Puffery

Puffery (pronounced puhf-uh-ree)

(1) Undue or exaggerated praise; inflated laudation; publicity, claims in advertising, acclaim etc, that are exaggerated (also known as the “puff piece”).

(2) In common law jurisdictions (often as “mere puffery), certain claims or assertions made which, even if literally untrue or misleading, are not actionable.

(3) An act of puffing (rare except in humor).

1730–1735: The construct was puff (in the sense of “to praise with exaggeration”) + -ery.  The noun puff was from the early thirteenth century Middle English puf, puffe, puff & puf, from the Old English pyf (a short, quick blast of wind, act of puffing) which was imitative and cognate with the Middle Low German puf & pof.  It was derived from the verb which was from the Middle English puffen, from the Old English pyffan & puffian (to breathe out, blow with the mouth) and similar forms in other European languages included the Dutch puffen, the German Low German puffen, the German puffen, the Danish puffe and the Swedish puffa.  The sense of “to blow with quick, intermittent blasts” was common by the mid-fourteenth century while the meaning “pant, breathe hard and fast” emerged some decades later.  It was used of the “fluffy light pastry" from the late fourteenth century while the “small pad of a downy or flossy texture for applying powder to skin or hair” was first so described in the 1650s.

The meaning “to fill, inflate, or expand with breath or air” dates from the 1530s while the intransitive sense (in reference to small swellings & round protuberances) was noted by 1725.  The transitive figurative sense of “exalt” was known by the 1530s which shifted somewhat by the early eighteenth century into the meaning “praise with self-interest, give undue or servile praise to”, the idea by mid century focused on the figurative sense of “empty or vain boast”, this sense soon extended to mean “flattery & inflated praise”.  The derogatory use of poof for “an effeminate man; a male homosexual” was noted from the 1850s and is presumably from puff (possibly in the sense of “powder puff”, an allusion to the stereotype of their “excessive concern with maintaining a delicate appearance”)) and the extended form “poofter” was early twentieth century Australian slang, an unusual linguistic departure for a dialect which tended either to clip or add a trailing “e”, “y” or “o” sound to words.  The correct spelling for the furniture piece (A low cushioned seat with no back; a padded foot-stool) was pouf, from the French pouf & pouff (again of imitative origin) but, presumably because of confusion caused by the pronunciation, the spellings puff & poof sometimes are used.  The suffix -ery was from the Middle English -erie, from the Anglo-Norman and Old French -erie, a suffix forming abstract nouns.  The suffix first occurs in loan words from the Old French into the Middle English, but became productive in English by the sixteenth century, sometimes as a proper combination of -er with “y” (as in bakery or brewery) but also as a single suffix (such as slavery or machinery).  Puffery is a noun; the noun plural is pufferies.  Lawyers can probably get a feeling for what is "pufferyish" without being "puffery as defined" but probably don't use the non-standard adjective.

Mere puffery

The origin of “puffery” in the publishing industry is thought to be the character of Mr Puff, the verbose and bogus critic in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s (1751-1816) The Critic (1779).  Puffery was the class of “criticism” used as a tool by literary cliques (comprising groups of authors who praised each other’s works) and this excessive lauding was referred to also as a “blow up” (ie the notion of puffing into a balloon, inflating something which although becoming bigger, remains essentially “empty’).  In the jargon of publishing, a puff (or puff piece) is the equivalent of a “blurb”.  In law, the concept of “mere puffery” was created to provide a buffer between the “meaningless” sales pitch and the deceptive or misleading claims which amount to a misrepresentation.  A misrepresentation may be actionable; “mere puffery” is not.  Puffery is used to describe a claim that (1) a “reasonable person” would not take seriously or (2) is so vague or subjective that it can be neither proved nor disproved.  Those two definitions operate in conjunction because even if an assertion can be disproved, if it would be absurd for the “reasonable person” to claim they believed it, it will be held to be “mere puffery”.

Doubling down: Disappointed at losing the case based on their £100 offer, to restore public confidence, they offered £200. 

In contract law, the term “puffery” comes from one of the most celebrated cases in English jurisprudence: Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company (1892, EWCA Civ 1) before the Court of Appeal.  During the deadly influenza pandemic in the northern winter of 1889-1890, the Carbolic Smoke Ball Company it would pay £100 (equivalent to some £14,000 in 2023) to anyone who became ill with influenza after using their smoke ball in accordance with the instructions enclosed with the product.  Mrs Carlill was concerned enough by the flu to buy a ball which, following the instructions, she used thrice daily for some weeks but nevertheless, caught the flu.  Unable to persuade the company to pay her £100, Mrs Carlill brought an action, in court claiming a contract existed which the company denied.  At first instance, despite being represented by a future prime-minister, (Henry Asquith QC (1852–1928; UK prime minister 1908-1916)) the Carbolic Smoke Ball Company lost, a verdict upheld unanimously by the Court of Appeal.  It was a landmark in the development of contract law, refining the long-established principles of (1) offer, (2) acceptance, (3) certainty of terms and (4) payment although it would be decades before the implications would begin comprehensively to be realized in legislation.  Not only did Mrs Carlill secure her £100 but she survived the pandemic, living to the age of ninety-six.  On 10 March 1942, she died after contracting influenza.

