Ichthyology

Ichthyology (pronounced ik-thee-ol-uh-jee)

(1) In zoology, the scientific study of fishes.

(2) The study of the history, cultural & economic importance of fishes.

1640–1650: A compound word, the construction being ichthyo- + -logy.  Ichthyo- and ichthy- were from the Ancient Greek ἰχθύς (ikhthús) (fish), possibly from the primitive Indo-European dhghu and there may be a relationship with the Old Armenian ձուկն (jukn) & the Lithuanian žuvis and the suffix –logy was derived from the Ancient Greek λογία (logos) (to study).  The English -logy suffix originates with loanwords from the Greek, usually via Latin and French, where the -λογία is an integral part of the word loaned whereas the French -logie is a continuation of the Latin -logia, ultimately from Ancient Greek -λογία (-logía).  Within English, the suffix has long been productive, especially to form names of sciences or departments of study, analogous to names of disciplines loaned from the Latin, such as astrology from astrologia or geology from geologia. Original compositions of terms with no precedent in Greek or Latin become common by the early nineteenth century, sometimes imitating French or German templates; insectology (1766) after the French insectologie & terminology (1801) after the German terminologie.  By the twentieth century, English creations with no Greek or Latin origin (undergroundology (1820), hatology (1837) were frequent, sometimes in conjunction with –ism words.  Ichthyology is a noun, related forms include ichthyologic & ichthyological (adjectives), ichthyologically is an adverb; the noun plural is ichthyologists.

The noun piscatology was an irregular (and jocular) formation dating from 1857, the construct being the Latin piscatus, past participle of piscārī (to fish), present active infinitive of piscor, from piscis, from the Proto-Italic piskis, from the primitive Indo-European peysḱ-, the cognates including the Old Irish íasc, the Gothic fisks and the Old English fisċ + -olgy.  The word piscatology has been used to mean “the study of fish” (and thus a synonym of ichthyology)) but not by scientists and the irregular form is now more correctly casually applied to fishing and those who fish.  In the 1990s, the idea behind the construction of piscatology begat piscetarian and pescetarian (a person who consumes no animal flesh with the exception of fish or other seafood), by analogy with “vegetarian”.  The plural of fish is an illustration of the inconsistency of English.  As the plural form, “fish” & “fishes” are often (and harmlessly) used interchangeably but in zoology, there is a distinction, fish (1) the noun singular & (2) the plural when referring to multiple individuals from a single species while fishes is the noun plural used to describe different species or species groups.  The differentiation is thus similar to that between people and peoples yet different from the use adopted when speaking of sheep and, although opinion is divided on which is misleading (the depictions vary), those born under the zodiac sign Pisces are referred to variously as both fish & fishes.

Reeling one in: Lindsay Lohan and Hofit Golan (b 1985) fishing off Sardinia, July 2016.  They would be considered piscatologists (those who catch fish) rather than ichthyologists (those who study fish) although there are humorless purists who insist there's no such word as piscatologist.  The modern convention would be "fishers" or "fisherpersons".

In zoology, the modern conventions of taxonomy mean fishes are precisely categorized but the English word “fish” for centuries was used to describe a much wider range of species (although one discerning observer in the fifteenth century did concoct fishes bestiales (water animals other than fishes), presumably on the basis fishes proper should be limited to something like “a vertebrate which has gills and fins adapting it for living in the water”.  As still familiar names like starfish, jellyfish, shellfish & cuttlefish attest, just about any fully aquatic animal (including mammals like dolphins & whales) was thought some sort of fish and attempts by zoologists to rectify things (such as suggesting the starfish should retroactively be named sea star) have made little impact.  The difficulty with such a project is that historically, some fish were also misleadingly named.  The name seahorse (also as sea horse & sea-horse) encompasses dozens of small fish in the genus Hippocampus, from the Ancient Greek hippókampos (ἱππόκαμπος), the construct being híppos (ἵππος) (horse) + kámpos (κάμπος) (sea monster or sea animal).  To be consistent, these engaging creatures would presumably have to be named horsefish (risking confusion with one of Donald Trump’s alleged former associates) or something else less appealing than seahorse and that’s unlikely to attract much support.

Fish was from the Middle English fisch, from Old English fisċ (fish), from the Proto-West Germanic fisk, from the Proto-Germanic fiskaz (fish) and was related to the West Frisian fisk, the Dutch vis, the German Fisch, the Danish, Norwegian & Swedish fisk and the Icelandic fiskur.  The word was linked with both the Latin piscis and the Old Irish īasc although the actual root remains unknown.  Some have constructed the primitive Indo-European roots pisk & peysk- because of evidence gleaned from the Italic, Celtic, and Germanic but it remains speculative and one etymologist maintains that (on phonetic grounds), it may be a north-western Europe substratum word .  The verb fish (to harvest creatures living in water) was from the Old English fiscian ("to try to catch fish) was cognate with the Old Norse fiska, the Old High German fiscon, the German fischen and the Gothic fiskon and was directly from the noun; the related forms were fished & fishing.

Lindsay Lohan with catch.  To avoid cancellation, she posted on Instagram: “Bonding with nature. I let my little friend swim away after.”

In astronomy and (the then respectable) astrology, the constellation Pisces was so described from the late-fourteenth century.  From the mid eighteenth century, “fish” (with modifiers) came to be applied to people in a usually derogatory sense, a shift from the earlier use when it had been positive in the sense of someone being a good (romantic) “catch”.  The original figurative sense was of a “fish out of water” (person in an unfamiliar and awkward situation (usually social)) recorded in the 1610s and in the same vein the phrase “a fisshe out of the see” was noted in the mid-fifteenth century.  To “drink like a fish” was from 1744 and was applied to those over-fond of strong drink while “having other fish to fry” (other things demanding more immediate attention) dates from the 1650s.  In optics, the fish-eye lens was first sold in 1961, fish-and-chips became a staple of English cuisine in the 1870s and fish-fingers were first sold (in frozen form) from 1962, the earlier fish-cake known since the 1910s and especially popular during wartime rationing.

