Gallimaufry

Gallimaufry (pronounced gal-uh-maw-free)

(1) A hodgepodge (or hotchpotch); a medley of the unrelated; a mélange; a miscellany; jumble; a mish mash; olio; potpourri; an omnium-gatherum.

(2) Figuratively, something messy or confused.

(2) In music, any absurd medley especially if elaborate.

(3) In cooking, a stew.

1545–1555: from the Middle French galimafrée (ragout, hash; a kind of sauce or stew), from the Old French calimafree (sauce made of mustard, ginger, and vinegar; a stew of carp) of uncertain origin but probably coining of peasant cuisine, a conflation of galer (to amuse oneself; to have fun) + the Old Northern French (Picard) dialect mafrer (to gorge oneself; gluttonously to eat), from the Middle Dutch moffelen (to eat, to nosh (from Middle Dutch moffelen, (from the idea “to open one's mouth wide” of imitative origin)).  The alternative spellings were gallimaufray & gallimaufrey, both even more rare than gallimaufry although in historical fiction and poetry both have appeared, either suit the depiction of the era or as a device of rhyme.  Elsewhere, the equivalent sense was conveyed by Sammelsurium or Mischmasch (German), galimatija (Bulgarian), zibaldone (Italian), papazjanija (Serbo-Croatian), galimatías (Spanish) and karmakarışık şey (Turkish).  Gallimaufry is a noun; the noun plural is gallimaufries.

Gallimaufry Restaurant, Bristol, United Kingdom, noted for the excellence of its date pudding.

The English language is of course a gallimaufry, an agglomeration of words from all over the planet or, as some prefer to say it: a slut of a language.  That means there’s a wide vocabulary, one consequence of which is that for gallimaufry there are plenty of alternatives including farrago, hash, hodgepodge, hotchpotch, medley, mélange, mishmash, mixture, tangle, welter, mess, muddle; goulash, grab bag, mixed bag, miscellany, omnium-gatherum, array, collection, combination, combo, conglomeration, diversity, garbage, group, jumble, kind, mishmash, mixture, patchwork, potpourri & salmagundi.  Most are probably a better choice than the obscure gallimaufry which is now restricted mostly to poetic or literary use although retail outlets in various fields have used it.  In Dog Latin (amusing constructions designed to resemble the appearance and especially the sound of Latin, many of which were coined by students in English schools & universities), the term is omnium-gatherum, the construct being the genuine Latin omnium, genitive plural of omnis (all) + the English gather + -um (the accusative masculine singular).  The origin is lost to history but the earliest recorded use was by Sir John Croke (1553-1620), an English judge and politician educated at Eton & Cambridge who served as the last speaker of the House of Commons before the death of Elizabeth I (1533–1603; Queen of England & Ireland 1558-1603).

US influencer Emma Chamberlain (b 2001, left) & US rapper Cardi B (stage name of Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar, b 1992, right), Met Gala 2026, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, May 2026.

In recent years, first port of call for anyone looking for a gallimaufry in a gown has been the annual Met Gala which has evolved into kind of fashion’s equivalent of the Eurovision Song Contest.  The event's “dress code” for 2026 was “fashion is art” though at the Met Gala it's more “suggested theme” than enforced code and designers have always interpreted things liberally.  That liberality sometimes has assumed such a level of abstraction that Met Gala outfits have defied attempts to see a link with the code but these two ensembles were on-message.  Ms Chamberlain's piece was quite lovely, the designer showing a fine understanding of the art of staggered ombré but Ms B's outfit was what Winston Churchill (1875-1965; UK prime-minister 1940-1945 & 1951-1955) might have called “a remarkable example of modern art.”

Lindsay Lohan, New York City, November 2022.

Lindsay Lohan in November 2022 appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America to promote the Netflix movie, Falling for Christmas.  What caught the eye was her pantsuit in a gallimaufry of colors from Law Roach’s (b 1978) Akris’ fall 2022 ready-to-wear collection, the ensemble including a wide-lapelled jacket, turtleneck top and boot cut pants fabricated in a green, yellow, red & orange Drei Teile print in an irregular geometric pattern.  Whether the color combination was inspired by the champagne jelly served in 1902 for the coronation of Edward VII (1841–1910; King of the UK & Emperor of India 1901-1910) wasn't discussed and the distinctive look was paired with a similarly eclectic combination of accessories, chunky gold hoop earrings, a crossbody Anouk envelope handbag, and Giuseppe Zanotti platform heels.  The enveloping flare of the trousers concealed the shoes which was a shame because, while hardly original, the Giuseppe Zanotti (b 1957) bebe-style pumps in gloss metallic burgundy leather deserved to be seen, distinguished by 2 inch (50 mm) soles, 6 inch (150 mm) heels, an open vamp, rakish counters and surprisingly delicate ankle straps.  The stylist's desire for the hem of the trousers to reach to the ground is noted but the shoes were nice pieces.  The fashion critics are a tough and unforgiving crew and it can be hard to predict which way they'll jump but the collective reaction was positive.  

