Skunk

Skunk (pronounced skuhngk)

(1) Any of various American musteline mammals (of the weasel family) of the subfamily Mephitinae, especially the Mephitis mephitis (striped skunk), typically having a black and coat with a white, V-shaped stripe on the back and a bushy tail; infamous for the noxious smelling fluid sprayed from two musk glands (anal gland) at the base of the tail when alarmed or attacked

(2) In slang, a most contemptible person; a cheat, knave, scoundrel or stinker.

(3) In slang, anything very bad or a failure; something not a total failure yet with still badly flawed can be described as “skunky” although, in the way of such things, sub-sets of youth have repurposed “skunky” to mean “very good; highly regarded; most satisfactory” (al la the earlier inversion of “filth”), possibly under the influence of the famously potent strain of weed.

(4) In US Navy slang, an unidentified ship or target.

(5) In the slang of drug-users, a strain of Cannabis sativa & Cannabis indica with high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (exceeding those of typical hashish), noted for its exceptionally powerful psychoactive properties (also as skunkweed, the name derived from its highly aromatic properties).

(6) In the slang of certain (mostly North American) sports, to defeat thoroughly in a game, especially when the opponent has been prevented from scoring.

(7) In the game of cribbage, a win by 30 or more points (a double skunk 60 or more, a triple skunk 90 or more).

(8) In brewing, of beer, to spoil.

(9) In popular culture, a person whose lifestyle (or as it’s representing in their fashion choices) is a hybrid of the skinhead and punk sub-culture, the construct being sk(inhead) + p(unk).

1625–1630: An early Americanism, described as the Massachusett reflex of the southern New England region Proto-Algonquian šeka·kwa, the construct being šek- (to urinate) + -a·kw (a fox, a fox-like creature); a similar form was noted as the Abnaki segākw, segôgw & segonku (he who squirts urinates).  The first application of the verb was in 1831 when it was used in sport to mean “to completely defeat; to prevent from scoring” and it was used as an insult as early as 1841.  In botany, a local cabbage which gave of a strongly pungent odor when bruised was in 1751 nicknamed skunk-cabbage, having been known as skunkweed since 1738 (botanically unrelated to the later use in drug culture although the etymological influence was similar).

Skunk hair.

The term “skunk hair” originally described a thick blonde highlight applied to dark hair but it’s now used of any two-tone combination (and strictly speaking, beyond two-color schemes it becomes a variegation). Skunk hair is derided by many who treat it as a class-identifier, associating it with those in lower socio-economic demographics, the folk who used to be labelled "not of the better classes".  However, it offers real advantages over other color-changes in that it's possible to design one to accommodate re-growth, something frankly impossible with conventional styles which almost always require maintenance and for true obsessives than can be even weekly.  While it's true there is a genuine "dark roots" aesthetic which on the right subject can be truly stunning, they're a rare breed so it's a niche market few choose to inhabit.  By contrast, a properly executed skunk can last for months.

Lindsay Lohan 2003 with what is sometimes now described as "skunk hair" although it's better understood as a coloring when the dark/light contrast is more dramatic.

Czech, Danish, German, Norwegian, Swedish and Slovak all adopted the English spelling, other variations including the Finnish skunkki, the French skunks, the Icelandic skunkur, the Japanese: スカンク (sukanku) and the Russian скунс (skuns).  In idiomatic use, the phrase “as welcome as a skunk at a garden party” refers to someone badly behaved who is unwelcome and actively avoided, the analogy essentially literal.  By contrast, “drunk as a skunk” means “highly inebriated” (also “skunked” in the vernacular) and belongs to a class of phrases which make no apparent sense and endure only because of their memorable rhyme although “drunk as a monk” may have come from empirical observation.  Usefully, in polite society, most are acceptable in a way the rhyming “drunk as a cunt” is not.  Skunk and skunks are nouns & verbs, skunking is a verb, skunked is an adjective & verb, skunky & skunkish are adjectives; the noun plural is skunks or (especially collectively) skunk.  The adverb skunkily is a non-standard form and the verb skunkify appears exclusive to drug and related cultures.

Skunkworks

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works logo.