The phrase “plenty more fish in the sea” was a re-assuring line for those whose love was unrequited and like “cold fish” & “queer fish” (both alluding to qualities detected in those with some degree of social ineptitude) was a coining from the early twentieth century.  Usually applied to other soldiers, “queer fish” was a favourite of Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke (1883–1963; Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) 1941-1946), a perhaps unexpected choice for one of Britain’s more renowned ornithologists.  Why Sir Henry Channon (1897–1958) gained the nickname "Chips" is uncertain but it’s popularly attributed to a photograph taken of him standing on the stairs while at Oxford, next to a Mr Fysch.  Channon’s (almost) un-redacted diaries (1918-1957 (with gaps)), published in three volumes between 2021-2023 revealed him at his best and worst and are an indispensable companion while reading anything about mid-twentieth century British politics.

Memorable cars named after fish.

1964 Plymouth Barracuda (left), 1968 Plymouth Barracuda convertible (centre) and 1971 Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda (right).

Introduced in 1964 17 days before the Ford Mustang, in the narrow technical sense the, Plymouth Barracuda was the first “pony car” but it didn’t capture the imagination or achieve anything like the Mustang’s success which is why the segment picked up an equine rather than an ichthyological nickname.  The early Barracuda (1964-1966) was created by grafting a fastback rear-end on to the compact Valiant and while ungainly when compared to the charismatic Mustang, is remembered for being fitted with what was at the time the largest (and heaviest) piece of rear glass ever to appear on an automobile.  The second series (1967-1969) featured Italianeque lines and deserved to be more successful but the pony car ecosystem had been become congested with Mercury, Chevrolet, Pontiac and even AMC also with purpose-built entrants so what was still a “modified Valiant” remained something of an also-ran although some truly awesome versions were built.  The third generation (1970-1974 and this time accompanied by the substantially similar Dodge Challenger) is by many regarded still as the best-looking of all the pony cars and was a curious mixture of sound basic engineering and penny-pinching although what accounted for its commercial failure was the conjunction of rising insurance rates, various government regulations and changing tastes.  Though its life was ended early in as sea of red ink, as a used car the rarest and most desirable of the third series Barracudas (actually sold as ‘Cudas) have sold at auction for several million dollars.

1963 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray coupe (left) and 1971 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray ZR2 convertible.

The Sting Ray name was introduced with the debut of the second generation (C2) Chevrolet Corvette in 1963, the first time a coupé was included as a companion to the convertible.  The 1963 coupé was notable for its “split” rear window, at the time a matter of controversy within the corporation and the “anti-split” faction prevailed because the idea lasted only the one season, a single piece of glass appearing for 1964.  The “splitists” did however, in a sense, have the last laugh because the 1963 coupés are now highly sought and command a premium, becoming one of the few exceptions to the “when the roof comes down the price goes up” rule, joining a handful of machines like the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing, certain air-cooled Porsches and the MGA Twin-Cam.  The C2 Corvette lasted only four years and it would have been a season less had not problems with the aerodynamics of the C3 delayed its introduction and when the C3 appeared as a 1968 model, the bifurcated Sting Ray name was “corrected” to “Stingray”, the standard spelling in ichthyology for the various large, venomous rays, of the orders Rajiformes and Myliobatiformes.  The C3 Corvette had another connection with fish in that the styling closely followed the Mako Shark II concept car, displayed in the GM (General Motors) Futurama Pavilion at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair.  The Stingray name continued to be applied until 1976, by which time the Corvette was a much-diminished machine (though remaining popular) and it wasn’t until the C7 appeared in 2014 it returned.

1970 Opel Manta with Mantafahrer and his blonde Friseurinnen-Freundin.

The first generation Opel Manta was built by GM’s European operation between 1970-1975 and used the highly profitable model applied to create machines like Ford’s Mustang and Capri (1968-1986): drape a sexy body over the platform of a more prosaic, mass-market family car.  The design was not ambitious and was at the time called “derivative” but it was well-executed and provided GM with an import of a desirable size to offer in the US market where it proved a success until the price was rendered uncompetitive by the strengthening of the Deutschmark against the US dollar after Washington DC’s various inflationary adventures in the 1960s, Richard Nixon’s (1913-1994; US president 1969-1974) sundering of the currency’s linkage with gold and the first oil shock on 1973; the Opel marquee was retired from the US market in 1975.  As a machine the Manta is something of a footnote in the history of German manufacturing but is remembered because of the Mantawitze (Manta jokes), all based on the character of the stereotypical Mantafahrer (Manta driver), said to be working class, poorly educated, unintelligent, macho and most interested in his football team, his Manta and his blonde girlfriend who is a hairdresser.  The idea was the Manta appealed to the Mantafahrer because it was “sporty” (albeit not especially fast) yet cheap enough to be afforded by those without the funds to buy a BMW or Porsche.  Interestingly, a similar profile may have been able to be attached to drivers of Ford Capris but there seems never to been a genre of “Capri humor”.

1970 Monteverdi Hai 450 SS.

When in 1970 the Swiss boutique manufacturer Monteverdi displayed the Hai (German for “shark”), one journalist acknowledged the stunning speed but noted the lack of practicality, storage space judged to be adequate for a “topless bikini” (a numokini or unikini in the modern parlance).  Peter Monteverdi (1934–1998) claimed the Hai was “a pre-production prototype” and listed it in his catalogue at a then hefty US$27,000 (more even than the coach-built two-door versions of the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow and while they would have attracted a very different buyer-profile, the comparison was indicative of market relativities).  The consensus is Peter Monteverdi never intended series-production because the Hai was really just an impractical show-piece built to generate publicity (and in that it succeeded) though four eventually were made with only the first fitted with the charismatic 7.0 litre (426 cubic inch) Chrysler Street Hemi V8.  The other three, two of which were built shortly before Mr Monteverdi's death, used the less powerful but also less cantankerous 7.2 litre (440 cubic inch) unit.  As a footnote for trivia buffs, although it's accepted orthodoxy "the factory never installed air conditioning (A/C) in Street Hemi-equipped cars", Monteverdi did fit A/C to the first Hai so the true truism should read "No Chrysler factory ever..."