Although the origins of the word gallimaufry lie in the peasant cuisine stews made from lamb, mutton, pork and beef, probably the best known gallimaufry is bouillabaisse (pronounced bool-yuh-beys, bool-yuh-beys or (in French), boo-ya-bes), the Provençal fish stew first cooked in the docks of the port city of Marseille.  The word bouillabaisse was from the Provençal Occitan boui-abaisso, bolhabaissa or bouiabaisso, a compound created with the two verbs bolhir (to boil) & abaissar (to reduce heat (ie to simmer)).  Dating from the mid nineteenth century, the word actually encapsulates the recipe was translated variously as either “boil and then lower the heat” or “when it boils, lower the heat”.  The instructions are not only a recipe but also medically sound, the boiling killing the dangerous organisms associated especially with shellfish.

An up-market bouillabaisse.

The dish, known in the Mediterranean since Antiquity, long pre-dates the entry of the word into French, being a stew cooked for their own consumption by fishermen, making use of by-catch, the unsalable rockfish neither fishmongers nor chefs wanted.  It was only when news of the tastiness of bouillabaisse spread that gradually it entered the canon of French cuisine although that would also change its nature, more expensive ingredients being added as it began to appear on restaurant menus.  Originally, it included only the boney fish with coarser, less flavorsome flesh but the fishermen would also add whatever shellfish, sea urchins, mussels, crabs or octopus might have ended up caught in their nets, the taste thus varying from day to day.  Vegetables such as leeks, onions, tomatoes, celery, and potatoes are simmered with the broth, served with the fish and of course, being the French, it’s accompanied with bread and an oil & garlic sauce.  Although not always part of the modern method of preparation, one of the key features in the cooking of bouillabaisse was that the experienced fishermen, added the fish at intervals, the time required for cooking varying.  The Portuguese version is called caldeirada.  Because it’s so specifically associated with something, the bouillabaisse is rarely used figuratively in the manner of gallimaufry although it can be done provided the context makes clear the use has nothing to do with fish: “The wallpaper was a bouillabaisse of shapes & swirls” or “The modern Republican Party is a bouillabaisse of right-wing fanatics, Christian evangelical fundamentalists, climate change deniers, white supremacists and conspiracy theorists drawn to any story which explains things in a more comprehendible way than science”.

Carp

Carp (pronounced kahrp)

(1) To find fault or complain querulously or unreasonably; be niggling in criticizing; cavil.

(2) A peevish complaint; to find fault with; to censure; to complain about a fault.

(3) A large, freshwater teleost (of, or relating to the Teleostei (fish with bony skeletons)) food fish of the family Cyprinidae (Cyprinus carpio), characterized by a body covered with cycloid scales, a naked head, one long dorsal fin, and two barbels on each side of the mouth.  It was native to Asia but was widely introduced in tropical and temperate waters; an important food fish in many countries and an introduced invasive pest in others.  There is one .cyprinid genus which tolerates salt water although many at times inhabit brackish water.

(4) Any of various other fishes of the family Cyprinidae; a cyprinid.

(5) In botany, a combining form occurring in compounds that denote a part of a fruit or fruiting body (best known in the form endocarp (the woody inner layer of the pericarp of some fruits that contains the seed).

(6) To say; to tell (obsolete).

1200-1250:  From the Middle English carpen (talk; to speak, to tell (someone something)), from the Old Norse karpa (to brag, wrangle) & karp (bragging) of unknown origin but linked to the Vulgar Latin carpere because of the meaning shift to “find fault with”, under the influence of the Latin carpō.  By the late fourteenth century, the sense had been further refined to mean “complain excessively about minor faults, often petulantly or without reason.  The Latin carpere (literally “to pluck” was used to convey the idea of "to slander or revile”), from the primitive Indo-European root kerp- (to gather, pluck, harvest).  The original sense in English (talk; to speak, to tell (someone something)) was between the mid-fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries maintained in the noun carper (talker), an agent noun from the carp; the modern sense of “a fault-finder” began to prevail from the 1570s.  Thus carping, which in the late thirteenth century was recorded as meaning “talk, speech; talkativeness, foolish talk” and was a verbal noun from the verb also by the 1570s came to be used to impart the idea of “unreasonable criticism or censure”.  The botanical use was from the New Latin -carpium, from the Greek -karpion, a derivative of karpós (fruit).

Among critics, there are clappers and carpers.

The name of the fish was from the late fourteenth century Middle English carpe, via the Old French carpa (the source also of the Italian & Spanish carpa), from either the Middle Dutch or the Middle Low German karpe and cognate with the Old High German karpfo, the Middle Dutch carpe, the Dutch karper, the Old High German karpfo & the German Karpfen (carp).  Although documentary evidence is lacking, some etymologists suggest the origin may be East Germanic (perhaps the unrecorded Gothic karpa) because the fish was in the fourteenth century introduced into English waterways from the Danube.  The Lithuanian karpis and the Russian karp are Germanic loan words but the most attractive name for the fish is doubtlessly the Japanese koi, first noted in 1727.  The ubiquitous goldfish is a type of carp and was introduced to Europe from China where it was native, their natural dull olive skins rendered by selective breeding into silver, red & black as well as the familiar orange.  The phrase “living in a goldfish bowl” dates from 1935 and was used figuratively to suggest a “lack of privacy”, based on the circular bowls in which the domestic pet fish were often kept, affording all a 360^o view of their activities.  The use of the noun gallimaufry (a medley, hash, hodge-podge) to describe various recipes of carp stews is mysterious but presumably related to the many other ingredients included to make the dish more palatable, the freshwater carp not highly regarded compared to the alternatives.  Carp convey a specific sense of the way a criticism is delivered and is subtly different from words like deprecate, condemn, censure, grumble, quibble, complain, criticize or reproach is that it’s held to be something nit-picking or pedantic.  Carp & carper are nouns; carped is a verb and carping is a verb, adjective & noun; the noun plural is carps although, of the fish, carp tends to be used when speaking collectively except when it’s regarding two or more species in which case it’s carps.

