Kammback

Kammback (pronounced cam-bak)

A motif in automotive styling (originally dictated by wind tunnel findings during research into aerodynamic properties) in which rear of the car slopes downwards before being abruptly cut off to terminate in a vertical or near-vertical surface.  The things are known also as the Kamm tail (K-tail).

1950s (the actual design first appearing in 1938): The construct was Kamm + back.  The surname Kamm (related to Kamp) was of Germanic or Jewish (Ashkenazic) origin and translates literally from the German as “comb”.  The German comb was from the Middle High German kamb, kambe, kam & kamme and the Yiddish kam (comb).  Genealogists conclude Kamm was probably an metonymic occupational surname for someone who either made or sold combs, a common tool used for grooming or for textile work such as carding or combing wool.  There’s also the possibility the name of some Kamm clans could have been of topographic origin because in German, Kamm can also mean “ridge” or “crest” of a hill, mountain or some other elevation; it could thus have referred to someone who lived near such a geographical feature.  Less likely is that some arose from nicknames based on physical features or personal characteristics with Kamm used to describe someone with hair resembling a comb or someone with a sharp or distinctive personality.  The surname emerged in the Middle Ages, a time when hereditary family names were becoming more common in German-speaking regions and in addition to the presence in Germany, exists at various scale in areas with a historic patter of German migration (notably the north-eastern US and South Australia.

Back was from the Middle English bak, from the Old English bæc, from the Proto-West Germanic bak, from the Proto-Germanic bakam & baką which may be related to the primitive Indo-European beg- (to bend).  In other European languages there was also the Middle Low German bak (back), from the Old Saxon bak, the West Frisian bekling (chair back), the Old High German bah and the Swedish and Norwegian bak; there are no documented connections outside the Germanic and in other modern Germanic languages the cognates mostly have been ousted in this sense by words akin to Modern English ridge such as Danish ryg and the German Rücken.  At one time, many Indo-European languages may have distinguished the horizontal back of an animal or geographic formation such as a mountain range from the upright back of a human while in some cases a modern word for "back" may come from a word related to “spine” such as the Italian schiena or Russian spina or “shoulder”, the examples including the Spanish espalda & Polish plecy.

Tail was from the Middle English tail, tayl & teil (hindmost part of an animal), from the Old English tægl & tægel (tail), from the Proto-Germanic taglaz & taglą (hair, fibre; hair of a tail) (source also of the Old High German zagal, the German Zagel (tail), the dialectal German Zagel (penis), the Old Norse tagl (horse's tail) and the Gothic tagl (hair), from the primitive Indo-European doklos, from a suffixed form of the roots dok & dek- (something long and thin (referring to such things as fringe, lock of hair, horsetail & to tear, fray, shred)), source also of the Old Irish dual (lock of hair) and the Sanskrit dasah (fringe, wick).  It was cognate with the Scots tail (tail), the Dutch teil (tail, haulm, blade), the Low German Tagel (twisted scourge, whip of thongs and ropes; end of a rope), the dialectal Danish tavl (hair of the tail), the Swedish tagel (hair of the tail, horsehair), the Norwegian tagl (tail), the Icelandic tagl (tail, horsetail, ponytail), and the Gothic tagl (hair). In some senses, development appears to have been by a generalization of the usual opposition between head and tail.  The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) suggest the primary sense, at least among the Germanic tongues, seems to have been "hairy tail," or just "tuft of hair," but already in Old English the word was applied to the hairless "tails" of worms, bees etc.  The alternative suggestion is that the notion common to all is that of the "long, slender shape."  It served as an adjective from the 1670s.  A long obsolete Old English word for tail was steort.  Kammback is a noun; the noun plural is kammbacks.  No lexicographer seems to have listed Kammbackesque, Kammbacklike or Kammbackish as standard adjectives but, given the extent of the deviances from Professor Kamm's original which are still labelled as “Kammbacks”, they might be useful forms.  Who wouldn't want to be able to use terms like the comparative “more Kammbackish” and the superlative “most Kammbackish”?

Some notable Kammbacks

The Kammback (also known as the Kamm tail) was named after German engineer & aerodynamicist Professor Wunibald Kamm (1893–1966) who during the 1930s pioneered the shape, his work assisted greatly by some chicanery within the Nazi military-industrial complex which enabled the FKFA (Forschungsinstituts für Kraftfahrwesen und Fahrzeugmotoren Stuttgart (Research Institute of Automotive Engineering and Vehicle Engines Stuttgart) institute he established in 1930s to secure funding to construct a full-sized wind tunnel equipped with a two-part steel treadmill in the floor and an 8.8 metre (350 inch) diameter axial fan, able to drive air at up to 400 km/h (250 mph).  What the two concentric floor turntables allowed was that as well as enabling turbulence to be studied from the side on the running steel belt, slip angles were also possible.   At the time, it was the most modern structure of its kind on the planet, the very existence of which was owed to the priority afforded by the Nazis to re-armament, especially the development of modern airframes, most of the money eventually coming from the Reichs-Luftfahrt-Ministerium (RLM, the State Air Ministry).

A classic Kammback on a 1970 Fiat 850 Coupé (1965-1973), one of the last of the generation of post-war mainstream rear-engined cars built in Western Europe.

While Professor’s Kamm’s work on automobile shapes continued, increasingly the facility became focused on military contracts, contributing to an extraordinary range of novel aircraft designs, some revolutionary and most of which would never reach production.  All of this ceased in July 1944 when the facility was severely damaged in air-raids by Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command, a costly campaign in which one mission incurred a loss-ration of 20% and it wasn’t until the late 1940s that reconstruction began after it was acquired by Daimler-Benz AG which enlarged and modernized the machinery, the early fruits including the 300 SL (the W194, first gullwing coupé) which won the 1952 Le Mans 24 hour race and the W196R “streamliner” Grand Prix race cars which created such a sensation in 1954.  Although he wasn’t part of “Operation Paperclip” (the US project which secured (by various means including the military “smuggling” them into the country despite many being wanted by those investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity) Professor Kann was acknowledged as one of the world’s leading authorities on turbulence and between 1947-1953 was part of the team working at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.  Some of what was undertaken then remains classified but it can be assumed it was all related to military projects and what would later become the space program.