1965 Rambler Marlin (left), 1966 AMC Marlin (centre) and 1967 AMC Marlin (right).

Had one not had one’s blindfold removed before taking the wheel, one’s first experience of driving the 1965 Rambler Marlin would likely have been positive because the two-door (somewhere between what was in size (in US terms) between a “compact” and “intermediate”) was in most ways at least as good as the competition and superior in certain aspects, notably the build quality.  The critical issue with the Marlin was not the engineering on the on-road dynamics but the appearance, the fastback grafted onto a structure much larger than the two-seat coupés to which the lines are most suited.  The Marlin recalled the vaguely “humpbackish” look of the big fastback sedan of the 1940s and that was a trend which faded from use for a reason.  It was however practical in that it provided a way to combine a fastback with rear compartment with adequate headroom and even those not especially tall who sat in the back seat of the 1975 Chevrolet Monza can attest to what happens to one’s head in cars where style has been allowed to prevail.  What the Marlin’s designers did was the only way adequate headroom can be provided rear-seat passengers but, as the rather unhappy 2+2 version of the Jaguar E-Type illustrated, it does compromise the look.  In 1966 AMC (American Motors Corporation) ceased to use the “Rambler” name for the Marlin, part of the phase out of the marquee which would be retired from the US market by 1970 although it was retained in Australia until 1976 and Mexico until 1983.  The 1967 Marlin was released with the same styling motifs but used instead on AMC’s well-regarded, full-size platform and the consensus was it was better looking but the already modest sales dropped further and the model was dropped with year’s end and not replaced.

Fluke

Fluke (pronounced flook)

(1) In nautical jargon, the part of an anchor that catches in the ground, especially the flat triangular piece at the end of each arm (also called flue).

(2) A barb, or the barbed head, of a harpoon, spear, arrow etc (also called flue).

(3) A metal hook on the head of certain staff weapons (such as a bill), made in various forms depending on function, whether used for grappling or to penetrate armour when swung at an opponent.

(4) In metal casting, a wing-like formation on a central piece (similar to a spur and often a product of the vesting process to be filed off.

(5) In industrial processing, waste cotton.

(6) Either half (the triangular lobes) of the tail of cetacean (whales, dolphins, porpoises and such).

(7) An accidental advantage; a stroke of good luck; a fortuitous event.

(8) An accident or chance happening.

(9) In cue sports (billiards and such), a successful shot, achieved wholly by accident.

(10) In ichthyology, any of several American flounders of the genus Paralichthys, found in the Atlantic Ocean; used loosely, any of various other flatfishes (an often used an an alternative name for the flounder).

(11) Any parasitic flatworm (notably the blood fluke and liver fluke), of the classes Monogenea and Digenea (formerly united in a single class Trematoda (as trematodes)).

Pre 900: From the Middle English flok, fluke & flewke, from the Old English flōcand cognate with the Old Norse flōki; It may be compared with the and the Old High German flah (flat (source of the modern German flach)), from the Proto-Germanic flakaz although for technical reasons related to the phonetics, etymologists seem to prefer a link with the Middle Low German vlögel (wing) and Germanic vlōch & vlucht (used in the sense of both “wing” & “flight”) or even vlunke (the modern Low German Flunk (wing, pinion)).  The modern use in German of fluke to describe the tail of whales and such is thought to be borrowed from English.  The use of fish came from the Old English flōc (flatfish), of Germanic origin, related to the German flach (flat), the Old Saxon flaka (sole), the Old High German flah (smooth) and the Old Norse floke (flatfish, flounder, flak, floe; disk), all ultimately from Proto-Germanic flakaz, from the primitive Indo European root plak- (to be flat).  The parasitic worm was so named in the 1660s by virtue of the distinctive (flat) shape.  Fluke is a noun & verb, flukishness is a noun, fluking is a verb, fluked is a verb & adjective, flukeless, fulkesque, flukelike, flukier, flukish, fluky, flukier & flukiest are adjectives and flukily is an adverb; the noun plural is flukes (the plural fluke used of the fish; flukes used otherwise including of the flatworms).

Lawyer and feminist activist, Sandra Fluke (b 1981), Ms magazine, Vol XXII, No 2, Spring-Summer 2012.

The use to describe the components of anchors, harpoons and such dates from the mid-sixteenth century and is of obscure origin, most etymologists concluding it was adopted cognizant of the original sense of “flat”, the reference used originally of the flat, pointed end of a anchor and that may have been picked up either from fluke in the sense of “the flatfish” (based on the shape) or from the Low German flügel (wing).  What is certain is the anchor’s triangular fitting was transferred to the tails of whales (and later other cetaceans), that in use by at least 1725.  Fluke has been used in the sense of “a lucky stroke, a chance hit” only since 1857 (when it appeared in the press also as “flook” and the origin is obscure although most sources suggest it came from billiards.  The speculative theories include (1) a reference to a whale's use of flukes rapidly to propel themselves in the ocean, (2) a re-purposing of the contemporary sailors slang “going-a-flunking” (to sail quickly; to go fast) or (3) an English dialectal origin (in the sense of “a guess”).  The adjective fluky (depending on chance rather than skill (“pure ass” a modern form)) was in use by at least 1867.  The “fluke” usually is something “lucky or fortuitous” but there are also the idiomatic phrases “fluke out”, “flukes out”, “fluking out” & “fluked out” which is “to lose or fail due to a fluke; to deserve to win or succeed but instead lose due to a fluke, especially a last-minute or unpredictable fluke” and thus connected with the notion of “defeat from the jaws of victory”.  The “fluke up” (also as “flukes up”, “fluking up” & “fluked up”) is not dependent on the existence of a “fluke” (in any sense) but means “to mess up; to blunder; to fail” and is a polite form of “fuck up”.  The special coinings flukicide & flukicidal are used in relation to the killing of the parasitic fluke worms.

Fluke Networks Cable Tester RJ45, LinkIQ (Part Number LIQ-KIT).

Fluke Corporation is a highly-regarded US manufacturer of industrial test, measurement and diagnostic equipment best known for their electronic test gear.  The company was founded in 1948 by John Fluke (1911-1984), then working at General Electric (GE).

In medical use, the variations include bile fluke (Clonorchis sinensis), blood fluke (Schistosomatidae spp.), bladder fluke (Schistosoma haematobium), cat liver fluke (Opisthorchis felineus), cecal fluke (Postharmostomum gallinum), Chinese liver fluke (Clonorchis sinensis), deer fluke (Fascioloides magna), lancet fluke (and lancet liver fluke) (Dicrocoelium dendriticum), sheep liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica),  lung fluke (Paragonimus spp.), giant intestinal fluke (Fasciolopsis buski) and giant liver fluke (Fascioloides magna); the last two sounding most ominous.  In ichthyology, the names include bannock fluke (Rhombus maximus), Gulf fluke (Paralichthys albiguttus), long fluke (Hippoglossoides limandoides), pole fluke (Glyptocephalus cynoglossus), sail fluke (Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis), American fluke (Fascioloides magna) and sand fluke (Hippoglossoides limandoides).

