(1) Able
to pay all just debts; meet all financial obligations (ie not insolvent).
(2) Something with the power of dissolving.
(3) A
usually liquid substance that dissolves another to form a solution.
(4) Something
that solves or explains (archaic).
1620–1630: From the Middle English solvent, from the French, from the earlier form solver.Latin root was solventem,
accusative singular of solvēns
(releasing), present participle of solvō,
derived from the construct se (away)
+luō (to untie, set free, separate), most
usually as solvere (to loosen, to
free).The meaning as applied to
financial debts, originally a French form, dates from the 1650s.As a substance able to dissolve other
compounds, use emerged in the 1670s. Unfortunately, the Czech noun solvence (solvency) was never picked up by English; its adoption would have made the odd clumsy phrase more elegent. Solvent & insolvent are nouns & adjectives and solvency & insolvency are nouns; the noun plural is solvents.
Solvents and exfoliants.
Although the end result of use should (helpfully) be similar, technically, solvents and exfoliants differ both in composition and application. A solvent is a substance capable of dissolving other substances, typically for the purpose of removing them from the surface to which they've become adhered although in science and industry, they're used also for dilution or extraction and in all but some specialized products, they tend to be liquids, whether used in cleaning, manufacturing or chemical processing. The concoctions are many but the best known solvents include water, alcohol and the acetone familiar to users of nail-polish removers. Exfoliants are best-known as the commercially packaged substances used to remove dead skin cells on the face, the hope being an improvement in the texture of the skin and thus a more glowing, youthful appearance. Unlike solvents which dissolve stuff, exfoliants work by the mechanical-chemical process of physically scrubbing or sloughing off the outermost layer of dead skin cells and are packaged variously as scrubs with abrasive particles, brushes, loofahs, or chemical mixes such as alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) or beta hydroxy acids (BHAs).
In praise of Orange Solv.
Orange Solv is a water-soluble solvent marketed as an alternative to the petroleum, chlorinated or glycol-ether mixtures used in heavy duty cleaning and de-greasing.Applications include grease and tar removal from engines and parts, paint removal from solvent-resistant hard surfaces and it’s widely used commercially to remove chewing gum and stains from industrial carpets.It’s been adopted by local governments as an additive to high-pressure water systems in the removal of graffiti and one vlogger (influenced presumably by practical experience) endorsed Orange Solve as the preferred solvent to remove the CHEATER signs spray-painted onto cars by vengeful WAGs. Orange Solve is made from D-Limonene, an extract from the peel of oranges and lemons.Low in toxicity, it’s pleasant to use, has minimal skin impact and is biodegradable.Produced using the waste from the citrus industry, it's classified as non-flammable and when diluted with equal parts water, pH is a mildly alkaline 9. After use, there remains a citrus fragrance wafting about which some enjoy and others find intrusive.
(1) Of,
relating to, or caused by heat or temperature (also thermic); of, relating to,
or of the nature of thermae.
(2) As
(both noun and adjective) thermal blanket or thermal underwear (as a noun,
always referred to in the plural (thermals) even if describing a single item),
items designed to aid in or promote the retention of body heat.
(3) In
meteorology, a
column of rising air caused by local unequal heating by the
sun of the land surface,
especially such a current when not producing a cloud; widely used in aviation
and of especial importance in gliding, a borrowing of the techniques used by
birds. The air usually rises
until it is in equilibrium with the surrounding atmosphere.
(4) In stonemasonry, a rough finish created with a
blowtorch.
1756:
From the French thermal (buffon),
from the New Latin thermalis, from
the Ancient Greek θέρμη (thérmē)
(heat; feverish heat), from the primitive Indo-European gwher (to heat, warm).The construct was therm + -al (from the Latin adjectival suffix -ālis, or the French, Middle French &
Old French -el, -al; used mostly but not exclusively with word of Latin
origin).The sense of
"having to do with heat" is first recorded 1837; the noun meaning
"rising current of relatively warm air" was first noted in 1933 in
the context of aviation.Geothermal
first used in 1875; hydrothermal in 1855, exothermal in 1874; athermanous in
1839, hyperthermia in 1878, isotherm in 1850, endothermic in 1869 (1947 as applied
in biology) and thermometer as early as the 1597 although the most familiar
(pre-digital) version with mercury encased in glass, was invented by Fahrenheit
in 1714. Thermal
is adjective in the singular and a noun in the singular or plural, thermally is
the adverb.The most common derivations
are the adjectives hyperthermal and the adverb hyperthermally but in
engineering and science there’s also therm, therma, thermacogenesis, thermae,
aerothermal, thermometric, thermometrical & thermaesthesia. Thermal is a noun, verb & adjective; the noun plural is thermals.
Thermal
Reactive Nail Polish
Thermal
reactive nail polishes change color depending on both body and ambient
temperature.Nail polish is especially
suitable for thermal reactivity because the extremities of the body
(fingertips, toes, ears & nose) vary in temperature much more than parts closer
to the core.Usefully, they work with
even the thickest base and top-coats which affords additional protection for
the thermal-reactive chemicals, the color-changing properties affected not at
all if multiple coats are applied.
The
process is entirely heat-dependent and thus constantly variable.In this example the reaction produces purple
in reaction to cold and aqua to warmth; because the temperature of the nail
greatly can vary between base and tip, the ombré effect (colors blending from one hue to another) will fluctuate.The chemical reaction does rely on the top
coat being fully dry and, depending on manufacturer, this can take up to an
hour.The special properties don't last
forever but, if correctly sealed, stored in a dark place and not exposed to extremes of heat and cold, the liquid will for months continue to be reactive.
Chemically,
the thermal reactivity works because the polish is infused with a leuco (“white” in Ancient Greek) dye,
the word a little misleading in this context because leuco dyes have two forms: one clear, the other colored. The
reversible transition between the two colors may be caused by heat
(thermochromism), light (photochromism) or pH (halochromism) and in other
(often industrial) applications, it’s possible irreversibly to change colors,
usually from a redox reaction.