A favored term in industries such as motorsport, aviation, defense, aerospace and ICT, a skunkworks is a research & development (R&D) facility within a large organization which exists to pursue special or urgent projects which can’t conveniently be pursued within the normal structures.  A skunkworks was originally a distinct physical space but latterly it’s been used also to describe concepts or projects and skunkworks can be either ad-hoc creations which are dissolved when their purpose has been fulfilled or they can evolve into permanent institutions.  One of the attractions of the skunkworks concept is that, properly implemented, it operates without the apparently inevitable bureaucracy which evolves in large corporations, stifling and suppressing new ideas.  In a skunkworks, the only administrative structures which exist are there directly to handle the needs of the project, unlike corporate bureaucracies which rather than being a means to an end, tend to become an impediment to the means.

Airframe nose-cone outside the skunkworks tent, circa 1943.

The origin of the term dates from 1943 when the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation needed urgently to develop a jet-engined pursuit (fighter) aircraft to counter the imminent threat intelligence suggested the allied air forces would soon face from German jet-fighters.  With war production operating at high-intensity, Lockheed’s factories were operating at 100% capacity and thus no space was available for the project so somewhere had to be found.  The details of quite what happened next have become the stuff of industry myth & legend but according to Lockheed-Martin’s official history, a large circus tent was rented and erected next to the closest available space which turned out to be adjacent to a processing facility which used processes emitting a strong odor.  These wafted over, permeating the tent and one of the engineers recalled the newspaper comic strip, "Li'l Abner," in which there was a running joke about a mysterious and malodorous place deep in the forest called the "Skonk Works" where a strong drink was brewed from skunks, old shoes and other strange ingredients.  One day, the engineer answered the telephone by saying "Skonk Works” and, in the way Chinese whispers work, his fellow employees decided it was the punchier “skunk works”, the name adopted by Lockheed as the official pseudonym for their Advanced Development Projects (ADP) division (now Advanced Development Programs).  There are variations of the story including which omits any mention of a tent, suggesting the ADP began in the mot-balled 3G distillery which still reeked with the smells of making bourbon but Lockheed-Martin has published a photograph of a prototype aircraft nose-cone with the tent in the background.

Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star.

The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star was the first skunkworks project although the team did undertake some work on the P-38 Lightning, first flown in 1939.  The first P-80 was built in a remarkable 147 days which, even given the urgency of wartime production which tended to compress many development programs, did seem to vindicate the skunkworks concept.  The P-80 reflected the thinking of the time and essentially optimized the airframe of a piston-engined fighter around a jet engine.  In that sense it was a developmental cul-de-sac and future directions would be set by the German’s Messerschmitt 262, all designers influenced by the swept-wings and other aerodynamic enhancements which would define the next generation of fighters.  However, the P80’s design was fundamentally sound, in 1946 setting a new world speed record of 623.8 mph (1003.8 km/h) and versions were still used as front-line fighters in the Korean War (1950-1953) although the unexpected appearance in the skies of Russian-built Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s (NATO reporting name: Fagot) saw the US rush to send squadrons of North American F86 Sabres to match the swing-wing threat.  However, some overseas customers used them as fighters as late as 1974 and so versatile did the platform prove that it continued to be developed in a number of roles including reconnaissance, the US military maintaining a fleet as jet-trainers until well into the 1990s.

Lockheed Martin SR-72 conceptual rendering.

Other skunkworks projects of note include the U-2 spy plane which played a notable role during the Cold War, the F-104 Starfighter which earned two nicknames (“the manned missile” & “the widow maker”; a brace which may be thought of as cause and effect), the high-speed, high-altitude SR-71 Blackbird which in the 1960s which set records which stand today and the F-22 Raptor, thirty-odd years on still the world’s most capable short-range interceptor which would have been produced in much greater numbers had not the USSR dissolved, ending the notion of dog-fights over Berlin being part of the Pentagon’s war-planning.  Much of their work appears now to be devoted to hypersonic (Mach 5 (5 x the speed of sound and beyond)) unmanned aerial vehicles (which should be called "UAVs", the common moniker "drone" not appropriate for these)) platforms for one purpose and another.  Most of the projects are thus far still vaporware although there have been notable advances in systems and specific components but the most dramatic (and best publicized), the SR-72 seems unlike to proceed even to the prototype stage although the speculated shape does suggest the engineers who ran the numbers on the Concorde's wind-tunnel sessions in the 1960s did their sums correctly.  Whatever form of hypersonic UAV eventually does emerge from the skunkworks, it will be armed with hypersonic missiles, a necessity because if existing missiles were used, the thing would shoot itself down.