In some Australian waterways, carp have become a notable environmental threat, crowding out native species and adversely affecting water-quality because of their mud-sucking ways, causing erosion and killing of trees close to the water’s edge.  Although some water birds benefit from the abundant food source, they’re a rare winner.  The invasive species was introduced to the countries over a hundred years ago but the populations spiked massively after the 1960s when one genetic strain escaped from a fish farm in Victoria and in some places carp now constitute some 90% of the aquatic biomass.  As filter feeders (mud-suckers), they forage in the riverbeds, damaging aquatic plants, a feeding style which induces turbidity in the water, something unsuitable for many native fish.  Carp reproduce quickly, lack natural predators and are highly adaptable, able to take over ecological niches adding further stress to local flora & fauna.

In October 2022, a six-year research project to investigate the potential to introduce a herpes virus to control the carp delivered a final report to the Commonwealth & state governments.  In the national parliament, then deputy prime-minister and minister for Agriculture Barnaby Joyce MP (b 1967; thrice deputy prime-minister of Australia, 2016-date (the gaps due to “local difficulties”)) warmed to the idea of unleashing a venereal disease on “disgusting, mud-sucking carp”.

Pro-ana

Pro-ana (pronounced pro-anna)

(1) Of or relating to the position anorexia is a legitimate lifestyle choice.

(2) The on-line community advocating this view.  The most uncompromisingly pure among the community actively deny anorexia nervosa is a clinical condition.

(3) A movement for the promotion of behaviors related to anorexia nervosa. 

(4) A member of this movement or one of the related communities.

Circa 1998-2001:  The construct is pro + ana.  Pro was from the Classical Latin prō (in favor of, on behalf of), from the Proto-Italic por-, from the primitive Indo-European pr- & pro.  Ana is a clipping of of anorexia (an(orexi)a), a phonetic diminutive of the 1957 scientific term anorexia nervosa, the construct being the Ancient Greek ἀν (an) (without) + ὄρεξις (órexis) (appetite, desire) + the Latin nervōsa (nervous).  The clipping of "anorexia" was created both as verbal shorthand and coded language (so the matters of diet and related matters could be discussed without the risk of "outsiders" understanding.  "Ana" was thus a form of personification and a "cover", the outsiders hopefully assuming a young lady named Anna was being spoken of.  Pro-ana is a noun; the noun plural is pro-anas.

Only a matter of time: Lonaniana.

Ana in this context is thus obviously unrelated to the suffix -ana (familiar in forms such as “Victoriana” (of the era of the rein of Victoria (1819–1901; Queen of the UK 1837-1901)), “Americana” (of matters specific to US culture, politics etc), Holmesiana (memorabilia or writings related to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes created by Sir Arthur ConanDoyle (1859–1930)) etc) that became popular after being adopted in continental literature.  It was from the Latin -āna (neuter plural of –ānus (feminine -āna, neuter -ānum) and was applied to create formations meaning “of or pertaining to”.  In English the specific sense originally was “a collection of things that relate to a specific place, person etc”; the suffices -ic & -ica now fulfil a similar function.  All formations created by appending –ana are pluralia tantum (from the Latin plūrāle tantum (plural as such; plural only); the term describes a noun (either in certain or all its senses) that does not generally have a singular form.  In his A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) defined the suffix thus: “Books so-called from the last syllables of their titles; as Scaligerara, Thuaniana; they are loose thoughts, or casual hints, dropped by eminent men, and collected by their friends.”  An early exemplar was Thraliana, something of a gallimaufry of diary entries, jokes, poems and anecdotes, complied between 1776-1809 by Dr Johnson's dear friend by Mrs Hester Thrale (1741-1821) although those wanting something meatier will more enjoy the two volume Addisoniana (1803), a two-volume biographical and anecdotal anthology of the writings and conversations of the English essayist politician Joseph Addison (1672-1719), compiled and edited by Sir Richard Phillips (1767–1840); it’s a fine relic of a troubled time.

Palindromic elements: A collection of material relating to pro-ana would properly be titled “Pro-anaiana”.

Dr Johnson’s notion of “loose thoughts, or casual hints, dropped by eminent men, and collected by their friends” is familiar also as “table talk”.  Table talk literally is conversation (especially if informal or gossipy) among a group seated together for a meal or other social activity.  The point about table talk is it’s held to represent an individual’s “true” thoughts in unvarnished form (ie not “sanitized” for public consumption and for that reason the table talk of the illustrious or infamous often attracts interest when assembled and published.  However, such collections rarely are true transcripts and even if not deliberately misleading in that what can appear can be a verbatim account of what was spoken and an accurate summary of views and opinion, much can be lost in the transcription.  Classic examples of the difficulties historians encounter in the absence of audio recordings are the several editions of Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier (Table Talks at the Führer's Headquarters), published between the 1950s and 1980s, containing what were alleged to be transcriptions of (mostly) monologues delivered by Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; Führer (leader) and German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945) to guests at his lunches or dinners between 1941-1944.  As well as being edited at the time they were written, Albert Speer (1905–1981; Nazi court architect 1934-1942; Nazi minister of armaments and war production 1942-1945) pointed out the printed copy omits so much of the repetition, pauses and linguistic stumbles that could make meals with Hitler “stiflingly boring” for “the regulars who’d heard it all, many times before”.

