Curious

Curious (pronounced kyoor-ee-uhs)

(1) Eager to learn or know; inquisitive; interested, inquiring

(2) Prying; meddlesome, overly inquisitive.

(3) Arousing or exciting speculation, interest, or attention through being inexplicable or highly unusual; odd; strange.

(4) Made or prepared skilfully (archaic).

(5) Done with painstaking accuracy or attention to detail (archaic).

(6) Careful; fastidious (archaic).

(7) Marked by intricacy or subtlety (archaic).

(8) In inorganic chemistry, containing or pertaining to trivalent curium (rare).

1275–1325: From the Middle English curious, from the Old French curius (solicitous, anxious, inquisitive; odd, strange (which endures in Modern French as curieux)), from the Latin cūriōsus (careful, diligent; inquiring eagerly, meddlesome, inquisitive), the construct being cūri- (a combining form of cūra (care) + -ōsus .  The –ōsus suffix (familiar in English as –ous) was from Classical Latin from -ōnt-to-s from -o-wont-to-s, the latter form a combination of two primitive Indo-European suffixes: -went & -wont.  Related to these were –entus and the Ancient Greek -εις (-eis) and all were used to form adjectives from nouns.  In Latin, -ōsus was added to a noun to form an adjective indicating an abundance of that noun.  The English word was cognate with Italian curioso, the Occitan curios, the Portuguese curioso and the Spanish curioso.  The original sense in the early fourteenth century appears to have been “subtle, sophisticated” but by the late 1300s this had been augmented by “eager to know, inquisitive, desirous of seeing” (often in a bad (ie “busybody”) sense and also “wrought with or requiring care and art”, all these meaning reflecting the Latin original.  The objective sense of “exciting curiosity” was in use by at least 1715 but in booksellers' catalogues of the mid-nineteenth century, the word was a euphemism for “erotic, pornographic”, such material called curiosa the Latin neuter plural of cūriōsus.  That was not however what was in the mind of Charles Dickens (1812–1870) when he wrote The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-1841).

The derived forms include noncurious, overcurious, supercurious, uncurious & incuruious.  Both uncurious and incurious are rare and between them there is a difference in meaning and usage, but it is much weaker and less consistently observed than the distinction drawn (though not always observed) between disinterest and uninterest.  Incurious means “lacking curiosity; not inclined to inquire or wonder” and often carries a critical or evaluative tone, implying intellectual complacency or narrow-mindedness; it can be applied to individuals but seems more often used of groups.  Uncurious means “usually not curious” and tends to be descriptive rather than judgmental.  Being rarely used and obscure in what exactly is denoted, some style guides list them as awkward and best avoided, recommending being explicit about what is meant.  Curious is an adjective, curiousness & curiosity are nouns, curiously is an adverb; the noun plural curiosities.  The comparative more curious or curiouser and the superlative most curious or curiousest

The proverb “curiosity killed the cat” means “one should not be curious about things that don’t concern one”.  The phrase “curiouser and curiouser” comes from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) by the English author Lewis Carroll (pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832–1898)).  As a modern, idiomatic form, it’s used to describe or react to an increasingly mysterious or peculiar situation (though usually not one thought threatening).  Alice made her famous exclamation after experiences increasingly bizarre transformations and other strange events in Wonderland; later, what was described would be thought surrealistic.  The phrase has endured and it appears often in literature and popular culture, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum even holding the Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser event.  The author’s use of “bad English” was deliberate, a device to convey the child’s sense of bewildered confusion.  In standard English, the comparative of "curious" is “more curious” with the –er suffix usually appended to words with one or two syllables.  The word “curiouser” thus inhabits a special niche in that although mainstream dictionaries usually list it as “informal” or “non-standard” (ie “wrong”), unlike most “mistakes”, because it’s a literary reference, it’s a “respectable” word (if used in the phrase).  In that, it’s something like “it ain’t necessarily so”.

Depiction of the mad hatter’s tea party by Sir John Tenniel (1820-1914) in an edition called Nursery Alice (1890), an abridged version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland intended for children under five (the original drawing now held by the British Museum).  The book contained 20 illustrations by Sir John who also provided the artwork for the full-length publication.  A fine craftsman, Sir John was noted also for his moustache which “out-Nietzsched” Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900).  Despite much later speculation, no evidence has ever emerged to suggest Lewis Carroll was under the influence of drugs when writing the “Alice” books

Special derived adjectival uses of curious include the portmanteau word “epicurious” (curious about food, especially wishing to try new dishes and cuisines), the construct being epicu(reean) +‎ (cu)rious.  Although the notion of Epicureans (those who are followers of Epicureanism) being focused on food is overstated, that’s the way the word usually appears in popular use.  “Indy-curious” is from UK politics and refers to those interested in the possibility of independence for Wales, without necessarily being a supporter of the proposal.  Those who are “veg-curious” are interested in or contemplating a vegetarian or vegan diet.

The word “curious” became an element in the punch-lines of some “gay jokes” (a now extinct species outside the gay community) but survived in derived forms in sexology, presumably because they can be used neutrally.  The constructs include (1) “pancurious” (exhibiting a state of uncertainty about one's pansexual or panromantic status), (2) “bi-curious” (interested in having relationships with both men and women, curious about one's potential bisexuality; considering a first sexual experience with a member of the same sex (used especially of heterosexuals), (3) gay-curious (curious about one's homosexuality; curious to try homosexuality (4) homocurious (questioning whether one is homosexual), (5) polycurious (curious about or open to polyamory; potentially interested in having relationships with multiple partners and (6) trans-curious (interested in one's potential transness or the experience of a sexual encounter with a trans person.  None of these forms seem to be in frequent use and some may have been created to “cover the field” and there may be some overlap (such as between pancurious and polycurious) and that at least some may be spectrum conditions seems implicit in the way dictionaries list comparative and superlative forms (eg more bi-curious; most bi-curious).