For
thermal nail polish, the dye comes packaged in tiny spheres called
microcapsules, each only 1-10 microns in diameter but containing three
chemicals: (1) leuco dye which changes color reversibly, the color depending on
the dye which, when combined with a proton or hydrogen ion, becomes colorless.(2) A weak acid which acts as a catalyst,
donating the hydrogen ion.(3) A solvent
which induces a color change at a desired temperature.When cool, the solvent solidifies, the
hydrogen remaining stuck to the acid and thus not interacting with the colored
dye.When hot, the solvent melts, the
weak acid dissociates, the hydrogen ion binds to the dye, and the dye is colorless.The temperature-shift range is about 5ºF
(3ºC).
Those
not content with the commercially available color combinations easily can brew
their own thermal reactive polish.Leuco
dyes are available in many colors and come as a powder, slurry, epoxy, or
water-based ink but only the powder is suitable and the transition range should
hover 88ºF (31ºC) because nails are cooler than body temperature.The choice of polish color dictates the
result.A white polish will produce a
pastel result, a pale color will switch between the original and the
combination of the leuco and the color so a mix of pink polish and a blue leuco
dye yields a color shift from pink to purple.
To mix,
place 1-2 small ball bearings in empty nail polish bottle and fill with polish
to about half-way.Add leuco dye to
achieve desired color (about ⅛
teaspoon) and, if ambient temperature is high, chill the bottle to see
result.When mixing, cap bottle and
gently roll it; do not shake because this will cause cavitation, the formation
of air bubbles which impede the blending.If the polish is too thick, add a few drops of nail polish thinner or
clear top-coat but never acetone or other nail polisher remover because these
chemicals ruin the mix.Glitter or holo
may be added according to taste.
Lindsay Lohan on skis in fuchsia, Falling for Christmas (Netflix (2022)), her thermal base layer unknown.
When skiing or mountain climbing, thermal
underwear is usually the ideal choice for what is called the “thermal base
layer”, a combination which consists usually of a top and a pair of leggings. Outer layers of ski clothing perform better
when a thermal base layer is worn because the moisture from the body rapidly is
wicked away in a capillary action, permitting the breathable fabrics of the
outer garments more efficiently to dissipate the moisture more efficiently. It’s often thought the only purpose of thermal
underwear is to increase body temperature but it’s the symbiosis between the thermal
base layer and the outer coverings which regulate
body temperature, maintaining comfort in both colder and warmer conditions. By volume, most thermal underwear is made from
Polyester (a type of plastic called polypropylene), often augmented with Lycra
and all these garments are produced in a very tight weave which delivers good thermal
qualities and what the manufacturers call a high “breathability factor”.
Also used is fine wool which, being
a natural fibre, is preferred by many and it does posses the virtues of offering
both comfort and efficient thermal qualities. The choice between the types of construction
is less about specific differences in thermal performance than how one’s skin
reacts and sometimes this is something which can be judged only after prolonged
exposure in a variety of temperatures. All types are available in both short and long (sleeves & legs)
versions and because the material is so thin, the longer cuts intrude not
at all upon the fit of gloves and boots and the choice is again one of personal
preference although, in extreme conditions, the full-versions should always at
least be packed.
(1) A substance which cannot be dissolved, broken
down or dispersed.
(2) That which cannot be solved; unsolvable;
insolvable.
(3) That which cannot be explained; mysterious or
inexplicable.
(4) In chemistry, a substance incapable of
dissolving in a solvent.
1350-1400: From the Middle English insoluble (indestructible, unable to be
loosened), from the Old French insoluble
or the Latin insolūbilis (that which
cannot be loosened), the construct being in
(not) + solubilis (soluble) which
replaced the Middle English insolible;
Middle French borrowed the word from the Latin as insoluble.In the sciences,
the noun insolubility in the sense of “incapability of dissolving in a liquid” dates
from 1754 (insoluble having conveyed that since 1713), the Late Latin insolubilitas having previously been
used and from 1791 it replaced the Latin insolubilis
(that cannot be loosened) although in the early seventeenth century it’d been
used of the marriage vow to mean "that cannot be dissolved".The curious (and in many way annoying as such
thing in English are) parallel meaning "that which cannot be solved" dates
from 1722 and etymologists think it likely a separate formation from the earlier
senses.The related adjective irresolvable
was from the 1650s and was from an assimilated form of in- (not, opposite of),
the meaning "that which cannot be resolved into parts" emerging after
1785.Insoluble is a noun &
adjective, insolubility is a noun and insolubly is an adverb; the noun plural
is insolubles.
In chemistry, insoluble has the precise technical
meaning “incapable of dissolving in a solvent” and while it’s actually rare for
absolutely no solute to dissolve at all, many substances are poorly soluble
although a compound may be insoluble in one solvent yet fully miscible in
another. There’s also the influence of
external factors, most notable temperature; increasing temperature frequently
improves the solubility of a solute.The
figurative sense (that which cannot be solved; unsolvable; insolvable) is actually
used less than other words or phrases which convey the idea, doubtlessly
because of the parallel meaning.Some
claim that in Medieval scholarship, it was a tacit conviction among the learned
that the insoluble question did not exist and that all that was ever required
was to find the right man whose studies were so deep that he would eventually
deduce the answer.It’s a
modern-sounding idea and recalls some of the optimistic phases the United
States went through in the twentieth century; probably few think like that now.