So, Mrs Carlill, having used the smoke ball three times a day for almost two months before she developed influenza sued for breach of contract and the court held the offer made in the advertisement was not “mere puff” but constituted a valid offer of contract; the Smoke Ball Company’s offer was thus a misrepresentation because, in the particular circumstances detailed, a “reasonable person” would be likely to believe that they would receive £100 and thus, relying on the claim, be persuaded to purchase the product.  However, all the circumstances must be considered on a case-by-case basis and an individual’s simple reliance on a claim they sincerely believe to be true is not sufficient to for something to be held a misrepresentation.

Something will be regarded as "mere puffery" if obviously a "joke line", even if it could be disproved with enough research and analysis.

In the famous Red Bull lawsuit in 2013, the court noted the company’s advertising slogan “Red Bull gives you wings” was “mere puffery” in that no reasonable person would believe ingesting even many cans of the stuff would mean they would “grow wings and fly” (although there are other consequences which can follow high consumption) but the lawsuit claimed that implicit in the slogan was the allegedly deceptive and fraudulent suggestion that the drink was a “superior source of energy”, something not backed up by scientific evidence.  heard before US District Court for the Southern District of New York, the class action was lodged by someone who had been drinking Red Bull for a decade-odd.  His claim was not that he expected feathers to sprout but that idea drinking Red Bull would increase performance and concentration (as advertised on the company's television, on-line and marketing campaigns) was “deceptive and fraudulent and is therefore actionable”.  The scientific basis for the action was research which found energy drinks gained their “boost” through caffeine alone, not guarana or any other ingredient, adding although there was no academic support for the claim Red Bull provides “any more benefit to a consumer than a cup of coffee”, the defendants persistently and pervasively market their product as a superior source of “energy” and thus worthy of a premium price over a cup of coffee or other sources of caffeine.  Red Bull, while denying any wrongdoing or liability and maintaining its “marketing and labeling have always been truthful and accurate”, the company settled the lawsuit “to avoid the cost and distraction of litigation”.  As part of the settlement, anyone resident of the US who claimed to have purchased a can of Red Bull at some time after 1 January 2002 was eligible to receive either a $US10 reimbursement or two free Red Bull products with a retail value of approximately $US15, a webpage created to enable those affected to lodge their claim.  To avoid any similar claims, the company “voluntarily updated its marketing materials and product labeling".

Advertising is often a mix of puffery and specific claims which can be actionable, depending on the circumstances, either in damages or restitution.

So every case is decided on its merits.  A case before the Federal Court in Australia in 2017 held that a false assertion an app had “the most property listings in Sydney” was a misrepresentation because uncontested evidence proved otherwise although the court note were the app to claim it was “the best” app of its kind that would be mere puffery because, in that context, the phrase “the best” means nothing in particular because it’s not something which can be reduced to a metric or precisely defined.  More intriguing for those who like to speculate when grey turns black or white was the Pepsi Points Case which was in many ways similar to Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company.  PepsiCo’s advertising included a point system which customers could use to redeem prizes and one campaign had offered a military jet fighter (then invoiced by the manufacturers at US$23 million odd) in exchange for 7 million "Pepsi Points" (then worth US$700,000).  Mailing a $700,000 cheque to PepsiCo, a customer asked to collect his jet.  The court held the offer was “mere puffery” on the basis of (1) aspects of the campaign which clearing indicated “its jocular nature”, (2) that no reasonable person would believe a US$23 million jet could be obtained by exchanging US$700,000 and it was (3) anyway impossible for the company to deliver a military fighter jet in operable condition to a civilian customer.  It was an interesting case because it might have been decided differently if the object had been closer in value to the points mentioned and been something there was no legal impediment to supplying (such as a US$1 million car).  Were it a US$143 million car (there is one such used car), the promotion would presumably still be judged puffery but at some point, it must be that the relative values would be close enough to for the “reasonable person” test to apply.  That however is something impossible to reduce to an equation and each case will be decided on its merits.  Just to be sure, PepsiCo bumped up by several orders of magnitude the points required to start one’s own air force and added some text to make it clear the whole thing was just a joke.

In the matter of Tyrrell’s Crinkly Crisps.  Often packaging & advertising will contain a number of claims, some of which will be mere puffery (even if it’s easy to prove blatantly they’re untrue) while others need to be verifiable:

2 Pack: Not puffery; every pack must contain two packets.  There have been instances when customers have complained they’ve received more than was advertised and paid for but it’s rare.  Usually, such things are treated as “windfalls”.

Vegan: Not puffery; the contents must be vegan (as defined in the regulation of whatever jurisdiction in which they’re sold).

Triple Cooked: Probably puffery because it’s doubtful the term has any legal definition although were it possible to prove the production process is essentially the same as for any other crisp (chip), it might be actionable.  Because “triple” does have a defined value, were it proved the goods were cooked only twice as long as the practice of other manufacturers, that would presumably compel a change of text to “Double Cooked”.

More Crunch: Probably puffery because the measure of such things is so subjective and there is a point at which to increase crunchiness becomes self-defeating because other desired qualities will be lost.

Crinkly Crisps: Not puffery; the crisps must to some extent be crinkly although it might be fun to have a judge explore the margins and tell us how slight a corrugation can be while still being called “crinkly”.

No Artificial Nasties: Not puffery; these packets probably contain artificial ingredients because they’re almost impossible to avoid in the industrial production of food.  What constitutes a “nasty” is however a thing of quantity as well as quality; something millions every day harmlessly (even beneficially) can be a toxic “nasty” in large quantities so what’s included in the packet will be safe as supplied.  If potential “nasties” are found to exist in a quantity above a certain point, it’s actionable.

Gluten Free: Not puffery; unless there is an allowable quantity (ie trace amounts) permitted by regulation, there must be no gluten.