The synonyms include enquiring, inquiring; exquisitive; investigative and the now rare peery, the latter a use of curious in the vein of the “meddling priest” (ie a “busybody” tending to ask questions or wishing to explore or investigate matters not of their concern).  Such a person could be labelled a quidnunc (gossip-monger, one who is curious to know everything that happens) a word (originally as quid nunc) from the early 1700s, the construct being the Latin quid (what? (neuter of interrogative pronoun quis (who?) from the primitive Indo-European root kwo-, stem of relative and interrogative pronouns)) + nunc (now); the idea was of someone habitually asking “What's the news?” and that phrase was one with which for decades the press baron Lord Beaverbrook (Maxwell Aitken, 1879-1964) would pester his editors.  The other group of synonyms reference the word in its “funny-peculiar” sense and include queer, curious: weird, odd, strange & bizarre.  Such an individual, concept or object can be called “a curiosity” and that’s reflected in the noun “curio” which dates from 1851 and meant originally “piece of bric-a-brac from the Far East” and was a short form of curiosity in the mid seventeenth century sense of “object of interest”’ by the 1890s it was in use to refer to rare or interesting bric-a-brac (or just about anything otherwise unclassified) from anywhere.  The related curioso was in use by the 1650s and for two centuries-odd was a word describing “one who is curious" (of science, art, metaphysics and such) or “one who admires or collects curiosities”; it was from the Italian curioso (a curious soul (person)).

1971 Plymouths in Curious Yellow (code GY3): 'Cuda 340 (left) and GTX (right). 

Although buyers of Ferraris, Porsches, Lamborghinis and such still often order cars in bright colors, most of the world’s fleet had for some years been restricted mostly to white, black and variants of silver & gray; it’s a phase the world is going through and it can’t be predicted how long this visually sober ere will last.  In the US in the late 1960s it was different and like other manufacturers, Chrysler had some history in the coining of fanciful names for the “High Impact” colors dating from the psychedelic era.  Emerging from their marketing departments came Plum Crazy, In-Violet, Tor Red, Limelight, Sub Lime, Sassy Grass, Panther Pink, Moulin Rouge, Top Banana, Lemon Twist & Citron Yella.  That the most lurid colors vanished during the 1970s was not because of changing tastes but in response to environmental & public health legislation which banned the use of lead in automotive paints; without the additive, production of the bright colours was prohibitively expensive.  Advances in chemistry meant that by the twenty-first century brightness could be achieved without the addition of lead so Dodge revived psychedelia for a new generation although Sub Lime became Sublime.

Criterion's re-issue of I Am Curious (Blue) and I Am Curious (Blue) with edited (colorized) artwork.  The original posters were monochrome.  

Two years into the first administration of Richard Nixon (1913-1994; US VPOTUS 1953-1961 & POTUS 1969-1974), and a year on from his declaration of a “War on Drugs”, it was obvious the psychedelic era was over but bright colors were still popular so come were carried over although the advertising became noticeably “less druggy”.  Although it may be an industry myth, the story told is that Plum Crazy & In-Violet (lurid shades of purple) were in 1969 late additions because the killjoy board refused to sign-off on Statutory Grape but despite that, Plymouth for 1971 decided to change the name of their vibrant hue of yellow from “Citron Yella” to “Curious Yellow” (code GY3), that apparently borrowed from the controversial 1967 Swedish erotic film I Am Curious (Yellow), directed by Vilgot Sjöman (1924-2006); it was followed the following year by I Am Curious (Blue), the two intended originally as 3½ hour epic.  As promoted at the time, the films were advertised as “I Am Curious: A Film in Yellow” and “I Am Curious: A Film in Blue”, the mention of the colors an allusion to the Swedish flag.

Lindsay Lohan does her bit to revive Chrysler’s 1971 Curious Yellow, the New York Post’s Alexa magazine, 5 December 2024.

A footnote to the earlier film is an uncredited appearance by Olof Palme (1927–1986; Prime Minister of Sweden 1969-1976 & 1982-1986) whose assassination remains unsolved. The films are very much period pieces of a time when on-screen depictions of sex were for the first time in some places liberated from most censorship and while this produced an entire genre of blends of eroticism and pornography, some directors couldn’t resist interpolating political commentary (of the left and right); at the time, just about everything (sex included) could be sociological.  Critic and audiences mostly were unconvinced but films like the “Curious” brace and Michelangelo Antonioni’s (1912–2007) Zabriskie Point (1970) later gained a cult following.  Problems encountered during production resulted in the release of Zabriskie Point being delayed until 1970 but in retrospective this was a blessing because if anyone doubted the spirit of the 1960s had died, the film was there to remove all doubt.  A commercial failure, visually, it remains a feast for students of pre-digital cinematography and some maintain the best way to enjoy subsequent viewings is to mute the sound and play the soundtrack on repeat; unsynchronized with the scenes, its an experience rewarding in its own way.  

Mouse

Mouse (pronounced mous (verb form sometimes mouz))

(1) Any of numerous small Old World rodents of the family Muridae, especially of the genus Mus, introduced widely in other parts of the world.

(2) Any similar small animal of various rodent and marsupial families.

(3) As a verb (used with object), moused or mousing (1) to hunt out, as a cat hunts out mice, (2) to move a cursor about a screen using a mouse or (3) to prowl about, as if in search of something.

(4) In nautical use, to secure with a mousing (a turn or lashing of spun yarn or small stuff, or a metallic clasp or fastening, uniting the point and shank of a hook to prevent its unhooking or straightening out).

(5) As mouse-like, when applied to people, a descriptor of timidity.

(6) One of a brace of rodent-based slang terms to differentiate between the small-block (mouse motor) and big-block (rat motor) Chevrolet V8s built mostly in the mid-late twentieth century.

(7) In computing, a hand-held device used to control the cursor movement and select computing functions without using the keyboard.

(8) As a descriptor of hair color, a dull and lifeless blonde.

(9) In boxing, slang for black eye (hematoma).

(10) In early artillery, a match used in firing guns or in blasting.

(11) In the mathematics of set theory, a fragment of Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory with desirable properties (depending on the context).

(12) A small cushion for a woman's hair (obsolete).

(13) As mouse hair, an expression used to describe the suede-like covering used by some low-volume Italian car manufacturers for some interior fittings.

Pre 900: From the Middle English mous (plural mis) and Old English mūs (small rodent (also “muscle of the arm”)) (plural mȳs), from the Proto-Germanic mus, probably ultimately derived from the primitive Indo-European mus & muhs.  Germanic cognates include the Old Frisian mūs, the Old Saxon mūs, the Low German Muus, the Dutch muis, the Old High German mūs (German Maus), the Old Norse mús, the Swedish mus, the Danish mus, the Norwegian mus, the Icelandic mús & the Faroese mús.  Indo-European cognates include the Ancient Greek μῦς (mûs), the Latin mūs, the Spanish mur, the Armenian մուկ (muk), the Old Church Slavonic myšĭ, the Russian мышь (myšʹ), the Albanian mi, the Persian موش‎ (muš) & the Sanskrit मूष् (mūṣ).  Mouse & mousing are nouns & verbs, moused is a verb, mousy is an adjective and mousily is an adverb; the noun plural is mice (mouses a curious and best-avoided invention used to refer to the computer hardware).

