Volkssturm

Volkssturm (pronounced folks-stuhm)

1944: A German compound, the construct being Volk +‎ -s- +‎ Sturm (a civilian militia (literally “people's storm”) formed during the last days of the Third Reich.  Volkssturm is a proper noun.

One member of the Volkssturm was the philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), noted for his seminal work in phenomenology & existentialism, a flirtation with the Nazis which he spent the rest of his life rationalizing and an affair with the Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt (1906–1975).  He was drafted into the Volkssturm in 1944 and apparently dug anti-tank ditches.  Although some sources claim a youthful Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger, b 1927; pope 2005-2013, pope emeritus since) was a member of the Volkssturm, he was actually drafted as a Flakhelfer (an auxiliary attached to an anti-aircraft (flak) unit).  According to the Pope Emeritus, he was never part of shooting at anything.

Volk was from the Middle High German volc, from the Old High German folc, from the Proto-West Germanic folk, from the Proto-Germanic fulką.  It was cognate with the Dutch volk, the English folk, the Swedish folk, the Norwegian Bokmål folk, the Norwegian Bokmål folk, the Icelandic fólk and the Danish folk.  Volk is famously associated with its best understood meaning (people of a certain race united by culture, history, descent & language) with the phrase used by Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; German head of government 1933-1945 and head of state 1934-1945) to describe the “Führer state”: Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer! (One People, One Realm, One Leader!).  Whatever the inconsistencies in the reality of the Nazi state, the phrase is an accurate description of the Nazi vision of how the German nation should be understood.  Historically, Volk was also used in the sense of (1) “the common people, the lower classes, the working classes” (now largely archaic), (2) “a large gathering of people (a crowd) in any context” & (3) in zoology (especially entomology) to refer to a herd, covey, swarm, colony etc”.

Sturm was from the Middle High German and Old High German sturm (storm), the retention of the u vowel being irregular; it was lowered to o because of a mutation in all other West Germanic languages (and the Old Norse), despite German being the one Germanic language where a-mutation most consistently occurred, especially of u to o.  A Sturm was a “strong, blustery wind; gust; gale; squall; a storm or tempest” and in Prussia the imagery appealed to the military which applied it to mean a sudden, rushed attack and in the Imperial Army created relatively small units called Sturmtruppen (storm troopers).  As a technique, the precise infiltration tactics of the Sturmtruppen weren’t a German invention and had probably been part of organized military operations as long as warfare has been practiced but the development of rapid-fire weapons had limited the effectiveness of the use of massed formations and during the nineteenth century, the concept of the surgical strike became popular and nowhere was it more fully developed than in the Prussian army manual.  The best known example of the used of the word in this context was the notorious Sturmabteilung (the SA, literally "Storm Detachment"), the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party which was a vital component of the structure until power was gained in 1933, after which, having outlived its usefulness to the point where (a as formation with a membership of millions many discontented with the results of the party had offered them once in power) the Nazi hierarchy (and the army) came to regard them as a (at least potential) threat and a bloody purge (Nacht der langen Messer (Night of the Long Knives), also called Unternehmen Kolbri (Operation Hummingbird)) was executed.

Austrian Sturm.

In Austrian viniculture, Sturm is a beverage made from white or red grapes that has begun to ferment but that has not yet turned into wine.  It’s not obviously appealing to look at and is most popular between late September & early October, served usually poured in a pint glass or large tumbler and resembles a hazy, unfiltered beer.  Sturm is unusual in that it’s a partially completed product, being still fermenting and that said to be a large part of the appeal and there’s much variation, some made with red grapes (though most are from white) and they tend from the sweet to the very sweet, all sharing a fresh, juicy, slightly fizzy quality.  Definitely not made for connoisseurs, Sturm is meant to be guzzled.  As a point of note for English speakers, when the word Sturm is used in the original (meteorological) context, the word has no association with rainfall; a Sturm may be accompanied by rain but it refers only to strong winds.

The Volkssturm was a civilian militia created by the Nazi Party after Dr Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945; Nazi propaganda minister 1933-1945) was appointed Reichsbevollmächtigter für den totalen Kriegseinsatz (Reich Plenipotentiary for the Total War Effort) in the wake of the attempted assassination of Hitler in July 1944.  The attempt clearly focused the Führer’s mind on the dire situation confronting Germany or, as Goebbels noted in his diary: “It takes a bomb under his ass to make Hitler see sense”.  By then however it was already too late.  Had the Germany economy been moved to a total war footing during 1941 it might have altered the course (though probably not the outcome) of the war but, paradoxically, the authoritarian Nazi state lacked the structure to impose the controls the democracies were able quickly to implement early in the conflict.