Etymologists are inclined insist the correct form can be only "pro-ana" and there are traditions in English which supports this but the community itself uses ana, pro ana and proana interchangeably, the most common form the short-form ana, following the practice with anorexia nervosa which is truncated to anorexia in all but formal academic or clinical work.  Over two-odd decades, pro-ana has also spawned words such as thinspiration (often clipped to thinspo) and thinology, used to describe specialized editorial content of the calling; the much less-used term pro-mia referring to bulimia nervosa.  Pro-anas are purists who maintain high-standards; those who aspire to the anahood but in some way fail are dismissed as wannarexics.

Lindsay Lohan wearing (non-ana) red wrist-string.

The ana's standard means of social identification is a simple, beaded red bracelet, the beading of some significance because variations of red bracelets, some as simple as a wrist-string, have long been used by many cultures, usually with some sort of link to the idea of a good-luck charm.  Famously, a חוט השני (the khutt hasheni, a thin scarlet or crimson string) is sometimes worn as Jewish folk custom as a way to seek protection from those misfortunes which may be aimed at one by the עין הרע (evil eye).  It's most associated with the Kabbalah sect and Kabbalic scholars say there's nothing in ancient Jewish texts about wrist-strings of any color and the "tradition" is a recent folk practice which seems to have begun in the north-eastern United States early in the twentieth century.  Anas thus need always to check for beading before reaching out.

Notes

Although at the time it never reached the critical-mass needed to coalesce into a movement, the pro-ana concept actually pre-dates the web.  Among the bulletin boards the nerdiest connected to with 1200 or 2400 baud modems in the 1980s and early 1990s were both anorexia support boards and those which celebrated the condition but, once the indexed www (world-wide-web) was "bolted-on" to the internet the spread was rapid and, by the mid-late 1990s, pro-ana was global.

Pro-ana content tends to be (1) victim stories, (2) images & clips where ribcages & shoulder blades are often seen and clavicles much admired and (3), lists of helpful tricks and techniques.  Politically, the accepted pro-ana world view is they are not suffering from an illness; ana is a human right, an essential part of their identity and just another lifestyle choice.  As pieces of design, the sites tend to use pre-defined templates and in that are unremarkable although the preponderance of monochromic (in gray-scale) imagery is noted.  The pro-ana sites began to attract wider attention early in the twenty-first century, the irony being that much of the criticism came from the very publications many suggest contribute to eating disorders.  Off and on since then, pressure from the public and anti-ana organizations has compelled many hosts to shut down pro-ana sites although these efforts are Sisyphean, the relocations usually quick.

Pro Ana Tips and Tricks for Beginners

(1) Keep track of your calories.  Set an absolute number and NEVER exceed it while trying always, gradually, to lower the number.  Within the calorie limit, aim for a diet which is 75% leafy-green vegetables & legumes, 20% tart fruit and 5% nuts. Sugar should be zero because enough is in the fruit but, if absolutely necessary, a daily barley-sugar boiled sweet is OK (brush teeth immediately after, as well as good oral practice this will diminish the possibility of the appetite being stimulated.  This diet mix can at the margins be varied but must stay vegan.

(2) Drink lots of water; try to aim for seven litres a day but anything over five is OK.  Being hydrated is anyway healthy and drinking water before taking food helps fill your stomach faster so you’ll eat less.  Remember to not drink a lot of water at once; instead keep hydrated by drinking little amount after every few minutes.  Always drink it as cold as possible, it forces the burning of more calories to restore body temperature.  Unless operating in extreme conditions with high fluid loss, do not go over eight litres a day; water can be toxic in extreme cases and death has been reported among those who have ingested around 20 litres. 

(3) Place a full-length mirror in your bedroom and evaluate yourself on daily basis. This is one of the best ways to stay motivated and remember, you’re there to be critical as well as admire.  If you can arrange multiple mirrors to provide for a 360^o view that's even better because it makes it easier to focus on problem areas (these can persist even as overall weight is falling).

(4) Have small meals.  It’s easier for the body to burn three 100 calorie meals than one of 300 and gives your body the illusion that you’re eating enough to keep the stomach full, whereas you’re eating less.  Always eat slowly and chew thoroughly, it will hasten the digestive process.  After every meal, brush teeth.; again, this is good dental hygiene but with freshly brushed teeth, you'll be less inclined to eat. 

(5) Find an ana-buddy.  The anorexic diet can be a harsh mistress so an ana-buddy with whom you can talk about your problems and diet related stuff can be helpful but only if they're a kindred spirit.  This works not only by keeping each other motivated but you'll find also you'll teach each other new tricks or exercise routines.  You both must be 100% committed to the diet and such noble souls are rare so, if need be, replace them with someone wholly committed.  You're in a war with weight so be harsh and accept only allies who will help in the fight.