Lindsay Lohan at Disneyland Resort, Anaheim, California with Mickey Mouse in 2003 (left) and, 21 years on, in 2024 (right).  Lindsay still looks good but Mickey hasn't aged a day.

The use to describe something (or more commonly someone) as timid or weak dates from the late fourteenth century and the phrase of diametric contrast “an or mouse” emerged in the 1620s.  The meaning "black eye" (or other dis-colored lump on the body) is from 1842 and is part of the jargon of boxing.  The familiar use in computing to describe a "small device moved by the hand over a flat surface to maneuver a cursor or arrow on a display screen" is from 1965, though the word had been applied to many objects with some vague remembrance to the rodent was applied to many objects since 1750 and was especially popular in Admiralty use.  The computer mouse picked up the name because the cord which connected it to the computer (which in the early days of PCs was usually a serial or bus connection) was compared to the creature’s tail; although the things increasingly are wireless and thus have no “tail” the name has stuck, divorced from the original imagery.  The preferred plural is mice (pronounced mahys); in the Old English it was mys and mice is thus an example if i-mutation.  The curious adoption of mouses as the plural for the computer mouse had no etymological or other basis and seems to have come into use to ensure references to the plastic pointing device wouldn’t be confused with rodents though it’s difficult to imagine that would often happen.  In the espionage community, MICE is a term used to refer to the four factors most likely to induce people to "work for the other side" by becoming traitor to their own country: Money, Ideology, Corruption & Ego.  In the hospitality industry, MICE is Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions which collectively describes a market segment distinct from activities such as weddings or birthday celebrations which can be held in the same physical space.  

Lindsay Lohan in Minnie Mouse mode, smoking.

The verb mouse (to hunt or catch mice) developed from the noun in the mid-thirteenth century and was from the earlier mousen while the noun mouse-hole (very small hole where mice go in and out, a hole only big enough to admit a mouse) dates from the early fifteenth century; from later that century, the noun mouser (cat that hunts mice) was an agent noun from the verb.  The adjective mousy (resembling a mouse) dates from 1812 was actually used mostly as a synonym of “mouse-like” to describe the demeanour of the timid although there are instances of use in zoology as an anatomical descriptor; after 1512 it came to describe hair color, now more memorably referred to as dirty blonde”.  The noun mousetrap (trap for catching mice) emerged in the mid-fifteenth century with figurative use noted since the 1570s.  The device however is an ancient design (which, conceptually, probably can’t be improved upon) and in the Old English was musfealle (literally "mouse-fall" after the imagery of the trap falling on the mouse); in the late fourteenth century Middle English it was mouscacche (literally "mouse-catch").

The figurative use of Mickey Mouse, the cartoon character created in 1928 by US animator Walt Disney (1901-1966) is interesting.  As an adjective meaning "small and worthless, petty, inconsequential" it was in use by 1951, presumably a reference to the less than exact accuracy in time-keeping by the popular, cheaply made Mickey Mouse wristwatch.  A similar negative connotation had emerged in 1935 to describe the innocuous but unimaginative dance-band music played as background in cartoon films.  However, by the 1950s, the Californian hot-rod movement had adopted Mickey Mouse as a contronym to describe the best and most desirable after-market equipment.

Small and big-block Chevrolet V8s compared, the small-block (mouse) to the left in each image, the big-block (rat) to the right.

Mouse and rat are informal terms used respectively to refer to the classic small (1955-2003 although still produced as a crate-engine) and big-block Chevrolet V8s (1958-2021 although still produced as a crate-engine).  The small-block was first named although the origin is contested; either it was (1) an allusion to “mighty mouse” a popular cartoon character of the 1950s, the idea being the relatively small engine being competitive with many bigger units from other manufacturers (which is some cases was true) or (2) an allusion to the big, heavy Chrysler Hemi V8s (the first generation 331 354 & 392 cubic inch (5.4. 5.8 & 6.4 litre) versions) being known as “the elephant”, the idea based on the widely held belief that elephants are scared of mice (which may actually be true although the reason appears not to be the long repeated myth it’s because the little rodents might climb up their trunk and it transpires they probably are more averse to bees).  The mouse (small-block) and rat (big-block) distinction is simple to understand: the big block is externally larger although confusingly the internal displacement of some mouse motors was greater than that of some rats.

The plural in Modern English

The tendency by the mid-1980s to differentiate between multiple rodents and multiple Computer-Aided Display Control Devices (as mice were first called) as mice and mouses respectively was curious.  While the onset of mass-market computing in the 1980s made some linguistic differentiation desirable (eg between program for software and programme for all other contexts), there has never been much chance, in any context, of confusing rodents with two or more computer mice.  Hopefully, mouses will go extinct.

One mouse, two mice.

That does beg the question of why multiple rodents are mice and not mouses given that would be the usual practice in English: add an “s”.  Among animals, the mouse is not unique in this variation; there’s also moose, ox and goose, none of which enjoy plurals created by adding an “s” and there’s no apparent consistency for were the model for oxen to be universal, Modern English would enjoy goosen, micen and moosen, an echo of Old English.  In Modern English, mostly the noun plural is made by adding an “s” but there are irregular plurals, many but not all of which are animal names.   

The first group of irregular nouns come from an obsolete strain of Old English and includes ox and oxen.  Old English was a West Germanic language spoken and written between the mid-fifth and late-eleventh centuries in parts of what are now England and southern Scotland; it’s in this the epic poem Beowulf was written.  Although unintelligible to speakers of Modern English, as it evolved, it retained some elements of Old English including the plural nouns oxen, children and brethren although the evolution was organic and not consistent; some other nouns, such as eye, house and hose used to be pluralized in a similar way, but those forms, eyen, housen and hosen are now dialectic or obsolete.  Hosen of course endures in Modern German, as in lederhosen but, there are at least five different ways German nouns can form the plural.

The second group of irregular plurals are mutants, also from Old English roots.  Examples include foot, goose, woman and louse which as plurals became feet, geese, women, and lice, all under the influence of German.  Mutated plurals are formed simply by changing the vowel sound of the singular, in a process called “umlaut”.  An “umlaut” is better known as the two-dot symbol seen above some German vowels, but there’s also a sense in which it’s a concept in technical linguistics.  While quite rare in Modern English, mutated plurals are in common use and include man & men, mouse & mice and tooth & teeth.