The Kammback which really wasn't: 1976 Chevrolet Vega Kammback.

One often misunderstood aspect of the Kamm tail is that the aerodynamic benefits are realized only if the flat, vertical surface created was no more than about 50% of the total area of the vehicle (as viewed directly from the back).  That’s why even designs which don’t conform to the requirements are often casually referred to as “Kammbacks” and in the US, Chevrolet were cynically opportunistic when the Vega range (1970-1977) included what was nothing more than a two-door station wagon (estate), it was named “Vega Kammback”.  Actually, even the existence of the thing in the US was unusual because at that stage, General Motors (GM) really “didn’t like” small station wagons but many critics did agree the Kammback was the best looking of the Vega’s body-styles.

2023 Ford Mustang coupe (left) and convertible (right).  Three of the Mean Girls (2004) ensemble (Karen Smith (Amanda Seyfried (b 1985)), Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert (b 1982)) & Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan (b 1986)) in 2023 filmed a commercial for Pepsi Corporation, one of the props a 2023 Ford Mustang convertible.  So ubiquitous has the Kammback become that its now unnoticed (except in its absence), one quirk being that when convertibles are created from such a base, many of the aerodynamic advantages are lost, one reason why (all else being equal which is rarely the case) a convertible will tend to have slightly inferior performance and slightly higher fuel consumption.

The knowledge gained from aero-engine development during World War I (1914-1918) meant even the mainstream engines of the 1920s were developing much more power so the speeds of cars were rising.  Some intrepid types also took advantage of the number of huge, powerful aero-engines being sold cheaply as “war surplus”, installing them is powerboats and racing cars, resulting in some fast machines and not a few fatalities.  However, it became clear the law of diminishing returns applied as speeds rose because while an increase of 100 horsepower might make possible an increase in top speed from 100 to 120 mph, another 100 hp might yield only another 10 mph; wind resistance increasing too much for the power to overcome.  Thus the interest in aerodynamics, then usually called “streamlining” something which, coincidently, produced some memorable art deco designs buy the engineers were interested in higher speeds and lower fuel consumption for a given quantum of energy input (fuel consumption).

2014 Shelby American Cobra 427 50^th Anniversary Edition in aluminium (left) and 1964 Shelby Daytona Coupe (right).

The AC Shelby Cobra (1962-1967) was small, light and powerful which made it an instant success on the race tracks but, ruggedly handsome though it was, its aerodynamics limited the top speed and on the some fast, open European circuits it gave away as much as 50 km/h (30 mph) to less powerful but more streamlined machines.  More power wasn’t the solution but a new Kammback body was and the Daytona duly won its class in the 1965 World Sports Car Championship.  All used the 289 cubic in (4.7 litre) Ford Windsor V8 although one briefly was fitted with a 390 (6.5) FE V8 and the planned 427 (7.0) version (CSX3027, the so-called “Daytona Super Coupe”) was never completed until sold by Shelby some 17 years later in a “rummage sale”.  The Kammback Daytona was the work of US designer Pete Brock (b 1936) and in a macabre coincidence, his namesake, the Australian racing driver Peter Brock (1945–2006) was killed while competing (in retirement) in a replica Daytona Coupe during the now defunct Targa West (2005-2021) in Western Australia.

Before the Kammback, the state of the aerodynamic art was the airship-like "streamliner" which, although it probably didn't cross the engineers' minds, owed something to the train of a bride's gown.  1939 Lincoln Zephyr V12 Coupe (left) and 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K (W29) Special Roadster (originally delivered to Mohammad Zahir Shah (1914–2007; the last King of Afghanistan 1933-1973) (right).

What soon became clear was that the shape of the dirigible (better known as the “airship” or “blimp”) was close to ideal and needed to be tweaked only by honing it into a “teardrop shape” with a rounded nose, extending to a long, tapered tail, a shape which in the 1930s caught the imagination of designers who rendered some memorable designs although the most famous were impractical and inefficient in terms of packaging, thus suitable only for the then small market niche which sought speed.  It was to try to gain the benefits of streamlining in a shape more suitable for mass production that Professor Kamm and others took their slide-rules to the wind tunnel began to experiment.  The solution which emerged was to terminate the lovely, long flowing roofline with an abrupt end at a surface which was either vertical or close to it, an unexpected benefit being an improvement in high-speed stability, obviating the need for (a usually central) stabilizing fin (a la an aircraft’s tail).  By 1938, BMW had produced a car with a Kammback and although World War II (1938-1945) interrupted development by the late 1940s the shape had begun to appear in showrooms and in little more than ten years it was common in specially bodied racing cars.  That didn’t mean the allure of the teardrop went away because the aerodynamicists (who now had both access to bigger wind tunnels in which higher speeds could be tested and the novelty of computers which could process previously unimaginable quantities of data) could still prove ultimate slipperiness could be attained only with the teardrop.

Pre-Kammback & non-Kammback.  Porsche 917LH (Langheck (long tail)) at Arnage, Le Mans 24 hour, 1969 (left) and 2020 McLaren Speedtail (right).  Such things are now possible.

It was this which convinced Porsche to use such a tail on their revolutionary 917 in 1969 and having encountered no stability issues on their test track, sent the car to the circuits where it proved as fast as expected.  Unfortunately, the size of the Porsche test facility limited the 917 to 290 km/h (180 mph) and when on the long straights of some European circuits when speeds exceeded 320 km/h, it was clear the thing was lethally unstable.  Although the drivers killed at the wheel of the early 917s didn’t die at such velocities, it was understood it would be only a matter of time so the rear bodywork was redesigned.  When in 2018 McLaren returned to the teardrop for the “Speedtail” (a car which sacrificed just about anything not mandated by law in the quest for top speed), it was able to achieve a safe (it’s a relative term) 400 km/h (250 mph) because advances in aerodynamics, computing, materials & hydraulics had made such things possible although the packaging inefficiencies remained, something not significant for the target market.

Duet

Duet (pronounced doo-et or dyoo-et (non-U))

(1) In music, a composition for two voices or instruments.