Sea Salt & Vinegar: Not puffery; sea salt is a particular type of salt so it must be used and there must be evidence of the use of vinegar.

165 g Net: Not puffery; each pack must contain 165 g of edible content +/- the small % of production line variation a court would deem acceptable.

Content guide (fat, energy etc): Not puffery; again, what’s claimed must be a reliable indication of the products within whatever small variation is acceptable.

Photograph with giant crisp: Puffery and an example of how the “reasonable person” test works in conjunction with an objective test of truth.  The packs do not contain crisps as large as is represented in the image (indeed, such would be too big even to fit in the packet) and no reasonable person would believe this is what they’re buying.

Smith's Double Crunch Chips, now available in Hot & Spicy Chicken Wings, Ultimate BBQ Ribs, Original and Cheesy Garlic Bread.

The advertising for Smith's Double Crunch was a handy case-study in the way courts treat the words and phrases used in “mere puffery” in a different way from when they appear as warranties, guarantees, contractual clauses an such; in that, it’s an example of one of the exceptions to use usual convention in common law jurisdictions of following the “Vagliano rule”.  The rule was established by the House of Lords in Bank of England v Vagliano Bros (1891) AC 107 and although technically a principle in statutory interpretation, it has influenced other areas in law; it holds that when interpreting a statute, courts should start by considering the natural meaning of the words in the statute itself, without referring to previous case law or historical background, unless the language is ambiguous.  The rule is of such significance because it prioritizes the literal and ordinary meaning of words over any interpretation which could be derived if other factors are allowed to intrude.  In his judgment, Lord Herschell (Farrer Herschell, 1837–1899; Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain 1886 & 1892-1895) wrote: “I think the proper course is, in the first instance, to examine the language of the statute and to ask what is its natural meaning, uninfluenced by any considerations derived from the previous state of the law, and not to start with inquiring how the law previously stood, and then, having ascertained that, to see whether the statute will bear an interpretation which is in accordance with it. If the statute is clear, its provisions must prevail, whatever the previous law may have been. If the statute is ambiguous, then, and only then, may the history of the law be referred to.”

Smith's Double Crunch Chips, Flamin' Hot flavor.

The “Flamin' Hot” claim would be “read down” as being understood by any “reasonable person” as being a piece of puffery suggesting “spicy” and nobody would open the packet expecting to find flaming chips inside (indeed, that would demand very different text on the packaging).  The Flaming Hot flavour is no longer on sale.

Obviously, the strictures of the Vagliano rule can’t be applied to what genuinely is “mere puffery” and courts need to decide which words & phrases “at the margins” should be subject to the usual rigor (and treated thus as conveying their “natural meaning”) as opposed to those which may be accepted as just the way things are done in advertising.  The advertising may be deconstructed thus:

While the company may claim their Double Crunch Chips are “irresistible”, it’d not be required to remove the assertion even it was proved an individual (or thousands of them) indeed could resist the inclination to eat the product.  It would however have to be truthful in the claim to being “gluten-free” and manufactured with “no artificial flavours” and “no artificial colours”.  In saying they’re a “deep ridged chip” it would be necessary for a court to determine only that ridges exist and they’re not obviously “less deeply ridged” than other comparable products.  The manufacturer is not claiming the ridges are the “deepest” or even “deeper than most”, just that they are “deep”.  Of course the core claim for a product called Double Crunch Chip was that it delivers “twice the crunch”.  While it might be possible to quantify the quality of “crunch” (in terms of audio volume or sensation), no court would require the findings to suggest “twice the audible volume” and the experience of biting a chip is so individually variable as the make the use of the term to vague to be of use in this context.  The same would apply to the “big, bold flavour you love”, the first element being impossible to define and the latter a classic piece of puffery.

Puffer

Puffer (pronounced puhf-er)

(1) A person or thing that puffs.

(2) Any of various fishes of the family Tetraodontidae, noted for the defense mechanism of inflating (puffing up) its body with water or air until it resembles a globe, the spines in the skin becoming erected; several species contain the potent nerve poison tetrodotoxin.  Also called the blowfish or, globefish.

(3) In contract law, the casual term for someone who produces “mere puff” or “mere puffery”, the term for the type of exaggerated commercial claim tolerated by law.

(4) In cellular automaton modelling (a branch of mathematics and computer science), a finite pattern that leaves a trail of debris.

(5) In auctioneering, one employed by the owner or seller of goods sold at auction to bid up the price; a by-bidder (now rare, the term “shill bidders” or “shills” more common).

(6) In marine zoology, the common (or harbour) porpoise.

(6) A kier used in dyeing.

(8) In glassblowing, a soffietta (a usually swan-necked metal tube, attached to a conical nozzle).

(9) Early post-war slang for one who takes drugs by smoking and inhaling.

(10) In mountaineering (and latterly in fashion), an insulated, often highly stylized puffy jacket or coat, stuffed with various forms of insulation.

(11) As Clyde puffer, a type of cargo ship used in the Clyde estuary and off the west coast of Scotland.

(12) In electronics and electrical engineering, a type of circuit breaker.

(13) A manually operated medical device used for delivering medicines into the lungs.

(14) As puffer machine, a security device used to detect explosives and illegal drugs at airports and other sensitive facilities.

(15) In automotive engineering, a slang term for forced induction (supercharger & turbocharger), always less common than puffer.