Finally, there are nouns where the singular and plural forms are the same, such as deer, fish, moose, sheep, shrimp and swine; these are called zero-plural nouns.  Many are animals, but there are others such as aircraft and species.  Even here, there are deviations such as the convention in science to use fishes to differentiate between one and multiple species of fish which makes sense in a way mouses never did.

The fish vs fishes thing does have history.  There are many references to fish in the Bible, never species, just fish singular or plural but translators rendered the plural as both “fish” and “fishes” even when not necessarily referring to actual fish.  Translators used “fish” in its plural sense when the Greek opsarion appeared, a word simply denoting food eaten with bread, which was often fish but it’s translated also as "fishes", the original spellings often "fysshe" and "fysshes".  Both the original 1611 and the 1789 revision of the King James Version are rendered thus:

John 21:8 And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes.

John 21:9 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.

John 21:10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.

John 21:11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.

None of this offers any revelation of grammatical or theological truth but it does illustrate the murky history of English plurals.  So, in English, there is no consistent rule for noun plural formations.  Unfortunately, the language is what it is and all that can be done is to memorize weird plurals, just as one has to learn irregular verbs.

Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus

The “mountain in labor” is imagery dating from Antiquity (thought to be a Greek proverb) and has since often been used in Western literature.  The idea is of speech in a literary or political context which promises much but delivers little (ie “over promising and under-delivering” or “much ado about little”).  It’s best remembered in the phrase used by the the Roman lyric poet Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus, 65-8 BC) in the influential Ars Poetica (The Art of Poetry (19 BC)): Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus (The mountains are in labor but only an absurd mouse will be born).

And don’t start like the old writer of epic cycles:

‘Of Priam’s fate I’ll sing, and the greatest of Wars.’

What could he produce to match his opening promise?

Mountains will labour: what’s born? A ridiculous mouse!

Safari

Safari (pronounced suh-fahr-ee)

(1) A journey or expedition, for hunting, exploration, or investigation, historically applied especially to expeditions in eastern Africa.

(2) The hunters, guides, vehicles, equipment, etc, forming such an expedition.

(3) Used loosely (sometimes very loosely), any long or adventurous journey or expedition (although usually restricted to non-developed, hot places with abundant wildlife).

(4) To go on a safari; to take part in a safari.

(5) In fashion, as “safari suit”, a men’s outfit of dubious appeal.

1890: From the Swahili safari (journey), from the Arabic سَفَر‎ (safar) (referring to a journey) from safara (to travel) & safarīya (travelling).  Etymologists belief the word “safari” was absorbed into English in 1890, having been documented since 1860s as a foreign word in the sense of “an expedition over country in East Africa lasting days or weeks, particularly for purposes of hunting”.  The Swahili safar (journey) first appeared in English publications in 1858.  From the 1920s, as an adjective “safari” was applied liberally to devices & appliances used on or associated with safaris (safari knife, safari park, safari trailer, safari map etc) but ultimately most influential was the safari jacket, a practical garment (robustly tailored with lots of pockets) which unfortunately would in the 1960s be picked up by the industry as the “safari suit”, perhaps the most derided piece of men’s fashion in the 1970s which, given what that decade produced, was quite an achievement.  The nouns safarier, safarigoer & safariman (all descriptors of “those who go on a safari) seem to have gone extinct but surfari (surfers travelling from beach to beach in search of the best waves) is still sometimes heard though “whale-watching” seems to have replaced “whale safari”.  Safari is a noun, verb & adjective, safaried & safariing are verbs; the noun plural is safaris.

Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC 5.0s, Safari Rally, Kenya, 1979 and Lindsay Lohan on safari, meeting zebras, Mauritius, June 2016.

The big 450 SLC 5.0 was one of the more improbable rally cars but it enjoyed some success in long-distance events and is a footnote in the sport's history as the only V8-powered car to win a European rally; all 450 SLC 5.0s were fitted with an automatic transmission which makes the thing more unusual still.  In motorsport, the annual rally in Kenya was between 1953-1959 known as the “Coronation Safari Rally” and between then and 1974 as the “East African Safari”; subsequently, it was variations of "Safari Rally".  The name “East African Safari Rally” was revived in 2003 as an event for historic rally cars and run biannually (COVID-19 the only interruption, the 2020 event cancelled).

Safari Station Wagons

Chrysler South Africa's advertising for the Valiant Safaris, 1972.

Instead of the 245 (4.0) & 265 (4.3) "Hemi" sixes, the South African cars were fitted with the old 225 (3.6) "slant-six" so the Apartheid-era government's local content rules could be met.  There was no V8 option but to compensate there was the Safari Premium with the US-flavored appliqué (imitation wood) glued to the sides, something not seen in other places.  Somewhat opportunistically, the advertising copy referred to the "Chrysler Charger engine" but technically that was correct, the 225 being for years on the Dodge Charger's option list and in South Africa Safaris used a two-barrel caburetor version rated at 160 horsepower rather than the usual 145 so the wagons were more powerful than the few US coupes with the slant-six.  

Chrysler's UK advertising for the Australian Valiants, the various Safaris & Station Wagons there described with the familiar "Estate".

Autocar Magazine, 18 October, 1966 (left) and the 1974 brochure (right) using images from a photoshoot conducted in the grounds of Windsor Castle.  In 1966, UK prices for the colonial imports ranged between Stg£1795-Stg£2545 and when Motor Magazine in 1966 tested a six-cylinder estate, it was noted the tag of Stg£1945 was about the same of that for a Jaguar 420, the two otherwise having little in common except fuel consumption.  It's not known if the advertising agency ever was tempted to all the things "shooting brakes" a term which had come to be more loosely applied.  

In Australia, during the 1960s and much of the 1970s, Chrysler’s mainstream model was the Valiant (1962-1981), based on the US A-Body (compact) corporate platform.  In 1963 a station wagon (dubbed "Safari) was added to the AP5 range, the name retained in export markets including New Zealand, South Africa and the Pacific.  In New Zealand, the nomenclature rarely changed but the utility models sold there and in the home market as the “Wayfarer”, when exported to South Africa, were badged as “Rustlers”.  After 1973, for Australia & New Zealand the Safari name was dropped in favor of "station wagon" which, although unimaginative, was at least an industry-standard which had been adopted even by Holden which had by then abandoned the curious use of "station sedan".  The notion of a "Safari" must have been judged too exotic for the UK (although some Citroëns station wagons were sold there with the label applied) and the Valiants sold there were, reassuring, named "Estate".  The appearance of a machine like the Valiant (with engines as large as a 5.9 litre (360 cubic inch) V8) in the UK market probably seems curious given that although a “compact” in US terms, it was by European standards unfashionably large but Chrysler, having in 1967 ceased production of the antiquated Humber Super Snipes upon their absorption of the Rootes Group, wanted to plug the gap in their range.  Even by 1967 that gap probably no longer existed and demand, never high, dwindled sharply after 1973, a consequence of (1) the first oil shock and (2) the UK joining the EEC (European Economic Community) which meant the end of the Commonwealth preference scheme, a low tariff regime which was the last relic of the chimera of imperial free trade.  Still, although promotion was only ever half-hearted, the Australian Chryslers could be ordered until 1976.  Ford Australia too flirted with the UK market, arriving also in the mid 1960s but found little more success in convincing the British their six and eight cylinder Falcons, Fairlanes & LTDs made sense on UK roads, the last sold in 1984 after several dismal years.

