Hostage

Hostage (pronounced hos-tij)

(1) A person given as a pledge or security for the performance of the conditions of a treaty or similar agreement, such as to ensure the status of a vassal.

(2) A person seized in order to compel another party to act (or refrain from acting) in a certain way, because of the threat of harm to the hostage.

(3) A security or pledge (obsolete).

(4) The condition of a hostage.

(5) To give someone as a hostage (rare).

1225–1275: From the Middle English hostage & ostage, from the eleventh century Old French hostage & ostage (kindness, hospitality; residence, dwelling; rent, tribute; compensation; guarantee, pledge, bail; person given as security or hostage (and ôtage (hostage) persists in Modern French)) of uncertain origin although most etymologists favor the Vulgar Latin obsidāticum (state of being a hostage; condition of being held captive), from the Latin obsid- (stem of obses (hostage)), the construct being ob- (before) + sid- (the base of sedere (to sit)) + -āticum (the suffix used (1) to form nouns indicating pertinence to the root verb or noun & (2) to form nouns indicating a state of being resulting from an action).  There is a (less supported) alternative etymology which traces hostage back to a construct from the Old French hoste (host) + -age (the sense development from “taking someone in and offering them lodging” to “taking someone in and holding them captive”.  The initial “h” was added to the Latin obses (hostage) under some influence which may have been the Old French hoste or the Latin hostis.  The word displaced the Old English ġīsl.  In idiomatic use, the phrase “hostage” to fortune historically had different meanings on either side of the Atlantic.  In the UK it meant “an action, promise, or remark that is considered unwise because it could be difficult to later to fulfill one’s obligations (even if merely implied)”.  In North America, it conveys the idea of “a person (or institution) whose fate is seen as dependent on chance or luck”.  Hostage & hostageship are nouns and hostaged & hostaging are nouns; the noun plural is hostages.

Swapped for one of Moscow’s hostages: Viktor Bout in Thailand.

The hostage negotiator is now a recognized specialist category in law enforcement and there are also many in the private sector, engaged usually on an ad hoc basis as needed.  The taking of hostages, although use of the word spiked only in the 1970s as the hijacking of civilian airliners became a popular means of pursuing political agendas, is ago old and during certain periods was institutionalized as an accepted part of how conflicts were executed.  Nothing new then but of late, some regimes have become more blatant in the way “hostage diplomacy” is done, making only the most perfunctory gestures towards adding a veneer of legal legitimacy to what is essentially the tactic of gangsters.  Some cases have attracted some public attention such as the exchange by Moscow of one of their American hostages for Viktor Bout (b 1967) a Russian arms trader apparently of Ukrainian origin and one of the great characters who flourished in the chaos which prevailed after the breakup of the Soviet Union.  Whether it was grenade launchers, government officials subject to UN sanctions or frozen chickens, all through Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, Viktor Bout’s air-freight operation gained the reputation of delivering the goods as described, on time and at the price quoted, international sanctions and embargos no obstacle.  Unfortunately, he strayed too closely to the claws of Western law enforcement agencies and ended up being extradited to the US where he was convicted of this and that and sentenced to a 25 year term, ten of which he served before he was exchanged in a swap.

Held us hostage” is now a commonly used phrase applied to the tactics or antics of trade unions, film stars, Meghan Markle, minority political parties and anyone else who proves difficult.

US diplomat and historian George Kennan (1904-2005) is best remembered for the “Long Telegram” he sent from Moscow in 1946, warning the State Department of the possible implications of Soviet policy and advocating the US adopt its own policies to contain Soviet expansion.  He also published widely on other aspects of US foreign policy including an assessment of the PRC (People’s Republic of China), early in the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and while he held the Chinese in high regard (he thought them “…probably the most intelligent, man for man, of the world’s peoples”), he thought “…no good could come of any closer relationship between the US and China” and he was little more enthusiastic about the rival Kuomintang government established by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek on the island of Formosa (Taiwan), regarded to this day by Beijing as a renegade province.  To support his views, he made four points which, some seven decades on, sound remarkably modern and probably familiar to diplomats in many chancelleries and embassies:

(1) The Chinese were, as a people, intensely xenophobic and arrogant.  Their attitude towards the foreigner and his world, based as it was on the concept of China as the “Middle Kingdom” and the view of the foreigner as a barbarian, was essentially offensive to other peoples and did not provide a basis for satisfactory international relations, other than ones of the most distant sort.

(2) He noted it seemed clear the Chinese, despite the highly civilized nature of their normal outward behavior, were capable of great ruthlessness when they considered themselves to be crossed.  How he thought in this Peking much differed from Washington & London he didn’t explore but he nevertheless found admirable many of their best qualities including industriousness, honesty in commerce, practical astuteness and political acumen.  Where he found the national character lacking was in their lack of two attributes of the Western Christian mentality: the capacity of pity and the sense of sin though intriguingly he conceded the possession of these both qualities induced weakness rather than strength in the Western character.  Presumably, he added, the Chinese were all the more formidable for their lack but this was a reason to afford them a healthy but wary respect, not to idealize them or seek intimacy in our relationship with them.

(3) His third observation was that of the pragmatic diplomat.  While the Chinese were often ready to make practical arrangements of an unwritten nature and usually ones that could at will be reversed if that suited their purposes, they were never prepared to yield on matters of principle.  Occasionally, they would consent, were sufficient pressure applied, to allow others to do certain things provided they were able to insist that there was no actual right to act in such a way.  In other words, at least in theory, China was always in the right, others in the wrong.  Kennan thought this an expression of national arrogance that augured badly for really good relations with any outside power.