Hitler Youth members with Panzerfausts.

Germany’s military was by 1944 in retreat on three fronts (the position worse still considering the loss of superiority in the air and the state of the war at sea) and armament production, although it would peak that year, was not sufficient even to cover losses.  The same was true of the manpower required to replace battlefield causalities and for this reason, the decision was taken to created the Volkssturm by conscripting males aged between 16-60 who had not yet been absorbed by the military unit.  Initially, the Volkssturm members continued in their usual occupations, drilling in the evenings or on (their now rare) days off or constructing obstacles such as tank ditches or barricades.  Poorly equipped and lacking adequate weapons or even uniforms, the Volkssturm, when finally committed in combat in the battle for Berlin in 1945 were militarily ineffective (their greatest successes coming in the number of Soviet tanks destroyed with the remarkably effective Panzerfaust (tank fist) although with these bazooka-like devices the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) formations proved even more effective) and suffered a high rate of causalities, just as predicted by the Army commanders which opposed their deployment, correctly fearing they would only obstruct movement. 

Volkssturm members with Panzerfausts. 

The Volkssturm truly was scraping the bottom of the manpower barrel but, in terms of the only strategic option left open to the regime, by 1945 it did make sense in that its deployment might delay the advance of the allied armies and it was Hitler’s last hope that that if defeat could be staved off, the differences the Western powers and the Soviet Union might see their alliance sundered, one bizarre thought being that the UK and US might realize their true enemy was the USSR and they might join with Germany in vanquishing the "Bolshevik menace".  The Führerbunker must have been a strange place to be in the last days although few actually shared Hitler’s more outlandish hopes and it’s not clear exactly when Hitler too finally realized his luck had run out but almost to the end, however many of the Volkssturm could be cajoled or threatened to assemble, were sent into battle.  As well as the support of Goebbels, the platoons of the old and sick were championed by Martin Bormann (1900–1945; leading Nazi functionary and ultimately Secretary to the Führer 1943-1945), one of the breed of blood-thirsty non-combatants which right-wing politics to this day seems to attract.  Hitler would well have understood service in the Volkssturm was a death sentence for those not able to sneak away (which many did).  In 1937 in an address to the Kreisleiters (district leaders) in Vogelsang Castle, he described such civilian militias as a “totally worthless crowd” because “drumming up enthusiasm” could never produce soldiers.  Mr Putin may be reaching the same conclusion.

While videos and photographs circulating on the internet suggest the Russian military machine is not now what it once was (and by most until a few months ago presumed still to be), the Kremlin’s problem is not the dire shortage of men available for military mobilization but their collective unwillingness to join the battle.  It’s unlikely the photographs in circulation showing some rather grey and elderly recruits are representative of the mobilization; like every military, the Russian databases will have a few incorrect records but all the indications are that there are shortfalls in the equipment able to be supplied to the troops thus far available for immediate deployment, let alone those undergoing training.  Certainly, the Kremlin’s claim (apparently verified as official) that the September 2022 mobilization would yield some 300,000 troops (there was no comment on how many would be combat-ready) or about 15 divisions (in historic terms) seems unlikely to be realized.  Even had the numbers become available, the course of the special military action (war) thus far suggests even the available Russian forces so reinforced would not been sufficient to conquer, let alone occupy Ukraine but expectations may have been lowered (adjusted in political-speak) to the point where a serviceable and defensible land-bridge to the Crimea would suffice for victory to be declared.  However, that would likely merely re-define rather than resolve the Kremlin’s problems.  It appears too that the Kremlin’s problems pre-date the special military action (war), the aim in autumn of 2021 to recruit 100,000 volunteers to the Russian Combat Army Reserve falling well short, as did subsequent attempts, the most recent initiated in June 2022.  The compulsory mobilization is a tacit admission the formation of “volunteer battalions” has not been successful.  Still, it’s unlikely the Kremlin will resort to creating its own Volkssturm to try to plug the gaps.

Practical advice to newly mobilized Russian troops.  

Baffle

Baffle (pronounced baf-uhl)

(1) To confuse, bewilder or perplex.

(2) To frustrate or confound; to thwart (a now archaic and probably obsolete seventeenth century use which didn’t of necessity involve the creation of confusion or bewilderment).