Safari Seats

Mercedes-Benz 220 SE Coupé (foreground) & cabriolet (background) with standard rear bench seats, Frankfurt, September 1961 (left) & 1965 220 SE coupé with safari seat option (right).

One rarely specified option on the Mercedes-Benz W111 (1961-1971; 220 SE, 250 SE, 280 SE & 280 SE 3.5) & W112 (1962-1967; 300 SE) coupés and cabriolets was the fitting of two individual (bucket) seats in the rear instead of the usual bench.  While not uncommon in the early days of the industry, separate seats in a car’s rear compartment had, by the time the W111 coupé was first displayed at the opening of the Daimler Benz Museum in Stuttgart in February 1961, become rare and but for a few one-offs by coach-builders, the option was unique.  The factory called them “safari seats”, the source of that being a special metal frame which allowed them to be removed and placed on the ground outside, the implication presumably this would be handy for those on safari who wished to sit under a shady tree and watch the zebras.  Whether many of these machines were taken on safari isn’t known but the concept was transferrable to those going on picnics or watching the polo.  On both sides of the Atlantic, the fitting of individual rear-seats caught on for some high-end models but other than in some utility vehicles intended mostly for off-road use, no manufacturer made them removable, although in the 1966 Dodge Charger they could be folded to create additional storage space, a feature appreciated by Allison Parks (1943-2010) who was awarded a pink one for being Playboy magazine's 1966 PotY (Playmate of the Year); Ms Parks used it to take her children to swimming practice so the space was handy.

The Safari Suit

Great moments in the history of the safari suit.  Charles III (b 1948; King of the United Kingdom since 2022) & Diana, Princess of Wales (1961-1997) visiting Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock) in Australia's Northern Territory, 1983 (left) and Kim Jong-il (Kim II, 1941-2011; Dear Leader of DPRK (North Korea) 1994-2011) (right).  Despite decades of debate, fashionistas have never agreed who wore it best.

The “safari jacket” was a name applied to a style of clothing which evolved to suit the demands of travel in the sort of places which had become associated with “going on safari”.  The jackets were constructed with a robust material which was resistant to contact with the foliage likely to be encountered and they included fittings like multiple pockets and often some provision for carrying rifle bullets or shotgun shells in a manner which made them easily accessible.  On safari, that was fine but the fashion industry discovered them in the late 1960s and during the following decades actually persuaded some men that the “safari suit” was a good idea.  It was not and not only did it take an unconscionable time a-dying, in the twenty-first century there’s been the odd attempt at a revival.  Men should thus avoid the look but on women a safari suit can be quite alluring.

Gross

Gross (pronounced grohs)

(1) Without deductions; total (as the amount of sales, salary, profit, etc before taking deductions for expenses, taxes, or the like (net ).

(2) Unqualified; complete.

(3) Flagrant and extreme.

(4) Indelicate, indecent or obscene.

(5) Of personal qualities, tastes, etc, lacking refinement, good manners, education etc; vulgar.

(6) By extension, not sensitive in perception or feeling (archaic).

(7) Extremely, repellently or excessively fat.

(8) Dull, witless (obsolete).

(9) Of or concerning only the broadest or most general considerations, aspects etc.

(10) Obviously or exceptionally culpable or wrong; flagrant (“grossly inefficient”; “grossly incorrect” etc).

(11) In slang, extremely objectionable, offensive or disgusting:

(12) Thick; dense:

(13) In slang, to disgust or offend, especially by crude language or behaviour; to shock or horrify (often used (Gross!) as an exclamation indicating disgust or disapproval.

(14) In botany & agriculture etc (especially of vegetation), dense; thick; luxuriant.

(15) In textiles, coarse in texture or quality (obsolete but still used in this sense in material science & engineering (ie dense, heavy)).

(16) Rude; uneducated; ignorant (archaic).

(17) A unit of quantity, equal to 12 dozen (ie 144, a “dozen dozen”).

(18) In science, seen without a microscope (used typically of tissue or an organ); at a large scale; not detailed (ie macroscopic; not microscopic).

(19) By extension, easy to perceive (archaic).

(20) Difficult or impossible to see through (now used only as a poetic or literary device).

1350–1400: From the Middle English gros (large, thick, full-bodied; coarse, unrefined, simple), from the Old French gros (large; thus the noun grosse (twelve dozen)), from the Late Latin grossus (big, fat, thick (which in Late Latin picked up the additional sense “coarse, rough”).  The adjective gross in the fourteenth century meant “large” but by early in the 1400 it acquired also the senses “thick” and “coarse, plain, simple”, the development reflecting the influence of the eleventh century Old French gros (big, thick, fat; tall; strong, powerful; pregnant; coarse, rude, awkward; ominous, important; arrogant) which was from the Late Latin grossus (thick, coarse (of food or mind)) which, in Medieval Latin also picked up the meaning “great, big” (source also of the Spanish grueso and the Italian grosso).  The word is of unknown origin and no ancestor seems to have existed in the Classical Latin (it’s thought unrelated to the Latin crassus, which meant the same thing, or the German gross (large) but may be cognate with the Old Irish bres (big) and Middle Irish bras (big)).  Although the evidence is sketchy, some etymologists suspect some link with the Proto-Celtic brassos (great, violent).  The verb engross (to buy up the whole stock of) dates from the late 1300s (in this sense it had been in Anglo-French for decades) and was from the Old French en gros (in bulk, in a large quantity, at wholesale) as opposed to en detail;  The figurative sense (absorb the whole attention) was in use by at least 1709 while the curious “parallel engross” (to write (something) in large letters) came from the Anglo-French engrosser, from Old French en gros (in large (letters)).