(4) Finally, there was the matter of hostage taking although it’s clear from his writing that he was somewhat in awe of the skill and success in the subtlety of their gangsterism.  Over decades he noted, the Chinese had corrupted a large proportion of the Americans who had anything to do with them and the longer these visitors resided there, the greater the risk.  He was anxious to point out this corruption wasn't always, or even usually, financial, deciding it was something far more insidious, the Chinese infinitely adept at turning foreign visitors and residents (even diplomats) into hostages.  Then, with their superb combination of delicacy and ruthlessness, they would extract the maximum in the way of blackmail or ransom for giving them the privilege either of leaving the country or remaining, whichever it might be they most desired.  It all sounds remarkably modern.

Leverage

Leverage (pronounced lev-rij, lev-er-ij or lee-ver-ij)

(1) The action of a lever, a rigid bar that pivots about one point and that is used to move an object at a second point by a force applied at a third.

(2) The mechanical advantage or power gained by using a lever.  A force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot.

(3) The power or ability to act or to influence people, events, decisions etc, based on position, personality, reputation etc (an applied to both institutions & individuals); sway.

(4) In finance, the use of a small initial investment, credit, or borrowed funds to gain a very high return in relation to one's investment, to control a much larger investment, or to reduce one's own liability for any loss (in some places known also as “gearing” and often used to express the “debt to equity” ratio).

(5) To use (a quality or advantage) to obtain a desired effect or result:

(6) To provide with leverage.

(7) To invest or arrange (invested funds) using leverage.

(8) To exert power or influence on:

1724: The construct was lever + -age.  Lever (a rigid piece which is capable of turning about one point, or axis (the fulcrum), and in which are two or more other points where forces are applied (used for transmitting and modifying force and motion)) was from the Middle English lever, levore & levour, from the Old French leveor & leveur (a lifter, lever (also Old French and French levier)), from the Latin levātor (a lifter), from levō (to raise).  The suffix -age was from the Middle English -age, from the Old French -age, from the Latin -āticum.  Cognates include the French -age, the Italian -aggio, the Portuguese -agem, the Spanish -aje & Romanian -aj.  It was used to form nouns (1) with the sense of collection or appurtenance, (2) indicating a process, action, or a result, (3) of a state or relationship, (4) indicating a place, (5) indicating a charge, toll, or fee, (6) indicating a rate & (7) of a unit of measure.  Leverage is a noun & verb, leverage is a noun, leveraged & leveraging are verbs and leverageable is an adjective; the noun plural is leverages.

The original meaning was to describe the action of a lever, the meaning “the power or force of a lever” emerging in 1827 while the figurative sense of an “advantage for accomplishing a purpose” dates from 1858.  The use in financial matters seems first to have appeared in writing in 1933 and was a creation of US English, in use as a verb by at least 1956.  The synonyms and related terms when describing the physics of the mechanical effect include mechanical advantage, strength, multiplier effect & force multiplier; in the figurative sense the usual alternatives are clout, influence & pull.  In the world of limited liability companies, leveraged financial arrangements (such as the “leveraged buyout”) are so common that when the mechanism is not used, the adjectives non-leveraged & unleveraged often appear.  The word is so embedded in the slang of those in business where leveraged transactions are common that as a transitive verb, it’s commonly used generally to suggest “to use; to exploit; to manipulate in order to take full advantage of someone or something.  The word has also entered the language of international relations (though used more often by commentators than diplomats) to describe what is known casually as “hostage diplomacy”.  The taking of hostages for ransom or some other purpose is not new and has probably been practiced since human societies first interacted and many cases over the centuries have been documented but historically, the tactic was once blatantly admitted, the gangsterism unconcealed.  Now, states which use hostages for leverage usually gloss things with the pretence of legality, the hostage convicted of something and given a sentence disproportionately long and while none seem yet to have been sufficiently cynical to have used a charge of "unspecified offences" that may yet happen.  The leverage sought tends to be political (the release of prisoners held by the hostage’s country of origin or some other concession) and the expert practitioners are the usual suspects: the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)), the PRC (People’s Republic of China) and the Russian Federation.

Lever porn: 1972 Mercedes-Benz Unimog w1416.  The multiple levers were required because of the many drive and gearing combinations available.  In vehicles of this type, this may be close to peak-lever because it's become common to use electronic controls for activation but the attraction of mechanical levers is their robust reliability and, for those who remember the way things used to be done, the tactility can be compelling.

The surname Lever is English and of Norman origin; it was a nickname for a fleet-footed or timid person, from the Old French levre (hare), from the Latin lepus (genitive leporis) although it’s not impossible that at least in some instances, it was a metonymic occupational name for a hunter or trapper of hares.  In some regions it may also have been a topographic name for someone who lived in a place thickly grown with rushes, the link the Old English lǣfer (rush, reed, iris).  Great & Little Lever in Greater Manchester are (collectively) named with this word and if there was a habitational origin to any names it would have come from such places.  Although rare in Germany, where Lever exists it is a descendent of the medieval personal names Lever (a variant of Liever and Levert, a variant of Lievert.  In Slovenia, it’s an altered form of Levar.  English cricketer John Lever (b 1949) between 1976-1986 played 21 tests, scoring 306 runs at an average of 11.76 and took 73 wickets with an average of 26.72, his best figures being 7/46, on debut in the first test against India at Deli in 1976.