(3) To check or deflect the movement of (sound, light, fluids, etc.).

(4) To equip with a baffle or baffles.

(5) To cheat or trick; to hoodwink or deceive someone (used between the sixteenth & eighteenth centuries and now obsolete).

(6) To struggle ineffectually, as a ship in a gale (a nineteenth form rare except in Admiralty use).

(7) Publicly to disgrace, especially of a recreant knight (used between the sixteenth & seventeenth centuries and now obsolete).

(8) Something that balks, checks, or deflects (also called a baffle-board); an artificial obstruction for checking or deflecting the flow of gases (as in a boiler), sounds (as in the loudspeaker system of a radio or hi-fi set), light (as in a darkroom) or fluids (as in a tank).

(9) In audio engineering, any boxlike enclosure or flat panel for mounting a loudspeaker.

(10) In military camouflage, an architectural feature designed to confuse enemies or make them vulnerable.

(11) In coal mining, a lever for operating the throttle valve of a winding engine (US dialectal use).

1540-1550: Of uncertain origin but may have entered English from the Scots dialectal bauchle (to disgrace, treat with contempt, especially a perjured knight), from bauch or bachlen (publicly to condemn) and probably related to the early-modern French bafouer (to disgrace, to scorn, abuse or hoodwink) or the obsolete French befer (to mock) which was definitely picked up from the Scots bauchle.  The most likely root is the German natural sound of disgust, like bah which appears in the language as baff machen (to flabbergast) and the familiar modern meaning “to bewilder or confuse” is from 1640s while that of “to defeat someone's efforts” is from 1670s.  The use meaning “shielding device” dates from 1881 and “artificial obstruction” is from 1910.  The alternative spellings bafful & baffol are both obsolete.  Baffle is a noun & verb, bafflement & baffler are nouns and baffled & baffling are verbs & adjectives; the noun plural is baffles (or the rare bafflers).

As a noun, baffle emerged in the early 1880s, initially used mostly of the shielding device attached to stoves and ovens where it was short for “baffle-plate”, derived from the noun.  The earlier noun (from circa 1860) in the same sense was baffler, a word which can still be used to describe (1) something that causes one to be baffled, particularly a difficult puzzle or riddle & (1) in gaming, one of the projections inside a dice tower that serve to deflect the die unpredictably.  The noun bafflement (state of being baffled) dates from 1841 while the adjective baffling (bewildering, confusing, perplexing) was from 1733; it was the present-participle adjective from the verb baffle but also emerged in Admiralty slang (soon picked up in the merchant service) in the eighteenth century as a sailor's adjective for winds that blow variously and make headway difficult; although now rare, it survived into the age of steam.  The noun and verb bafflegab was first noted in 1952 and describes pretentious, incomprehensible, or overly technical language, especially legal or bureaucratic jargon; a synonym of gobbledygook (but not “hocus-pocus” or “mumbo-jumbo” which reference something nonsensical although use of those two is now probably proscribe because of their origin when speaking dismissively of the speech of African “witch doctors”.  The companion word is baffound (to perplex, bewilder by the use of bafflegab).

Although it had probably before been on the tips of not a few tongues, the words “baffle”, “baffling” & “baffled” in connection with Lindsay Lohan really spiked in 2016 when footage circulated of her speaking in distinctively different accent which used a conventional US English vocabulary but was delivered, with an occasionally halting delivery, the accent vaguely Russian or eastern European.  She later clarified thing by saying it was “…a mixture of most of the languages I can understand or am trying to learn”, adding that she’d been “…learning different languages since I was a child.  I'm fluent in English and French can understand Russian and am learning Turkish, Italian and Arabic”.  Taking advantage of the interest, she named the latest addition to the planet’s linguistic diversity “LiLohan” and a limited edition LiLohan clothing line was quickly made available as a philanthropic endeavour, part of the proceeds from each item sold going to Caudwell Children and the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency of Turkey (AFAD).  Turkey is now properly called Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (Republic of Türkiye); the accepted short form Türkiye.