The comparative is grosser (or “more gross”) and the superlative grossest (or “most gross”) but TikTokers and such also use disgrossting (a portmanteau word, the construct being dis(gust) + gross + ting” and they’re fond also of grossness and (the non standard but most pleasing) grossnessness.  On TikTok, users often are “grossed-out” (highly disgusted) by stuff although sometimes they will post deliberately gross content just to “out-gross” each other.  The negative form “un-gross” is recorded but is rare while de-gross & degrossify are humorous terms used when corrective attempts are being undertaken.  On TikTok and such, grossology is a discipline assiduously pursued and there are many & grossologists.  Gross, grossification & grossness are nouns, verbs & adjectives, grossification, grossology & grossologist are nouns, grossify, grossed & grossing are verbs, disgrossting, grossish & grossest are adjectives and grossly is an adverb; the noun plural is gross or grosses.

Der Grossers: 1938 Mercedes-Benz 770K (W150) Cabriolet F, a seven passenger tourer & parade car, pictured here with the folding soft-top in sedanca de ville configuration (left) and 1966 Mercedes-Benz 600 (W100) Pullman Landaulet with “short” folding roof.  The 770K was produced in two runs (W07, 1931-1938 & W150, 1938-1943) while the W100 was built between 1963-1981.

In the context used by Mercedes-Benz, in the English-speaking world, the use of “grosser” is sometimes misunderstood.  In German, groß is used to mean “grand” in the sense of “large” (the Kompatativ (comparative) is größer and the Superlativ (superlative) größte) so Der große Mercedes can be translated as “the big Mercedes” but the connotation really was of something “grand”.  In that sense groß is used in the sense of “physically large” but it can be used also to be “highest” as in the naval rank Großadmiral (a five-star rank translated in English usually as “grand admiral” and equivalent to admiral of the fleet or fleet admiral).  The idea of the "big Mercedes" wasn't unique and to this day collectors still use the phrase "big Healey" (the Austin-Healey sports car, introduced as the 100 BN 1 (1953-55) which evolved into the 3000 (1959-1968)), the term coined in 1958 to distinguish those cars from the smaller Austin Healey Sprite (1958-1970), produced also as the Austin Sprite (1971) and MG Midget (1961-1979)). In English, “gross” went on to prove itself a word of great versatility.

MBNA (Mercedes-Benz of North America) print advertising for der Grosser, placed prior to The 8^th Annual International Auto Show held at the New York Coliseum, 4-12 April, 1964.

In 1964, MBNA had no doubt how groß should be translated.  In Europe, the 600 was thought very big (indeed at 249.6 inches (6.35 metres) the Pullman version was the longest car in series production and even the standard sedan (amusingly often referred to as the SWB (short wheelbase)) was a substantial 219.7 inches (5.6 metres) in length) but its dimensions seemed not so outrageous in the US where even the Chevrolet Biscaynes used by travelling salesmen weren’t much smaller and Buick had even named the range-topping Electra variant sold to bank managers and other Rotarians the “225” to boast of the extent of its length (in inches).  There was a contrast too in what the stylists did, the 600’s severe lines tending to diminish the visual effect of the bulk of the Sedan (though the Pullman obviously was long) and it was only when one was parked next to other vehicles or some other usefully comparative object the sheer size became apparent.  That was not the approach of Detroit where a whole array of design cues were used to emphasize size; the manufacturers wanted to make sure people knew they were getting a lot for the money which, in terms of mass, certainly they were.

MBNA print advertising, The Reader’s Digest, December, 1963.  In the twenty-first century, it may seem curious one of the world’s most expensive cars was being advertised in The Reader’s Digest with a hint at the 600’s role in the transport of diplomats but the publication at the time enjoyed a high penetration among “high net wealth families”.  It was only when it was revealed to be Ronald Reagan’s (1911-2004; US president 1981-1989) favourite periodical its reputation among the educated began precipitously to decline.

So, late in 1963 when the advertising copy for the 600 began to appear in publications (which were not yet collectively “print media”), it was the “Grand Mercedes” which was being announced and in case the sense grandeur was lost on anyone, the prices were mentioned without descending to the vulgarity of numerals, the “five passenger sedan” at “nineteen-thousand five hundred dollars” and the “seven passenger limousine” a neat “twenty-four thousand dollars”.  At the time, the MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price, exclusive of options and various charges) for Cadillacs ranged from US$5,048 to US$11,960 while standard-bodied Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud IIIs sold typically for around US$13,500 and the more expensive, coach-built Phantom V could be up to US$10,000 more, depending on the extent of the work ordered.  Ferrari’s then large range included the 275 GTB (US$11,750), 330 GTS (US$16,500), 250 GTO (at what sounds now a bargain US$18,000) and the 500 Superfast (US$24,400).  So the 600 was expensive and although Rolls-Royce was an obvious competitor, so was Ferrari; although very different machines, there were some buyers who, needing different cars for different purposes, ordered at least one of each.  The rich are different and while the copy mentions an arrival to the red carpet “without fanfare”, for those with a taste for such things, the 600 was equipped with a two-tone horn, the louder setting being loud.

MBNA print advertising, 1965.

While some of the 600 SWBs were chauffeur driven (a central divider (partition) was optional), exclusively, that was the target market for the Pullmans although one was built without the standard divider for an “owner-driver” (a Hollywood film director with a large family).  Accordingly, stand-alone advertisements for the Pullman were rare with the photographic focus tending to be split between (1) the visual impact on others were one to arrive being driven in one and (2) the opulence of the passenger compartment, enjoyed by those being driven.  Unlike most automotive advertising, when documenting the big limousines, there was little emphasis on the cockpits which were (by comparison with sedans) cramped, with the divider imposing a sometimes uncomfortably upright driving position.  These were cars designed for the comfort of the owners, not the help.  The mohair upholstery (cloth in the rear compartments of limousines a European tradition) rarely was specified in US-delivered 600s, the buyer preference overwhelmingly for leather.  Amusingly, upon request, the factory would trim a 600 in MB-Tex (a high-quality vinyl that was not not quite indestructible but was famously durable) but it’s believed none were built.  Visually indistinguishable from leather all MB-Tex lacked was the pleasure of the olfactory sensations hide provided but aerosol packs are available for those wanting the best of both worlds. 

Lindsay Lohan never forgave dictator Hosni Mubarak (1928–2020; president of Egypt 1981-2011) for shouting at Bill Clinton (b 1946; US president 1993-2001).  When in 2011 told in 2011 he’d fallen from power as a victim of the "Arab Spring", she responded: “Cool.”  When told it was brought about by a military coup she replied: “Gross!”  Ms Lohan doesn’t approve of coups d'état and believes soldiers should "stay in the barracks" and allow due constitutional process to be followed.   