Leverage began its life meaning “to use a lever or some similar tool to gain a mechanical advantage, typically in the context of lifting or moving heavy objects”, the idea generally thus one of “effective force multiplication”.  From here it came variously to be used figuratively, notably sine the 1930s in structured financial transactions.  Financial Leverage is the use of various financial instruments or borrowed capital to increase the potential return of an investment, the attraction the magnification of profit; the risk in increase in potential losses.  Social leverage is not new but it’s assumed a new significance in the age of social media because the proliferation of access afforded by the platforms has removed the “gatekeeper” role the legacy media once fulfilled and a presence, once established in one context can be leveraged into a position in other, lucrative fields.  Fame itself seemed to be enough: Lindsay Lohan’s forays into music and fashion might seem related to her career in film but wouldn’t appear obviously to be linked with her more recent activities promoting cryptocurrency.  That doesn’t matter because notoriety (for better or worse) is enough; her choice of a certain dress to wear to one of her many court appearances saw the garment sell-out within hours.  Nor is this multi-directional leverage a creature only of pop culture, a number of Nobel laureates wryly observing that having won the prize for their accomplishments is a certain branch of science, they end up on the “commentator lists” of media organizations and are asked for their thoughts on things hardly related to their field.

In the matter of Grand Theft Auto (GTA5): Lindsay Lohan v Take-Two Interactive Software Inc et al, New York Court of Appeals (No 24, pp1-11, 29 March 2018)

It’s of course routine for leverage to be weaponized but sometimes, there’s the suggestion the leverage of others can be appropriated and misused, the essence of many an ambush marketing campaign.  Lindsay Lohan in 2014 sued a software house, alleging one of the characters in the game Grand Theft Auto V (GTA5) was based on a likeness of her and thus an invasion of her privacy: “an attempt to leverage her public profile to boost sales of the latest instalment of the series”.  The game’s producers responded, labelling the suit a “publicity stunt” and in private discussions they may also have called it a cunning one.  It took an unremarkable four years from filing for the case to reach New York’s highest appellate court where it was dismissed, six judges of the Court of Appeals finding the “actress/singer” in GTA5 merely resembled a “generic young woman” rather than anyone specific.  Concurring with the 2016 ruling of the New York County Supreme Court which, on appeal, also found for the game’s makers, the judges, as a point of law, accepted the claim a computer game’s character “could be construed a portrait”, which “could constitute an invasion of an individual’s privacy” but, on the facts of the case, the likeness was “not sufficiently strong”.  The “… artistic renderings are an indistinct, satirical representation of the style, look and persona of a modern, beach-going young woman... that is not recognizable as the plaintiff” the judgment read.  Ms Lohan’s lawyers did not seek leave to appeal.

Plague

Plague (pronounced pleyg)

(1) An infectious, epidemic disease caused by a bacterium, Yersinia pestis (trans transmitted to man by the bite of the rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis)) characterized by fever, chills, and prostration.

(2) In casual use, any epidemic disease that causes high mortality; pestilence.

(3) Any widespread affliction, calamity, or evil, especially one regarded as divine retribution.

(4) Any cause of trouble, annoyance, or vexation; torment; to pester.

(5) As in “… a plague upon…”, to curse another, wishing any evil upon them.  The variation “a plague upon both your houses” suggests an unwillingness to take sides, an implication one thinks both parties are in the wrong.

1350-1400: From the Middle English plage, a borrowing from the Old French plage, from the Latin plāga (blow, wound, (and pestilence in Late Latin), from plangō or plangere (to strike), the ultimate root being the Ancient Greek plēgē (a stroke).  It was cognate with the Middle Dutch plāghe (from the Dutch plaag) & plāghen (from the Dutch plagen), the Middle Low German plāge, the Middle High German plāge & pflāge (from the German plage) & plāgen (from the German plagen), the Swedish plåga, the French plaie and the Occitan plaga.  Plague exists as verb and noun, plaguer being the other noun, plaguing & plagued the verbs.  Other derived forms exist but are rarely seen except in historic or technical writing: plagioclase, plagioclimax, plagiohedral, plagiotropic and plagiotropism, plaguesome & plaguy.  For the actual disease there’s no actual synonym but many words tend to be used interchangeably in any context: invasion, scourge, contagion, pandemic, epidemic, curse, infection, outbreak, influenza, infestation, blight, calamity, pest, cancer, bedevil, afflict, beleaguer, bother, haunt, torment.  Plague & plaguing are nouns & verbs, plaguer & plaguiness are nouns, plagued is a verb & adjective, plagueful, plaguelike, plaguesome, plagueish, plaguesque, plaguey & plagueless are adjectives and plaguily is an adverb; the noun plural is plagues. 

Plagues and the Plague

Masked-up: Lindsay Lohan avoiding plague.

Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and exists in three strains: Bubonic plague, Septicemic plague & Pneumonic plague, the former two usually contracted by the handling of an infected animal or the bite of a flea, the last by contact between people via infectious droplets in the air.  Typically, several hundred cases are reported annually, mostly in India, the Congo, Madagascar & Peru and cases have been reported in the US but historically, outbreaks were large-scale events lasting months or years, the best known of which include the fourteenth century Black Death, estimated to have killed some fifty-million and the Great Plague of London which, in 1665-1666, caused the death of one in five of the city's population.  COVID-19 was thus a plague but not the plague.  A common noun, plague is written with an initial capital only at the beginning of a sentence, or (as in the Great Plague of London) when it has become a thing.  Notable epidemics have included:

The Black Death (1346-1353)

Death Toll: 75 – 200 million; Cause: Bubonic Plague

The Plague ravaged Europe, Africa, and Asia, with a death toll of 75-200 million, killing up to half the population of some European countries.  Thought to have originated in Asia, Plague was most likely spread by fleas living on the rats of merchant ships and in some countries, populations didn’t recover until the nineteenth century.  Now unknown in most parts of the world, outbreaks still happen in various places.