(6) With the aggressive pro-ana diet, it’s very important to take vitamin pills.  Research suggests that for most people on what is the orthodox "balanced diet", vitamin supplements are probably unnecessary (some researchers they can even be counter-productive) but because pro-ana doesn't include certain food groups, a daily multi-vitamin is recommended and usually adequate so resist the temptation to take two and do so only if you become light-headed or faint with any frequency; you may need specific additional supplements.  The most publicized deficiency associated with pro-ana is iron and it may thus be necessary greatly to increase the intake of leafy greens like spinach or peas, broccoli & string beans; seeds high in iron include pumpkin, sesame, hemp and flaxseeds.  One's family physician can obtain the tests to determine specific deficiencies and these should be dealt with by adjustment to the diet.  Remember though that doctors are apt to be dictatorial and the recommended technique to deal with their negativity is just to agree with whatever they say.  Try to appear sincere and be deferential; they like that.   

(7) Avoid butter and oils.  Treat them like sugar.  Also, resist the temptation to smoke or vape.  While it's true some short-term weight loss can be achieved by smoking cigarettes, (1) in the medium-long term weigh-gain is the typical consequence, (2) the nicotine in cigarettes is addictive making it difficult to use tobacco as a short-term or occasional "quick-fix" and (3) it's a carcinogenic product which, on average, appears to reduce life-expectancy by around a decade.  Not enough is yet known about vapes but there are many reports of adverse outcomes, presumed to be a consequence of inhaling that many chemicals.       

(8) Sleep at least eight hours a day, preferably more.  Less sleep means tiredness and hunger and you can’t eat while asleep.

(9) Keep setting a target weight.  Because of fluid retention and other cyclical variations, it’s probably counter-production to set daily targets and a weekly goal is better although true obsessives will monitor at least once and maybe several times a day; this is not discouraged.  To stay motivated, hang on the wall thinspiration photographs of slender models to observe while weighing-in.  Many non-ana diet sites suggest avoiding weighing-in daily and clinically they may be right it achieves little but they just don't understand the nature of obsessions.  Record the weigh-ins so you can chart progress over weeks and months; this requires nothing more demanding than the most basic open-source spreadsheet but math nerds who enjoy such things can do it with pen & paper.  Although for most purposes pencils are better than pens, ink is permanent so it's harder the cheat.

Thinspiration photo: Model Lululeika Ravn Liep (b 1998), Cover magazine, February 2015.

(10) Coffee and tea are good appetite suppressants.  Drink only black coffee or tea and NO milk or sugar.  Avoid caffeine drinks; either they’ll contain sugar or chemicals about which there exists no reliable research on how they affect the appetite.  Avoid the inherently sweet herbal teas; they do tend to stimulate the appetite in a way black tea and coffee don't.  Black tea and coffee are an important component in training the palette away from sweetness and towards the tart.  After a while, this will start to influence your choice of fruits and vegetables; as a general principle the darker and more bitter in taste, the better.  Care must of course be taken.  In its pure form, caffeine can be fatal in tiny quantities although in the form usually enjoyed (coffee), one would need to drink dozens of cups in a day to approach toxicity.  The French philosopher Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet; 1694–1778) (1694–1778), often at the Café de Procope in Paris, drank a reputed forty-odd cups a day, enjoying it so much he ignored the advice of his doctors to stop.  He lived to 84 but there’s no evidence the often attributed quotation: “It may be poison, but I have been drinking it for sixty-five years, and I am not dead yet” was his.  The more likely source is French author Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657–1757) whose actual words were: “I think it must be [a slow poison], for I’ve been drinking it for eighty-five years and am not dead yet.”   Fontenelle died a month short of his hundredth birthday.  The sensible approach is to restrict yourself to one strong (ie short black and such) coffee at the start of the day and otherwise just have cups of weak (even decaffeinated) instant coffee; think of it not as a stimulant but a companion.

(11) Wearing short clothes can be very motivating. When you wear short and revealing clothes and look at yourself in the mirror you will realize the parts where you need to lose weight and how important it is to you.  Wear in private clothes you'd never dare to wear in public and make it a goal to be able to wear them out without looking fat.    

(12) Drink the juice of a squeezed lemon in hot water first thing each morning and last thing each evening; it has the general effect of adding to the stomach acids which break up food.  Because of this acid, always brush teeth afterwards.

(13) If you have to eat in company, wear baggy clothes with big pockets which can be lined with plastic bags.  Then, when no one is looking, you can dispose of food and people will think you eat normally.  It sounds a difficult thing surreptitiously to manage and to start with it will be but you’ll learn to adopt techniques like always sitting in a corner or at the end of the table and soon become an expert.  It's easier than it sounds.

(14) Exercise every day.  Gyms are optional because you can do even better with ana-specific routines such as running up stairs or hills, both of which have an extraordinary multiplier-effect on whatever distance is undertaken.  Unlike gyms, it's also free.  Never use elevators and escalators; always take stairs.  Wherever possible replace travel by cars, trains and busses with walking or biking.  This is also good for the planet which is the only one we have.