(2) An action or activity performed by a pair of closely connected individuals.

(3) A pair or couple, especially one that is harmonious or elegant.

1730–1740: From the Italian duet (a short musical composition for two voices), from duo (two) and a diminutive of the earlier duett & duetto, the construct being du(o) (duet) + -etto (from the Late Latin -ittum, accusative singular of –ittus, an alternative suffix used to form melioratives, diminutives, and hypocoristics).  The ultimate source was the Proto-Italic duō, from the primitive Indo-European dwóh.  The French adopted duet before the English in 1740 although the noun may have been used in English from circa 1724; as a verb (to perform a duet), use was first noted in 1822.  The technical form duettino (short, unpretentious duet) emerged by 1839.  Duet is a noun & verb, duetting & duetted are verbs and duettist is a noun; the noun plural is duets.

Madam Butterfly

Freni as Butterfly, Sofiensaal, Vienna, Austria, 1974.

One of opera’s most memorable duets is the long and rapturous love aria in Giacomo Puccini's (1858–1924) Madama Butterfly (1905).  Among the most performed works in the canon, a number are available on disc, the most radiant surely Herbert von Karajan's (1908–1989) 1974 recording for Decca (Decca 417 577-2DH3).  The lustre of the cast Karajan assembled to perform with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and State Opera Chorus has not since been matched; with Mirella Freni (1935-2020) as Butterfly, Luciano Pavarotti (1935–2007) as Pinkerton and Christa Ludwig (1928–2021) as Suzuki, expectations were high but Karajan conducted a lush, high-drama which disappointed few.  Freni was of course a standout but Pavarotti, though not yet the superstar he would soon become, was at his peak and took to the role in a way that influences tenors to this day; Ludwig’s Suzuki remains unsurpassed in its style and by then, Karajan had been forgiven for everything.

Callas as Butterfly, La Scala, Milan, Italy, 1955.

Although Maria Callas (1923-1977) seemed even then an improbable Butterfly, her 1955 appearance at La Scala (Warner B00NMQTE4C) must have been extraordinary but, because of the mono technology of the age and some unsympathetic cutting, the recording can only hint at the power and passion of what critics at the time hailed a classic performance: Callas at her brilliant best, diction of cut crystal.  She may never have been the most refined of sopranos but she brought to her roles a thrilling intensity; just as other singers have delivered a more technically accomplished Lucia di Lammermoor, it’s the Callas version all remember because it was spine-chilling and her Butterfly is similarly unique.

Maria Callas (1923-1977), backstage, in costume, after appearing as Madam Butterfly, Civic Opera House, Chicago, 17 November 1955.  Had Cio-Cio-San been this feisty, she'd have kept Pinkerton. 

Bud Daley’s famous AP (Associated Press) photograph of diva Maria Callas, still in her Cio-Cio-San’s kimono, caught her snarling at US Federal Marshal Stanley Pringle, one of eight process servers there to serve her with two summonses.  The image was shot just after she'd left the stage, following her third and final performance in Giacomo Puccini's (1858–1924) Madama Butterfly (Madam Butterfly, 1904) and appeared the next morning on the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times with the headline: “Not So Prim a Donna”.  The article reported her words as: “Chicago will hear about this!  I will not be sued!  I have the voice of an angel!  No man can sue me.”  It transpired however at least one man could sue, the action brought by one Edward “Eddy” Bagarozy, who claimed to be the singer’s agent, an assertion based on a contract dating from 1947; the plaintiff sought (1) specific performance of the contract and (2) in the alternative, damages of US$300,000 (depending on the metrics chosen, equivalent to between US$4-6 million in 2025).  As in many such matters, ultimately, things were settled out of court.

1969 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce 1750 with coda lunga (round tail).

Although The Alfa Romeo (type 105/115) Spider was continuous production between 1966-1993, it was only during the first three years the bodywork featured the memorable Osso di Seppia (round-tail, literally “cuttlefish”) coachwork.  After 1970, the Spider gained a Kamm tail which increased luggage capacity and presumably also conferred some aerodynamic advantage but purists have always coveted the cigar-shaped original.  One often misunderstood aspect of the Kamm tail is that the aerodynamic benefits are realized only if the flat, vertical surface created was no more than about 50% of the total area of the vehicle (as viewed directly from the back).  That’s why even designs which don’t conform to the requirements are often casually referred to as “Kamm tails”.

Two famous reality TV stars performing a "long and rapturous" love duet in a 2016 production.

The Kamm tail (also known as the Kammback) was named after German engineer & aerodynamicist Professor Wunibald Kamm (1893–1966) who during the 1930s pioneered the shape, his work assisted greatly by some chicanery within the Nazi military-industrial complex which enabled the FKFA (Forschungsinstituts für Kraftfahrwesen und Fahrzeugmotoren Stuttgart (Research Institute of Automotive Engineering and Vehicle Engines Stuttgart) institute he established in 1930s to secure funding to construct a full-sized wind tunnel equipped with a two-part steel treadmill in the floor and an 8.8 metre (350 inch) diameter axial fan, able to drive air at up to 400 km/h (250 mph).  What the two concentric floor turntables allowed was that as well as enabling turbulence to be studied from the side on the running steel belt, but slip angles were also possible.   At the time, it was the most modern structure of its kind on the planet and its very existence was owed to the priority afforded by the Nazis to re-armament, especially the development of modern airframes, most of the money eventually coming from the Reichs-Luftfahrt-Ministerium (RLM, the State Air Ministry).

1969 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce 1750 with coda lunga.  In 1967, US legislation outlawed the Perspex headlight covers but in other places they were still often fitted.