From the meaning “coarse in texture or quality” developed by the 1520s the sense “not sensitive, dull stupid” while that of “vulgar, coarse in a moral sense” emerged within a decade.  The early fifteenth century meaning “entire, total, whole, without deductions came via the earlier notion “general, not in detail” and in that sense became part of the standard language of accounting (the idea of a “gross profit” being the “before tax” number as opposed to the post-tax “net profit” was known in the 1520s) although the familiar GNP (GNP) didn’t appear until 1947.  The meaning “glaring, flagrant, monstrous” was in use by at least the 1580s and despite it sounding like “valley girl” dialect from the 1980s, the use of “gross” to mean “disgusting” was in US student slang in use by at least 1958; this meaning developed from the earlier use as an intensifier of unpleasant things ("gross stupidity" etc).  The phrase “gross-out” (make (someone) disgusted) became common in the early 1970s while that other favourite (grossness) was in use (purely as a marker of size) by the early 1400s with the more familiar sense of “state of being indelicate, rude, or vulgar” documented in the 1680s.  “Grossness” became a popular word on social media meaning variously “ugly, smelly, disgusting etc) and grossnessness was a twenty-first century adaptation applied more for amusing effect than emphasis.  The idea of a gross being “a dozen dozen” (ie 144) dates from the early fifteenth century from the Old French grosse douzaine (large dozen) although earlier it meant measure of weight equal to one-eighth of a dram.  The verb developed from the adjective in that the late nineteenth century meaning “"to earn a total of” may be compared with the adjectival use “whole, total”.

Lindsay Lohan (with un-done shoe laces) leaving the grocery store having stocked up on essentials, 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).

Historically, a grocer (used as a surname as early as the mid-thirteenth century) was a trader who owned or managed a grocery store in which were sold groceries; a specialized type was the greengrocer who stocked fresh fruits & vegetables from small shops, typically dotted around suburbs.  The origin of such folk being “grocers” is that they purchased their goods in bulk (ie “by the gross”) at a lower unit cost than if supplied individually or sold in small quantities.  It’s an idea probably as old as commerce itself (indeed, the very essence of trade is selling stuff for more than the cost of purchase/transport/storage etc) but “grocers” in a recognizably modern sense emerged in late thirteenth century Europe (they were known also as “providors” “spicers” or “purveyors”) when traders in the dry goods (sugar, spices etc and eventually tea, cocoa & coffee) which had become available in bulk as a result of European explorers reaching remote countries.  The trader bought their stock in bulk from wholesalers, splitting the items into the smaller quantities purchased by individual consumers.  Buying in bulk didn’t by definition imply everything bought “by the gross” (ie 12 dozen (144)) because different standard measures were used for different types of commodities but the principle was the same.  The word grocer came from grossier (French for “wholesaler”), from the from the Medieval Latin grossarius (wholesaler (literally “dealer in quantity” and the source also of the Spanish grosero and the Italian grossista), from the Late Latin grossus.  From the late 1600s until the 1850s, the word “grocery” referred to a place where people went to drink.

1970 Cadillac Eldorado: 500 cubic inch (8.2 litre) V8 rated at 400 HP (gross).

Until 1971-1972, US car manufacturers quoted power outputs in “gross horsepower” (usually described as HP (horsepower) or BHP (brake horsepower) which meant the measure was taken on an engine dynamometer (the “brake” in BHP) without any power-sapping accessories (generator, alternator, power steering pump, water pump, AC (air-conditioning) compressor etc) being attached.  Additionally, optimised ignition timing was set, low-restriction exhaust headers were installed and neither air cleaners nor anti-emissions equipment were fitted.  What this produced was a number of interesting to engineers and those writing advertising copy but there was often quite a distant relationship to a customer’s experience with what they drove off the showroom floor.  By contrast net horsepower (defined by both the US SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) and DIN (Deutsche Industrienorm (German industrial standard)) tested the engine with all standard accessories installed (including regular induction & exhaust systems) and in all aspects tuned to factory specifications (ie the form in which the things would appear in showrooms).

For the consumer, use of the gross number wasn’t the only misleading thing about Detroit’s rated power outputs in the 1950s & 1960s.  Sometimes they were over-stated (exaggeration long the most common element in advertising) but increasingly the number came to be set artificially low.  In the latter cases, this was done variously to try to (1) fool the insurance companies (which had noted the striking correlates between horsepower and males aged 17-29), (2) not upset the politicians who were becoming aware of the increasing carnage on the roads) or (3) fool those setting the rules in competition (most infamously the 1968 Ford 428 cubic inch (7.0 litre) CobraJet V8 which was rated at a most conservative 335 bhp which enabled it to dominate its class in drag-racing; after that the sanctioning body ignored manufacturers’ claims and set their own ratings).  So, for a variety of reasons, many HP claims were little more than “think of a number” and, late in the era of the crazy muscle cars (1969-1970), a some high-performance V8s were capable of generating as much as 100 gross bhp more than what was put on the tin.

1976 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible: 500 cubic inch (8.2 litre) V8 rated at 190 HP (net).  The notional loss of 210 HP (52.5 %) of engine power was accounted for partly by the change in method from gross to net but the V8 was also detuned in the quest for lower emissions and reduced fuel consumption. Cadillac succeeded in the former; in the the latter not so much and the engine (the industry's biggest in the post-war years) was downsized, firstly to 425 (7.0, 1977-1979) and finally to 368 (6.0, 1980-1984).  When production ended in 1984, it was the last big-block V8 factory-fitted to a US-built passenger car.

Despite the urban myth (which still appears), the industry’s switch from the use of gross to net power ratings was not the product of a government edict or regulation although there was certainly a bit of a nudge because “consumer protection” and “truth-in-advertising” laws meant Detroit had to move closer to realism.  As early as the early 1960s, the emissions control hardware had made the gross readings even more misleading and the increasing use of these devices (PCV (positive crankcase ventilation) valves, air pumps & retarded timing) materially reduced real-world power which, coupled with the reduction in compression ratios which came with the removal of lead from gas (petrol) meant that in 1970-1971, claimed HP began precipitously to fall.  In 1971-1972, although the reductions seemed severe, it was the change in method (gross to net) which accounted for most of the differences but over the next decade, as the emission rules tightened and CAFE (corporate average fuel efficiency) standards were imposed, outputs really did fall; the manufacturers to some extent disguised this by re-tuning the thing to generate prodigious low-speed torque (at the expense of mid and upper-range power) but the differences really were obvious and the 1974-1984 period came to be known as the “malaise era” for a reason.