Dr Rowan Williams (b 1950; Archbishop of Canterbury, 2002-2012) and Benedict XVI (1927–2022; pope 2005-2013, pope emeritus 2013-2022),
discussing insoluble problems during the papal visit to the UK, Lambeth Palace, London, September 2010
One who probably never felt quite like that but
may at times have allowed himself the odd, brief moment of optimism was former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr
Rowan Williams, a literary critic
and one-time Professor of Divinity at Oxford although his decade in Lambeth
Palace seems to have cured him of that. In
late 2008, Dr Williams took a two month summer sabbatical to finish a book about
his literary hero, the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) which was
published as Dostoevsky: Language, Faith
and Fiction. Those few weeks may
have been among the happiest of his life, later reflecting that “It was a
wonderful experience actually, just being able to get up in the morning and
write instead go to committees and answer letters and try to solve insoluble
problems in the church.” To the
suggestion that prayer might provide answers to at least some of those insoluble
problems he replied “I'll do just that.”
Ten years on, there little indication his prayers were answered.
(1) In chemistry, Pharmacology and (pre-modern) surgery, A colorless,
highly volatile, flammable liquid (C4H10O), having an
aromatic odor and sweet, burning taste, derived from ethyl alcohol by the
action of sulfuric acid. It was used as
a powerful solvent and as an inhalant anesthetic (also called diethyl ether,
diethyl oxide, ethyl ether, ethyl oxide, sulfuric ether.
(2) In pre-modern chemistry, one of a class of compounds in which two
organic groups are attached directly to an oxygen atom (the general formula ROR),
as in diethyl ether (C2H5OC2H5).
(3) In Greek mythology, the upper regions of the atmosphere; clear sky
or heaven (and from this long a rarely used word for “air”).
(4)
In physics, a hypothetical substance supposed to occupy all space, postulated
to account for the propagation of electromagnetic radiation through space, an
idea picked up in the early days of radio broadcasting, the signal said to be “in
the ether”.
(5) In chemistry, a starting fluid.
(6) Figuratively, a particular quality created by or surrounding an object, person, or place; an atmosphere; an aura (probably most familiar in the form ethereal).
1350-1400: From the Middle English ether
(the caelum aetherum of ancient
cosmology in which the planets orbit; a shining, fluid substance described as a
form of air or fire; air), from the Middle French & Anglo-Norman ether, from the Old French aether (highest and purest part of the
atmosphere; the medium supposedly filling the upper regions of space), from the
Ancient Greek αἰθήρ (aithḗr) (purer upper air of the atmosphere; heaven,
sky; theoretical medium supposed to fill unoccupied space and transmit heat and
light), (akin to aíthein (to glow,
burn)) or directly from its etymon New Latin aethēr (highest and purest part of the atmosphere; air; heavens,
sky; light of day; ethereal matter surrounding a deity). The ultimate source of the Greek was αἴθω (aíthō) (to burn, ignite; to blaze, shine),
from the primitive Indo-European heyd- (to burn; fire). It was related to the Old
English ād (funeral pyre) and the
Latin aestus (heat). As late as the nineteenth century, it was not
uncommon in English for the Latin-derived spelling aether to be used, probably because so much of what was in the
books of apothecaries remained for so long unchanged. The German-born chemist August Sigmund
Frobenius (circa 1690-1741) was the first to use the name for the volatile
chemical, his bestowal based on its properties.
The name entered English science in 1757 although it wasn’t until 1842
the anaesthetic properties were fully documented. The English word was cognate with the obsolete
Italian etere (ether & ethera both
obsolete), the Middle Dutch ether,
the modern Dutch ether (aether obsolete), the German Äther, the Portuguese éter and the Spanish éter.
In ancient cosmology, ether was the element
filling all space beyond the sphere of the moon, constituting the substance of
the stars and planets; in the imagination of Antiquity it was held by one
school of thought to be a purer form of fire or air, by another as a fifth
element. From the seventeenth to nineteenth
centuries, ether was part of scientific orthodoxy and the technical word for an
assumed framework within which the forces of the universe interacted, perhaps
without material properties. As the
scientific method evolved increasingly to demand proof of theories, doubts were
expressed about the validity of the traditional view and in 1887 an experiment by
American physicists Albert Michelson (1852-1931) and Edward Morley (1838-1923) cast
such doubts on the notion that among others, Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was moved
to begin calculations and the view of the nature of ether from Antiquity was
completely dismissed after conclusive proof of the theory of relativity in 1919.Despite that, having first been so used in
1899, the word endured well into the twentieth century to describe the path of
the then seemingly mysterious radio broadcasts.
Lindsay Lohan during her dabble with Ethereum fueled NFT drops.
Although the volatility and churn rate make it a hard sector to track, there are apparently over 20,000 currently active (in the sense of being listed somewhere and thus able to be traded) cryptocurrencies. There are obvious attractions to creating one's own virtual currency because in a sense one is creating one's own money (usually in the millions) and if one can convince others (and guides to market manipulation have been published) to exchange their convertible currency for one's tokens, it can be a good business model. One thankless task associated with cryptocurrencies however is coming up with a suitable name, something not of great importance once the creation gains critical mass but possibly quite influential when first listed. It must be something like thinking of names for racehorses but harder still because not only must it be unique but it should also not be too close to other financial products (not just other virtual currencies). Ethereum (ETH) was coined by Russian-Canadian programmer Vitalik Buterin (b 1994) who has in interviews revealed he chose the name after browsing Wikipedia for a list of fictional elements on based on ether. One can certainly see the link and it makes more sense than the earlier Ethernet, originally a trademark of the Xerox Corporation, the construct being ether + net(work). Ethernet was a collection of cabling and network connectivity protocols standards for bus topology computer networks and to use the word "ether" was a bit of a leap, everything originally connected by cable whereas at least part of the Ethereum traffic travels through the ether (as it was understood in Antiquity). With Ethernet cabling, there was thick and thin Ethernet and the physical cabling literally was thick and thin, the choice dictated by things like the distance to be covered, the number of nodes to be connected and the available budget. In the world of cryptocurrency, think & thin means "going through thick & thin", hodling (holding) one's coins no matter what the fluctuations.
(1) A volatile, flammable liquid mixture of hydrocarbons,
obtained from petroleum and used as fuel in internal-combustion engines or as a
solvent.