(15) Eat ice; ice can be an alternative to a meal, it really works.  Shaved ice is best because it avoids dental damage and there are many things to consider when eating ice and curiously, sometimes it's advantageous to take more, sometimes less.  For a discussion on the mechanics of ice-eating: The eating of ice

Anorexia nervosa was included in the (1952) first edition of the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as a psycho-physiological reaction. The DSM-II (1968) moved it to Special Symptoms–Feeding Disturbances and in 1980, a new eating disorders section was created for the DSM-III.  The most significant structural change probably came in 1994 when in DSM-IV the condition was afforded its own section.  The DSM-5 (2013) relaxed some of the diagnostic criteria including, for the first time, rendering it all entirely gender-neutral, a gesture to conform with practices elsewhere rather than anything suggestion clinical experience was noting a greater gender-spread in the patient count.  Announcing DSM-5, the board noted it wished to reduce the number of patients in the former EDNOS (Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified) category, now reclassified as the OSFED (Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder) group.  Thus the psychiatrists staked their claim in this low-cal demarcation dispute by capturing the wannarexics.

Macaronic

Macaronic (pronounced mak-uh-ron-ik)

(1) A text composed of or characterized by Latin words mixed with vernacular words or non-Latin words given Latin endings (known in literary theory as the “macaronic verse”).

(2) In latter-day use, a text constructed with words from more than one language (written in a hodgepodge; a work of macaronic character).

(3) In structural linguistics, as macaronics, the study of or instances of macaronic language.

(4) Used loosely, anything mixed of stuff from different sources; a gallimaufry; a jumble (now rare).

(5) Of men, a dandy, foppish, trifling, affected (based on like “a macaroni” when used in that sense) (archaic).

1605–1615: From the sixteenth century New Latin macarōnicus, from the dialectal Italian maccarone (coarse dumpling), from the French macaronique (from the association of macaroni (the pasta) as peasant food with the vernacular language of peasants, thus the implication that mixing languages was indicative of “a lack of sophistication; being uneducated”, the construct being macaron(i) + -icus.  The Latin suffix -icus (feminine -ica, neuter -icum) was from i-stem + -cus and occurred in some original cases, becoming influential in adjectival formation and later used freely.  It was cognate with the Ancient Greek -ικός (-ikós), the Proto-Germanic -igaz (source of the Old High German and Old English -ig, the Gothic - -eigs, the Sanskrit -इक (-ika) and Proto-Slavic -ьcь (the latter becoming fossilized as a nominal agent suffix, but it likely originally also served adjectival functions).  The suffix was appended to nouns to form adjectives denoting (1) belong to, (2) derived from or (3) pertaining to and thus may be compared to the suffixes -ic & -ish.  The spelling macaronick has been obsolete since the eighteenth century.  Macaronic is a noun & adjective and macaronically is an adverb; the noun plural is macaronics.  The comparative is “more macaronic” and the superlative “most macaronic” and those presumably can be used either of (1) the number of “foreign” words in a text or (2) the extent of the perceived inelegance thus created.

Teofilo Folengo (1491–1544 (who wrote under the pseudonyms Merlino Coccajoa & Merlinus Cocaius)) is regarded as one of the earliest and certainly most celebrated of the Italian macaronic poets.  He had become a Benedictine monk after being disowned (and more to the point, disinherited) by his father, disappointed at his son being sent down from university for “bad behavior”, a character trait which the Benedictines seemed not wholly to have suppressed because while in the village close to the monastery, he was ensorcelled by the comely waif Girolama Dieda who led him astray.  They eloped but after years of wandering, he returned to the church, performing the necessary rites of repentance, remaining in “the arms of God” until he died.  It was in 1519 he published Maccaronea, a volume of burlesques in a style which proved influential, encouraging a host of imitators to pen a literature of rough and ribald satire in mingled Latin and Italian verse.  Helpfully, Brother Folengo in 1517 coined the Modern Latin macaronicus, based on the dialectal Italian maccarone (the pasta macaroni) and provided a verse referencing the ingredents: “Quoddam pulmentum farina, caseo, botiro compaginatum, grossum, rude, et rusticanum” which may be translated as “A certain dish made of flour, cheese, and butter, thick, crude, and rustic”, the elements deconstructed as farina (flour), caseo (cheese), botiro (butter), compaginatum (put together), grossum (thick), rude (crude; rough) & rusticanum (rustic).

So the macaronic verse was what might now be called a “mash-up” of vernacular words in a Latin context with Latin endings; applied loosely to verse in which two or more languages are jumbled together with little regard to syntax but so constructed as to be intelligible; that was what lent them the humor, they were obviously “wrong” but enough remained of conventional structures that the meaning was clear.  Because the dish maccarone was so associated with the rural poor (thus “peasant food”), the idea of the tangled, tortured language(s) of the verse was a caricature of the “talk of the uneducated, unsophisticated yokel”; in other words, a literary analogue of macaroni.  Although it was Folengo who popularized the technique its name, he wasn’t the first to publish verse in the style, Tifi (dagli) Odasi (the pen-name of Italian poet Michele di Bartolomeo degli Odasi (circa 1450–1492) in 1490 issuing Carmen macaronicum de Patavinis (Macaronic Song from Padua).  After the enthusiastic response to Folengo, the idea spread throughout Europe and much macaronic verse soon existed in French and German literature (the Germans calling them Nudeloerse although the works seem now to be listed as Knittelvers among the “amusing doggerel).

Portrait of Madame de Pompadour (1756), oil on canvas by François Boucher (1703-1770), Bavarian State Collection.

Soldiers liked pseudo Latin and Illegitimi non carborundum (Don't let the bastards grind you down) a classic of “Barracks Latin” while schoolboys & undergraduates were drawn to the macaronic limerick, the more bawdy the better:

King Louis, when passing through Bruges
Met a lady whose cunt was so huge
That he said, as he came
In that fabulous dame,
“Atta girl! Apris moi le deluge.” 

