrichous (having crisp, woolly or curly hair) by nineteenth century anthropologists to create a division of humankind encompassing those with crisp, woolly or curly hair.  Because of the racial association, the words are no longer in general use in human classification although the system still has a role in the technical language of pathology and forensic medicine.  Other than those specialized fields, while not extinct, they’re rare and for most, it’s no loss, smooth, surly and wavy being adequate for all except hairdressers who, needing precision, have a classification of hair in a dozen categories (1A to 4C).

Cracker

Cracker (pronounced krak-er)

(1) A thin, crisp biscuit, sometimes flavored and salted (less widely used in North America).

(2) A firework (a clipping of firecracker).

(3) A small paper roll used as a party favor, that usually contains candy, trinkets etc which separates with a n induced pop when pulled sharply at one or both ends; also called a Christmas cracker or bon bon.

(4) A nickname for a native or inhabitant of the US states of Georgia or Florida (initial capital letter) which is neutral when used in a self-referential manner by inhabitants (also as Cracker State) but can be disparaging and offensive if applied by outsiders (and among certain communities in Florida, a derogatory term for a police officer).

(5) As disparaging and offensive slang, a contemptuous term used to refer to a white person in the South, especially a poor white living in some rural parts of the south-eastern US.

(6) Slang for a black hat or a boastful man (both archaic).

(7) As an onomatopoeic form, a person or thing that cracks.

(8) In chemistry, a chemical reactor used for cracking, often as the refinery equipment used to pyrolyse organic feed-stocks (if catalyst is used to accelerate the process, it’s informally called a cat-cracker).

(9) In the plural (often with a modifier), an informal term to describe someone mad, wild, crazy etc.

(10) In (chiefly UK) slang a thing or person of notable qualities or abilities (often in the form crackerjack).

(11) In Australian & New Zealand slang, something or someone thought worthless or useless (often in the form “not worth a cracker).

(12) In computing senses (as cracker, crack, and cracking), terms suggested in the 1980s as an alternative to “white-hat hacker” in an attempt to create a more positive public image of certain activities.

(13) In cryptology, as code-cracker (synonymous with code-breaker), one who decodes, analogous with the previous safe-cracker but often without the pejorative associations.

(14) A short piece of twisted material (often string) tied to the end of a whip that creates the distinctive sound when the whip is thrown (or cracked); the crack is the sonic boom as the material passes through the sound barrier.

(15) In zoology, a northern pintail, species of dabbling duck.

(16) In materials processing, a pair of fluted rolls used for grinding (obsolete).

(17) In Czech slang, a drug user.

(17) In botany, as crackerberry, The Canadian bunchberry (Cornus canadensis).

1400-1450: Crack was from the Middle English crakken, craken & craker, from the Old English cracian (to resound, crack), from the Proto-West Germanic krakōn, from the Proto-Germanic krakōną (to crack, crackle, shriek), ultimately from the primitive Indo-European gerhz (to resound, cry hoarsely).  It was cognate with the Scots crak (to crack), the West Frisian kreakje (to crack), the Dutch kraken (to crunch, creak, squeak), the Low German kraken (to crack), the German krachen (to crash, crack, creak), the Lithuanian gìrgžděti (to creak, squeak), the Old Armenian կարկաչ (karkačʿ) and the Sanskrit गर्जति (gárjati) (to roar, hum).  The meaning “to break” is thought related to the Latin crepare (to rattle, crack, creak), and the secondary, figurative meaning of that “boast of, prattle, make ado about” gave rise to the Elizabethan era meaning of “a braggard”, which, after reaching southern North America in the 1760s, gained new interpretations.

The sense of a cracker as a hard bread dates from the fifteenth century but the use to describe a thin, crisp biscuit was first attested in 1739.  The most common modern understanding of a cracker is a dry, thin, crispy baked biscuit (usually salty or savory, but sometimes sweet, as in the case of graham crackers and animal crackers.  Being thin and crisp they crack easily (hence cracker (literally "that which cracks or breaks", agent noun from the verb crack)) and are often sold with a modifier added to the name (cream cracker, saltine cracker, soda cracker, water cracker et al).  The meaning in agricultural milling (instrument for crushing or cracking) is from 1630s and in various forms of engineering, chemistry & physics, the descriptor was adopted over the centuries, the best known the steam-powered coal cracker (machinery that breaks up mined coal (1857)) although the term (apparently since 1853) the tem had been applied to people manually doing the same job.  The original Cracker-barrel dates from 1861 and was literally a "barrel full of soda-crackers for sale" and came to be associated with general stores in rural areas which influenced the development by 1905 of the adjectival sense “cracker barrel” to suggest something or someone "emblematic of unsophisticated ways and views".  The noun wisecracker dates from 1906 an was an invention of American English meaning someone boastful (from wise + crack (in the sense of "boast") and though wisecrack survived, the use wisecracker, wisecracking and cracker in this general sense declined as “wise guy” came to be preferred.  The idea of crackers referring to someone mad or exhibiting unstable behavior emerged in the late nineteenth century and was based on the imagery of something “cracked up”; crackpot was of similar origin, the idea of boiling water in a pot with a crack being unwise.