(2) In the slang of drug users, marijuana, especially if
notably potent (also as gas and there’s evidence both gas and gasoline have
been used of other drugs).
(3) In slang, a cocktail made by mixing a spirit with an
energy drink (the original believed to be a combination of vodka & Red Bull).
As used to describe the “light, volatile liquid obtained
from distillation of petroleum”, gasoline dates from 1864 and was a variant of Gasolene
which in the UK had been trade-marked the year before.The word gasolene
was from a trade-marked brand of petroleum-derived lighting oil, registered in
1862 which was based on the surname of English publisher and tea & coffee
merchant John Cassell (1817–1865) who branched out into lighting fuel, marketed
as both Cazeline & Cazzoline.His publishing house Cassell & Co endures
today as an imprint of the Octopus Publishing Group.The surname Cassell was from the Anglo-Norman
castel (a cognate of the English
castle), from the Old French castel,
from the Latin castellum, a diminutive
of castrum. The -eline suffix was from the Ancient Greek ἔλαιον (élaion)
(oil, olive oil), from ἐλαία (elaía).Etymologists
speculate the spelling of gasolene (and thus gasoline) may have been influenced
by Gazeline, an Irish product which
was a clone of Cazzoline, either the promoters liked the assumed association
with “gas” or simply they found it a more attractive word.It’s though the general construct gas-o-line was
built with the “o” representing the Latin oleum
(oil) and the ending a borrowing from the chemical suffix -ine. The alternative form gasolene is extinct in
every market except Jamaica.Gasoline is
a noun & adjective and gasolinic is an adjective; the noun plural is
gasolines.
Moderne BV-Aral Tankstelle (modern BV-Aral gas station),
Bochum, FRG (Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)), 1958. The cars are an Opel Rekord (left), a Volkswagen Type 14 (Karmann Ghia) coupé (centre) and a Volkswagen Type 1 (Beetle) (right). In the background stands the head office of
the oil company BV-Aral AG.
In the US, the shortened form “gas” was in common use by
at least 1897 but on the pattern of use typically found in other words, it’s
likely it was around almost as soon as gasoline went on sale.The “gas station” (place to fill up one’s
automobile (“gassing up”) with gasoline by use of a “gas pump”) was recorded in
California in 1916 and was in national use by the early 1920s.The “gas pedal” (the accelerator) was first
recorded in 1908 and is still used even in markets where the term petrol is
preferred, as in the phrase “step on the gas” (depress the accelerator (ie go
faster)) which is used generally to suggest increasing speed or effort and is
not confined to automobiles.The term gas-guzzler (a car with a high fuel consumption) was coined in 1973 after the
first oil shock and in 1978 the US federal government imposed the first stage
of its long-running “gas-guzzler tax”.The
noun gasohol (a gasoline with a small percentage of ethanol was coined in 1975;
the mix was another reaction to the increase in the oil price and occasional shortages
in the era.To “pour gasoline on the
fire” is a suggestion some action is making an already bad situation
worse.The term Avgas (the construct being
av(iation) + gas) was coined during the First World War (1914-1918) when it was
found the mix used in automobiles was unsuitable for aircraft which needed a mixture
with higher specific energy (ie high octane).The use in North America (and a handful of other places) of “gas” to
refer to what is otherwise generally known as “petrol” sometimes mystifies
because in many markets the usual distinction for road transport is between vehicles
fueled by diesel, petrol & gas (usually liquid petroleum gas (LPG) or
compressed natural gas (CNG).
Entertainment Tonight (ET) deconstructs Lindsay Lohan’s
dance moves at a New Jersey gas station, October 2019. According to ET, the routine was executed between gas pumps 3 & 4.
In chemistry, gas is matter in an intermediate state
between liquid and plasma that can be contained only if it is fully surrounded
by a solid (or in a bubble of liquid, or held together by gravitational pull);
it can condense into a liquid, or can (in care cases) become a solid directly
by deposition. The common synonym is vapor (also as vapour).The word was a borrowing from the Dutch gas which was coined by chemist Brussels-based
chemist & physician Jan Baptist van Helmont (1580–1644), from the Ancient
Greek χάος (kháos) (chasm, void,
empty space) and there may also have been some influence from geest (breath, vapour, spirit).More speculatively, there were also the
writings of the Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of
the German Renaissance Theophrastus von Hohenheim (circa 1493-1541 and known
usually as Paracelsus) who wrote of kháos
in the occultist’s sense of “proper
elements of spirits”" or "ultra-rarified water”, both of which
accorded with van Helmont's definition of gas which he introduced to the world in
Ortus medicinae, vel opera et opuscula
omnia (The Origin of Medicine, or Complete Works (1648)) with the words Hunc spiritum, incognitum hactenus, novo
nomine gas voco (“This vapor,
hitherto unknown, I call by a new name, ‘gas’”).
Lindsay Lohan gassing up her Porsche, Malibu, California,
April 2020.
The use in science in the modern sense dates from 1779 and
it was adopted for specific applications as technologies emerged or were commercialized:
To describe a “combustible mix of vapors” the term “coal gas” was first used in
1794; the use in medicine for the anesthetic nitrous oxide was from 1794 (made
famous in dentistry as “laughing gas” although the laughter was induced by
impurities introduced in the early production processes rather than the
inherent properties of N2O); “Poison gas” was from 1900"
(1900). The meaning “intestinal vapors”
emerged in 1882 while the not unrelated sense of “empty talk” was from 1847 (meaning
something like “hot air”) although more positively, by 1953 “it’s a gas” meant “something
exciting or excellent”, “a gasser” in 1944 meaning much the same. James Joyce (1882–1941) in Dubliners (1914) used gas to mean “fun,
a joke”, an Anglo-Irish form thought linked to the use of laughing gas in dentistry. In drag racing “gassers” (so named because
they were fueled by gasoline rather than methanol or nitromethane) were the
most common of the highly modified road cars in the early days of the sport but
the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) retired the category in 1972 and split
the participation of gasoline-powered units into a number of classes.