Grossadmiral and grossnessness: Official photograph of Großadmiral Alfred von Tirpitz (1849–1930; State Secretary of the German Imperial Naval Office 1897-1916) with his famous “twin-forked” beard (left) and Hermann Göring (1893–1946; leading Nazi 1922-1945, Hitler's designated successor & Reichsmarschall 1940-1945) in SA (Sturmabteilung (literally “Storm Division” but better known as the “brownshirts” or “stormtroopers”) uniform at a Reichsparteitag (Party Rally), Nuremberg (believed to be the 1934 event, right).

In countries of the common law tradition which criminalized make homosexual acts, historically, the offence of “gross indecency” (a non-penetrative sexual act) was the companion to the “detestable and abominable vice of buggery” (a non-penetrative sexual act).  For countries with legal systems base on the common law tradition, “negligence” & “gross negligence: are conceptually related but differ in degree (not kind); the practical distinction lies in culpability thresholds and legal consequences, which vary by jurisdiction and context.  Negligence (at law sometimes as “ordinary negligence”) is the failure to exercise the standard of care a “reasonable person” (also a concept with a long legal history) would in similar circumstances be expected to exercise.  Depending on the case, negligence may involve carelessness, inadvertence or a lack of due attention and does not imply “moral blameworthiness” beyond failing to meet the objective standard.  In England, although Lord Denning’s (1899-1999; English judge 1944-1982) quip: “gross negligence is negligence with a vituperative epithet” is often cited, in operation, the term has substantive effects and in the criminal law there is the offence of "gross negligence manslaughter".  The only ones who seem to continue (except in the most egregious cases) to remain exempt from being subject to the threshold standard of "gross negligence" are the doctors who seem still able to convince all and sundry every inconvenient death is "medical misadventure".   

“Gross negligence” is not at law a separate tort (although it can operate as if it is) and is an aggravated form of negligence, understood generally as a great departure from the standard of care, demonstrating reckless disregard or indifference to the safety or rights of others, thus judges having included in the judgments phrases such as “utter disregard for prudence”. “want of even scant care” and “conduct bordering on recklessness”.  While “gross negligence” does fall short of intentional wrongdoing, it can approach or even approximate recklessness on the spectrum of culpability and in many cases, contractual exclusions or liability waivers may bar claims for ordinary negligence but cannot exclude liability for gross negligence.  It’s also a standard administered on a “case-by-case” basis and certain immunities (such as statutory protections for volunteers or professionals) may not apply to gross negligence.  Were a medically untrained “good Samaritan”, attending to an injured person they’d stumbled upon, to do something which if done by a nurse or doctor might be thought “negligent”, they’d almost certainly not be held liable on that basis and even had it been a passing medical professional who had done the same act, the threshold of “gross negligence” still might not be met.

Map: World GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in PPP (purchasing power parity) 2025.

GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and GNP (Gross National Product) were once the most commonly used metrics economics calculated to measure a nation’s macroeconomic performance.  GDP measured the total market value of all final (ie end of process which may be multi-national) goods and services produced within a country’s borders during a specific period (usually a year or quarter although faster reporting mechanisms have resulted in some also producing “provisional” monthly outcomes).  GDP’s core principle is the “location of production” and included all domestically produced products, regardless of the corporate ownership structure which meant off-shore production by domestically owned companies was not included.  For economists and policy-makers, GDP remains attractive because (1) its movements tend to track (though not necessarily in unison) markers like employment & inflation and (2) it is relatively easy to accurately to measure; it continues to be used by most governments (including some of the larger, sub-national units) and institutions such as the IMF (International Monetary Fund), UN (United Nations), World Bank, OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation & Development) and BIS (Bank for International Settlements).

GNP (usually) is broader in that it measures the total market value of all final goods and services produced by a country’s nationals, regardless of where that production occurs, the core principle being ownership of the means of production & distribution.  Essentially, what GNP measures is (1) value of output produced by domestic-owned firms at home and off-shore and (2) income earned by individuals & companies from overseas investments; thus excluded is output produced domestically by foreign-owned firms meaning the difference between GDP & GNP can vary greatly between economies depending on their structure.  What links GDP & GNP is a mysterious formula (which began as an add-on for modelling tools) called NFIA (net factor income from abroad) explained as: FI earned by residents from abroad – FI earned by non-residents in the country meaning GNP = GDP + income earned by residents abroad.  NFIA is important to those wishing to analyse GNP because of the effect large multinational corporations (Japan, the UK & US emblematic examples) have on the calculations and, as a general principle, GDP tends better to reflects domestic economic activity while GNP is a better measure of aggregate national income available to residents.  The long-standing (if not always understood except as a comparative) GDP remains the standard “headline measure” most familiar to general observers while GNP is more useful for economists and other specialists.  Essentially, GDP is a measure of the value of local production while GNP calculates national income.  Economics being about money, GDP was thus something of an abstraction but GNP had limitations which is why economists created the newer GNI (Gross National Income) as a refinement GNP; it measure the same underlying concept (income accruing to a country’s resident) but is framed explicitly in terms of income terms rather than production.

Bhutan's construct of GNH (Gross National Happiness).

GNI is the total income earned by a country’s residents and businesses, including income from abroad and excluding income earned domestically by non-residents (ie GNI = GDP + net primary income from abroad) where “income” included (1) wages & salaries, (2) profits, operating surpluses and self-employment income and (3) property income (dividends, interest, reinvested earnings & rents).  GNI frequently aligns almost exactly with GNP and although GNP focuses on production by nationals whereas GNI emphasizes income received by residents, most major trans-national institutions (UN, IMF, BIS etc) tend to use GNI rather than GNP because (1) income is easier to interpret for welfare, savings and consumption analysis, (2) there is structural consistency with accounting frameworks and (3) the numbers are most adaptable to integration with modelling software handling inputs such as NDI (national disposable income), savings rates and balance of payments outcome.  Importantly, it’s also “meaty” for policy makers because governments tax and redistribute income, not gross output statistics.  GNI is thus something of an international standard although the government of Bhutan calculates and publishes an index of GNH (Gross National Happiness) which, philosophically, puts a premium on collective happiness over economic growth.  Although the formula has over the years been made more sophisticated, it’s based still on “four pillars”: cultural preservation, sustainable development, environmental conservation and good governance.