In 1620–1630: A compound word puff + -er.  Puff is from the Middle English puff & puf from the Old English pyf (a blast of wind, puff).  It was cognate with the Middle Low German puf & pof.  The –er suffix is from the Middle English –er & -ere, from Old English -ere, from the Proto-Germanic -ārijaz, thought usually to have been borrowed from Latin –ārius and reinforced by the synonymous but unrelated Old French –or & -eor (The Anglo-Norman variant was -our), from the Latin -(ā)tor, from the primitive Indo-European -tōr.  Added to verbs (typically a person or thing that does an action indicated by the root verb) and forms an agent noun.  The original form from the 1620s was as an agent noun from the verb puff, the earliest reference to those who puffed on tobacco, soon extended to steamboats and steam engines generally when they appeared.  The sense of "one who praises or extols with exaggerated commendation" is from 1736, which, as “mere puff” or “mere puffery” in 1892 entered the rules of contract law in Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company (1892, QB 484 (QBD)) as part of the construction limiting the definition of misrepresentation.  The remarkable fish which inflates itself in defense was first noted in 1814, the meanings relating to machinery being adopted as the industrial revolution progressed although the more virile “blower” was always preferred as a reference to supercharging, puffer more appropriate for the hand-held inhalers used by those suffering a variety of respiratory conditions. 

Puffer Jackets and beyond

Calf-length puffer coats.

The first down jacket, a lightweight, waterproof and warm coat for use in cold places or at altitude and known originally as an eiderdown coat, appears to be the one designed by Australian chemist George Finch (1888-1970) for the 1922 Everest expedition but a more recognizable ancestor was the Skyliner, created by American Eddie Bauer (1899-1986) in 1936, his inspiration being the experience of nearly losing his life to hypothermia on a mid-winter fishing trip.  Using trapped air warmed by the body as a diver’s wet suit uses water, Bauer’s imperative was warmth and protection, but he created also a visual style, one copied in 1939 by Anglo-American fashion designer, Charles James (1906-1978) for his pneumatic jacket, the Michelin Man-like motif defining the classic puffer look to this day.

Lindsay Lohan in puffer vest with Ugg boots, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2013 (left) and in puffer jacket, New York City, 2018 (right).

It was in the late 1940s it began to enjoy acceptance as a fashion item, marketed as evening wear and it was sold in this niche in a variety of materials until the 1970s when a new generation of synthetic fibres offered designers more possibilities, including the opportunity to create garments with the then novel characteristic of being simultaneously able to be bulky, lightweight yet able to retain sculptured, stylized shapes.  These attributes enabled puffer jackets to be made for the women’s market, some of which used a layering technique to create its effect and these were instantly popular.  Although initially in mostly dark or subdued colors, by the 1980s, vibrant colors had emerged as a trend, especially in Italy and England.  By the twenty-first century, although available across a wide price spectrum, the puffer as a style cut across class barriers although, those selling the more expensive did deploy their usual tricks to offer their buyers class identifiers, some discrete, some not.

The puffer started life as a jacket and it took a long time to grow but by the 2000s, calf-length puffers had appeared as a retail item after attracting comment, not always favorable, on the catwalks.  Although not selling in the volumes of the jackets, the costs of lengthening can’t have been high because ankle and even floor-length puffers followed.  Down there it might have stopped but, in their fall 2018 collection released during Milan Fashion Week, Italian fashion house Moncler, noted for their skiwear, showed puffer evening gowns, the result of a collaborative venture with Valentino’s designers.  Available in designer colors as well as glossy black, the line was offered as a limited-edition which was probably one of the industry’s less necessary announcements given the very nature of the things would tend anyway to limit sales.  The ploy though did seemed to work, even at US$2,700 for the long dress and a bargain US$3,565 for the cocoon-like winter cape, demand was said to exceed supply so, even if not often worn, puffer gowns may be a genuine collector’s item.

A Dalek.

It wasn’t clear what might have been inspiration for the conical lines although the ubiquity of the shape in industrial equipment was noted.  It seemed variously homage to the burka, a sculptural installation of sleeping bags or the stair-challenged Daleks, the evil alien hybrids of the BBC's Dr Who TV series.  It also picked up also existing motifs from fashion design, appearing even as the playful hybrid of the mullet dress and a cloak.

A monolith somewhere may also have been a reference point but the puffer gown was not stylistically monolithic.  Although to describe the collection as mix-n-match might be misleading, as well as designer colors, some of the pieces technically were jackets, there were sleeves, long and short and though most hems went to the floor, the mullet offered variety, especially for those who drawn to color combination.  Most daring, at least in this context, were the sleeveless, some critics suggesting this worked best with gowns cinched at the middle.

By the time of the commercial release early in 2019, solid colors weren’t the only offering, the range reflecting the influence of Ethiopian patterns although, in a nod to the realities of life, only puffer jackets were made available for purchase.  Tantalizingly (or ominously, depending on one’s view), Moncler indicated the work was part of what they called their “genius series”, the brand intending in the future to collaborate with other designers as well as creating a series of Moncler events in different cities, the stated aim to “showcase the artistic genius found in every city”.  The venture was pursued but in subsequent collections, many found the quality of genius perhaps too subtly executed for anyone but fellow designers and magazine editors to applaud.  The shock of the new has become harder to achieve.

Precious

Precious (pronounced presh-uhs)

(1) Of high price or great value; very valuable or costly.

(2) Highly esteemed for some spiritual, nonmaterial, or moral quality.

(3) Affectedly or excessively delicate, refined, or nice; fastidious in speech and manners.

(4) Anything though extreme (now rare and usually used only in clichéd forms).