Baffled sump (left) and fuel tank (right).In cars, baffles are used in sumps and fuel tanks to prevent fluids sloshing around when subjected to the high lateral forces encountered in high-speed cornering.  With fuel tanks this ensures weight transfers are minimized while the purpose in a sump is to (1) avoid the oil surge or starvation which can happen if movement means the oil becomes removed from the oil-pump’s pickup & (2) assist in reducing the oil’s tendency to foam.  In Australia Ford included a baffled sump on the Falcon GTHO Phase III (1970-1971) and this was to be carried over to the abortive Phase IV (1972), the novelty with the latter being the race cars gaining tear-drop shaped “ears” welded to each side of the sump, adjacent to the oil pump.  The ears not only increased oil capacity but also, sitting as they did in the air-flow passing under the body, enhanced cooling.

Speak no evil: Alan Tudge.

Given the number of times the Australian Liberal Party has in recent years sought to celebrate the virtue of “personality responsibility” the evidence given by Alan Tudge (b 1971) to the royal commission investigating the “robodebt” scheme (a system which sought to “recover” what were alleged to be debts incurred by citizens who had failed to inform the government about their earnings) must to some have seemed baffling; not necessarily surprising, just baffling.  The scheme had been found to be unlawful but Mr Tudge, who served as (Liberal) minister for human services in 2017-2018 and was (under the Westminster system) “responsible” for the administration of “robodebt”, refused during questioning to accept ministerial responsibility for the unlawfulness of the scheme.  Despite being the minister in charge, Mr Tudge said it was not his responsibility check whether or not the robodebt scheme was lawful although he did seem to concede he was responsible for the scheme’s “lawful implementation”, adding that he assumed it was lawful, and had never been shown legal advice regarding its legality.  His position appeared to be based on what sounds a reasonable assumption: that the departmental secretary (the public servant in charge of the department) would not be implementing a program which he or she would know to be unlawful, something he described as “unfathomable”, adding that the scheme had gone through a rigorous cabinet process “which always has a legal overlay”.

Justice Jackson prosecuting, Albert Speer in the dock, Nuremberg, 1946. 

There are many books by academics, historians and former politicians which discuss the doctrine of ministerial responsibility but it's not known if the transcript of 20 June 1946 of the International Military Tribunal (the Nuremberg Trial) was in Mr Tudge's mind: Mr Justice Robert Jackson (1892–1954; US Supreme Court Justice 1941-1954; Chief US Prosecutor at the Nuremberg (IMT) trials of Nazi war criminals 1945-1946) cross-examining Albert Speer (1905–1981; Nazi court architect 1934-1942; Nazi minister of armaments and war production 1942-1945):

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Your statement some time ago that you had a certain responsibility as a Minister of the Government.  I should like to have you explain what responsibility you referred to when you say you assume a responsibility as a member of the Government; your common responsibility, what do you mean by your common responsibility along with others?

DEFENDANT SPEER: In my opinion, a state functionary has two types of responsibility.  One is the responsibility for his own sector and for that, of course, he is fully responsible.  But above that I think that in decisive matters there is, and must be, among the leaders a common responsibility, for who is to bear responsibility for developments, if not the close associates of the head of State?

This common responsibility, however, can only be applied to fundamental matters, it cannot be applied to details connected with other ministries or other responsible departments, for otherwise the entire discipline in the life of the state would be quite confused, and no one would ever know who is individually responsible in a particular sphere. This individual responsibility in one's own sphere must, at all events, be kept clear and distinct.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Well, your point is, I take it, that you as a member of the Government and a leader in this period of time acknowledge a responsibility for its large policies, but not for all the details that occurred in their execution. Is that a fair statement of your position?

DEFENDANT SPEER: Yes, indeed.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: I think that concludes the cross-examination.

Alan Tudge at the 2017 Midwinter Ball with Liberal staffer Rachelle Miller.

Ms Millar also provided some interesting evidence to the “robodebt” royal commission and (pursuant to an unrelated matter) received from the Commonwealth a taxpayer-funded Aus$650,000 settlement for damages while working in two ministerial offices.  Ms Millar had accused Mr Tudge of being physically abusive towards her while in a consensual relationship and part of the settlement related to these matters, including compensation for loss of earning, hurt, distress, humiliation & medical and legal costs.  The Commonwealth did not admit liability but in paying Aus$650,000 seems to have assumed responsibility.  In a Clintonesque touch, Mr Tudge admitted he was at times sexually intimate with Ms Miller but insists he did not have “sexual intercourse” with that woman.

Bilateral

Bilateral (pronounced bahy-lat-er-uhl)

(1) Pertaining to, involving, or affecting two or both sides, factions, parties, or the like.

(2) Located on opposite sides of an axis; two-sided, especially when of equal size, value etc.