Art Deco gas station, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles,
California, 1931.
The “gas-works” was first described in 1914 and was a
little misleading because they were actually bulk-storage facilities from which
gas was distributed either by fixed lines or cylinders delivered to the premises.The kitchen appliance the “gas-oven” was
mentioned first in 1851 although “gas-stove” by then had been in use for three
years.The notorious “gas chambers” used
by the Nazis in their mass-murder programmes are most associated with the attempt
to exterminate the Jews of Europe but the first were actually built in 1939, as
part of Aktion T4 which involved the killing of those with physical and
intellectual disabilities.These early
facilities used carbon monoxide and were built within Germany and served also
to murder other prisoners and although by later standards inefficient, were
adequate for the numbers involved.As
territories to the east were occupied, similar structures were built and there
were ever experiments with “mobile chambers”, large air-tight van coachwork added
to truck chassis into which the exhaust gasses were ducted.Again, these worked but by 1941 the Nazis now
wished to exterminate millions and the most efficient method was found to be
scaled-up chambers (disguised as shower rooms) into which the hydrogen
cyanide-based anti-vermin fumigant Zyklon B was introduced, permitting a
throughput at the most productive death camps of some 5500 at day, sometimes
for months at a time.The term “gas
chamber” was widely used during the post-war hearings conducted by the
International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuremberg (1945-1946) but as a method
of judicial execution, many nations had by then used them at various times and
the US only recently abandoned use of the method.
Roadsters line up to gas up, Gasoline Alley, Indianapolis
Motor Speedway, May 1960. This was one of the official postcards sold in the speedway's shop.
Gasoline Alley
is the name of the garage area at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That wasn’t the original name but in the
1920s, “gasoline alley” was the drivers’ slang for the forecourt at the back of
the garages where the cars were taken to refuel. Whether linked or not, there was in the era a
popular newspaper comic strip called Gasoline
Alley and the use of the name soon extended to the strip dividing the two
rows of garages. It caught the public
imagination and the facility managers in the early 1950s added signage which
meant the whole garage area became associated with the term. As a result of the reconstructions necessitated
by fires, modernization & expansion, Gasoline Alley is not recognizable
compared to its original appearance but the name remains, even thought actual
gasoline is now rarely pumped, the open-wheel cars switching first to methanol (1965)
and later (2006) ethanol and it’s only when other categories use the track that
gasoline is in the tanks. If the sport
is compelled to convert to electric (or hopefully hydrogen) propulsion, the
name is unlikely to change.
(1) To remove or get rid of, especially as being in
some way undesirable.
(2) To omit, especially as being unimportant or
irrelevant; leave out.
(3) To remove from further consideration or
competition, especially by defeating in sport or other competitive contest.
(4) To eradicate or kill.
(5) In physiology, to void or expel from an organism.
(6) In mathematics, to remove (a quantity) from an
equation by elimination.
(7) In sport, as elimination & eliminator (drag
racing): category classifications.
1560–70:
From the Latin ēlīminātus (thrust out
of the doors; expel), past participle of ēlīmināre,
the construct being ē- (out) + līmin- (stem of līmen (threshold)) + -ātus
(the Latin first/second-declension suffix (feminine -āta, neuter -ātum)).The most commonly used form in Latin appears
to have been ex limine (off the
threshold).Used literally at first, the
sense of "exclude" was first attested in 1714; the now obsolete sense
of "expel waste from the body" emerged circa 1795 although the general
sense of an "expulsion of waste matter" is from 1855. Eliminate
is a verb, if used with an object, the verbs are eliminated & eliminating, eliminability,
eliminant & eliminability are nouns and eliminable, eliminative and eliminatory
are adjectives.
Exterminate (pronounced ik-stur-muh-neyt)
Totally
to destroy (living things, especially pests or vermin); annihilate; extirpate.
1535–1545:
From the Latin exterminātus, past
participle of extermināre (to drive
away (from terminus boundary)), perfect passive participle of exterminō, the construct being ex- + terminō (I finish, close, end), from terminus (limit, end).In Late
Latin there was also the sense "destroy" from the phrase ex termine (beyond the boundary), ablative
of termen (boundary, limit, end).The meaning "utterly to destroy" appeared
in English only by the 1640s, a sense found earlier in equivalent words in
French and in the Vulgate; earlier in this sense was the mid-fifteenth century extermine.Exterminatoractually came earlier: as early as circa 1400, the Late Latin exterminator (from past participle stem
of exterminare) had the sense of "an
angel who expells (people from a country) and, by 1848, as a “substance for
ridding a place of rats etc) and by 1938 this was applied to a person whose job
it was. Exterminate
is a verb, used with an object the verbs are exterminated & exterminating, exterminable,
exterminative & exterminatory are adjectives and extermination & exterminator
are nouns.
Eradicate (pronounced ih-rad-i-keyt)
(1) To remove or destroy utterly; extirpate.
(2) To erase by rubbing or by means of a chemical
solvent or other agent.
(3) Of plants, to pull up by the roots.
1555–1565:
From the Latin ērādīcātus (usually
translated as “destroy utterly”; literally “pull up by the roots”), past
participle of ērādīcāre (root out,
extirpate, annihilate), the construct being ē-
(out) + rādīc- (stem of rādīx (root) (genitive radicis)) + -ātus (the Latin first/second-declension suffix (feminine -āta, neuter -ātum)).The assimilated form
of ērādīcāre is derived from the
primitive Indo-European wrād (branch,
root) and from the same source, the native form of the same idea existed in mid-fifteenth
century Middle English as outrōten (to root (something) out; eradicate).A surprisingly recent creation in 1794 was ineradicable
and within a few years, ineradicably. Eradicate
is a verb, eradicant is an adjective and noun, eradicated & eradicating are
verbs (used with object), eradicable & eradicative are adjectives, eradicably
is an adverb, eradication & eradicator are nouns.