While Professor’s Kamm’s work on automobile shapes continued, increasingly the facility became focused on military contracts, contributing to the extraordinary range of novel aircraft designs, some revolutionary and most of which would never reach production.  All of this ceased in July 1944 when the facility was severely damaged in air-raids by Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command (a costly campaign on which one mission incurred a loss-rate of 20%) and it wasn’t until the late 1940s that reconstruction began after it was acquired by Daimler-Benz AG which enlarged and modernized the machinery, the early fruits including the 300 SL (the W194, first gullwing coupé) which won the 1952 Le Mans 24 hour race and the W196R Strómlinienwagen (literally "streamlined car" but translated usually as "Streamliner". “streamliner”) Formula One race cars which created such a sensation in 1954 (although the drivers were so enamoured, preferring to be able to see the front wheels so a conventional open-wheel version was created with the Strómlinienwagen subsequently used only on the circuits where the highest speeds were recorded.  Although he wasn’t part of “Operation Paperclip” (the US project which secured (by various means including the military “smuggling” them into the country despite many being wanted by those investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity), Professor Kann was acknowledged as one of the world’s leading authorities on turbulence and between 1947-1953 was part of the team working at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.  Some of what was undertaken then remains classified but it can be assumed it was all related to military projects and what would later become the space program.

Lindsay Lohan duetting: On stage with Duran Duran (left) and spinning the vinyl with former special friend, DJ Samantha Ronson.

Alfa Romeo in 1965 conducted a competition to find a suitable name for the little roadster and in those days that meant running advertisements in newspapers (which people actually paid for and read) to which readers responded by cutting out and filling in the coupon, writing in their suggestion, putting it in an envelope on which they wrote the address, buying and affixing a stamp and putting envelope in mailbox.  The winning entry was "Duetto" which Alfa Romeo's directors liked because it summed up the romantic essence of a machine definitely built for a couple.  Unfortunately, for some tiresome legal reason relating to an existing trademark, it couldn't officially be used but for decades, among the cognoscenti, it's always been called the Duetto.

Track of the Kamm, Alfa Romeo Spiders: 1973 Series 2 (1970-1983, left), 1984 (Series 3 (1983-1990, centre) and 1992 Series 4 (1990-1993, right).  Things got worse before they got better. 

To keep the tiresome lawyers at bay, when released at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1966, the car was known as the Spider 1600, the advertising making clear it was intended to be a practical sports car, usable year-round rather than something intended for competition.  Among those who like to call them Duettos, there’s a sub-set of pedants who like to point out that while all Duettos are round-tails, not all round-tails are Duettos because in 1967, Alfa Romeo introduced the more powerful 1750 Spider Veloce and the less potent 1300 Junior, the former positioned a notch above the original, the latter one below.  That’s too nerdy for most who prefer to form factions based upon the tail treatment and surprisingly perhaps, many do seem to prefer the appearance of the abbreviated Kamm-tail and, again surprisingly, that included even the editors of the US magazine Road & Track (R&T), a publication in the 1960s inclined to see anything Italian through a rose-tint, called the coda lunga (round tail) “a contrived design with meaningless styling gimmicks.”  Professionally-trained designers tend not to like the original because in violating some of the rules they've been taught, it's judged flawed and probably much of the appeal of the coda lunga is as a period piece in the same way the exaggerated fins on the early Sunbeam Alpines (1959-1968) have a certain charm although few would claim their pruning didn’t improve the look.

1960 Volvo Duett P210 in station wagon form.  The steel wheels and hubcaps on this example are from the 1965-1969 run but were a common modification to earlier Duetts.

The spelling in Swedish for a musical performance by two is duett and when in 1953 Volvo released what they described as a dual purpose vehicle, the company choose to dub it Duett.  Adopting a technique used around the world, Volvo based the Duett on an existing passenger car, modified to the extent it became a useful, load-carrying utility vehicle which substantially retained the functionality of a sedan.  What was however untypical of the breed was that although the Duett (PV445 (1953-1960) & P210 (1960-1969)) was based on a sedan (PV444 (1944-1958) & PV544 (1958-1966)) which used modern unitary construction, it had a more robust ladder-frame chassis as its platform.  As well as ensuring greater durability, this had the advantage of meaning that in addition to the station wagon and panel van (often called “delivery sedan” in the US) bodies, the factory could provide coachbuilders a chassis with no bodywork aft of the windscreen; from these could be constructed ambulances, pick-ups and other specialized vehicles.  Remarkably, despite the agricultural nature of the chassis, some coachbuilders took advantage of the intrinsic rigidity and built four-seat cabriolets.  Befitting the intended purpose, instead of the sedan’s rear coil-spring, the Duett’s rear suspension used semi-ecliptics (“cart” or “leaf” springs) which (1) intruded less into the storage compartment meaning greater internal capacity, (2) were better suited to towing and (3) allowed a heavier freight-rating.  As is common with such vehicles, the Duett out-lasted the sedan on which it was based, the last made in 1969, some four years after the PV544 had been replaced by the 140 series (1966-1974).

Boss

Boss (pronounced bos or baws)

(1) A person who employs or supervisors workers; a manager; a person in charge of a business or company.

(2) A politician who controls the party organization, as in a particular district (historically most associated with the Democrat & Republican party “machines” in US cities from the mid-nineteenth to the late twentieth centuries and notorious for devious, corrupt or illegal practices and still used in many countries where the US influence was strong, notably the Philippines.

(3) To be master of or over; manage; direct; control; to be a boss.

(4) To order about (used especially if conducted in an officious manner.

(5) To be too domineering and authoritative (often as “bossy”).

(6) To ornament with bosses; to emboss.

(7) In slang, first-rate; the best.

(8) In botany & zoology, a protuberance or roundish excrescence on the body or some internal organ of an animal or on a plant.

(9) In geology, a knob-like mass of rock, especially an outcrop of igneous or metamorphic rock, applied particularly to the uppermost part of an underlying batholith.

(10) An ornamental protuberance of metal, ivory, etc; a stud.

(11) In architecture, an ornamental, knob-like projection, as a carved keystone at the intersection of ogives.

(12) A stone roughly formed and set in place for later carving.

(13) In bookbinding, one of several pieces of brass or other metal inset into the cover of a book to protect the corners or edges or for decoration.

(14) In engineering, a small projection on a casting or forging appearing on a machine or fitting; an area of increased thickness, usually cylindrical, that strengthens or provides room for a locating device on a shaft, hub of a wheel etc

(15) In nautical use, a projecting part in a ship's hull or in one frame of a hull, fitting around a propeller shaft.