Plague of Justianian (541-542)

Death Toll: 25 million; Cause: Bubonic Plague

Thought to have killed perhaps half the population of Europe, the Plague of Justinian afflicted the Byzantine Empire and Mediterranean port cities.  The first verified and well-documented incident of the Bubonic Plague, it reduced the population of the Eastern Mediterranean by a quarter and devastated Constantinople, where, at the height of the pandemic, 5,000 a day were dying.

Antonine Plague (165 AD)

Death Toll: 5 million; Cause: Unknown

Also known as the Plague of Galen, the Antonine Plague affected Asia Minor (the modern Republic of Türkiye), Egypt, Greece, and Italy and is thought to have been either Smallpox or Measles, though the true cause is unknown. The disease was brought to Rome by soldiers returning from Mesopotamia.  The pandemic significantly weakened the Roman army.

Lindsay Lohan and her lawyer in court, Los Angeles, December 2011.

In idiomatic use, the phrases “a pox on both their houses” & “a pox on both your houses”, are variants of the line (Act 3, Scene 1) in William Shakespeare’s (1564–1616) tragedy Romeo and Juliet (1597), spoken by Mercuito as, mortally wounded by Tybalt’s blade, he lies awaiting the visitation of the angel of death:

A plague o' both your houses!

They have made worms' meat of me: I have it,

And soundly too: your houses!

The phrase is used to express displeasure at or condemnation of both sides in an argument, either because both seem equally bad or the dispute appears pointless.  As things turn out, Mercuito was prophetic; because of the quarantine imposed on the city to reduce the risk of plague, circumstances unfold that lead to the deaths of the “two star-cross'd lovers”.  In modern use the phrase appears either with “a plague” or “a pox” and in the earliest printed editions of the play, Mercutio does wish the pox (syphilis or possibly smallpox) upon the “Two households, both alike in dignity”.  Shakespearian scholars suggest the bard’s later substitution of “plague” was because a condition more likely to be fatal exerted a greater dramatic effect.

London and the plagues of Plague

A London Bill of Mortality, 1665.

During the sixteenth & seventeenth centuries when "bubonic plague was abroad", the authorities compiled "Bills of Mortality" listing the causes of death recorded that week.  It's now believed the statistics are not wholly reliable (Plague numbers, like the global toll from Covid-19, believed greatly to have been understated) but the startling ratio of deaths attributed to Plague compared with other causes is indicative of the deadly nature of the epidemic.  In one week 3880 residents of London were reported as having succumbed to Plague, dwarfing the number recorded as dying by other causes including Old Age (54), Consumption (Tuberculous) (174), Small Pox (10), Fright (1), Grief (1), Spotted Fever and the Purples (190), Griping in the Guts (74), Lethargy (1), Rifing of the Lights (19) and Wind (1).  Like the Covid-19 statistics, there was likely some overlap in the numbers but the disparity remains striking.

After the Black Death, London's major plague epidemics occurred in 1563, 1593, 1625 and 1665 and although the last is best-known (associated as it was with the Great Fire of 1666), it's believed it was during the 1563 event the city suffered the greatest proportional mortality with between a quarter and a third of the populating dying; losses have been estimated to be as high as 18,000 and in some weeks the toll exceeded 1000.  From there, the disease spread around the nation the following year, the fleas which were the primary vector of transmission having hibernated through what was a comparatively mild winter.  Echoing the political and military effects of epidemics noted since Antiquity, it was at this time England was compelled to give up their last French possession, Le Havre, which was being held as a hostage for Calais.  Plague broke out in the occupying garrison and few troops escaped infection so the town had to be surrendered.

There were small, manageable outbreaks in 1603 & 1610-1611 but the epidemic of 1625 was severe and associated with a notable internal migration as those with the means to leave London did not, the reduction in the number of magistrates & doctors noted as inducing the predicable social consequences although as time passed, it was clear the disease was becoming less virulent and the mortality rate had fallen, something now attributed at least partially to the so-called "harvesting effect".  After 1666, the Plague didn't vanish and there were periodic outbreaks but the lessons had been well-learned and the efficiency of communications and the still embryonic public-health infrastructure operated well, even if little progress had been made in actual medical techniques.  The Hull (an East Yorkshire port city) Plague of 1699 was contained with little spread and when an outbreak of fever was reported in Marseilles in 1720, stricter quarantine measures  were imposed in English ports which successfully prevented any great spread.  Throughout the eighteenth & nineteenth centuries (as late as 1896-1897) there were occasional isolated cases and small outbreaks of plague in various parts of England but none ever remotely approached the scale of the 1665-1666 epidemic.

Werner Herzog's Nosferatu (1979) 

Werner Herzog's (b 1942) 1979 remake of Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's (1888–1931) masterpiece of Weimar expressionism (Nosferatu (1922)) takes place mostly in a small German city afflicted suddenly by Plague, Herzog rendering something chilling and darkly austere, despite the stylistic flourishes.  The 1979 film delivered the definitive screen Dracula and was a piece to enjoy when living in the social isolation of the Covid era.

Scene from Werner Herzog's Nosferatu (1979)

Panda

Panda (pronounced pan-duh)

(1) A black & white, herbivorous, bearlike mammal (in popular use sometimes as “giant panda”), Ailuropoda melanoleuca (family Procyonidae), now rare with a habitat limited to relatively small forested areas of central China where ample growth exists of the stands of bamboo that constitutes the bulk of the creature’s diet.