Eliminate, exterminate and eradicate in the age of pandemics
In
Modern English usage, eliminate,
exterminate and eradicate are
often used interchangeably despite differences in nuance.This means also the wealth of synonyms the
three enjoy are sometimes haphazardly used although some overlap does exist,
the synonyms including: annihilate, expunge, abolish, erase, uproot,
extinguish, efface, demolish, total, abate, liquidate, obliterate, trash,
squash, purge, extirpate, scratch, slaughter, decimate, execute, massacre,
abolish, erase, extirpate, destroy, oust, waive, ignore, defeat, cancel,
exclude, disqualify, invalidate, drop, eject, expel, liquidate, omit,
terminate, slay, discard & disregard.
In the (relatively) happy times before the emergence of SARS-Cov2's Delta variant, the New
Zealand prime minister declared COVID-19 “eradicated but not eliminated” which did sound given that, regarding disease, the words have specific, technical meanings.In the context of disease, eradication refers to the complete and
permanent worldwide reduction to zero new cases through deliberate effort.Elimination
refers to the reduction to zero (or a very low defined target rate) of new
cases in a defined geographical area, which can be any size, a province,
country, continent or hemisphere.As
used by virologists and epidemiologists therefore, eradication is used in its
normal conversational sense but elimination is applied with a specific
technical meaning.There is a quirk to
this. The World Health Organization (WHO) certified the global eradication of
smallpox in 1980 although small cultures remain in US and Russian research
laboratories.If these residual stocks
are ever destroyed, the WHO may adopt some new term to distinguish between
eradication in the wild and an absolute extermination from the planet. Nobody seems now to believe COVID-19 will ever be eliminated, exterminated or eradicated. It seems here to stay.
Defendants in the dock, International Military Tribunal (IMT, the main Nuremberg trial (1945-1946)).
The
meanings of eliminate, exterminate & eradicate, both in their English
senses and in translation from German have been debated before.Although not defined in law until the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment
of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), the newly (1944) created word genocide appeared in the indictments served
at the main Nuremberg trial (1945-1946) upon those accused under count IV, crimes
against humanity.This attracted the
interest of lawyers who noted the words exterminate and eliminate appear both
in the academic and legal discussions about the novel concept of genocide and
in translations of many documents from the Third Reich which related to the
Jews.Defense counsel probed what was
meant by these words and whether, in original or translation, their actual
meaning in the context of their use was in accord with what was meant when
applied to genocide.The etymological
excursion didn’t much help the defendants, most of whom were hanged. Hermann Göring also raised an objection to a translation from the German being rendered as "final solution to the Jewish problem" rather than "total solution" which, he argued, should compel the court to draw a different inference. In both discussions, the judges concluded what was being discussed was mass-murder and the
relative degree of applicability between synonyms was not a substantive point. Actually the word used by Göring in the first paragraph of the letter which ultimately authorized the holocaust was Gesamtloesung (complete solution) while in the final paragraph he use Endloesung (final solution). This was the document which SS-Obergruppenführer (Lieutenant-General) Reinhard Heydrich (1904–1942; head of the Reich Security Main Office 1939-1942) revealed at the infamous Wannsee Conference (20 January 1942).
Professionals
in the field of pest control actually stick more closely to classic etymology in
their technical distinction between the two central words: extermination and
eradication.Extermination (from the
Latin, exterminare meaning “out of
the boundary” and related to the deity Terminus who presided over boundaries) means
to drive the pests beyond the boundaries of the building.It doesn’t of necessity mean the pests are
all dead, just that they are no longer in the building.Eradicate (from the Latin eradicare meaning to root out) refers to
the processes leading to extermination, to bring to light the breeding spots,
the places where the infestation has, so to speak, taken root.
(1) A
thin vesicle on the skin, containing watery matter or serum and induced
typically by caused by friction, pressure, burning, freezing, chemical
irritation, disease or infection.
(2) In
botany, a swelling on a plant.
(3) A
swelling containing air or liquid, as on a painted surface.
(4) In medicine,
something applied to the skin to raise a blister; a vesicatory (blister agent) or
other applied medicine (mostly archaic).
(5) In
glass-blowing, a relatively large bubble occurring during the process.
(5) In roofing,
an enclosed pocket of air, which may be mixed with water or solvent vapor,
trapped between impermeable layers of felt or between the membrane and
substrate.
(7) In
military jargon, a transparent bulge or dome on the fuselage of an airplane,
usually for purposes of observation or mounting a gun but used sometimes as a
housing for rearward air extraction.
(8) In
photography, a bubble of air formed where the emulsion has separated from the
base of a film, usually as a result of defective processing.
(9) In metallurgy,
a form of smelted copper with a blistered surface.
(10) A
dome or skylight on a building.
(11) The
moving bubble in a spirit level.
(12) The
small blister-like covering of plastic, usually affixed to a piece of cardboard
or other flat sheet, and containing a small item (pens, hardware items etc).
(13) As
“blister pack” or “blister card”, the packaging used for therapeutic or medicinal
tablets in which the pills sit under small blister-like coverings, often
labeled sequentially (1,2,3 or Mon, Tue, Wed etc) to aid patients.
(14) As
“blister packaging” a type of pre-formed packaging made from plastic that
contains cavities; a variant of bubble-wrap.
(15) In
slang, an annoying person; an irritant.
(16) The
rhyming slang for “sister”, thus the derived forms “little blister”, “big blister”,
“evil blister” et al).
(17) In
slang, a “B-lister” (ie a celebrity used for some purpose or invited to an
event when it’s not possible to secure the services of an “A-Lister”.In industry slang, the less successful celebrity
managers are “blister agencies”.