The noun nut-cracker (also nutcracker) (hand operated instrument for cracking hard-shelled nuts) dates from the 1540s although there is evidence similar devices had been fabricated centuries earlier.  The term was applied to the "toy having a grotesque human head, in the mouth of which a nut is placed to be cracked by a screw or lever".  Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's (1840-1893) two-act "fairy ballet" The Nutcracker was first performed in 1892; it was based on Alexandre Dumas' (1802–1870) rendition of ETA Hoffmann's (1776-1822) story Nussknacker und Mausekönig (The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (1816)).

The noun cracker-jack (also crackerjack) (something excellent) was a US colloquialism from 1893, said to be a fanciful construction, the earliest use in reference to racing horses and the first evidence of the caramel-coated popcorn-and-peanuts confection is from the World's Columbian Exposition of that year, the (unverified) connection being someone using the then popular expression "that's a cracker-jack" when tasting some; the name was trademarked 1896, the "Prize in Every Box" introduced 1912.  The noun firecracker (also fire-cracker) (exploding paper cylinder) dates from 1830, a coinage of American English for what is elsewhere in the English-speaking world called a cracker, but the US use distinguishes it from the word related to thin biscuits.  The noun safecracker (also safe-cracker) was first used in 1897, a reference to thieves who used dynamite.

Cracker (and Cracker State) is used as a neutral or affectionate nickname by inhabitants of the US states if Georgia and Florida.  However, when applied by outsiders, it’s often used with disparaging intent and perceived as an insult.  Cracker is always disparaging and offensive when used to refer to a poor white person in the South; the word in this sense often implies that the person is regarded as ignorant or uneducated (and thus vaguely similar to redneck, hillbilly, chav bogan et al used in various places).  However, when used by people of color, cracker can refer to a white racist or white supremacist and be unrelated to whether the target is poor or rural; in that it’s in the long and unsuccessful tradition of trying to coin descriptors (honky, peckerwood, redneck, trailer n-word, trailer trash, white trash, whitey, wonderbread et al) which white people find offensive.

The origin of cracker as a racial slur against poor white Southerners is uncertain.  One theory suggests it began (as corn-crackers) with impoverished white corn and wheat farmers who cracked their crops rather than taking them to the mill for processing.  An alternative explanation is that it was applied because Georgia and Florida settlers (the original Florida crackers) cracked whips to drive herds of cattle; the related speculative etymology references the whip cracking of plantation slave drivers.  Both may be correct yet may have run in parallel with the inherited use of cracker in use since the Elizabethan era to describe braggarts, the link being the sense (attested from the early sixteenth century) of "a boaster, a braggart", thought related to the Latin crepare (to rattle, crack, creak), the secondary figurative sense of which was "boast of, prattle, make ado about".  It’s argued the US form emerged to suggest a boastful person was “not all he was cracked up to be”.

Published in Darwin since 1949, the NT News serves readers in Australia’s Northern Territory and, purchased in 1960, was one of Rupert Murdoch’s early acquisitions, published to this day by News Corp.  Rather than the journalism within, it’s noted for its award winning front pages, many of which feature large crocodiles, double entendres, or a combination of the two and the most famous remains WHY I STUCK A CRACKER UP MY CLACKER.  The onomatopoeic clacker in most places means (1) in music a percussion instrument that makes a clacking noise and (2) by extension, any device which makes a clacking noise but in the slang of Australia & New Zealand it also means (3) “the anus” (the etymological connection hopefully obvious).  Helpfully, the NT News did explain why the firework was so placed (and detonated) and, unsurprisingly for anyone acquainted with Northern Territory culture, it involved alcohol.  Firecrackers remain available for sale in the Northern Territory on specific occasions, long after most jurisdictions in the country banned “cracker nights”, the origins of which lay in the “Gunpowder Plot”, the attempt on 5 November 1605 by Guy Fawkes (1570–1606) to blow up the English houses of parliament.  Guy Fawkes' plot was thwarted and although the Luftwaffe did some damage, the UK's parliament has, with the odd interruption, kept going as a place of "low skulduggery" and the occasional "pursuit of noble causes", one often disguised as the other.