(2) A reddish-brown (with ringed-tail), raccoon-like mammal (in the literature often referred to as the “lesser panda”), Ailurus fulgens (that inhabits mountain forests in the Himalayas and adjacent eastern Asia, subsisting mainly on bamboo & other vegetation, fruits, and insects).

(3) In Hinduism, a brahmin (a member of the highest (priestly) caste) who acts as the hereditary superintendent of a particular ghat (temple) and regarded as authoritative in matters of genealogy and ritual.

(4) In colloquial use (picked up as UK police slang) as “panda car” (often clipped to “panda”), a UK police vehicle painted in a two-tone color scheme (originally black & white but later more typically powder-blue & white) (historic use only).

(5) Used attributively, something (or someone) with all (or some combination of) the elements (1) black & white coloration, (2) perceptions of “cuteness” and (3) the perceived quality of being “soft & cuddly”.

1835: From the French (Cuvier), a name for the lesser panda, assumed to be from a Tibeto-Burman language or some other native Nepalese word.  Cuvier is a trans-lingual term which references the French naturalist and zoologist Georges Cuvier (1769–1832) and his younger brother the zoologist and paleontologist Frédéric Cuvier (1773–1838).  The term was use of any of the Latinesque or pseudo-Latin formations created as taxonomic names for organisms following the style & conventions used by the brothers.  Most etymologists suggest the most likely source was the second element of nigálya-pónya (a local name for the red panda recorded in Nepal and Sikkim), which was perhaps from the Nepali निँगाले (nĩgāle) (relating to a certain species of bamboo), the adjectival form of निँगालो (nĩgālo), a variant of निङालो (niṅālo) (Drepanostachyum intermedium (a species of bamboo)).  The second element was a regional Tibetan name for the animal, related in some way to ཕོ་ཉ (pho nya) (messenger).  The use in Hinduism describing “a learned, wise; learned man, pundit, scholar, teacher (and specifically of the Brahmin (a member of the highest (priestly) caste) who was the hereditary superintendent of a particular ghat (temple) and regarded as authoritative in matters of genealogy and ritual, especially one who had memorized a substantial proportion of the Vedas)” was from the Hindi पंडा (paṇḍā) and the Punjabi ਪਾਂਡਾ (pāṇḍā), both from the Sanskrit पण्डित (paṇḍita) (learned, wise; learned man, pundit, scholar, teacher).  The English word pundit (expert in a particular field, especially as called upon to provide comment or opinion in the media; a commentator or critic) entered the language during the British Raj in India, the use originally to describe native surveyor, trained to carry out clandestine surveillance the colonial borders.  The English form is now commonly used in many languages but the descendants included the Japanese パンダ (panda), the Korean 판다 (panda) and the Thai: แพนด้า.  Panda is a noun and pandalike (also as panda-like) is an adjective (pandaesque & panderish still listed as non-standard; the noun plural is pandas.

Charismatic creature: Panda with cub; like the dolphin with its permanent "happy smile", pandas gained much of their popularity from the genetic accident of their appearance, making them ideal as a model for plushies (stuffed toys).

Illustrative examples of PANDA as an acronym include (1) antiProton ANnihilation at Darmstadt (a particle physics experiment at GSI Darmstadt, Germany), (2) Professional Adult Nightclub DJ (Disc Jockey) Association, (3) Protocol for the Assessment of Non-Violent Direct Action and (4) Programa Nacional Contra el Desarrollo de Pandillas (Spanish: National Development Program against Gangs) while, uniquely, PANDAS stands for Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcal Infection.  As a word, panda has been productive.  The portmanteau noun pandemonium (the blend being panda +‎ (pande)monium was a humorous construct describing the reaction often seen in zoos when pandas appear and was on the model of fandemonium (the reaction of groupies and other fans to the presence of their idol).  The "trash panda" (also as "dumpster panda" or "garbage panda") was of US & Canadian origin and was an alternative to "dumpster bandit", "garbage bandit" or "trash bandit", describing the habit of raccoons foraging for food in trash receptacles.  The use was adopted because the black patches around the creature's eyes are similar to the markings of the giant panda.  The Australian equivalent is the "bin chicken", an allusion to the way the elegant ibis has adapted to habitat loss by entering the urban environment, living (very well) on food scraps discarded in rubbish bins.

Lindsay Lohan with “panda” eye makeup (left) and a cat managing the look, "makeup free" (right).  The companion term is "reverse panda", a usually unintended effect caused by light makeup around the eyes appearing as white circles or patches.  The look sometimes is exaggerated in photographs because of the use of studio lighting or a camera's flash.

The “panda crossing” was a pedestrian safety measure, an elaborate form of the “zebra crossing”.  It was introduced in the UK in 1962, the name derived from the two-tone color scheme used for the road marking and the warning beacons on either side of the road.  The design worked well in theory but not in practice and all sites had been decommissioned by late 1967 (although in New Zealand some were still in use in the 1990s).  The panda’s twotonalism led to the adoption of “panda dolphin” as one of the casual tags (the others being "jacobita", "skunk dolphin", "piebald dolphin" & "tonina overa" (the latter for the black & white Commerson's dolphin (Cephalorhynchus commersonii)).  In English, the first known reference to the panda was as a “carnivorous raccoon-like mammal (the lesser panda) of the Himalayas” while the giant panda was first described in 1901 although it had been “discovered” in 1869 by French missionary priest and zoologist Armand David (1826-1900); it was known as parti-colored until the name was changed after evidence of the zoological relationship to the red panda was accepted.  The giant panda was thus once included as part of the raccoon family but is now classified as a bear subfamily (Ailuropodinae), or as the sole member of a separate family (Ailuropodidae (which diverged from an ancestral bear lineage)).  The lesser panda (the population of which has greatly been reduced by collectors & hunters) is now regarded as unrelated to the giant panda and usually classified as the sole member of an Old World raccoon subfamily, Ailurinae, which diverged from an ancestral lineage that also gave rise to the New World raccoons, most familiar in North America.  As late as the early twentieth century, the synonyms for the lesser panda included "bear cat", "cat bear" & "wah", all long obsolete.