(18) To
raise a blister; to form or rise as a blister or blisters; to become blistered.
(19) To
criticize or severely to rebuke (often as “blistering attack”).
(20) To
beat or thrash; severely to punish.
(21) In
cooking, to sear after blanching
1250–1300:
From the Middle English blister &
blester (thin vesicle on the skin
containing watery matter), possibly from the Old French blestre (blister, lump, bump), probably from the Middle Dutch blyster & bluyster (swelling; blister), from the Old Norse blǣstri (a
blowing), dative of blāstr (swelling).All the European forms are from the primitive
Indo-European bhlei- (to blow, swell),
an extension of the root bhel- (to
blow, swell).The verb emerged late in
the fifteenth century in the sense of “to become covered in blisters” and the
medical use (of vesicatories) meaning “to raise blisters on” is in the literature
from the 1540s.The noun & adjective
vesicatory dates from the early eighteenth century was from the Modern Latin vesicularis, from vesicula (little blister), diminutive of vesica (bladder).In
historic medicine, a vesicant (plural vesicants) or vesicatory (plural
vesicatories) is used as an agent which induces blistering.Typically a chemical compound, the primary
purpose was intentionally to create a blister to draw blood or other bodily
fluids to the surface, often in an attempt to relieve inflammation, improve
circulation in a specific area, or treat various conditions indirectly by this
counter-irritation technique.Historically,
vesicatories were commonly used with substances like cantharidin (from blister
beetles) being applied to the skin to achieve this effect but in modern medicine
the practice is (mostly) obsolete because more effective and less invasive
treatments now exist.Blister & blistering
are nouns, verbs & adjectives, blistered is a verb & adjective, and
blisterlike, blisterless & blistery are adjectives; the noun plural is
blisters.
1968 MGC Roadster with bulge, blister and the bulge's curious stainless steel trim.
The MGC
(1967-1969) was created by replacing the MGB’s (1962-1980) 1.8 litre four
cylinder engine with a 2.9 litre (178 cubic inch) straight-six, something which
necessitated a number of changes, one of which was the bonnet (hood) which
gained a bulge to accommodate the revised placement of the radiator and, on the
left-hand side, a small blister because the forward of the two carburettors sat
just a little too high to fit even with the bulge.Because to raise the whole bulge would have the
bonnet look absurd, the decision was taken just to add a blister.A blister (in this context) is of course a
type of bulge and where a blister ends a bulge begins is just a convention of
use, blisters informally defined as being smaller and of a “blister-like shape”,
something recalling one appearing on one’s foot after a day in tight, new
shoes.A blister (which some seem to
insist on calling a “teardrop” in they happen to assume that shape) also
differs from a scoop in that it’s a enclosed structure whereas a scoop has an aperture
to permit airflow.There are however
some creations in the shape of a typical blister which are used for air-extraction
(the aperture to the rear) but these tend to be called “air ducts” rather than
blisters.MGC’s bulged and blistered bonnet
has always been admired (especially by students of asymmetry) and both the
originals (in aluminium which is an attraction in itself) and reproduction
items are often used by MGB owners, either just for the visual appeal or to
provide greater space for those who have installed a V8.The apparently superfluous stainless steel trim piece in
the bulge (there's no seam to conceal) is believed to be a motif recalling the small grill which was in a similar place on BMC’s (British Motor Corporation) old Austin-Healey 3000 (1959-1967), the MGC created because the 3000 couldn’t easily
be modified to comply with the increasingly onerous US regulations. Because there were doubts the cost of developing a
replacement would ever be recovered, the decision was taken to build what was, in effect, a six-cylinder MGB.The considerable additional weight of the bigger engine spoiled the MGB’s almost perfect
balance and although a genuine 120 mph (195 km/h) machine, the MGC was never a critical or commercial success with only 8,999 (4,542 roadsters & 4,457 coupés) produced during its brief, two season life.
Republic P-47C Thunderbolt with the original colonnaded canopy (top) and the later P-47D with blister canopy (bottom).
When
the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt (1941-1945) entered service with the USAAF
(United States Army Air Force) in 1942, it was the largest, heaviest, single
seat, piston-engined fighter ever produced, a distinction it enjoys to this
day.However, one thing it did share
with some of its contemporaries was the replacement in later versions of the colonnaded
canopy over the cockpit by an all-enveloping single panoramic structure which afforded
the pilot unparalleled visibility, something made possible by advances in
injection molding to fabricate shapes in Perspex, then still a quite novel
material.These canopies were adopted
also for later versions of the The Supermarine Spitfire (1938-1948) and the North
American P-51 Mustang (1941-1946) but the historians of aviation seem never to
have settled on a description, opinion divided between “bubble-top” and “blister
top”.
In
military aviation, “blister” is more familiar as a use to describe the transparent
bulge (or dome) on the fuselage of an airplane, usually for purposes of
observation or mounting a gun but used sometimes to house a rearward air
extraction device.However, because of
other linguistic traditions in military design, the “blisters” used as gun
mounting position were also described with other words, the use sometimes a
little “loose”.One term was barbette (plural
barbettes), a borrowing from the French and used historically to mean (1) a
mound of earth or a platform in a fortification, on which guns are mounted to
fire over the parapet and (2) (in naval use), the inside fixed trunk of a
warship's gun-mounting, on which the turret revolves and used to contain the
hoists for shells and cordite from the shell-room and magazine.
Also
used was turret, from the Middle English touret,
from the Old French torete (which
endures in Modern French as tourette),
a diminutive of tour (tower), from the Latin turris.In architecture (and
later adoptions like electronic circuitry and railcar design), turrets tended
to be variations of or analogous with “towers” but in military use there was a
specific evolution.The early military
turrets were “siege towers”, effectively a “proto-tank” or APC (armoured personnel
carrier) in the form of what was essentially a “building on wheels”, used to
carry ladders, casting bridges, weapons and soldiers equipped with the tools
and devices need to storm so fortified structure such as a fort or castle.From this evolved the still current idea notion
of an armoured, rotating gun installation on a fort or warship and as powered
land vehicles and later flying machines (aircraft) were developed, the term was
adopted for their various forms of specialized gun mountings.In aircraft, the term blister came later, and
allusion to the blister-like shape increasingly used to optimize aerodynamic
efficiency, something of little concern to admiralties.