(3) In anatomy and biology, pertaining to the right and left sides of a structure (especially in the region furthest from the median plane).

(4) In contract law, binding the parties to reciprocal obligations.

(5) In anthropology, relating to descent through both maternal and paternal lineage.

(6) In the British education system, a course combining academic and technical components.

(7) In physics, acting or placed at right angles to a line of motion or strain.

(8) In phonetics and phonology, of a consonant (especially the English clear l), pertaining to sounds generated by partially blocking the egress of the airstream with the tip of the tongue touching the alveolar ridge, leaving space on one or both sides of the occlusion for air passage.

1775: The construct is bi + lateral.  Bi-, in the sense of the word-forming element (two, having two, twice, double, doubly, twofold, once every two etc) is from the from Latin bis (twice) or bīnus (double), from the Old Latin which was cognate with the Sanskrit dvi-, the Ancient Greek di- & dis-, the Old English twi- and the German zwei- (twice, double), all from the primitive Indo-European PIE root dwo- (two), ultimate source also of the Modern English duo.  Bilateral is a noun & adjective, bilateralist, bilateralization, bilaterality & bilateralism are nouns and bilaterally is an adverb; the common noun plural is bilaterals.

It may have been in use before but was certainly nativized during the sixteenth century.  The occasionally bin- before vowels was a form which originated in French, not Latin although it’s suggested this may have been influenced by the Latin bini (twofold), the familiar example being “binary”.  In computing, it’s most associated with zero-one distinction in the sense of off-on and in chemistry, it denotes two parts or equivalents of the substance referred to although there are rules and conventions of use to avoid confusion with stuff named using the Greek prefix di- such as carbon dioxide (CO₂).  In general use, words built with bi- prefix can cause confusion.  While biennial (every two years) seems well understood, other constructs probably due to rarity remain, ambiguous: fortnightly is preferable to biweekly and using “every two months” or “twice a month” as required removes all doubt.

Lateral was first adopted as verb in the 1640s from the fourteenth century Old French lateral, directly from Latin laterālis (belonging to the side), a derivation of latus (genitive lateris) (the side, flank of humans or animals, lateral surface) of uncertain origin.  As a noun (and as “bilateral”), the precise definitional meaning "situated on either side of the median vertical longitudinal plane of the body" is from 1722.   Equilateral (all sides equal) was first used in mathematics in the 1560s, a borrowing from the Latin aequilateralis, aequi- being the suffix- meaning “equal”; contra-lateral (occurring on the opposite side) is from 1871; the adjective ipsilateral (on the same side of the body), bolting on the Latin ipse- suffix (self) dates from 1907; the use in US football to describe a lateral pass seems to have appeared in print first in 1934.  Multilateral and trilateral seem to have been seventeenth century inventions from geometry, the more familiar modern applications in international diplomacy not noted until 1802.

Conventions of use

Although one would have to be imaginative, with the Latin, there’s little limit to the compound words one could construct to describe the number of sides of a thing.  The words, being as unique as whole numbers, would also be infinite.  Whether many would be linguistically useful is doubtful; sextilateral may mislead and ūndēquadrāgintālateral (thirty nine sided) seems a complicated solution to a simple problem.

Unilateral             One-sided
Bilateral               Two-sided
Trilateral              Three-sided
Quadrilateral        Four-sided
Quintilateral         Five-sided
Sextilateral          Six-sided
Septilateral          Seven-sided
Octolateral           Eight-sided
Novilateral           Nine-sided
Decilateral           Ten-sided
Centilateral          Hundred-sided
Millelateral           Thousand-sided

The modern convention appears to be to stop at trilateral and thereafter, when describing gatherings of four or more, adopt multilateral or phrases like four-power or six-party.  Trilateral seem still manageable, adopted not only by governmental entities but also by the Trilateral Commission (founded in 1973 with members from Japan, the US, and Europe), a remarkably indiscrete right-wing think-tank.  However, in the organically pragmatic evolution of English, there it tends to stop, quadrilateral now most associated with Euclidean plane geometry (there are seven quadrilateral polygons) and used almost exclusively in that discipline and other strains of mathematics.  Outside of mathematics, it was only in the formal language of diplomacy that quadrilateral was used with any frequency.  The agreement of 15 July 1840, (negotiated between Lord Palmerston (1784-1865; variously UK prime-minister or foreign secretary on several occasions 1830-1865) and Nicholas I (1796–1855; Tsar of Russia 1825-1855) to tidy up things in the Mediterranean) between Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia was formalised as a quadrilateral treaty but the word fell from favour with quadruple alliance preferred for a later European arrangement.