Panda diplomacy

Lindsay Lohan collecting Chinese takeaway from a Panda Express outlet, New York City, November 2008.

Although the first pandas were gifted by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek’s (1887-1975; leader of the Republic of China (mainland) 1928-1949 & the renegade province of Taiwan 1949-1975) Chinese government in 1941, “panda diplomacy” began as a Cold War term, the practice of sending pandas to overseas zoos becoming a tool increasingly used by Peking (Beijing after 1979) following the Sino-Soviet split in 1957.  Quite when the phrase was first used isn’t certain but it was certainly heard in government and academic circles during the 1960s although it didn’t enter popular use until 1972, when a pair of giant pandas (Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing) were sent to the US after Richard Nixon’s (1913-1994; VPOTUS 1953-1961 and POTUS 1969-1974) historic visit to China, an event motivated by Washington’s (1) interest in seeking Peking’s assistance in handling certain aspects of the conflict in Indochina and (2) desire to “move Moscow into check on the diplomatic chessboard”.  Ever since, pandas have been a unique part of the ruling CCP's (Communist Party of China) diplomatic toolbox although since 1984 they’ve been almost always leased rather than gifted, the annual fee usually over US$1 million per beast, the revenue generated said to be devoted to conservation of habitat and a selective breeding program designed to improve the line’s genetic diversity.  Hong Kong in 2007 was gifted a pair but that’s obviously a special case ("one country, two pandas") and while an expression of diplomatic favour, they can be also an indication of disapprobation, those housed in the UK in 2023 returned home at the end of the lease and not replaced.  In the CCP's world view, there are countries in "the panda house" and those in "the doghouse".

It’s one of a set of such terms in geopolitics including  “shuttle diplomacy” (the notion of a negotiator taking repeated "shuttle flights" between countries involved in conflict in an attempt to manage or resolve things (something with a long history but gaining the name from the travels here & there of Dr Henry Kissinger (1923-2023; US national security advisor 1969-1975 & secretary of state 1973-1977) in the 1960s & 1970s)), “ping-pong diplomacy” (the use of visiting table-tennis teams in the 1960s & 1970s as a means of reducing Sino-US tensions and maintaining low-level cultural contacts as a prelude to political & economic engagement), “commodity diplomacy” (the use of tariffs, quotas and other trade barriers as “bargaining chips” in political negotiations), “gunboat diplomacy” (the threat (real or implied) of the use of military force as means of coercion), “hostage diplomacy” (holding the nationals of a country in prison or on (sometimes spurious) charges with a view to exchanging them for someone or something) and “megaphone diplomacy” (an official or organ of government discussing in public what is usually handled through “usual diplomatic channels”; the antonym is “quiet diplomacy”).

Panda diplomacy in action.  Panda up tree can be dubbed "Beijing" and one attempting climb, "Renegade".

A case study in the mechanics of panda diplomacy was provided by PRC (People’s Republic of China) Premier Li Qiang (b 1959; premier of the PRC since 2023) during his official visit to Australia in June 2024.  Mr Li’s presence was an indication the previous state of “diplomatic deep freeze” between Beijing and Canberra had been warmed to something around “correct but cool”, the earlier state of unarmed conflict having been entered when the CCP didn't react well to public demands (delivered via “megaphone diplomacy”) by previous Australian prime minister Scott Morrison (b 1968; Australian prime-minister 2018-2022) for an international enquiry into the origin of the SARS-Covid-2 virus which triggered the COVID-19 pandemic.  Such a thing might have been a good idea but underlying Mr Morrison’s strident call was that he was (1) blaming the PRC and (2) accusing the CCP of a cover-up.  Mr Morrison is an evangelical Christian and doubtlessly it was satisfying for him to attend his church (one of those where there’s much singing, clapping, praising the Lord and discussing the real-estate market) to tell his fellow congregants how he’d stood up to the un-Christian, Godless communists but as a contribution to international relations (IR), it wasn’t a great deal of help.  His background was in advertising and coining slogans (he so excelled at both so clearly it was his calling) but he lacked the background successfully to handle the demands of IR (international relations).  The CCP’s retributions (trade sanctions and declining to take Canberra's phone calls) might have been an over-reaction but to a more sophisticated (if less godly) prime minister they would have been reasonably foreseeable.

Two years on from Mr Morrison's self-inflicted diplomatic injury and with Australia now under new management, Mr Li arrived at Adelaide Zoo for a photo-opportunity to announce the impending arrival of two new giant pandas, the incumbent pair, Wang Wang and Fu Ni, soon to return to China after their 15 year stint.  Wang Wang and Fu Ni, despite over those years having been provided “every encouragement” (including both natural mating and artificial insemination) to procreate, proved either unable or unwilling so, after thanking the zoo’s staff for looking after them so well, the premier announced: “We will provide a new pair of equally beautiful, lovely and adorable pandas to the Adelaide Zoo.”, he said through an interpreter, adding: “I'm sure they will be loved and taken good care of by the people of Adelaide, South Australia, and Australia.”  The duo, the only giant pandas in the southern hemisphere, had been scheduled to return in 2019 at the conclusion of the original ten year lease but sometime before the first news of COVID-19, this was extended to 2024.  Although their lack of fecundity was disappointing, there’s nothing to suggest the CCP regard this as a loss of face (for them or the apparently unromantic couple), Wang Wang & Fu Ni able to enjoy a comfortable retirement, munching on abundant supplies of bamboo.  Unlike some who have proved a “disappointment” to the CCP, they’ll be spared time in a “re-education centre”.