Poster for Just My Luck (2006, left) and four of the shots (right) from the roll taken by Larry Schwartzwald on Madison Avenue in 2005.

Being one of the industry’s notorious nictators, it was perhaps something not especially flukish when a paparazzo took a photograph of Lindsay Lohan winking but what was a fluke was the shot was perfect for a movie poster, the thought being the wink was a midliminal device which convey the message “you will have a marvellously good time if you watch this film” and the starlet must have agreed because for a while, the wink became her signature gesture.  According to the authoritative PosterWire, Ms Lohan sat for a photo shoot so promotional shots would be ready for the release (even wearing an auburn wig because she had by then entered her famous blonde phase) but the studio rejected what was offered because they were “too high style which was not the vibe of the film.”  Another photo session was scheduled but then someone remembered the paparazzi “winking shot”; not only did it become the poster but it also inspired the film’s tag line: “Everything changed in the wink of an eye.”  The shot used for Just My Luck (2006) was taken the previous year on Madison Avenue by New York Post photographer Larry Schwartzwald (1953-2021) who had the untypical background (among the paparazzi) of studying literature at New York University and, as he proved, “everything is text”.

Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021; president elect 2024), Butler, Pennsylvania, 13 July 2024, the “blood shot” (left) and the “bullet shot” (right), both by Doug Mills (b 1960), who has shot (in the photographic sense) every president since Ronald Reagan (1911-2004; US president 1981-1989).

The “blood shot” is destined to become one of the images of twenty-first US politics and while in many ways “perfect”, it’s really not a “fluke” because at that point, every photographer on site was snapping away and something similar was guaranteed to emerge.  Noting the injury was to Mr Trump’s right ear, some immediately dubbed the “bullet shot” the “In one ear and out the other” but it was a genuine fluke because if snapped a millisecond earlier or later, the “speeding bullet” would not have been in the frame; a “one in a million” (at least) shot and therefore flukish.

Catfish

Catfish (pronounced kat-fish)

(1) In ichthyology, any of the numerous mainly freshwater teleost fishes of the order or suborder Nematognathi (or Siluroidei), characterized by barbels around the mouth and the absence of scales, especially the silurids of Europe and Asia and the horned pouts of North America.

(2) A wolffish of the genus Anarhichas.

(3) In casual use, any of various other fishes having a fancied resemblance to a catfish.

(4) In slang, a person who assumes a false identity or personality on the internet, especially on social media, usually with an intent to deceive, manipulate, or swindle.

(5) To deceive, swindle, etc by assuming a false identity or personality online.

(6) In casual use, any piece of machinery having a fancied resemblance to a catfish (applied often to cars with "gaping grills" ). 

1605–1615: The construct was cat + fish.  Dating from circa 700, cat was from the Middle English cat or catte and the Old English catt (masculine) & catte (feminine).  It was cognate with the Old Frisian and Middle Dutch katte, the Old High German kazza, Old Norse köttr, Irish cat, Welsh cath (thought derived from the Slavic kotŭ), the Russian kot and the Lithuanian katė̃; the Old French chat enduring.  The curious Late Latin cattus or catta was first noted in the fourth century, presumably associated with the arrival of domestic cats but of uncertain origin.  The Old English catt appears derived from the earlier (circa 400-440) West Germanic form which came from the Proto-Germanic kattuz which evolved into the Germanic forms, the Old Frisian katte, the Old Norse köttr, the Dutch kat, the Old High German kazza and the German Katze, the ultimate source being the Late Latin cattus.

The noun fish was from the pre-900 Middle English fish, fisch & fyssh, from the Old English fisc (fish), from the Proto-West Germanic fisk, from the Proto-Germanic fiskaz (fish).  It was cognate with the West Frisian fisk, the Dutch vis, the Old Norse fiskr, the Danish fisk, the Norwegian fisk, the Gothic fisks, the Swedish fisk and the German Fisch, the ultimate source probably the primitive Indo-European peysḱ (fish) & pisk (a fish) although there are etymologist who speculate, on phonetic grounds, that it may be a north-western Europe substratum word.  It was akin to the Latin piscis, the Irish verb iasc, the Middle English fishen and the Old English fiscian, cognate with the Dutch visschen, the German fischen, the Old Norse fiska and the Gothic fiskôn.  The verb fish was from the Old English fiscian (to fish, to catch or try to catch fish).  It was cognate with the Old Norse fiska, the Old High German fiscon, the German fischen and the Gothic fiskon.  The catfish seems to have gained its name early in the seventeenth century following the practice adopted for the Atlantic wolf-fish, noted for its ferocity, the catfish picking up its moniker apparently because of the "whiskers" although the "purring" sound it sometimes makes upon being taken from the water has (less convincingly) been suggested as the origin; most zoologists and etymologists prefer the whiskers story while noting the correct name for the appendages is barbels.  Catfish & catfishing are nouns & verbs, catfisher is a noun, catfished is a verb and catfishlike & catfishesque (the latter listed by some as non-standard) are adjectives, the noun plural is catfish or catfishes.

Strictly speaking, the choice of the plural form (catfish or catfishes) should folow the usual convention in matters ichthyological.  The plural of "fish" is an illustration of the inconsistency of English.  As the plural form, “fish” & “fishes” are often (and harmlessly) used interchangeably but in zoology, there is a distinction, fish (1) the noun singular & (2) the plural when referring to multiple individuals from a single species while fishes is the noun plural used to describe different species or species groups.  The differentiation is thus similar to that between people and peoples yet different from the use adopted when speaking of sheep and, although opinion is divided on which is misleading (the depictions vary), the zodiac sign Pisces is referred to variously as both fish & fishes.  So, it is correct to speak of multiple catfish if all are of the same species but to use "catfishes" if there's a mix.  In cooking (the frequent collective being "catfish stew"), or any reference to use as food (or bait), the plural is without exception "catfish".