(5) As precious and semi-precious, descriptors used in the gem-stone trade.

1250–1300: From the Middle English preciose (valuable, of great worth or price, costly) from the eleventh century Old French precios (precious, costly, honourable, of great worth), from the Latin pretiōsus (costly, valuable), the construct being pretium (price, value, worth) + ōsus or ous.  The Latin suffix -ōsus or ous (full, full of) was used to form adjectives from nouns, to denote possession or presence of a quality in any degree, commonly in abundance.  It was picked up in Middle English as -ous, from the Old French –ous & -eux.  The Modern French is précieux.

The meaning "over-refined" dates from the late fourteenth century and Dr Johnson noted it also had a secondary inverted sense of "worthless" whereas today, that’s a pure antonym.  As applied to a "beloved or dear person or object", meaning in that sense was first noted in 1706.  Related forms include preciously (adverb) & preciousness (noun).  The formal division of the gemstone market into precious and semi-precious dates from 1858, adopting the division introduced in the metals trade in 1776, precious metals then defined as gold, silver and sometimes platinum, the parameters being those rare enough to be used as a standard of value yet sufficiently abundant enough to permit use for coinage (the category of the semi-precious metal was introduced in 1818).  The idea of a person or object being precious in the sense of "beloved or highly valued” emerged early in the eighteenth century and was based on the earlier adjectival use.  The now rare noun preciosity (value, great worth, preciousness, quality of being precious) from the Old French preciosite and directly from the Medieval Latin pretiocitas (costliness, a costly thing), from pretiosus was from circa 1400.

The equally rare noun precieuse (pedantic woman, woman aiming at refined delicacy of language and taste) was in 1727 borrowed by English from French and was from the French précieuse, noun use of the feminine of précieux.  In English, it was best known as a stereotypical character in Molière's (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, circa 1622-1763) 1659 comedy of manners Les Précieuses ridicules (The Affected Young Ladies).

Precious & semi-precious gemstones

Although the notion of a hierarchy pre-dates modern civilization, gemstones were first classified into the categories of precious and semi-precious in the mid-nineteenth century.  Originally an internal system of classification used by the gemstone trade, the distinction became popular and use widespread.

Precious was applied to four types of gems: diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds.  As early as the 1880s, some traders, doubtlessly seeking commercial advantage, applied the label to other stones including opal, jade and pearls but most of the industry regards this as mere puffery and use has never become persistent or generally accepted.  Nor have buyers been persuaded; diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds account for well over ninety percent of the US$ dollar value of gemstone turnover; although not as widely applied, the four are known also as the cardinal stones.

Semi-precious is used for all varieties of gemstones not categorized as precious and any gemstone suitable for being used in personal adornment can be included. Semi-precious stones include gems fashioned from agate, amber, amethyst, aquamarine, aventurine, chalcedony, chrysocolla, chrysoprase, citrine, garnet, hematite, jade, jasper, jet, kunzite, lapis lazuli, malachite, moonstone, obsidian, onyx, peridot, rhodonite, sunstone, tiger's eye, tanzanite, topaz, turquoise, tourmaline and many other materials.

What can be misleading or confusing is the classification is inherently hierarchical and suggests correlation with cost.  An opal has been sold at US$5500 per carat and both jade cabochons and red beryls have traded US$10,000 a carat, all prices higher than that at which most precious stones sell.  Nor should precious imply scarcity, many semi-precious stones more rare than the precious four; red beryl, ammolite, benitoite, gem silica, demantoid garnet and tsavorite garnet are all found in fewer locations and produced in smaller quantities than any of the precious stones.  Such apparent anomalies are not unusual in classification systems, especially the older sets.  In geology the elements described as rare earths aren’t especially rare and in arboreal taxonomy, the soft, light balsa is a hardwood.  So, although not entirely arbitrary and meaningless, the classification of gemstones is best considered jargon of the trade although the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) has in their code of ethics a clause that members should avoid the use of the term ”semi-precious” in describing gemstones.  The view of the association is that a term like semi-precious tends to devalue the objects and they’d prefer to have just about all gems thought of as “precious” (and therefore expensive).

Nor does the notion of the four precious gems have long history.  One stone regarded as precious since antiquity was amethyst but it fell from favor when large deposits were found in South America; the introduction of semi-precious into the lexicon corresponding with the new discoveries.  Of all stones, diamond is the most mythologized, mostly of modern origin.  Historically, colored stones such as ruby and sapphire were more highly valued than diamond, because diamond was not particularly rare.   That changed in the twentieth century when, counter-intuitively, large finds in South Africa created an abundant supply of gem-quality diamonds.  Until the South African boom, worldwide production of diamond amounted only to a few kilograms per year.  After huge South African mines opened in 1870, output began to be measured by the ton, causing such a glut the De Beers cartel was formed to control supply.  Quality diamonds are not at all scarce but De Beers’ control kept prices high and their near monopoly endured until 2005; even today they control over a third of world trade.  They also generated demand.  Until De Beers lavished spending on advertising, the diamond engagement ring was almost unknown; now, it’s an almost essential part of the marriage ritual.  The diamond's special position as a precious stone is due largely to monopoly economics and social engineering.

Ruby was from the Middle English ruby, rubie, rubi & rube, from the Old French rubi, from the Latin rubinus lapis (red stone) & rubeus (red) (feminine rubea, neuter rubeum) from rubeō (I am red, reddish).  The Latin rubeus was the source also of the Italian rubino and in related to ruber, from the primitive Indo-European root reudh- (red, ruddy).  It came to be applied as a name for a pure or somewhat crimson-red color from the 1570s.  There’s no etymological explanation for the Modern French rubis (ruby) beyond a assumption the plural was mistaken for the singular and caught on.