Apris moi le deluge (After me, the flood) was a phrase attributed to Louis XV (1710–1774; le Bien-Aimé (Louis the Beloved), King of France 1715-1774) who is reputed to have uttered the words to the Marquise de Pompadour (styled usually as Madame de Pompadour (Jeanne Antoinette Poisson (1721-1764), the king's official chief mistress 1745-1751)).  It conveys a feeling both narcissistic and nihilistic, the notion that once one is dead it matters little what happens in the world, an intoxicating sentiment expressed by characters in many novels.  Whether the king really spoke these exact words isn’t certain and there are different versions but it’s likely based on something he said and historians don’t doubt the fragment of thought is a glimpse into the royal mind.  In a more romantic telling of the tale, he whispers to his concubine: Après nous, le deluge (After us, the flood).

There was a young lady of Nantes
Très jolie, et très élégante, [Very pretty, and very elegant]
But her cunt was so small
It was no good at all,
Except for la plume de ma tante.

La plume de ma tante (The quill (pen) of my Aunt) is notorious for its use in French language teaching and derided as being as useless in general discourse as “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain”, neither “often coming up in conversation”.

Macaroni is of course an obviously Italian word, a quality once exploited for jocular effect by Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; Führer (leader) and German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945), someone not noted for his sense of humor.  In his (partly reliable) memoir, Albert Speer (1905–1981; Nazi court architect 1934-1942; Nazi minister of armaments and war production 1942-1945) recalled Benito Mussolini’s (1883-1945; Duce (leader) & prime-minister of Italy 1922-1943) 1937 state visit to Berlin being discussed during one of the Führer’s usually dreary social gatherings, recounting the way the sycophantic Dr Joseph Goebbels (1897-1945; Nazi propaganda minister 1933-1945) responded to Hitler having praised the Italian’s virtues and “Caesarean look.”:

“Goebbels interposed.  He was surely speaking in the name of all present, he said, if he called attention to the enormous difference between the Duce and the Führer.  After all, the Führer was quite another kind of personality. In Italy Mussolini might be something special, a Roman among plain ordinary Italians, as the Führer had sometimes remarked; but here in Berlin he was, after all, just an Italian among Germans. At any rate he, Goebbels, at times had felt that the Duce had come walking out of an operetta.  Hider’s initial response to this seemed to be one of contradictory emotions. His new friend was being denigrated, but at the same time he felt flattered and stimulated. When Goebbels followed this up with two or three skillful remarks, Hitler began imitating a few of Mussolini’s poses that had struck him as outré: the outstretched chin, the right hand braced against the hip, the straddle-legged stance. While the onlookers laughed obediently, he flung out a number of Italian or Italian-sounding words like patria, Victoria, macaroni, bellezza, belcanto, telegrafico, and basta. His performance was very funny.”  Speer was not much noted for a sense of humor either.

The curious adoption in England, late in the eighteenth century, of “a macaroni” to describe “a dandy, a foppish and extravagantly well-dressed young man” was an allusion to London’s fashionable Macaroni Club, popular with elegant young men from the what were then called “the better classes” who after their obligatory “Grand Tour of the Continent” arrived home affecting French and Italian fashions and accents, something which brought them some derision.  Interestingly, among twenty-first century entertainment figures, affected foreign accents are still heard.  Macaroni also provided the English ruling class with (yet) another way of putting down foreigners: there were “macaroni philosophers” (anything from other than Greek, German or English empiricist traditions), “macaroni marquises” (European titles of nobility of dubious provenance) and “macaroni makers” (a Foreign Office term for Italian diplomats (a later alternative being “ice-cream salesmen”).  Fortunately though, macaroni cheese (Mac ’n’ Cheese) which upon its eighteenth century introduction to London was an “exotic dish” survived to become truly classless comfort food, albeit one which dieticians are inclined to preach against, at least if enjoyed too much or too often.  In the English-speaking world, the spelling “macaroni” is almost universal although the original Italian form, maccaroni, was for centuries common and remains listed still by some dictionaries as an alternative.  The Italians now use maccheroni and in other countries this can be seen in menus of those Italian restaurants sprinkling a little linguistic flavor.   

Lindsay Lohan’s official Mac ‘n’ cheese recipe.

Pantsuit

Pantsuit (pronounced pant-soot)

A woman's suit consisting of slacks and a matching jacket.

1966: The construct was pant + suit.  The original form “pants suit” was noted first in 1964, wholly supplanted by pantsuit which emerged within two years.  Pant is a shortened form of pants (trousers, drawers) itself a shortening of pantaloons, a usage from 1840 which was initially limited to vulgar and commercial use with the colloquial singular pant attested from 1893.  Suit is from the Middle English sute, from the Anglo-Norman suite and the Old French sieute & siute (in Modern French as suite), originally a participle adjective from the Vulgar Latin sequita (for secūta), from the Classical Latin sequi (to follow), in the sense the component garments "follow each other" (ie are worn together).  Although known also as the trouser suit or slack suit, it was only ever pantsuit which evolved into a single word although modern feminist thought seems to prefer the simple “suit” as applied to the men’s business staple.

Women in trousers: The subversive history

Lindsay Lohan in pink pantsuit with Valentino’s Rockstud pumps, New York, October 2019.