(16) In plumbing, to hammer (sheet metal, as lead) to conform to an irregular surface.

(17) In dialectal (northern English) use, a familiar name for a calf or cow.

(18) In dialectal (Scots) use, hollow.

(19) As the abbreviation BOSS, the Bureau of State Security; an apartheid-era branch of the South African security police which existed 1969-1980.

(20) In informal use (particularly in India and in Multicultural London English (MLE)), a term of address to a man, not of necessity related to employment, status or other relationships but also as an alternative of “guv” or “guvnor”.

(21) In video gaming, an enemy, often at the end of a level, that is particularly challenging and must be beaten in order to progress (from the Far East), from the Japanese ボス (bosu).  In Swedish, the related form is slutboss (the construct being slut (end) +‎ boss (boss) and synonymous with sista bossen).

(22) In (allegedly) humorous use, one’s wife.

(23) In archery, a target block (now constructed usually of hard foam but historically made of hay bales), to which a target face is attached.

(24) In building, a wooden vessel for the mortar used in tiling or masonry, hung by a hook from the laths, or from the rounds of a ladder.

(25) In hydrology, a head or reservoir of water.

(26) A hassock or small seat, especially made from a bundle of straw (obsolete).

1250–1300: From the Middle English bos, bose & boce, from the Anglo-French boce (lump, growth, boil), from the Old French boce (lump, bulge, protuberance, knot), from either the Frankish bottja or the (unattested) Vulgar Latin bottia, both of uncertain origin but probably related to the Italian bozza (metal knob, swelling) and the Proto-Germanic bautaną (to hit, strike, beat).  By the turn of the fifteenth century, it was used in the sense of “to swell out; to beat or press into a raised ornament” and by the 1620s as “to furnish with bosses”.  The word survives as the Modern French bosse.

The (highly nuanced) use to mean “a supervisor” dates from the 1640s and was a creation of US English, from the Dutch baas (master, foreman).  The Dutch baas was from the Middle Dutch baes (master of a household, friend), from the Old Dutch baso (uncle, kinsman), from the Proto-West Germanic baswō, from the Proto-Germanic baswô (uncle) which may have been from the Proto-Germanic ba- or bō- (father, older male relative), the source also of the English terms babe, boy, bub & bully. It was cognate with the Middle Low German bās (supervisor, foreman), the Old Frisian bas (master), hence the Saterland Frisian Boas (boss) and the Old High German basa (father's sister, cousin) from which German gained Base (aunt, cousin) (although not all etymologists are convinced there’s a link with the Old High German basa).  The etymology seems to suggest the word originally was a term of respect used to address an older male relative (usually an uncle but also even others considered “honorary uncles”).  Later, in New Amsterdam (the old name for New York), it came to mean “a person in charge who is not a master (in the legal sense of ownership) and the representation of the Dutch -aa- by the English -o- is attributed to the older, unrounded pronunciation of this letter, which remains prevalent in North America and parts of Ireland, but in the colonial era existed also in some British accents.  The Dutch form baas is in English from the 1620s as the standard title of a Dutch ship's captain and the rapid adoption in the US may have reflected the popularity of a word which avoided the slavery implications of “master”, something never necessary in England where the terms master & servant were included in legislation into the twentieth century.

Lindsay Lohan released the track Bossy in May 2008.  It was classified as electropop & dance-pop and was about a bolshie woman; it’s thus considered autobiographical.

The slang adjective meaning “excellent; first rate” was in use at least by the 1880s although it faded from use before being revived (perhaps independently) in the 1950s, in the slang of US youth and jazz musicians.  The adjective bossy was developed from the noun and in the 1540s meant “a swelling, projecting and rounded, decorated with bosses” The meaning “domineering, fond of ordering people about” was first noted in 1882.  The use as the Scots adjective meaning “hollow; empty” dates from the early sixteenth century and is of obscure origin.  The northern English dialectal form which was a familiar name for a cow or calf was first documented in 1844 and was from the earlier dialectal form buss (calf) which is of uncertain origin but is thought almost certainly from the Latin bōs cow (ox), from the primitive Indo-European root gwou- (ox, bull, cow).  The verb emboss (to ornament with raised work) dated from the late fourteenth century and was from the Old French embocer (and thus a similar form to embocieure (boss, stud, buckle), from an assimilated form of the construct en- (in, into) + boce (knoblike mass).  The synonyms, depending on context includes administrator, chief, chieftain, director, employer, executive, leader, owner, supervisor, capital, champion, fine, fly, top, controller (or comptroller), executive, foreman, foreperson, head, honcho, head honcho, overseer & superintendent.  Boss is a noun, verb & adjective, bosser & bossiness are nouns, bossed is a verb, bossing is a verb & adjective, bossily is an adverb and bossy is an adjective; the noun plural is bosses.

The Boss Mustangs

During the initial development phase in 1968-1969, the project code for Ford’s Boss Mustang programme was the bland “SKO” (Special Mustang, Kansas City Operation).  According to industry legend, secrecy was maintained by instructing the staff working to the prototype to respond to any questions about the vehicle by saying “it’s the boss’s car.”  Whether or not that’s true, it was the project's boss (the chief engineer) who suggested the “BOSS” name formerly be adopted as the official model designation and although the management team initially responded with restrained enthusiasm, the production cars emerged as 1969 models as the “Boss Mustang” and the response was so good it was continued for three seasons and the corporation has over the decades revived the name, both in the US and Australia.

1969 Ford Mustang Boss 302.

The first of the line was the Boss 302, introduced in 1969.  The Boss 302 existed solely to ensure Ford would have a competitive entry for the SCCA’s (Sports Car Club of America) Trans-Am series which was conducted in two classes, one for cars with engines up to 2.0 litres (122 cubic inch) and one with a five litre (305 cubic inch) limit, the Mustangs campaigned in the latter.  Ford had enjoyed early success in the series but Chevrolet’s Camaro had prevailed in 1968, its Z/28 package optimized for the road circuits on which the events were conducted and Ford’s initial response had been the “Tunnel Port” engine, developed with cylinder heads cleverly designed for top end power at the expense of just about everything else.  The tunnel ports certainly delivered the power but the high-revving engines proved chronically unreliable although the debate about whether this was a fundamental flaw in the design or some laxness in the preparation has never been resolved and their performance in competition over the decades since does suggest that if assembled and maintained with the appropriate care, they’re a robust unit.