Murmuration

Murmuration (pronounced mur-muh-rey-shuhn)

(1) An act or instance of murmuring.

(2) In ornithological use, the correct collective name for a flock of starlings although sometimes (controversially according to the ornithologists) extended to bees.

(3) In sociology and zoology, an emergent order in a multi-agent social system.

1350–1400: A Middle English borrowing from the Old French murmure (which endures in modern French) from the Medieval Latin murmurātiōn (stem of murmurātiō), derived from the Latin murmur (humming, muttering, roaring, growling, rushing etc).  The wealth of words related to murmur includes rumble, buzz, hum, whisper, muttering, purr, undertone, babble, grumble, mutter, susurration, drone, whispering, humming, mumble, rumor, buzzing and susurrus.

Murmuration of starlings above the Negev desert, near Rahat, Israel, February 2018.

The adoption of murmuration as the collective noun for starlings is thought derived from the sound of the very large groups that starlings form at dusk.  The ornithologists did not approve of the apiarists borrowing the word to describe bees, maintaining bees exist in a swarm, drift, erst or grist.  There are however no rules for this and an alternative collective noun for starlings is a chattering and this is applied also to chicks, choughs and goldfinches.

Erection

Erection (pronounced ih-rek-shuhn)

(1) The act of erecting.

(2) The state of being erected.

(3) Something erected, as a building or other structure.

(4) In physiology, a distended and rigid state of an organ or part containing erectile tissue, especially of the penis when filled with blood.

1495–1505: From the Late Latin ērēctiōn- (stem of ērēctiō), the construct being erect + -ion.  The Late Latin erectionem (nominative erectio) was the noun of action from the past participle stem of erigere (to set up, erect).  Erect was from the Middle English erect, from the Latin ērectus (upright), past participle of ērigō (raise, set up), the construct being ē- (out) + regō (to direct, keep straight, guide).  The suffix –ion was from the Latin -iō (genitive -iōnis) and was appended to a perfect passive participle to form a noun of action.  Erection & erector are nouns, erect & erected are adjective & verbs, erecting is a verb, erectable is an adjective (and a noun in commercial use) and erectile is an adjective; the noun plural is erections. 

The meanings "the putting up" (of a building of other structure) and the "stiffening of the penis" are both from 1590s (the common acronym in physiology is flaccid).  In the early-modern medical literature, it was applied also when describing turgidity and rigidity of the clitoris but this use has faded.  The condition priapism (morbidly persistent erection of the penis) is from the Late Latin priapismus, from Greek priapismos (also "lewdness"), from priapizein (to be lewd) from Príāposi (in Greek mythology, a minor rustic fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens and male genitalia and most noted for his over-sized, permanent erection).  Priapism is not the desirable condition it sounds; if untreated, it will cause permanent muscle damage.  The rare forms nonerection, preerection & reerection are now generally restricted to technical documents and since the late nineteenth century have tended increasingly to be hyphenated, the other most commonly seen forms are erectile (often as an adjective applied to dysfunction), an 1822 borrowing from the French érectile and erected, the simple past tense and past participle of erect.

Modern ballistics

In astronautics, a transporter erector is a vehicle used to (1) support a rocket for transportation and (2) place a rocket in an upright position within a gantry scaffold from which they are launched.  They differ from transporter launchers which are mobile platforms from which (usually smaller, shorter-range, surface-to-air (SAM) and surface-to-surface (SSM)) missiles can be launched without the need of an external gantry scaffold or other structure.