The style actually predates the word, the combination of trousers and a jacket having for centuries been worn for practical reasons by working-class and peasant women and it became a not uncommon sight after women entered the manufacturing workforce at scale during World War One.  However, among some, it seemed to induce conniptions when middle-class women began to adopt the combination as distinctive daywear in the inter-war years.  It wasn’t for lack of modesty but rather that trousers were seen as emblematic of female assertiveness that had already seen gains in political, legal and economic rights.  Apparently not at all threatening when worn in the field or on factory floors, they were clearly part of an ever-thickening wedge when they appeared in the office.

Lindsay Lohan, New York City, November 2022.

Lindsay Lohan in November 2022 appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America to promote the Netflix movie, Falling for Christmas.  What caught the eye was her pantsuit in a gallimaufry of colors from Law Roach’s (b 1978) Akris’ fall 2022 ready-to-wear collection, the ensemble including a wide-lapelled jacket, turtleneck top and boot cut pants fabricated in a green, yellow, red & orange Drei Teile print in an irregular geometric pattern.  Whether the color combination was inspired by champagne jelly wasn't discussed and the distinctive look was paired with a similarly eclectic combination of accessories, chunky gold hoop earrings, a crossbody Anouk envelope handbag, and Giuseppe Zanotti platform heels.  The enveloping flare of the trousers concealed the shoes which was a shame because, while hardly original, the Giuseppe Zanotti (b 1957) bebe-style pumps in gloss metallic burgundy leather deserved to be seen, distinguished by 2 inch (50 mm) soles, 6-inch (150 mm) heels, an open vamp, rakish counters and surprisingly delicate ankle straps.  The stylist's desire for the hem of the trousers to reach to the ground is noted but the shoes were nice pieces.  The fashion critics are a tough and unforgiving crew and it can be hard to predict which way they'll jump but the collective reaction was positive.  

Marlene Dietrich, Paris, 1933.

First an identifiable item when the appeared in the United States during the 1920s, the pantsuit has at various times be spelled also as pant suit & pants suits; the preferred term in feminist circles seems now to be “suit”.  Outside the US, elsewhere in the English-speaking world, the term "trouser suit", dating from the First World War, operated in parallel during most of the twentieth century but has now faded from use as has the linguistically unhappy "slack suit" or the (probably worse) "slacks suit".  More deliberately androgynous than what would follow, Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992) famously adopted men’s suits with dramatic effect and not without social effect.  After being photographed in 1933 aboard the SS Europa en route to France wearing a white suit, the Paris police sent a warning that she would be arrested if she wore menswear in the City of Lights. Dietrich ignored them and disembarked in a tweed suit complete with a tie, overcoat, beret and sunglasses.  The gendarmes did not arrest her.

YSL's Le Smoking tuxedo suit, 1966 (left), reprised by Abbey Lee Kershaw (b 1987) in 2014 (right).

It was probably Yves Saint Laurent's (1936-2008) Le Smoking design in 1966 which legitimized the presence of the pantsuit in catalogues and, increasingly, on the catwalk.  The 1966 piece was a revived tuxedo, tailored to the female form, in velvet or wool.  Other fabrics soon followed but unfortunately, not all modern interpretations are as pleasing because they’re the choice of many whose figures tend not to suit more flattering cuts and, being now positioned as a feminist symbol, the implication is any criticism of the style is, at least, a micro-aggression and even as long ago as the 1960s, women were pushing back; New York socialite Nan Kempner (1930–2005) was once denied entry to La Cote Basque restaurant because she was wearing pants so instantly she took them of and walked in, wearing just her tunic top.

Kim Jong-un (Kim III, b 1982; Supreme Leader of DPRK (North Korea) since 2011), fashion icon.

Forty-odd years on, in August 2008, crooked Hillary Clinton (b 1947; US secretary of state 2009-2013) referred to her campaign staff as The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pantsuits.  That didn't work out well but she persisted with the pantsuits to the point the garment was her one identifiable style and in an interview with CNBC she explained the choice:

(1) It was initially that she liked pantsuits, saying “They make me feel professional and ready to go.”

(2) A pantsuit is a kind of uniform which matches the default male suit & tie and men traditionally haven't attracted criticism for that.  She noted it was "an easy way to fit in" with what was a male-dominated business and that “as a woman running for President,” she liked the “visual cue” that she was “different from the men but also familiar.”

(3) The uniform was an "anti-distraction technique."  Removing much of the scope for those who traditionally focused on what women wore, it forced some attention on what she was saying.  Obviously, that could be sometimes be to her disadvantage.

(4) The cut of the pantsuit provides protection "from creeps."  "They helped me avoid the peril of being photographed up my skirt while sitting on a stage or climbing stairs, both of which happened to me as First Lady.”  She explained that after that happened, she took a cue from one of her childhood heroes, Nancy Drew, because she “would often do her detective work in sensible trousers.”

The pantsuit turned out to be a good platform for subliminal messaging, crooked Hillary successively wearing red, white and blue iterations for the three presidential debates in 2016, an option no male candidate could emulate without attracting derision.  Men can of course wear ties of different colors but it's hardly as obvious.  Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021) would later suggest an orange pantsuit was best suited to crooked Hillary's skin tone and character.

Donald Trump shaking hands with crooked Hillary Clinton (in red pantsuit) and Kim Jong-un (in blue pantsuit).