A pink to blood-red colored stone, the ruby, like the sapphire, is a variety of the mineral corundum (aluminium oxide).  The ruby’s deep red hue and vibrant glow is because of the presence of the element chromium but, more romantically, it carries the color of love and desire, a quality perhaps reflected in the prices the stone attracts at auction, the ruby tending to command the highest per-carat value of all colored gems.  A particular attraction of the pure ruby are the thin inclusions called needles which, when intersecting in groups, create a phenomenon called “silk” which softens the color causing the light to scatter in intricate patterns across the facets.  Ruby is the birthstone for July and the gem of the fifteenth and fortieth wedding anniversaries.

Emerald was from the early twelfth century Middle English emeraude, from the earlier Old French esmeraude, from the Medieval Latin esmaralda & esmaraldus, from the Classical Latin smaragdus, from the Ancient Greek σμάραγδος (smaragdos) (green gem or malachite), from the Semitic baraq (shine).  It was influenced by the Hebrew bareqeth (emerald) and the Arabic barq (lightning).  The Sanskrit maragdam (emerald) was from the same source, as was Persian zumurrud, from which Turkish gained zümrüd, source of Russian izumrud (emerald).  Historians caution that many mediæval references to the precious stones are not reliable except as a (sometimes vague) reference to color and this is said to apply especially to the emerald.  Ireland, came to be known as the Emerald Isle from 1795, the linkage because, with a high rainfall and a temperate climate, it’s a very green island.  The emerald was the favourite stone of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt.

A cyclosilicate and a variety of the mineral beryl and colored green by tiny quantities of chromium and sometimes vanadium, emeralds are not an especially tough stone so their resistance to breakage is classified by cutters as poor.  For this reason, jewellers often mount emeralds differently, using the shape or thickness of the supporting metal to afford the stone greater protection.  The particular quality of the structure of the emerald is the often-seen intricate inclusion called the “jardin” (French for “garden”) which appear in multiples and demand a special technique from those cutting the stone; gem cutters thus developed the “emerald cut” which lends the cut stone its distinctive rectangular or square shape.  Those who cut gem stones are formerly styled lapidaries but the more evocative “cutters” seem both preferred and better.  Emerald is the birthstone for May and the gem of the twentieth and thirty-fifth wedding anniversaries.

Sapphire is from the mid-thirteenth century Middle English saphir, from the early thirteenth century Old French saphir, from the Latin sapphir, sappir & sapphīrus (blue), from the Ancient Greek σάπφειρος (sáppheiros) (precious stone, blue gem), from a Semitic language.  The Hebrew סַפִּיר‎ (sappī́r) was perhaps from a non-Semitic source such as the Sanskrit शनिप्रिय (śanipriya) (dark-colored stone, perhaps a sapphire or emerald, literally “dear to Saturn”, the construct being Saturn + priyah (precious).  Some historians have speculated the Ancient Greek sappheiros, although meaning “blue stone" apparently referred to the "lapis lazuli", the modern sapphire being instead signified by the Greek hyakinthos; not all concur.  The Latin sapphirus was the source also of the Spanish zafir and the Italian zaffiro.  Among Renaissance lapidaries, the sapphire was said to cure anger and stupidity and, as sapphiric & sapphirine, assumed the role of adjective since the fifteenth century.

The sapphire is another variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide with trace quantities of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium.  A notably hard stone, the sapphire is third in hardness behind the diamond and moissanite and has some useful optical qualities which is why it’s used also in non-ornamental applications, such as infrared devices, wristwatch crystals and ultra- thin electronic wafers, used as the insulating substrates of specific-purpose solid-state electronics such as integrated circuits and blue LEDs, the latter of such importance the discovery of the processes which permitted its creation gained the responsible scientists the 2014 Nobel Prize for physics.

Although most associated with hues of blue, pure sapphires are actually white, but in the presence of titanium and iron traces they acquire their velvety blue shade and there’s long been a speculation there’s some link between the name and the planet Saturn.  Apart from the classic blue, there are the rarer “fancy sapphires” which exist in just about every color from green to pink (even a highly prized black and there are “parti sapphires” which display two or more colors) except for red; what would technically otherwise be a red sapphire is actually a ruby.  Known as the gemstones of wisdom, truth and justice, sapphire is the birthstone for September and the gem of the fifth and forty-fifth wedding anniversaries.  A sapphire jubilee happens after sixty-five years.

Diamond was from the mid-fourteenth century Middle English diamaunt & dyamaunt, from the Old French diamant, from the Late Latin diamantem (nominative diamas), from the Vulgar Latin adiamantem, from the Classical Latin adamantem (nominative adamans) (the hardest metal, later "diamond"), from the Ancient Greek ἀδάμας (adámas) (genitive adamantos) (diamond).  Adamantos was used also as the name of the hypothetical hardest material, noun use of an adjective meaning "unbreakable, inflexible”).  It was cognate with the Spanish imán (magnet) & diamante, the French aimant (magnet) & diamant, the Italian diamante, and the Portuguese ímã (magnet) and diamante.

Lindsay Lohan's engagement ring.