"Catfish" is now understood in a way which a generation earlier would to many have been baffling although the modern use does pick up an earlier tradition.  

The modern term catfishing describes a type on nefarious on-line activity in which a person uses information and images, typically taken from others, to construct a new identity for themselves.  In the most extreme examples, a catfisher can steal and assume another individual’s entire identity, enabling the possibility of using the fake persona to engage in fraud or other illegal activities.  Catfishing attacks may be targeted or opportunistic and have long been common on dating sites.  One niche activity is where only a few (or legally insignificant) elements are involved (usually in an attempt to tempt younger subjects on dating sites) and there is no attempt to engage in illegal activity; this has been called "kitten fishing".  There is nothing new in the concept of catfishing, cases documented in the literature for centuries, the ubiquity of the internet just making such scams both easier to execute and detect so in its latest use, "catfish" is one of those terms which achieved critical linguistic mass because of the adoption of newly available technology, joining those words which have for centuries been either coined or re-purposed in a kind of technological determinism.  The term in this context is derived from the 2010 American documentary Catfish, which concerned a 26 year old man who, thinking he was building an on-line relationship with a 19 year old woman, discovered his digital interlocutor was actually a married women of 40.  The documentary (and thus the on-line behavior) gained the name from a mention the woman's husband made when comparing his wife’s conduct to the myth that it was once the practice to include one or more catfish in the tank when shipping live cod, the rationale said to be the cod would remain active in the presence of catfish whereas if shipped alone, they would become pale and lethargic, reducing the quality of the flesh.  The source of the myth was the 1913 psychological novel Catfish by Charles Marriott (1869-1957), the fanciful story repeated that same year by Henry Wooded Nevinson (1856-1941) in his political treatise, Essays in Rebellion.  The emergence on the internet of "catfishing" begat "sadfishing", the technique (most associated with the emo) of posting about one's unhappiness or emotional state ("I am just devastated" a favorite phrase of the habitually heartbroken emo) on social media platforms, the object being to attract attention and sympathy; it's regarded in many cases as the seeking of "validation".

Etymologically unrelated (although not wholly dissimilar in practice) was the earlier internet slang "phishing" which described a kind of social engineering in which an attacker sends a deceptive message designed to trick a person into revealing sensitive information or induce them in some way to install malicious software such as key-stroke grabbers or ransomware.  Phishing is a leetspeak (the use of alphanumeric substitutions in text-strings) variant of "fishing" which compares the digital activity to actual angling, the idea being the casting of lines with lures in the hope there will be bites at the deceptive bait.  The first known reference to phishing dates from 1995 but there was apparently an earlier mention in the magazine 2600: The Hacker Quarterly, the word coined following the earlier phreaking.  Phishing was for years the numerically most common form of attack by cybercriminals.

The "Catfish Cars"

Catfish and some cars they inspired.

First seen on a few eccentric examples during the inter-war years, the distinctive “catfish look” emerged on volume production automobiles during the 1950s.  Even then the look seemed a stylistic curiosity but it was an age of extravagance and among the macropterous creations of the era, the catfish cars represented just one of many directions the industry could have followed.  Nor was the catfish look wholly without engineering merit, the low hood (bonnet) line improving aerodynamic efficiency, the wide, gaping aperture of the grill permitting adequate air-flow for engine cooling with headlamps able still to satisfy regulatory height requirements.  Classic examples of catfish styling includes the original Citroen DS (top left), the Packard Hawk (top centre) and the Daimler SP250 (top right).

Daimler SP250 (1959-1964).

The Daimler SP250 was first shown to the public at the 1959 New York Motor Show and there the problems began.  Aware the little sports car was quite a departure from the luxurious but rather staid range Daimler had for years offered, the company had chosen the pleasingly alliterative “Dart” as its name, hoping it would convey the sense of something agile and fast.  Unfortunately, Chrysler’s lawyers were faster still, objecting that they had already registered Dart as the name for a full-sized Dodge so Daimler needed a new name and quickly; the big Dodge would never be confused with the little Daimler but the lawyers insisted.  Uniquely, the car displayed at the New York show genuinely was (and remains) a “Daimler Dart” because that’s the name under which it was registered in the UK prior to shipping and, after spending some forty years in Canada, it made a return trans-Atlantic voyage, becoming an exhibit in the JDHT (Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust) Museum in Gaydon, Warwickshire.

Using one of his trademark outdoor settings, Norman Parkinson (1913-1990) photographed model Suzanne Kinnear (b 1935) adorning a Daimler SP250, wearing a Kashmoor coat and Otto Lucas beret with jewels by Cartier.  Note the differences in color saturation.  

The image appeared on the cover (left) of Vogue's UK edition in November 1959, the original's (right) colors being "enhanced" in the Vogue pre-publication editing tradition (women thinner, cars shinier).  The wide whitewall tyres were a thing at the time, even on sports cars and were a popular option on US market Jaguar E-Types (1961-1974 and there (unofficially) known also as XK-E or XKE) in the early 1960s.  The car on the Vogue cover was XHP 438, built on prototype chassis 100002 at Compton Verney in 1959; it's the oldest surviving SP250, the other two prototypes (chassis 100000 & 100001 from 1958) dismantled when testing was completed.  XHP 438 was the factory's press demonstrator and was used in road tests by Motor and Autocar magazines before being re-furbished (motoring journalists subjecting the press fleet to a brief but hard life) and sold.

Imagination apparently exhausted, Daimler’s management reverted to the engineering project name and thus the car became the SP250 which was innocuous enough even for Chrysler's attorneys and it could have been worse.  Dodge had submitted their Dart proposal to Chrysler for approval and while the car found favor, the name did not and the marketing department was told to conduct research and come up with something the public would like.  From this the marketing types gleaned that “Dodge Zipp” would be popular and to be fair, dart and zip(p) do imply much the same thing but ultimately the original was preferred and Darts remained in Dodge’s lineup until 1976, for most of that time one of the corporation's best-selling and most profitable lines.  The name was revived between 2012-2016 for an unsuccessful and unlamented compact sedan.