Bilateral diplomacy: Lindsay Lohan meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (b 1954; prime-minister or president of the Republic of Türkiye since 2003), Ankara, 27 January 2017.

Although many of the wonks in the foreign policy establishment like to dream of a world in which everything is settled by multi-lateral discussions, in the world of the realists, it's understood the core of conflicts (which are the central dynamic of international relations) are bilateral.  Accordingly, most efforts are devoted to bilateral discussions.  In the business of predictions, it's also the relationships between two states which absorbs most of the thoughts of pundits and the long-term projections of those in the field can make interesting reading, decades later.  In 1988, Richard Nixon (1913-1994; US president 1969-1974) published 1999: Victory Without War, which with no false modesty he suggested was "...a how-to guide in foreign police for whomever was elected president in November 1988".  Given that, it's not surprising one passage has attracted recent comment: "...in the twenty-first century the Sino-US relationship will be one of the most important, and one of the most mutually beneficial, bilateral relationships in the world."  Things do appear to have worked out differently but there is a school of thought that the leadership of Xi Jinping (b 1953; general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) since 2013) is an aberration and that his replacement is likely to be one who pursues a more cooperative foreign and economic policy because that is more likely to be in China's long-term (ie a century ahead) interest.      

Rare too is the more recent diplomatic creation, the pentalateral (five-power) treaty of which there appear to have been but two.  One was signed on 23 December 1950 between the United States, France, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.  It didn’t end well.  The other pentalateral treaty was sealed in Tehran during October 2007 between Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan, the littoral countries of the Caspian Sea and was a mechanism to avoid squabbles while carving up resources.  Some assemblies are better described in other ways.  When the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, France, Russia, the UK & the US) plus Germany formed a now defunct standing committee to deal with issues raised by Iran’s nuclear programme, although a sextilateral, it was instead dubbed P5+1 although in Brussels, the eurocrats preferred E3+3.

Six men briefing the media about their sextilateral.  The chief negotiators of the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, Daioyutai State Guesthouse, Beijing, 23 December 2006.

Sandbag

Sandbag (pronounced sand-bag)

(1) A bag filled with sand, used in water-proofing, fortification, as ballast etc.

(2) Such a bag used as a weapon.

(3) Violently to set upon or attack from or as if from ambush (archaic).

(4) To coerce or intimidate, to make threats (archaic).

(5) Sometimes by metaphor, by virtue of added weight, to reduce performance in competitive sport; a form of cheating.

(6) To conceal or misrepresent one's true position, potential, or intent in order to gain an advantage.

(7) In commerce, to obstruct an unwelcome takeover bid by prolonging talks in the hope an acceptable bidder will appear.

1580-1590: A compound of the nouns sand + bag.  Sand was from the Middle English sand, from the Old English sand, from the Proto-Germanic samdaz.  In other European languages there was the West Frisian sân, Dutch zand, German Sand, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian sand, thought all related to the primitive sámh₂dhos.  Bag was from the Middle English bagge, borrowed from the Old Norse baggi (bag, pack, satchel, bundle), from the primitive bhak and thought related are the Welsh baich (load, bundle) and the Ancient Greek βάσταγμα (bástagma) (load)).  In Latin there was sabulum, and in Ancient Greek ἄμαθος (ámathos) from sem (to pour).  English root is hinted at by The Old English dialectal samel (sand bottom), the Old Irish to-ess-sem (to pour out), the Latin sentina (bilge water), the Lithuanian sémti (to scoop) and the Ancient Greek ἀμάω (amáō) (to gather) & ἄμη (ámē) (water bucket)).  The verb was first noted in 1860 with the simple meaning “provide someone with sandbags".  The meaning "pretend weakness" apparently first used in 1950s motor racing appears not to have been in common use until the 1970s, with most sources linking use to the poker-playing sense of "refrain from raising at the first opportunity in hopes of raising more steeply later", a use first documented in 1940.  The idea of the sandbag as a weapon (used by a sandbagger) dates from 1882 with the resultant “sandbagged” emerging in 1887.

Sandbagging

Lindsay Lohan in Chief Sandbagger tank top.