Despite tensions between Beijing and Washington, panda diplomacy remains a “headline element” in foreign policy.  During a recent visit to the US, Xi Jinping (b 1953; General Secretary of the CCP and paramount leader of the PRC since 2012) announced a breeding pair of giant pandas would be sent to Zoo Atlanta in Georgia, the “envoys of friendship” (Ping Ping & Fu Shuang) arriving within days.  Whether the alleged “subliminal messaging” (China not as a threatening predator but rather cuddly companion) still works (or ever did) isn’t clear but they’re certainly a popular attraction with crowds at zoos, making the annual lease-fee (up to US$1.2 million per panda with an additional US$600,000 payable for each cub born) sound value.  It’s also a good case study for those writing contracts, China retaining ownership of not only the leased adults but also any offspring and additionally, facilities often pay up to US$2 million for “sponsorship” and “research” funding.  While hard to be definitive, the “panda-rental” programme may be self-funding, one US think tank estimating gross-income between 1994 and 2023 of some US$300 million from its panda-rental program.  Given that, Guinness World Records listing the giant panda as the “most expensive species in captivity” (costing more even than Taylor Swift’s (b 1989) cats) is understandable.

Panda diplomacy in action.

As an example of the craft of legal drafting, the contracts are about as one-sided as it possible to achieve, the lessor able unilaterally to terminate (without notice or compensation) any agreement, effectively without having to cite any reason for the premature recall.  Although a number of potential grounds are mentioned (including “unauthorized release of relevant information”), the vista is so wide they can mean whatever the CCP on the day decides they mean and although some of proscribed words seem innocuous (“lease”; “rental”; “loan”; “contract”), clearly they are thought “sensitive” in Beijing.  That does seem strange given the essentially “transactional” nature of panda diplomacy is hardly a secret and were there any doubts, recalling two US-born panda cubs after the White House announced Barack Obama (b 1961; POTUS 2009-2017) would not cancel his meeting with the 14^th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso, b 1935) illustrated how these things work.  From the point of view of assisting in the conservation of a vulnerable species, panda diplomacy does seem to be a positive force, arguments the bears are being “exploited for commercial and diplomatic purposes” a little abstract given their apparent contentment during the “overseas holidays”.  However, whether their presence in zoos here and there is a meaningful measure of bilateral relations is now questionable but what might be indicative of something is that the number of countries with leased pandas has dropped from (a pre-COVID-19) 21 in 2019 to 16 by 2026.  More fun is to compare the creatures with the PRC’s foreign policy.  Panda’s are popular as plushies because the appears so placid and cuddly but, in reality, are quite formidable with long, sharp claws and a bite with a force similar to that of an adult male lion and, as more than one political scientist has observed, even when sitting docile, a panda cannot conceal its teeth.

Pandas on four wheels

Top row: A classic UK police Wolseley 6/80 (1948-1954, left) in black, a staple of 1950s UK film & television, a brace of Adaux era Hillman Minxes (1956–1967, the time of the first "true" black & white "panda cars", centre) and Jaguar Mark 2 (1959-1969, right).

Bottom row: Ford Anglia 105E (1958-1968, in one of the pastel blues that replaced the gloss black, left) on postage stamp issued by the Royal Mail in 2013, Rover Rover 3500 (SD1, 1976-1984, centre) in one of the deliberately lurid schemes used in the 1970s & 1980s (UK police forces stockpiled Rover 3500s when it was announced production was ending; they suspected what would follow would be awful and they were right) and BMW 320d (right) in the "Battenburg markings" designed by the Police SDB (Scientific Development Branch).

Until the 1960s, the fleets of cars run by most of the UK’s police forces tended to be a glossy black.  That began to change when, apparently influenced by US practice, the front doors and often part or all of the roof were painted white, the change said to be an attempt to make them “more distinctive”.  The new scheme saw them soon dubbed “panda cars”, the slang picked up by police officers (in their economical way, often clipped to “panda”) and use persisted for years even after the dominant color switched from black to pastels, typically a duck-egg blue.  Things got brighter over the years until the police developed the high-visibility “Battenburg markings” a combination of white, blue and fluorescent yellow, a system widely adopted internationally.  Interestingly, although the black & white combination was used between the 1960s-1990s by New Zealand’s highway patrol cars (“traffic officers” then separate from the police), the “panda car” slang never caught on.

The Fiat Panda

Basic motoring: 1980 Fiat Panda.

Developed during the second half of the troubled and uncertain 1970s, the Fiat Panda debuted at the now defunct Geneva Motor Show in 1980.  Angular, though not a statement of high rectilinearism in the manner of the memorable Fiat 130 coupé (1971-1977), it was a starkly functional machine, very much in the utilitarian tradition of the Citroën 2CV (1948-1990) but visually reflecting more recent trends although, concessions to style were few, the asymmetry in the frontal facia one of the few imaginative hints and even that was an example of production-line rationalization, the grille to the left on models with an air-cooled engine and to the right for water-cooled versions, the single panel simply rotated prior to assembly.  In the design brief, Fiat had made clear it wanted a car with the cross-cultural appeal of its earlier Cinquecento (500, 1957-1975 and in some markets dubbed Bambino).  Dating from the eighteenth century, the Italian bambino was used of "a child or baby, especially a representation in art of the infant Christ wrapped in swaddling clothes" and the tiny 500 was, like the BMC (British Motor Corporation, 1952-1968) Mini (1959-2000) or denim jeans, able to transcend class, valued by all for practicality.  Designed from “the inside out” in the Fiat's 600 Multipla's (1956-1967) tradition of pure functionalism, the passenger compartment’s dimensions defined the basic structure atop the mechanical components, the body built around those parameters.