1962 Daimler SP250 (B-Spec).

Daimler’s SP250 didn’t enjoy the same longevity, the last of the 2654 produced in 1964, sales never having approached the projected 3000 per year, most of which were expected to be absorbed by the lucrative US market.  The catfish styling probably didn’t help, a hint being the informal poll taken at the 1959 show when the thing was voted “the ugliest car of the show” but lurking beneath the feathers of the ugly duckling was a virile swan.  The heart of the SP250 was a jewel-like, 2.5 litre (155 cubic inch) hemi-headed V8 which combined the structure of Cadillac’s V8 with advanced cylinder heads which owed much to those of the Triumph Thunderbird motorcycle engine.  Indeed, the designer, Edward Turner (1901–1973), owned a Cadillac and was responsible for the Triumph heads so the influences weren’t surprising and the little engine had an interesting gestation.  It was Turner’s first car engine and so tied was he to the principles which had proved so successful for his motorcycles that the original concept was air-cooled and fed by eight carburetors.  Reality however soon beckoned and what emerged was a compact, light (190 KG (419 lb)), water-cooled V8 with the inevitable twin SU carburetors, the project yielding also an only slightly bulkier (226 KG (498 lb)) 4.6 litre (278 cubic inch) version which would be tragically under-utilized by a British motor industry which greatly could have benefited from a wider deployment of both instead of some engines which proved pure folly.  The Daimler V8s are notable too for their intoxicating exhaust notes, perhaps not a critical aspect of engineering but one which adds much to the pleasure of ownership.

Daimler SP250, winner of the 1962 Bathurst 6 Hour Classic, driven by brothers Leo Geoghegan (1936-2015) and Ian (Pete) Geoghegan (1939-2003).

Under-capitalized and lacking the funds needed to revitalize their dated range, let alone develop new high-volume models, the SP250 was created on a shoestring budget, the chassis blatantly reverse-engineered (ie copied) from the Triumph TRs with a body built in the then still novel GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic which became better known as fibreglass), not by deliberate choice but because the tooling and related production facilities could be fabricated for a fraction of the cost had steel or aluminum been used.  It also lessened the development time and promised a simpler and cheaper upgrade path in the future but also brought problems of its own.  New to the material, Daimler’s engineers were confronted with many of the same problems which Chevrolet encountered during the early days of the Corvette, issues which even with the vast resources of General Motors, proved troublesome.  Other than the fibreglass body, the SP250 was technologically conventional, using a chassis little different from that of the Triumph TR3, built in a 14 gauge box section with central cruciform bracing.  The chassis was designed to be light and that was certainly achieved but at the cost of structural rigidity, again an issue of the use of fibreglass, the engineers (in pre-CAD times) under-estimating the stiffness which would be demanded in a structure without metal panels further to distribute the loadings. 

1962 Daimler SP250 in British Racing Green (BRG) with factory hard-top and Minilite wheels.

The lack of sufficient torsional rigidity meant the SP250s were beset with the same teething problem as the first Corvettes: the fibreglass panels could become crazed or even crack and, most disconcertingly, doors were prone to springing open during brisk cornering and the hood sometimes popped open as the body flexed at high speed.  The SP250 was a genuinely fast car so these were not minor issues.  Still, there was much to commend the SP250.  Wind-up windows and the availability of an automatic transmission sound hardly ground-breaking but they were an innovation unknown on the MG, Triumph and Austin-Healy roadsters of the time and the in UK the little V8 was unique.  The suspension was conventional but competent, an independent front end with upper and lower arms, coil springs, and telescopic shock absorbers while the rear used semi-elliptic leaf springs with lever arm shock absorbers.  The unassisted cam and peg system steering lacked the precision the Italians achieved even without using a rack and pinion system but, aided by a larger than usual steering wheel, it offered a reasonable compromise for the time although at low speed it was far from effortless.  More commendable were the brakes.  The four-wheel disks had no power assistance but the SP250 was a light car and the servo systems of the time, lacking feel and impeding the progressiveness inherent in the design of the early disks, meant unassisted systems were preferable for sports cars although, efficient and fade-free though they were, an emergency stop from speed did demand high pedal effort.  One curiosity in the configuration was the bumper bars.  Considering the issue bumpers would become in the 1970s, that they were once optional is an indication of how different the regulatory environment was at the time. The A spec SP250s had no bumpers as standard equipment but were fitted at the front with what are sometimes mistakenly called nerf-bars but are actually “bumperettes” although the English seem to like “whiskers”. At the rear were over-riders attached to nerf-bars. The B spec models didn’t include these but, like the A spec, the full bumpers were an optional extra and this setup was continued for the C spec. The SP250s used by the British Metropolitan Police as high speed pursuit cars always had the optional bumpers because of the need to mount the warning bell and auxiliary spotlight.

1960 Daimler SP250 (automatic) in UK police pursuit specification.  The automatic transmission was the robust Borg-Warner Model 8 and after the run of police cars was complete, the option was made available to the public.

So, developed to the extent possible with the resources available, production began in 1959, shortly before the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) announced the sale of Daimler to Jaguar.  Jaguar, attracted by Daimler’s extensive manufacturing facilities and its skilled workforce regarded most of the Daimler range as antiquated but allowed some production to continue although their engineers decided the chassis of the SP250 needed significant modifications to improve rigidity.  The strengthening was undertaken and the revised cars became known as the “B-Spec” models, introduced in between April 1961, original specification (1959-1961) retrospectively labeled as “A-Spec”.  Although transformative, the changes were not extensive, a steel box section hoop added to connect the windscreen pillars, two steel outrigger sill beams along each side of the chassis, complimented with a couple of strategically placed braces but the stiffer structure solved the most of the problems.

Apart from the attention to the structure, product development was restricted to equipment, the B-Spec cars gaining (from the A-Spec option list) a reserve petrol tank with switch, windscreen washers and exhaust finishers; additionally, although technically still an option, many were factory-fitted with the chrome bumpers.  The C-spec range included luxuries such as a cigar lighter, heater & demister and trickle charger socket and when production ended in 1964, the final count was something like  A-Spec: 1900; B-Spec: 500 and C-Spec 254 (and there was overlap in the inclusion of specific features as the factory transitioned from one to another).  More than sixty years on, the SP250 survival rate is high, assisted by the rust-proof body and robust mechanicals but because so many have over the years been upgraded to "B" & "C" Spec (or a mixture), truly original specimens are rare.  Intricacies in the option mix apply mostly to home-market cars because export vehicles tended to be more fully-equipped.  All destined for North America were fitted with the full width front bumper and rear over-riders (the full-width rear an option) as well as most of the fittings which were extra-cost options in the UK including the cigar lighter (described in the US as a cigarette lighter), heater & demister and windscreen washers, the latter in the early 1960s not a mandated requirement in the UK. 