Sandbagging is a form of cheating, usually in sport but also in commerce.  It involves deliberately under-performing at certain stages to maximise the benefits gained when later performing to full-potential.  The metaphor is based on the notion of being impeded by the extra weight of carrying a sandbag, analogous with the old “lead in the saddle” from horse racing when unscrupulous owners would add to a well-priced mount’s weight if they were betting on a longer-odds starter.  In motor racing, sandbagging described drivers who, in handicapped events, deliberately recorded slow times in qualifying to gain a more advantageous starting position or a less onerous handicap in the event proper.  The authorities responded with penalties or disqualification if race-day performance improved on the qualifying mark by more than a defined measure.  Literal sandbagging proved useful as a stabilizing device in many of the big-engine machines during the (1964-1974) US muscle car era during which some of the things generated close up to five-hundred horsepower, delivered to the road through primitive drive systems with over sixty percent of their weight sitting over the front wheels.  On street, strip and track, two or more bags of sand in the trunk (boot) greatly improved traction and balance.  A specialised need for the bag in the boot is in the stunt car business for those times when there’s a need to have a vehicle fly through the air, landing safely on four wheels at the end of descent.  To do that, object will fly best if its weight-distribution is a close as possible to 50-50 but, most cars being front-heavy, there’s a tendency to nosedive, the traditional fix being sandbags in the boot.  Cement is sometimes used instead of sand and the need for such tricks is diminishing with advances in CGI.

Before sandbagging: A tendency to nosedive.

The CBS comedy TV series The Dukes of Hazzard was aired between 1979-1985.  The show did feature actors and plot lines (analysts have suggested there were either five or six plots and these, with tweaks and variations on the themes, were recycled in all the 147 episodes shot) but for many the most memorable character was the 1969 Dodge Charger.  Introduced as a 1968 model, it replaced its rather slab-sided predecessor which, after an encouraging debut in 1966, had suffered a precipitous drop in sales the next season.  The re-styling for 1968 transformed not only the appearance but also its popularity and sales more than quadrupled even though some of the extravagant interior appointments (the eye-catching electroluminescent instrument lighting and the four bucket seats with a full-length centre console) which two years earlier had attracted such interest were no longer offered.  The sleek new lines however more than made up for the cost-cutting although belying the wind-cheating appearance, the shape wasn’t that aerodynamically efficient, something the corporation would twice seek to rectify in the quest for success on the circuits.  The first attempt was relatively modest and proved inadequate but the second worked so for the one season it was used the sanctioning body outlawed the entire concept.  Known as the first of the "aero cars", it was the most radical a manufacturer had ever attempted.  It still is.

After sandbagging: Perfect weight distribution.

In the course of production, over 300 Dodge Chargers were used in the series, the rate of attrition as one might expect from the number of car-jumping stunts involved.  Early in the show’s life, when 1968-1969 (the 1968 cars were easily modified to appear as next year’s model for filming purposes) Dodge Chargers were just cheap used cars and readily available, the supply-line of replacements wasn’t a significant part of the budget but by the early 1980s, the cars were becoming scarce and increasingly expensive, something at least partly attributable to the impact of the TV series.  There was in the early 1980s also a sudden drop in the cost of gas as the (somewhat misleadingly named) “oil glut” depressed the price of oil and gas-guzzlers like the Chargers, with their satisfying, if rather primitive characteristics, enjoyed a renaissance.  In response, the producers responded with the tricks used in the pre CGI (computer-generated imagery) era, re-using old footage and staging some of the more distant scenes with scale models.  The viewers seemed not to mind.

Perfect weight distribution: Jessica Simpson (b 1980) in promotional shot for The Dukes of Hazzard (2005), said to be among the worst films ever made.  The viewers seemed not to mind.

Joe Biden, sandbagged in Colorado.

In June 2023, Joe Biden (b 1942; US president since 2021) told reporters he'd "been sandbagged" after tripping over “a sandbag” after handing out diplomas on a stage at the US Air Force (USAF) Academy’s Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  The footage of the event was all from one camera angle and on that no sandbag was evident but some quickly observed even if there wasn’t really a sandbag, the president clearly believes there was one and under some theories of cognition, that means the same thing.  The eighty year old president was quickly picked up by an air force officer and two members of the Secret Service, the White House later issuing a statement saying he was “fine after the fall” and USAF sources confirmed “two small black sandbags were used to support the teleprompter”.