From the early fifteenth century, in English also picked up another meaning which appeared also in Classical Latin: "a person of great worth".  In mathematics, later in the same century, diamond had come to describe a "geometric figure of four equal straight lines forming two acute and two obtuse angles.  It was used for one of the four suits in playing cards from the 1590s, having been an adjective to describe clusters of diamonds since the 1550s.  In baseball, the use to refer to the square space enclosed within the four bases dates from 1875.

Created when carbon is subject to immense pressure, diamond possess the highest shine of all transparent gemstones and is both the hardest known natural material on earth and the one with the highest thermal conductivity.  Able to be scratched only by another diamond, the cutting of the stones is also done with another diamond.  To determine their quality, diamonds like all precious stones are graded using the 4C system of connoisseurship: carat weight, color, clarity and cut. Diamond is the birthstone for April and the gem of the tenth and sixtieth wedding anniversaries.

Knight's Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds (1944).

A diamond cluster was an addition late in World War II to the Knight’s Cross, the highest decoration awarded to Germany’s military and paramilitary forces during the Third Reich.  The Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten) was gazetted in July 1941.  A final and higher grade, the Knight's Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Goldenem Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten) was created in December 1944, intended (somewhat optimistically given that all professional soldiers expected that month's  Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein (Operation Watch on the Rhine and better known as the Ardennes Counteroffensive or the "Battle of the Bulge") to fail (as it did)) to be awarded after Germany's final victory the to the dozen most illustrious soldiers.  Only six were struck, one of which was actually awarded.

Mach

Mach (pronounced mak, mahk or moch)

A number indicating the ratio of the speed of an object to the speed of sound in the medium through which the object is moving.  Also known as the Mach number; standard abbreviation is M.

1937: Named after Austrian physicist and philosopher Dr Ernst Waldfried Josef Wenzel Mach (1838–1916) who devised the system of speed measurement based on the Mach number. He’s remembered also as the founder of logical positivism, asserting the validity of a scientific law is proved only after empirical testing.  The Mach number is important in the understanding of fluid dynamics and represents the ratio of flow velocity past a boundary to the local speed of sound (Mach 1.0).  It’s most applied to aircraft which are classified:

Subsonic      Mach <1.0
Transonic     Mach =1.0
Supersonic   Mach >1.0
Hypersonic   Mach >5.0

The speed of sound varies, reducing at higher altitudes and if aircraft exceed about 250 mph (400 km/h), air near the aircraft is disturbed, locally changing the density.  This compression, increasing with speed, alters the force on the aircraft and is of great importance to aerodynamicists and structural engineers.  The Mach number is within the science of fluid dynamics because air is fluid and, at hypersonic speeds, the energy of the airframe affects the chemical bonds which hold together the nitrogen and oxygen molecules of air, the heated atmosphere becoming an ionized plasma of gas.  That’s why spacecraft re-entering earth’s atmosphere need to be insulated from high temperatures.  Mach 1 was first exceeded by an aircraft in level flight in 1947 but man-made objects travelling at that speed had long-existed, even before modern ballistics.  The crack of a whip is actually the sonic boom caused by the tip exceeding Mach 1.

The 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1

Unlike Ford’s later Boss 302 and Boss 429 Mustangs, both powered by genuine racing engines, 1969’s outwardly similar Mustang Mach 1 was a less ambitious machine for street and strip and available with a variety of engines, one of which, thanks to a little Dearborn mendacity, was very competitive in the then highly popular sport of pro-stock drag-racing.  A moniker like Mach 1 is known in contract law as mere puffery, the notion being that in advertising it's possible to assert things which (1) can be neither proven nor disproven or (2), are so absurd no reasonable person would take them seriously.  In 1969 nobody took literally the idea a Mustang could break the speed of sound which was just as well because, at ground level, Mach 1 is 767 mph (1235 km/h) while the top speed of the most powerful Mustang Mach 1 was about 130 mph (210 km/h) or Mach 0.171.  Actually, most were built for drag-racing and geared for acceleration rather than top-end speed so few were capable of more than around 115 mph (185 km/h) or Mach 0.151.

1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 with 428 (FE Series) CobraJet V8.

Hankering for a seven litre (427 cubic inch) version, Ford had added their 427 V8 (FE Series) to the Mustang’s option list for 1968 but none were built (although Shelby did one (or two depending on how such things are counted) and an uncertain number were fitted by dealers pursuant to customer request.  Probably now most remembered from service in the Ford GT40 and the AC Shelby Cobra, the 427 was a famously powerful and robust unit, a trophy winner on circuits from Daytona to Le Mans but was also cantankerous, noisy, an oil-burner and, perhaps most importantly for Ford, expensive to build because of its complex lubrication and cylinder width at the extreme limit of the block’s capacity.  It had also reached the end of its development so, until their new Boss 429 V8 (385 series) became available, Ford hotted-up the previously unremarkable 428 V8 (FE), used until then smoothly to propel big luxury cars like the Thunderbird and LTD.  Pleasingly for Ford, the 428 developed for the Mach 1 gained its increased output from bolt-on bits and pieces and was cheap to produce.

1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 with 351 (Windsor Series) V8.