Daimler SP252 prototype (1964).  The reason the code-name was SP252 rather than SP251 is SP251 was the factory designation for LHD (left-hand-drive) SP250s.  Had the SP250 in 1959 debuted with this body, history might have been different.

Unfortunately, Jaguar was never enthusiastic about Daimler except for the factory's manufacturing capacity and as a badge which could be used on up-market Jaguars sold at a nice profit.  However, whatever the opinions of the catfish styling, the SP250 had proved itself in motorsport and, capable of a then impressive 122 mph (196 km/h), had been used as a high-speed pursuit vehicle by a number of police forces, interestingly usually with an automatic transmission, the choice made in the interest of reduced maintenance, a conclusion rental car companies would one day reach.  For that reason, the potential was clear and Jaguar explored a way to extend the appeal with a restyled body.  The result was the SP252, rendered still in fibreglass but now more elegantly done, hints of the influence of the MGB (1962-1980) obvious while the rear owed some debt to Aston Martin’s DB4 (1958-1963).  Aesthetically accomplished though it was, economic reality prevailed.  The factory was tooled-up to produce no more than 140 of the V8 engines each week, demand for which was already exceeding supply since it had been offered in the Jaguar Mk2-based Daimler 2.5 V8 (1962-1967 and badged as 250 1967-1969) saloon and Jaguar lacked the production capacity even to make enough E-types to meet demand.  Given that and the engineering resources required to devote to the new V12 engine and the XJ6 for which it was intended, another relatively low-volume project couldn’t be justified, especially one which likely would cannibalize the E-Type's market.  

Jaguar missed an opportunity by not making better use of the Daimler V8s.  The smaller unit could have been enlarged to 2.8 litres to take advantage of the taxation rules in continental Europe and in the XJ would have been a more convincing powerplant than the 2.8 XK six which was always underpowered and prone to overheating.  When fitted to a prototype Jaguar Mark X, the 4.6 litre V8 had proved outstanding and, easily able to be expanded beyond five litres, it would have been ideal for the lucrative US market and the thought of a 4.6 V8 E-Type (XKE) remains tantalizing.  Unfortunately, Jaguar was besotted with the notion of V12s and it wasn't until the 1990s they admitted the sweet-spot in the market was a V8 between 4-5 litres, the very thing they'd acquired with the purchase of Daimler in 1960.

Produced between 1955-1975, the Citroën DS, although long regarded as something quintessentially French, was actually designed mostly by an Italian.  In this it was similar to French fries (invented in Belgium) and Nicolas Sarközy (b 1955; President of France 2007-2012), who first appeared in the same year as the shapely DS and was from here and there.  It was offered as the DS and the lower priced, mechanically simpler ID, the names apparently an deliberate play on words, DS in French pronounced déesse (goddess) and ID idée (idea) but while the nickname "goddess" caught on, "idea" never did.  The frontal aspect combined with the efficiency of the rest of the body, delivered outstandingly good aerodynamics but the catfish look was tempered a little because the low, gaping grill associated with the motif was well-concealed, reputedly because the ancient engine, a long-stroke, agricultural relic of the 1930s, produced so little power there wasn’t enough surplus energy to induce overheating, the need for a cooling flow of air correspondingly low.  That’s wholly apocryphal but later progress in design anyway softened the catfish effect which was most obvious on the series 1 cars (top row) which were made between 1955-1962.  The Series 2 changes (1964-1967; centre row) were effected further to improve aerodynamics and permitted also some increase to the airflow ducted for interior ventilation; the changes in appearance were said to be incidental to the process.  The catfish look vanished entirely when the series 3 cars (bottom row) were introduced in 1967.

Now with four headlamps mounted behind glass canopies, the shape of which was integrated into the front fenders (top left), the arrangement was noted for the novelty of the inner set of lens being controlled by the steering (top right), the light thus being projected “around the corner” in the direction of travel, swiveling by up to 80°.  It was a simple, purely mechanical connection and the system had in 1929 appeared on the FWD (front-wheel-drive) Cord L-29 (1929-1932) to to direct the auxiliary driving or fog-lights and the central (Cyclops) unit on the abortive Tucker Torpedo (1948) had been configured the same way but the DS was the first car in series-production to use adaptive headlights.  Both the covers and the turning mechanism fell foul of US regulations (lower left) so there the lens were fixed and exposed.  Another variation was in Scandinavia where miniature wipers were sometimes fitted to conform with local law.  In the collector market, the small feature can add a remarkable premium to the value of a car, rare factory options highly sought.

1964 Citroën DW19 Décapotable Usine.  For statistical purposes the DWs are included in the DS production count.

The DS and ID are well documented in the model's history but there was also the more obscure DW, built at Citroën's UK manufacturing plant in the Berkshire town Slough which sits in the Thames Valley, some 20 miles west of London.  The facility was opened in February 1926 as part of the Slough Trading Estate (opened just after World War I (1914-1918)) which was an early example of an industrial park, the place having the advantage of having the required infrastructure needed because constructed by the government for wartime production and maintenance activities.  Citroën was one of the first companies to establish an operation on the site, overseas assembly prompted by the UK government's imposition of tariffs (33.3% on imported vehicles, excluding commercial vehicles) and the move had the added advantage of the right-hand-drive (RHD) cars being able to be exported throughout the British Empire under the “Commonwealth Preference”, arrangements, a low-tariff scheme, elements of which would endure as a final relic of the chimera of imperial free trade until 1973 when the UK joined the EEC (European Economic Community).  Unlike similar operations, which in decades to come would appear world-wide, the Slough Citroëns were not assembled from CKD (completely knocked down) kits which needed only local labor to bolt them together but used a mix of imported parts and locally produced components.  The import tariff was avoided if the “local content” (labor and domestically produced (although those sourced from elsewhere in the empire could qualify) parts) reached a certain threshold (measured by the total P&L (parts & labor) value in local currency); it was an approach many governments would follow and it remains popular today as a means of encouraging (and protecting) local industries and creating employment.  People able to find jobs in places like Slough would have been pleased but for those whose background meant they were less concerned with something as tiresome as paid-employment, the noise and dirt of factories seemed just a scar upon the “green and pleasant land” of William Blake (1757–1827).  In his poem Slough (1937), Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984; Poet Laureate 1972-1984), perhaps recalling Stanley Baldwin's (1867–1947; UK prime-minister 1923-1924, 1924-1929 & 1935-1937) “The bomber will always get through” speech (1932) welcomed the thought, writing:  “Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!  It isn’t fit for humans now”  Within half a decade, the Luftwaffe would grant his wish.