1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302.

However, noting the care with which the Z/28 had been configured, Ford decided to follow their example and conceived the Boss 302 Mustang with a bucket of money in one hand and plans of the Trans-Am’s circuits in the other.  Added to the robust 302 cubic inch (4.9 litre) Windsor block were more modern cylinder heads with canted valves, emulating the approach adopted for the new Cleveland (335) series V8.  Unlike the highly strung tunnel ports, the Boss 302 had a wider power band and more low-speed torque, characteristics more suited to the race tracks.  To comply with the homologation rules, 1000 identical examples had to be sold but such was the demand 1628 were built, all fitted with the modifications to the brakes and suspension required to provide the basis of a successful race car.  Despite it all, the Camaro again won the series in 1969 but the Boss 302 returned to take the title in 1970 and that year's model proved even more popular with 7013 sold.

1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429.

The homologation of the Boss 302 for competition was a simple matter in that it was a complete package, as required under SCCA rules.  The Boss 429 Mustang was different in that it was only the engine which was required to be built is sufficient numbers, 500 required for them to be used on the NASCAR (National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing) ovals & circuits and with 850 built in 1969 (a further 500 1970 models following), the threshold was reached.  The Mustang was not used in the main NASCAR events but such was the symbiotic relationship between the sanctioning body and the manufacturers that Ford was granted permission separately to homologate the platform and the powerplant, the intermediate Torino Talladegas (actually to be used) with their aerodynamic enhancements produced in their run of 500 (which may or may not have been produced in time) but fitted with ordinary engines.  So cooperative was NASCAR that they even nudged their capacity limit to 430 cubic inches to accommodate Ford’s new engine which was just slightly larger than the previous 7 litre mark.  Ford's approach sounds needlessly complicated (as well as being expensive) but market research suggested that while demand would exist for at least 500 Boss 429 Mustangs, 500 Ford Torinos & Mercury Cyclones (the models actually used in NASCAR competition) with the big engine might be hard to shift.

Boss 429 in 1969 Mercury Cyclone, 1971 Daytona 500.

The decision was thus taken to put the Boss 429 in the pony car but it was not a simple task and one certainly not appropriate for Ford’s high volume, mass-production lines so the job was out-sourced to a third party which received a series of deliveries in two parts, (1) batches of complete cars and (2) crates containing engines.  The task was to remove the existing engine (to be returned to the factory), make the necessary modifications to the body and suspension, fit the Boss 429 and attend to all the small details which made the cars into regular production models.  The concept was simple but the wide engine wouldn’t fit without significant changes and although Ford never revealed how much of a loss it made on each Boss 429, estimates by "normally reliable sources" figured it in the low four figures (ie more than US$1000) per unit.  Still, they must have been pleased with the investment because the engine did the job in NASCAR and the aura surrounding the Boss 429 Mustang has grown over the years.  That however took a while because it wasn’t wholly suited to life on the street or the drag-strip and was at its happiest only when on a racetrack at full throttle, breathing in through a very big carburetor and out through free-flowing tubular headers.  On the street, the problem was the same as that which plagued the tunnel port 302: the huge intake ports meant a lack of low-speed responsiveness (ie low-speed torque) because there was insufficient pressure for the fuel/air mix.  The professionals however learned quickly, the pioneers of the then still novel business of turbo-charging finding the Boss 429 took to forced aspiration like few others.

The one-off, mid-engined Mustang Boss 429 (left) and the adapted drivetrain package (right).  Unusually (although in 1969 anything mid-engined was "unusual"), the gearbox was in front of the engine with the differential behind, the same arrangement which two years later Lamborghini would display when the prototype Countach LP500 made its debut at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show.   

One quirky footnote in Boss 429 statistics is that although the orthodoxy is all were fitted with four-speed manual gearboxes, three were built with Ford's C6 automatic transmission.  One was a "proof of concept" mid-engined car which is believed to have been crushed once the evaluation was process was complete while the other two were part of a fleet of seven (the other five powered by the 428 CobraJet engine) built for the "1970 Military Performance Tour", a program run in response to the alarming finding the death toll of soldiers buying muscle cars after returning from tours of duty in Vietnam was close to battlefield losses.  One of the automatic Boss 429 Mustangs survived and the unique machine is still in private hands.  The mid-engined car was built under the program code LID (Low-Investment Drive-train), an allusion to things being done "on the cheap", using as many off-the-shelf components as possible.  As a car, the thing worked well but despite the weight-distribution shifting from a nose-heavy 60/40 (front-rear) to 40/60, surprisingly, there was no significant improvement in performance.       

1971 Ford Mustang Boss 351.

Times had changed by 1971.  It was obvious to all the crazy era of the muscle cars was in its last days and both the Boss 302 and 429 were retired, the tasks of homologation done.  There was however a Boss 351 Mustang, a machine with no pretensions to any real link with competition although it was dressed up to look the part.  A development of Ford's 335 (Cleveland) series, it's an engine at which the purists have sometimes looked askance because it lacked the comprehensive lubrication system enjoyed by the Windsor which underlay the Boss 302s but for street use it's certainly more than adequate.  The lack of pedigree has meant the Boss 351 has never enjoyed the stellar reputation of its predecessors and its lines doubtlessly contributed to that, the new body bigger and heavier, lacking the litheness of the earlier years.  Even when standing still however the thing undeniably had a presence although the dramatic roofline (Ford called this implementation of the fastback motif the "sportsroof" and, with its correctly executed "Kammback", the claims to aerodynamic efficiency are plausible) did restrict rearward visibility, the glass close to horizontal.  Testing one in 1971, Car & Driver magazine observed: "It's like sitting in a bunker; You can hardly see out. The windows are gun slits, the belt line comes up almost to your chin and the nearly horizontal rear deck and wide roof pillars block off all but a shallow field of vision directly to the rear. You have a poor view of the road ahead of you as well. The long, level front fenders and the bulged up hood, block off an enormous area immediately in front of the car, and right turns, particularly those onto a section of road that falls away, are virtually blind."