Boris Johnson & Liz Truss discussing policy.

That the members of the British Conservative & Unionist Party (the Tories) voted to replace Boris Johnson (b 1964; prime-minister 2018-2022) as leader with Liz Truss (b 1975; prime-minister since 2022) was predicted by the polls, her margin of 57.4% was less decisive than recent contests (Boris Johnson (2019, 66.4%), Davis Cameron (2005 67.6 %) & Ian Duncan Smith (2001 60.7%)) and some had suggested a better number was expected.  One interesting aspect of the succession is the Tories have chosen to replace one madman with another.  Under the compelling system of characterization suggested by former Labour Party notable Tony Benn (1925-2015; aka Anthony Wedgwood Benn & the second Viscount Stansgate), those who ascend the greasy pole to the premiership are either: (1) madmen (2) fixers or (3) straight men.  Madmen change people, institutions and history, if necessary blowing up whatever stands in their way (figuratively, unlike Guy Fawkes and the Luftwaffe although prime-ministers, madmen, fixers and straight men alike, have shown little reluctance literally to blow up small parts of other people's countries if there's political advantage to be had); fixers are those who do deals and strike bargains to gain the consensus needed to make the system work better; straight men are incrementalists who seek to maintain the existing system and their place within  Politics does tend to be cyclical and though the three types don’t always operate in sequential rotation, it is unusual for one madman to replace another as Tory Party leader whereas there have in the past been successions of straight men or fixers.  US political scientists have also explored the idea of political cycles, described usually with labels something like conflict, consensus & idealism, the concept similar to Benn's idea.

Liz Truss in pantsuit.

Most observes seem to agree Liz Truss is a madman in the sense Benn used but while few suggest she’s actually barking mad (or even unstable to whatever degree a clinician might delicately describe her state of mind), most enjoyed the thoughts of Dominic Cummings (b 1971; political strategist and adviser to Boris Johnson 2019-2020).  Cummings is hardly an impartial observer but in branding Ms Truss “about as close to properly crackers as anybody I’ve met in parliament”, he did strike a chord in finding a way succinctly to express what many thought but couldn’t quite put into words.  Crackers is such a good word and in the world of the early 2020s, for a head of government, it might be more a qualification than a diagnosis; desirable but not essential.

Number 10: Coming and going.

Of course what's more interesting than Ms Truss being elected to an office once held by Sir Robert Peel (1788–1850), Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881), Lord Salisbury (1830–1903), Winston Churchill (1874–1965) & Harold Macmillan (1894–1986) was that although she may be crackers, all alternatives were clearly thought worse still.  It may seem not a desirable time to take Number 10 but the chance doesn’t occur that often (although there’s of late been a bit of churn) and, regardless of the circumstances, Ms Truss must think it still "something to be prime-minister of England" so should be wished the best of British luck.  If it works out then all’s well that ends well but one who will be watching with particular interest is Mr Johnson because, recalling Disraeli’s words that “finality is not the language of politics” he’ll not have abandoned hope but whether he comes back will be dependent wholly on events.  If the circumstances align so the Tories think only he can win them an election (or at least limit the loss of seats) then they'll take him back and so marvelously unprincipled is Mr Johnson that if need be, he'd campaign on the basis of re-joining the EU.  People still don't seem to realize how much he enjoyed being PM and principles will be blown up if they stand in the way.  His affectionate biography of Churchill added little to the historical record but he'll no doubt be re-reading the bits which covered "the wilderness years" between 1929-1939 although the millions he'll make from the public-speaking circuit and other lucrative dabbles should soften the blow; it's doubtful he'll be reduced to a diet of locusts and wild honey.

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus Called from the Plow to the Dictatorship (circa 1707), oil on canvas by Sebastiano Ricci (1659–1734)

Barely out the door, already he’s missed.  Comparing himself to a spaceship's booster rockets falling back to Earth after their usefulness ended was a nice touch but not un-noticed in Mr Johnson's valedictory address was his allusion to the Roman dictator Cincinnatus (circa 519–circa 430 BC) who, after a brief rule, retired to his farm only later to return to solve a crisis no one else could master.  It's worth noting too that booster rockets, fished from the water after "splashing down invisibly in some remote and obscure corner of the Pacific" are now designed to be returned to the shop to be refurbished, refueled and re-fitted for re-launch.

Although he has a lifetime's history of carelessness in such matters, on this occasion, one suspects Mr Johnson chose his words with rare care and nobody would deny he has a way with words.  Mixing his classical allusions with quotes from pop culture lent his speeches a vividness often lacking in politics and his farewell phrase uttered in PMQs (prime-minister's questions) in the House of Commons was borrowed from the second Terminator movie: "Hasta la vista baby! (see you later!)"  It was going down with guns blazing but what was probably on his mind was the punchier phrase made famous in the first film: "I'll be back!"