1964 Citroën DW19 Décapotable Usine.

During World War II (1939-1945), the Slough plant was requisitioned for military use and some 23,000 CMP (Canadian Military Pattern) trucks were built, civilian production resuming in 1946.  After 1955, Slough built both the ID and DS, both with the traditional leather trim, the former with timber veneer dashboard, a touch which some critics claimed was jarring among the otherwise modernist ambiance but the appeal was real because some French distributors imported the Slough dashboard parts for owners who liked the look.  The UK-built cars also used 12 volt Lucas electrics until 1963 and it was in that year the unique DW model was slotted in between the ID and DS.  Available only with a manual transmission and a simplified version of the timber veneer, the DW was configured with the ID's foot-operated clutch but used the more powerful DS engine, power steering and power brakes.  When exported, the DW was called DS19M and the "DW" label was applied simply because it was Citroën's internal code to distinguish (RHD) models built in the UK from the standard left-hand-drive (LHD) models produced in France.  Citroën assembly in Slough ended in February 1965 and although the factory initially retained the plant as a marketing, service & distribution centre, in 1974 these operations were moved to other premises and the buildings were taken over by Mars Confectionery.  Today, no trace remains of the Citroën works in Slough.

1958 Packard Hawk,

Fittingly perhaps, the gaping-mouth of the catfish style was applied to what proved one of the last gasps for Packard, a storied marque with roots in the nineteenth century which in the inter-war years had been one of the most prestigious in the US and it had been the sound of the V12 Packards which inspired Enzo Ferrari (1989-1988) to declare Una Ferrari è una macchina a dodici cilindri (a Ferrari is a twelve cylinder car).  The appeal was real because it was a 1936 Packard Standard Eight Phaeton which comrade Stalin (1878-1953; Soviet leader 1924-1953) used as his parade car and the ZiS-115 limousine (1948-1949 and based on the ZiS 110 (1946-1958), all better known in the West as ZILs) he used in his final years was a reversed-engineered (ie copy) version of the 1942 Packard.  Reverse-engineering was a notable feature of Soviet industry and much of its post-war re-building of the armed forces involved the process, exemplified by the Tupolev Tu-4 heavy bomber (1947) which was a remarkably close copy of the US Boeing B-29 (1942).  Other countries also adopted the practice which in some places continues to this day for mot civilian and military output.  After spending World War II engaged in military production, notably a version of the Merlin V12 aero-engine built under license from Rolls-Royce, Packard emerged in 1945 in sound financial state but found the new world challenging, eventually in 1953 merging with fellow struggling independent, Studebaker.

The mashup of period styling motifs (fins, dagmars, wrap-around glass, scallops & a scoop) on the 1958 Packard was not untypical in the era and the catfish treatment at the front was about the most restrained part of the package.     

1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk.  Whatever the criticism of the catfish-like Packard, the frontal treatment of the car on which it was based was perhaps even more ungainly.

The origins of Packard’s swansong, the Hawk, lay in a 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk 400 which was customized in-house for executive use.  The front end and hood were rendered in fiberglass, eliminating the familiar upright grille and small side inlets which were replaced with the low, wide air intake so characteristic of the catfish look.  Covering all bases, for those unconvinced by the catfish look, a pair of modest (by Cadillac standards) dagmars were added.  Because the engine was supercharged, like the Studebaker, the hood included a bulge but, by virtue of the lower lines, it rose higher on the Packard.  Lacking the funds to create anything better, the Hawk was approved for series-production as a 1958 model but was from the start doomed.  It was expensive and its debut coincided with the recession of that year when all auto-makers suffered downturns but, with the rumors swirling of Studebaker-Packard's impending demise, Packard suffered more than most and only 588 Hawks were built.

1958 Packard with stuff tacked-on, front & rear. 

Packard’s rather plaintive swansong was another set of cobbled-together Packardbakers, available as a two-door hardtop and a four-door sedan or wagon.  In 1958, fins were a thing at the rear but what really exited the stylists was that quad headlamps were now permitted in all 48 states.  Unfortunately, unlike the majors, the financially straitened corporation lacked the capital to re-tool body dies to accommodate the change so, hurriedly, fibreglass pods were molded which when fitted, looked as tacked-on as they really were.  Also tacked on were the new fins which sat atop the old although these were at least genuine steel rather than fibreglass.  Sales of the 1958 proved as forlorn as the expectations of most industry observers with barely 2,000 sedans, hardtops & wagons built by the time production ended in July and in 1962, quietly it was confirmed Studebaker-Packard Corporation had deleted "Packard" from its name, one of the less necessary press-releases in the industry's history.  It was a barely noted formal end to a once illustrious marque which not ten years earlier had been the favorite of comrade Stalin and the restructure was to little avail, the final Studebaker being produced in in Canada in 1966, two years after the last US factories had closed.

1958 Chrysler Royal (AP2) and 1960 Chrysler Royal (AP3) (Australian)

The fins were definitely always standard equipment on all 1958 Packards, unlike the 1958 Australian Chrysler Royal (AP2) which featured similar appendages grafted to pre-existing fins, Chrysler listing them as an optional extra called "saddle fins".  However, no Royal apparently was sold without saddle fins attached so either (1) they were very popular option or (2) Chrysler changed their mind after the promotional material was printed and decided to invent "mandatory options", a marketing trick Detroit would soon widely (and profitably) adopt.  In 1960, the Australians also solved the problem of needing to add quad headlamps without either a re-tool or plastic pods, changing instead the grill and mounting the lights in a vertical stack, an expedient Mercedes-Benz had recently used to ensure their new W111 (Heckflosse) sedans (1959-1968) satisfied US legislation.