1971 Ford Mustang Boss 351.

It may not have enjoyed the racing history of the Boss 302 or possessed the thoroughbred lineage of the Boss 429 but lurking behind all the thunder, the Boss 351 ranks with the best of the Chrysler 340s as one of the most under-estimated street engines of the era.  A glance at the specification sheet would certainly have impressed because the big valves and ports were serviced by a solid-lifter camshaft which provided more lift than anything in the industry apart from the duo of 427 cubic inch (7.0 litre) V8s (the L88 (1968 & 1969) and all aluminum ZL1 (1969)) which could be ordered in the Corvette and Chevrolet cautioned neither was "recommended for street use" (ie they were meant for drag strips and race tracks).  The Boss 351 wasn't that extreme and appeared in advertisements, unlike the the L88 which rated only a few words in the small print of the brochure while the ZL1 wasn't even mentioned, Chevrolet correctly concluding anyone who would buy such a thing already knew about it and those who did not would never buy one.  At the time, testers were impressed with Boss 351's performance, noting it could run with machines fitted with engines sometimes 100 cubic inches (1.6 litres) larger while at the same time delivering a better driving experience, the smaller, lighter weight over the front wheels making it rather more nimble although that phrase was relative; the Boss 351 was no Lotus Elan.  The engine technically was Ford’s short-lived 351 HO which in 1972 would be detuned for a final (non-Boss) season before falling victim to the increasingly restrictive emission regulations but demand was anyway falling; having sold over 7000 Boss 302s in 1970, only 1806 Boss 351s were made.  Things would get worse for the Mustang before they got better.

Goblin

Goblin (pronounced gob-lin)

(1) In folklore, a small grotesque supernatural creature (depicted often as elf or sprite, regarded as mischievous and malevolent towards people.

(2) In modern fiction, one of various hostile supernatural creatures, in fantasy writing often depicted as malicious, grotesque and diminutive humanoids (sometimes also described as trolls or orcs.

1300–1350: From the Middle English gobelin & gobelyn (a devil, incubus, mischievous and ugly fairy), from the Middle French, from the Old Northern French gobelin (the source also of the Norman goubelin and the Walloon gobelin), perhaps a blend of the Old Dutch kobeholdo (goblin) (related also to the Dutch kabouter, the Middle High German kobold and the German Kobold) and the Late Latin cobalus (mountain sprite), from the Ancient Greek κόβαλος (kóbalos) (rogue, knave; goblin).  It displaced the native Old English pūca and was later picked up by some Easter European languages including Polish and Serbo-Croatian.  Goblin is a noun; the noun plural is goblins.

Curiously, in the twelfth century, there was also the Medieval Latin gobelinus, the name of a spirit haunting the region of Evreux, in chronicle of Orderic (Ordericus in the Latin) Vitalis) (1075-circa 1142) which etymologists say is unrelated either to the Germanic kobold or the Medieval Latin cabalus, from the Greek kobalos (impudent rogue, knave) & kobaloi (wicked spirits invoked by rogues), of unknown origin; it’s speculated it may be a diminutive of the proper name Gobel chosen for some reason (even as an in-joke) by the author.  Orderic’s Chronicles have been extensively cross-referenced against other primary and secondary sources and historians regard them as among the more reliable Medieval texts.  His other great work was the Historia Ecclesiastica, written in the last twenty years of his life (the bulk of the text composed between 1123-1132).  One interesting aspect of the history noted by etymologists was that although the French gobelin seems not to have appeared for over two centuries after the word emerged in English, it does appear in twelfth century texts in Medieval Latin and it’s thought few people who in some way adhered to folk magic used Medieval Latin.  John Wycliffe (circa 1328–1384) must have thought the word sufficiently well-known to use it in his translation of the Bible (published 1382-1395) intended to be read by (or more typically read to) a wide audience.  Psalms 91:5: Thou schalt not drede of an arowe fliynge in the dai, of a gobelyn goynge in derknessis.  Unfortunately, in the King James Version (KJV; 1611), the passage was rendered as the less evocative: Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day.

A goblin shark (left) and a 1962 Dodge Dart station wagon (right).

The horrid looking goblin shark (Mitsukurina owstoni, also knonw as the elfin shark), goblin shark a calque of its traditional Japanese name tenguzame (tengu a Japanese mythical creature often depicted with a long nose and red face).  The last survivor of ancient lineage and one that retains several "primitive" traits, it's been called a "living fossil" and despite the fearsome appearance, dwelling at great depth, there have been no reports of attacks on people.  There's nothing to suggest Dodge's stylists were in the early 1960s influenced by the sight of a goblin shark; within Chrysler, it was just their time of "peak weirdness".

The system works: A goblin shark eats a fish.  Things didn't work out so well for the 1962 Chryslers which received some hasty re-styles to achieve a more conventional look. 

Folklore (and latter-day fantasy writing) has produced a number of derived terms including gobbo, goblette, gobioid, gobony, goblincore, goblinish, goblinize, goblinkind, goblinry, goblinesque & goblinish.  The history of the goblin’s depiction as something grotesque attracted some in zoology who named the goblin spider (which doesn’t look much more frightening than most arthropods) and the truly bizarre goblin shark which does live up to the name.  The noun hobgoblin dates from the 1520s, the construct being hob (elf), from Hobbe, a variant of Rob (short for Robin Goodfellow, an elf character in German folklore) + goblin.  Hobgoblins & goblins are all supernatural and all regard humans with malicious intent.  Traditionally, they are depicted as human-animal hybrids with an appearance tending to the former and they were said to assail, afflict and generally annoy folk before retreating to their haunts under bridges on in secluded spots in forests; Shakespeare’s contrast being: “Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd,” (Hamlet, act I, scene 4).  Gremlins are a more modern creation and are especially prevalent in machinery, breaking things and disrupting production, their cousins in software being bugs.

Goblins from Texas en masse (left) and the one-off Goblin, Perth, Australia, 1959.