Belying its dramatic appearance, the nose-heavy 428 Mach 1 was actually pretty bad at just about everything except the straight-line, quarter-mile sprints at which it excelled though Ford cheated to achieve even these 400 metre-long successes.  Upon its debut in 1968, the National Hot Rod Association (drag-racing’s sanctioning body) allocated vehicles to competition classes on the basis of manufacturers’ declared power-outputs.  Ford claimed the new 428 CobraJet generated 335 horsepower which was quite an understatement, something which allowed it to dominate that year’s national championships.  After that, the authorities cracked down and used their own assessments but by then the 428 CobraJet had done its job and such was the glow of the reflected glory that Ford sold over 70,000 Mach 1 Mustangs in 1969.  Not all were equipped with the big block 428 (a 390 cubic inch (6.5 litre) FE was also available which was about as heavy as the 428 but less powerful) and as road cars, those fitted with the small block (Windsor) 351 cubic inch (5.8 litre) V8 were probably more suited to what most people did most of the time.  Ford produced the Mustang Mach 1 between 1969 and 1978 although the 1974-1978 models are not well regarded, the name revived in 2003-2004 for a small production run and in 2021 the Mach 1 returned to the Mustang range.

Thrust SST, Nevada, 1997.

Almost fifty years to the day after US Air Force (USAF) pilot Chuck Yeager (1923-2020), flying a rocket-powered Bell X-1 aircraft, broke the sound barrier in Earth's atmosphere, RAF Pilot Andy Green (b 1962) set the absolute land speed record (LSR) driving the Thrust SST to a speed of 763.035 mph (1,227.985 km/h) over the stipulated flying mile (1.6 km).  It was the first time a land vehicle officially broke the sound barrier.  Powered by two afterburning Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan engines (the same type used by the British version of the F-4 Phantom II jet fighter) developing a net thrust of some 50,000 lb/f (223 kN) which equates to something in excess of 100,000 bhp (76 MW), the Thrust SST's record still stands.  Weighing a impressive 10 tons, at full throttle the fuel burn-rate was some 4.0 gallons (4.8 US gallons; 18 litres) per second or a tiny fraction of a mile per gallon.  Under the LSR rules mandated by the World Motor Sport Council, for a record officially to be sanctioned, there must be two runs in opposite directions within a certain elapsed time and the council confirmed the speed of sound was exceeded on both runs on 15 October 1997 at Black Rock Desert, Nevada (USA).

The only known photograph of the Anglo-French Concorde flying at Mach 2 (at 25,000 feet (7600 m) Mach 2 is 1,356 mph; 2,186 km/h; 1,185 knots), taken from a Royal Air Force (RAF) Panavia Tornado fighter while over the Irish Sea, April 1985.

Machboos

Lindsay Lohan in an interview published in the November 2022 edition of Cosmopolitan magazine revealed her favorite Middle-Eastern dish to cook was machboos, part of Arab cuisine throughout the region and prepared almost always with chicken with rice and vegetables.  A kind of blend of biryani and risotto, the rice is cooked in the spiced broth of the meat or chicken, melding the spices and ingredients.  Rice is a core component of Arabic cooking and interestingly, in Arabic it’s known as ruz but in the Khaleeji dialect it is aish (life) while in Egyptian Arabic, aish refers to bread, an indication of its centrality to the diet.  Like hummus, between nations (and even families) in the Middle East, there’s often disagreement about how machboos should be prepared, most of the arguments revolving around the bzar (the spice mix) but it’s certainly adaptable, able to be served with achaar (mango or lime pickle), daqoos (a spicy tomato sauce), or yoghurt with chopped cucumber and mint.

Ingredients (for serving 4-6) (from Table Tales: Exploring Culinary Diversity in Abu Dhabi (Rizzoli)).

6 tablespoons plain yogurt, divided
2 tablespoons Emirati bzar spice mix, divided
1½ kg chicken, cut into pieces
500 g basmati rice
80 mls vegetable oil
5 cardamom pods, crushed
1 cinnamon stick
10 black peppercorns
2 whole lumi, cracked
450 grams onions, chopped
1 tablespoon ginger, crushed
1 tablespoon garlic, crushed
4 small green chilies, halved
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander powder
285 grams canned tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
Cooking oil as required
450 grams potatoes, peeled and cubed
Handful of fresh coriander, chopped

Garnish

3 tablespoons cooking oil
2 onions, thinly sliced
85 grams raw cashews
55 grams raisins
Fresh coriander, chopped

Instructions

(1) Combine 4 tablespoons of yoghurt with 1 tablespoon of the bzar in a large bowl.  Coat the chicken and then marinade for 1 hour or longer.  Rinse the rice and soak in enough water to cover for 1 hour; drain.

(2) Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, peppercorns and lumi and stir for 2 minutes.  Add the onions and sauté until golden.  Add ginger, garlic, and green chilies and stir for 2 minutes.

(3) Add the chicken and marinade and then cook for a few minutes on each side.  Sprinkle in the turmeric, the remaining bzar, cumin, and the coriander powder.

(4) Add the tomatoes, salt, and 2 cups of water; bring to a boil.  Cover, lower the heat, and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, until the chicken is done.  Transfer the chicken to a roasting pan.

(5) Remove the cinnamon stick and lumi from the stock and discard.  Add the potatoes and fresh coriander and boil until the potatoes are just tender.  Adjust the stock to get a one-to-one ratio with the rice.  Stir in the remaining yoghurt until dissolved and then add the rice.  Seal the Dutch oven with aluminum foil, cover, and cook over low heat for 30 minutes until the rice is done.

(6) Turn on the oven broiler.  Brush the chicken with some oil and broil until golden.  Serve the rice on a platter with the chicken pieces on top.  Garnish with sautéed onions, cashews, raisins, and fresh coriander.

Garnish Instructions

(7) Place a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the oil and onions; sauté until they are dark brown, but not burnt.  Remove the onions with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.  Sauté the cashews in the same oil until golden brown.  Finally, add the raisins during the last few minutes to complete.