1985 Fiat Panda 4x4.  Although basic, the modularity throughout made the structure highly adaptable.  At the time, green interiors were still a thing.

The focus always was on minimizing the number of components, simplifying manufacturing and assembly processes with the final package designed to render maintenance as infrequently required and inexpensive as possible.  One "retro-innovation" which seemed at the time a money-saving device was that all glass was flat, something that had fallen from fashion for windscreens in the 1950s and for side windows a decade later because it was a simple way to increase interior space.  In theory, reverting to the pre-war practice should have meant lower unit costs and greater left-right interchangeability but no manufacturer in Italy had maintained the machinery to produce such things so consequently, the cost per square metre proved higher than would have been the case for curved glass.  Over three generations until 2024, the Panda was a great success although one that did stray from its utilitarian origins as European economies recovered from the strains of the 1970s.  There was in the 1990s even an electric version which, very expensive and with capabilities (performance & range) limited by the technology of the time, was not a success.

The name came from mythology, Empanda, a Roman goddess who was patroness of travelers and controversial among historians, some regarding her identity as but the family name of Juno, the Roman equivalent of Hera, the greatest of all the Olympian goddesses.  Whatever the lineage, she was a better choice for Fiat than Pandarus (Πάνδαρος) who came from the city of Zeleia, Apollo himself teaching him the art of archery.  Defying his father’s advice, Pandarus marched to Troy as a foot soldier, refusing to take a chariot & horses; there he saw Paris & Menelaus engaged in single combat and the goddess Athena incited Pandarus to fire an arrow at Menelaus.  In this way the truce was broken and the war resumed, the coda being Pandarus then fought Diomedes but was killed, his death thought punishment for his treachery in breaking the truce.  Although neutral on the mythology, the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) had objected to Fiat using the name of an endangered species but, pragmatically, agreed when the company made a “substantial financial contribution” that could be devoted to conservation programmes.  A cheque (check) could then validly be written on any surface so a Panda was delivered to the WWF with the relevant words and numbers on the hood (bonnet).

Press-kit images for 2024 Fiat Grande Panda issued by Stellantis, June 2024.  Despite the advertising agency's efforts, bright colors have yet to make much of a comeback. 

In June 2024, Fiat announced the fourth generation Panda and advances in technology meant the "mild hybrid" and all-electric power-trains were mainstream products, competitive on all specific measures (except price breakdown where the Chinese industry enjoys advantages perhaps beyond what an analysis of production and distribution costs would reveal).  The Grande Panda was built on the new Stellantis “Smart Car Platform” (shared with the Citroën ë-C3), offering seating capacity for five.  Unlike the original, the 2024 Panda features a few stylistic gimmicks including headlights and taillights with a “pixel theme”, the look extended to diamond-cut aluminum wheels, a homage to geometric motifs of the 1980s and the earlier Panda 4x4.  Although an accomplished piece, it lacks the style and charm of what Fiat produced between the 1950s and 1970s although, to be fair, the new Pandas apparently are commendably rust-resistant.

Homer's other odyssey: Homer vs Dignity 

Panda scene from Homer vs Dignity.

Pandas (real & fake) have a role in Homer vs Dignity, (November, 2000, episode 5, season 12 of the animated television series The Simpsons (on the Fox network 1989-2024, on Disney+ since 2024)).  The plot line involved evil nuclear power-plant owner Montgomery Burns hiring Homer Simpson as his “prank monkey”, staging public antics and publicly humiliating himself, all for Mr Burns’ amusement.  The most controversial scene was the one in which Homer, dressed in a panda suit, enjoyed (in two of "enjoyed" several senses) intimacy with a real captive panda (presumably this was referred to and signed-off by Fox's lawyers).  On The Simpsons, there’d not before been a scene like it and despite the cartoon South Park (on Paramount+'s Comedy Central since 1997) raising (or lowering, depending on the degree of one's nihilism) the cartoon bar, there’s not since been another in its ilk.

Psychological moment, Homer Simpson being dragged into panda’s den.  In the age of #metoo, Fox’s lawyers might have suggested a script-revision, “Homer being violated by a panda” just not as funny anymore.

Homer vs Dignity was at the time cited by some as a “jumping the shark” moment although it’s regarded now as a marker of a trend towards cheerfully deliberate inconsistencies (it is, after all, a cartoon show) rather than an aberration or harbinger of decline.  The idiomatic “jumping the shark” is a reference to some creative endeavor having worked the concept dry and resorting instead to gimmicks and absurdities.  The term dates from 1985 and was coined by US media personality Jon Hein (b 1957) as a belated response to an episode in the fifth season of the ABC sitcom Happy Days (1974-1984) in which a character, most incongruously, performs a water ski jump over a caged shark.  However, although Homer vs Dignity widely was panned, typically it doesn't appear in the various “top five worst episodes ever” lists, headed often by The Principal and the Pauper (September, 1997, episode 2, season 9) in which school principal Seymour Skinner is revealed to be an imposter and dismissed from his position.  However, Principle Skinner was needed as an ongoing character so the writers resolved things by having the entire population of Springfield assemble and declare never again to speak of the matter, the town's resident judge imposing the order under penalty of torture.  While the internal logic was faultless, even by cartoon standards it was an obvious fudge.