Mar-a-Lago, Ocean Boulevard, Palm Beach, Florida.
Another
military blister was the cupola (plural cupolas or cupolae), from the Italian cupola, from the Late Latin cūpula (a small cask; a little tub),
from the Classical Latin cuppella,
from cuppa & cūpa (tub), from the Ancient Greek κύπελλον (kúpellon) (small cup), the construct being cūp(a) + -ula, from the primitive Indo-European -dlom (the instrumental suffix) and used
as a noun suffix denoting an instrument.The origin in Latin was based on the resemblance to an upturned cup,
hence the use to describe the rounded top of just about any structure where no specific
descriptor existed.In military use, a
cupola is basically a helmet fixed in place and that may be on a building, a
ship or an armored vehicle, the function being to protect the head while
offering a field of view.Sometimes,
especially in tanks or armored cars, guns or flame-throwers were integrated
into cupolas and in naval gunnery, there was the special use to describe the
dome-like structures protecting a (usually single) gun mounting, something
which distinguished them from the larger, flatter constructions which fulfilled
the same purpose for multi-gun batteries.Turrets and cupolas are among the architectural features of Mar-a-Lago, Donald
Trump’s (b 1946; US president 2017-2021) winter palace on Ocean Boulevard, Palm
Beach, Florida.
Northrop P-61 Black Widow: A prototype with the troublesome dorsal blister turret (left), the early production P-61A with the blister removed (upper right) and the later P-61B with the blister restored (lower right).
The attractive
aerodynamic properties of the classic blister shape was an obvious choice for
use in aircraft but even then, they weren’t a complete solution. The Northrop P-61 Black Widow was the first
aircraft designed from a clean sheet of paper as a night-fighter, cognizant of
the experience of the RAF (Royal Air Force) which during the Luftwaffe’s (the
German air force) Blitz of London (1940-1941) had pressed into service day-fighter
interceptors. Designed to accommodate on-board
radar, the Black Widow was heavily gunned and incorporated notable US
innovations such as remote control firing mechanisms. Part of the original was a remotely-controlled
blister turret on the dorsal section which proved the shape’s aerodynamic properties
worked only when pointed in the appropriate direction; when pointed at
right-angles to the aircraft’s centre-line, the tail section between the
twin-booms suffered severe buffeting.
Accordingly, the blister turret was deleted from the early production
versions but the early experience of the military confirmed the need for
additional firepower and after a re-design, it was restored to the slightly lengthened
P-61B. The integration of so many novel
aspects of design meant the P-61 didn’t enter service until 1944 and, as the
first of its breed, it was never a wholly satisfactory night-fighter but it was
robust, had good handling characteristics and offered the advantage of being
able to carry a heavy payload which meant it could operate as a nocturnal intruder
with a lethal disposable load. It was
however in some ways a demanding airframe to operate, the manufacturer recommending
that when fully-loaded in its heaviest configuration, a take-off run-up of 3
miles (4.8 km) was required. Although
its service in World War II (1939-1945) was limited, remarkably, like the de
Havilland Mosquito (DH.98), the Black Widow was also a Cold War fighter, both
in service until 1951-1952 because of a technology deficit which meant it wasn’t
until then jet-powered night-fighters came into service. The Black Widow was in 1949 (by then designated F-51), the first
aircraft in service in the embryonic USADC (US Air Defense Command), formed to
defend the country from any Soviet intrusion or attack.
Xanax (Alprazolam), a fast-acting benzodiazepine. It is marketed as anti-anxiety medication and supplied in blister packs.
Lindsay Lohan released the trackXanaxin 2019.With a contribution from Finnish pop star Alma (Alma-Sofia Miettinen; b 1996), the accompanying music video was said to be “a compilation of vignettes of life”,Xanax reported as being inspired by Ms Lohan’s “personal life, including an ex-boyfriend and toxic friends”.Structurally,Xanax was quoted as being based around "an interpolation of" Better Off Alone, by Dutch Eurodance-pop collectiveAlice Deejay, slowed to a Xanax-appropriate tempo.
Xanax by Lindsay Lohan
I don't like the parties in LA, I go home
In a bad mood, pass out, wake up alone
Just to do it all over again, oh
Looking for you
Only one reason I came here
Too many people, I can't hear
Damn, I got here at ten
Now it's 4 AM
I can't be in this club
It's too crowded and I'm fucked
Ain't nobody here for love
Ain't nobody care about us
I got social anxiety, but you're like Xanax to me, yeah
Social anxiety, when you kiss me, I can't breathe
No, I can't be in this club
It's too crowded and I'm fucked
Ain't nobody here for love
Ain't nobody care 'bout us
I got social anxiety, but you're like Xanax to me, yeah
Social anxiety, when you kiss me, I can't breathe, yeah
But you're like Xanax to me
When you kiss me, I can't breathe
I try to stay away from you, but you get me high
Only person in this town that I like
Guess I can take one more trip for the night
Just for the night
Only one reason I came here
Too many people, I can't hear
Damn, I got here at ten
Now it's 4 AM
I can't be in this club
It's too crowded and I'm fucked
Ain't nobody here for love
Ain't nobody care about us
I got social anxiety, but you're like Xanax to me, yeah
Social anxiety, when you kiss me, I can't breathe
No, I can't be in this club
It's too crowded and I'm fucked
Ain't nobody here for love
Ain't nobody care 'bout us
I got social anxiety, but you're like Xanax to me, yeah
Social anxiety, when you kiss me, I can't breathe, yeah