Although there have been Demons and Ghosts, no car manufacture seems ever have been tempted to build a Goblin although one Texas-based operation does offer a minimalist kit-car with the name and an enterprising Australian in 1959 chose it for a home-made special.  The Antipodean Goblin was the bastard offspring of unpromising origins: the chassis of a 1928 Essex, the drive-train from a wrecked Holden 48-215 (aka FX, 1948-1953).  Unusually for the era in which aluminum or fibreglass was preferred by small-scale producers, the body was all steel and apparently recycled from the donor Holden (although the grill components appear borrowed from the later FJ Holden (1956-1956), re-shaped with lines which owed something to both the MGA and AC Ace, later to become famous as the Shelby Cobra.  Its fate is unknown but, in the ways of such things, survival is unlikely.

1974 AMC Gremlin X.  Despite the ungainly look, it was a commercial success.

There was however a Gremlin, built between 1970-1978 by American Motors Corporation (AMC) (production in Mexico lasted until 1983 under AMC's Vehículos Automotores Mexicanos (VAM) subsidiary).  Created in the AMC manner (in a hurry, at low cost), the Gremlin was essentially a shortened AMC Hornet (1970-1977) with a kammback tail and was a successful foray into the sub-compact (in US terms) market, something well-timed given the importance the segment would assume during the difficult decade the 1970s became.  Purchased almost exclusively on the basis of cost-breakdown, the Gremlin did however attract the interest of the ever imaginative drag-racing crowd because, although AMC never fitted anything more powerful than a distinctly non-powerful (malaise-era) 304 cubic inch (5.0 litre) V8, because (like Pontiac), AMC used much the same block size for all second-generation V8s, fitting their 401 (6.6) to the Gremlin was simple.  Many were produced, some in small runs with factory support and, being relatively light and small, the performance was more than competitive with some of the notably more expensive competition.

De Havilland Goblin jet-engine schematic (left) and prototype Gloster Meteor (DG207G) with Goblin engines, de Havilland airfield, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, 26 October 1945.

The origin of the jet engine lay in designs by French and German engineers which in principle would have worked but, as the authorities at the time realized, the metallurgy of the time hadn’t advanced to the point where alloys light enough to be viable and able to withstand the temperatures to which they’d be subjected, hadn’t been developed.  Progress however was made and in 1931 an English engineer was granted a patent for what was the first recognizably modern jet engine although, bizarre as it seems in hindsight, the Air Ministry allowed the patent to lapse and it was the German Heinkel company which first flew a jet-powered aircraft when the He 178 took briefly to the air in August 1939.  Fortunately, the Luftwaffe high-command was as short-sighted as the Air Ministry (“the bloody Air Marshals” Lord Beaverbrook (1879-1964) called them while minister for aircraft production (1940-1941)) and, knowing their immediate need was for a capable, reliable fighter force within two years, declined to fund development of a project which would absorb at least three years of expensive development to be battle-ready.  The British however by then saw the potential and in June 1939 ordered production of experimental airframes and engines; it was these which would become the basis of the Gloster Meteor, powered by the de Havilland Goblin.  Both would enjoy surprisingly long lives, the Goblin in series production between 1944-1954 while the Meteor, although by then obsolescent, served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) until 1955, while in overseas service, some militaries didn’t retire their last planes until 1974.

Lindsay Lohan in goblin mode.

“Goblin mode” is a neologism for rejecting societal expectations and living in an unkempt, hedonistic manner without regards to self-image and Oxford University Press (OUP), publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), recently announced “goblin mode” as their 2022 word of the year.  Ignoring (as in the past) criticism from pedants they had picked a phrase rather than a word, OUP also provided a mini-usage guide, suggesting the most popular forms were “I am in goblin mode” or “to go goblin mode” and the meaning imparted was “unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy”.  This year’s award differs from OUP’s usual practice in that it was chosen by public vote from a choice of three selected by their lexicographers.  Unlike some recent elections, there can be no suggesting this one was “stolen”, goblin mode winning in a landslide with 318,956 votes, 93% of the valid ballots cast.  While it can’t be proven, the margin of victory might have been greater still had those already in goblin mode not been too lazy to bother voting.

The win has provoked some comment because, despite having been used on-line since first appearing (apparently on twitter) in 2009, it’s hardly been popular and some have speculated its success can be attributed to it being the one which most appealed to an audience with memories of COVID-19 lockdowns still raw, a goodly number of voters probably recognizing it was goblin mode into which many had lapsed during isolation.  The other choices OUP offered were “Metaverse” and #IStandWith”, both probably more familiar but, lacking novelty and the quality of self-identification, clearly less appealing.  OUP also noted the suggestion there may be in the zeitgeist, something of a rebellion against “the increasingly unattainable aesthetic standards and unsustainable lifestyles exhibited on social media”.

The Nightmare (1781), oil on canvas by the Swiss-English painter John Henry Fuseli (1741-1825), Detroit Institute of Arts.  It's a popular image to use to illustrate something "nightmare related".

When the political activist Max Eastman (1883–1969) visited Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) in Vienna in 1926, he observed a print of Fuseli's The Nightmare, hung next to Rembrandt's  (Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn; 1606-1669) The Anatomy Lesson.  Although well known for his work on dream analysis (although it’s the self-help industry more than the neo-Freudians who have filled the book-shelves), Freud never mentions Fuseli's famous painting in his writings but it has been used by others in books and papers on the subject.  The speculation is Freud liked the work (clearly, sometimes, a painting is just a painting) but nightmares weren’t part of the intellectual framework he developed for psychoanalysis which suggested dreams (apparently of all types) were expressions of wish fulfilments while nightmares represented the superego’s desire to be punished; later he would refine this with the theory a traumatic nightmare was a manifestation of “repetition compulsion”.  The juxtaposition of sleeping beauty and goblin provoked many reactions when first displayed and encouraged Fuseli to paint several more versions.  The Nightmare has been the subject of much speculation and interpretation, including the inevitable debate between the Freudians and Jungians and was taken as a base also by political cartoonists, a bunch more nasty in earlier centuries than our more sanitized age.