Transporter launcher: Still in service, the 2K11 Krug is a Soviet-era medium-range, medium-to-high altitude surface-to-air missile (SAM) system.  The NATO reporting name is SA-4 Ganef (after a word of Yiddish origin meaning "thief" or "rascal").  The antiquity of much of the materiel used by the Russian military often attracts comment but military hardware sometimes hits a "sweet spot" in the search for the compromise between functionality, economy of production & operation and an admirable shelf life.  In the US inventory, both the Boeing B52 bomber (1955) and the Sidewinder air-to-air (AAN) missile (1956) remain in service and it's not impossible they may enjoy a hundred year life.

Transporter erector: Known internally at NASA as a “crawler” a transporter erector moves to Pad 39A the Saturn V rocket used for the Apollo 14 Moon mission, January 1971.

Getting it up: Kim Jong-un (Kim III, b 1982; Supreme Leader of DPRK (North Korea) since 2011) supervises the erection of his big Hwasong-14 inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM), July 2017.

For the Hwasong-14, the DPRK used an eight-axle version of the WS51200 transporter, the largest of the WS series built by Wanshan Special Vehicles in China.  Interestingly, as far as is known, the Korean People's Army (KPA) is the only military using the WS51200, none appearing to be in service with the Chinese PLA (People’s Liberation Army) and it’s believed the DPRK obtained eight WS51200s in 2011, supplied as timber and logging transporters to evade UN sanctions.  The Supreme Leader also has a fondness for expensive German cars, the importation of which by the DPRK is also banned but a number have appeared in his garage.

The Supreme Leader's big missiles: Hwasong-14 ICBM with 8-axle transporter erector (left), Hwasong-15 ICBM with 9-axle transporter erector (centre) and Hwasong-16 ICBM with 11-axle transporter erector (right).

All else being equal, as the range of a missile increases, it becomes bigger and heavier.  Transporter erectors are thus built on an extendable chassis, permitting additional length and more tyres to support longer and heavier missiles.  Whereas in 2017 an eight-axle chassis was sufficient for the Hwasong-14, by the time the Hwasong-16 was on parade in 2020, eleven were needed.

Size matters: Mock-up of The Supreme Leader with 24 axle transporter erector. 

Like his grandfather Kim Il-sung (Kim I, 1912–1994; Great Leader of DPRK (North Korea) 1948-1994) and father Kim Jong-il (Kim II, 1941-2011; Dear Leader of DPRK (North Korea) 1994-2011), the Supreme Leader thinks big and had his ICBM programme continued to use liquid fuels, he would have been compelled to add more and more axles as size and range grew.  However, following the development path of both the US and USSR, the DPRK switched from liquid to solid-fuel propulsion which permits (1) downsizing, a reduction in the size & weight of the missile required for a given warhead, (2) a longer range, (3) the use of a shorter transporter erector, (4) a smaller number of support vehicles and staff during deployment and (5) a much reduced launch time because the several hours it takes to "fill 'er up" a liquid-fueled device are removed from the cycle.  The Supreme Leader had teased observers in 2021 when he revealed the development of a solid-fuel ICBM was "well-progressed" as part of the military's five-year plan.  A spokesman for the Pentagon said at the time they "were aware" of the project.  There's something about the term "five-year plan" which seems to attract dictators.   

First shown in February 2023 at the platinum jubilee (75^th anniversary) parade marking the formation of the KPA in 1948, the Hwasong-18 three-stage, solid-fuelled ICBM was launched on a test flight the following April, a second undertaken in July, the highlight of which was promotional film clip issued by the foreign ministry.  Much as the technology of his big missiles has improved over the years, the Supreme Leader's video production crew have also honed their techniques and have evolved from James Bond style circa 1965 to something close to 1990s Hong Kong action movies with the addition of drone cameras.  The critics were generally impressed with the improvement although some suspected digital editing may have been involved but that's hardly a trick unique to the DPRK and a nice touch was the continued use of a narrator speaking with the same excited urgency of a DPRK newsreader.  One obvious hint of the advantage of solid-fuel configuration was the  being launched from the same 9-axle transporter erector as the shorter-range Hwasong-15 whereas the Hwasong-16 had demanded an 11-axle chassis.  Analysts note the DPRK's Pukguksong-5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) were solid-fueled and its assumed the ground-launched technology will be similar.

Hwasong-18 launch video.  All that can be hoped is that the next release includes multi-lingual sub-titles because the narrator is a star and his words deserve to be understood by all.