Fragile

Fragile (pronounced fraj-uhl (U) or fraj-ahyl (non-U))

(1) Easily broken, shattered, or damaged; delicate; brittle; frail.

(2) Vulnerably delicate, as in appearance.

(3) Lacking in substance or force; flimsy.

1505–1515: From the Middle English fragile (liable to sin, morally weak), from the Middle French fragile, from the fourteenth century Old French fragele, from the Latin fragilis (easily broken) (doublet of frêle), the construct being frag- (variant stem of the verb frangere (break), from the primitive Indo-European root bhreg- (to break) + -ilis.  The -ilis (neuter -ile) suffix was from the Proto-Italic -elis, from the primitive Indo-European -elis, from -lós; it was used to form an adjective noun of relation, frequently passive, to the verb or root.  It was cognate with fraction & fracture and doublet of frail.  The original meaning from circa 1510 (liable to sin, morally weak) by circa 1600 extended to "liable to break" as a back-formation from fragility which was actually an adoption of the sense in Latin.  The transferred sense "of frail constitution" (of persons) dates from 1858.  The companion adjective frail emerged in the mid fourteenth century in the sense of "morally weak", from the twelfth century Old French fraile & frele (weak, frail, sickly, infirm) (enduring in Modern French as frêle), from the Latin fragilis.  The US slang noun meaning "a woman" is documented from 1908 and although there’s no evidence, etymologists have noted Shakespeare's "Frailty, thy name is woman" (Hamlet, Act I, Scene 2).  The comparative fragiler and the superlative fragilest are both correct but the more elegant “more fragile” and “most fragile” tend to be preferred.  Fragile is used usually as an adjective but can be applied as a noun (typically by folk like furniture movers) or in the same way as “exquisite”.  Fragilely is an adverb and fragility is a noun; the noun plural is fragiles.

Words which are either synonyms or close in meaning include delicate, feeble, frail, weak, brittle, crisp, crumbly, decrepit, fine, flimsy, fracturable, frangible, friable, infirm, insubstantial, shivery, slight & unsound.  The antonym most often used to suggest the opposite quality to fragile is “robust” (evincing strength and health; strong).  Robust dates from circa 1545 and was a learned borrowing from circa 1400 Medieval Latin rōbustus (oaken, hard, strong), the construct being rōbus- (stem of rōbur (oak, strength) + -tus (the adjectival suffix).

Lindsay Lohan looking fragile: Lindsay (2019) by Sam McKinniss (b 1985) (left), from a reference photograph taken 22 July 2012, leaving the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood, LA (right).

However, fragile and robust, although often used as antonyms (and in general use usefully so because the meanings are so well conveyed and understood) are really not opposites but simply degrees of the same thing.  In the narrow technical sense an expression of robustness or fragility is a measure of the same thing; a degree of strength.  The traditions of language obscure this but it becomes clear if measures of fragility or robustness are reduced to mathematics and expressed as comparative values in numbers.  It's true that on such a continuum a point could be set at which point something is regarded as no longer robust and becomes defined as fragile (indeed this is the essence of stress-testing) but this doesn't mean one is the antonym of the other.

The opposite of fragile is actually antifragile (the anti prefix was from the Ancient Greek ἀντι- (anti-) (against, hostile to, contrasting with the norm, opposite of, reverse (also "like, reminiscent of"))).  The concept is well known in physiology and part of the object in some forms of strength training is to exploit the propensity of muscles to tear at stress points, relying on the body to repair these tears in a way that doesn’t restore them to their original form but makes them stronger so that if subjected again to the same stress, a tear won’t happen.  It’s thus an act of antifragility, the process illustrated also by the calluses which form on the hands after the skin blisters in response to work.  Fragile and robust merely express points on a spectrum and are used according to emphasize the extent of strength; antifragile is the true opposite.

The idea of antifragile was introduced by Lebanese-born, US-based mathematician and trader Nassim Nicholas Taleb (b 1960) in the book Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder (2012), the fourth of five works which explore his ideas relation to uncertainty, randomness & probability, the best-known and most influential was The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable (2007).  His work was thoughtful, intriguing and practical and was well received although the more accessible writing he adopted for the later volumes attracted criticism from some who felt an academic style more suited to the complex nature of his material; probably few who read the texts agreed with that.  Apart from the ideas and the use to which they can be put, his deconstruction of many suppositions is also an exploration of the rigidities of thought we allow our use of language to create.