Joe Biden has suffered repeated difficulties in trying to board Air Force One using the red-carpeted stairs, once infamously tripping over three times during one ascent (left).  He now uses the "baby stairs" in the nose.  Note the Secret Service officer at the bottom of the stairs: he is the "designated catcher".

So sandbags have been added to the checklist his Secret Service detail goes through before he’s allowed to make any public appearances.  Apparently surfaces on which the president will walk (or stumble or shuffle depending on the time of day) have to be as free from obstacles and obstructions as is possible and not be at all slippery.  A roll-up mat is now part of the inventory carried in the presidential motorcade, un-rolled whenever surfaces appear “potentially challenging”.  Anything other than sitting down is obvious fraught with danger and it’s not clear if he’ll again be allowed to ride a bike after tumbling to the ground when his feet somehow got “tangled in the pedals”.  His difficulties with stairs have been well documented and it’s of note he now uses only a rarely used forward exit when boarding or alighting from Air Force One.  Even that doesn’t guarantee he won’t trip up but from these stairs it’s a shorter fall to the tarmac so there’s that.

Hooptie

Hooptie (pronounced hoop-dee or whoop-dee (contested))

In slang, an old, worn-out car.

Circa 1960s: The slang hooptie is used to describe an old, battered car.  The origin is uncertain but it’s thought to have originated in African American urban vernacular sometime in the second half of the twentieth century.  The most common explanation is that the word is a phonetic adaptation from Coupe de Ville, a model of Cadillac produced 1949-2005 (although the factory used the syntax Coupe De Ville only from 1959; prior to that they were Cadillac DeVilles with coupe bodies).  Coupé was from the French couper (to cut), from the Old French coper & colper (to cut off), probably from cop (blow) or colp (which endures as the modern coup), with sense derived from the notion of “cutting off with a blow”.  It may correspond to a Vulgar Latin verb colpāre, a syncopated form of colaphāre (blow, cuff), from the Latin colaphus (a blow delivered by a fist).  The alternative etymology suggests a link with the Vulgar Latin cuppāre (to behead), from the Latin caput (head) although this has never received much support.  The term de ville was from the French phrase de la ville which translated literally as de (of) la (the) ville (city) and in the eighteenth & nineteenth centuries a “sedanca de ville” was a type of small, horse drawn carriage popular for use in the tight streets of cities.  The carriages featured an enclosed compartment for usually two-three passengers while the driver sat outside.  That configuration was adopted in the early coachwork of some automobiles and although production declined as fully-enclosed bodies began to prevail, the style remained on the lists of many coachbuilders until the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945).  In the post-war years there was the odd sedanca de ville which coachbuilders would build on special request by the 1970s the style was thought extinct, a feeling which Bentley’s quixotic semi-revival with the production of a few dozen Continental Sedanca Coupés (SC) in 1999 did little to dispel.  The SC was actually just an appropriation of the name and really a variation of a targa, the rear passenger compartment covered but not enclosed.

Lindsay Lohan assessing her hooptie: Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005).

There have been five alternative theories for the etymology: (1) One suggests both hoopdie & hooptie were both used in the African American community in the 1920s to describe a run-down or dilapidated house (a use perhaps derived from “hovel”) and over time the term came to be was applied to old cars in some advanced state of disrepair.  There is little support for this.  (2) It may be onomatopoeic and a reference to the tortured sounds which emanate from a defective machine in need of repairs.  There is little support for this. (3) It may be related to the phrase “hope I die”, the anthropomorphic notion being the car would sooner be crushed than continue in its dilapidated state.  There is no support for this.  (4) It may be from Hupmobile, a popular brand of car early in the twentieth century, the linguist progress being from “Hupmobile” to “hup” and finally to "hoop", the theory being the use was originally specific to neglected Hupmobiles and later generalized.  There is little support for this.  (5) Hooptie may be from the West African Wolof xub (broken down), the connection being many African Americans are descended from those brought to the US during the slave trade.  It’s thought not impossible but linguistic anthropologists seem unconvinced.  The link with the Cadillac Coupe DeVille (Cadillac followed the usual US practice and never spelled Coupé with the l'accent aigu (acute accent) on the final "e") remains most convincing because for decades, the model was a byword for automotive prestige in the US and it (and similar long cars from the era) is still used in music videos by African Americans.  The song My Hooptie by Sir Mix-a-Lot (stage name of Anthony L Ray (b 1963)) was released in 1989 and included on his album Seminar.  The alternative spellings are hooptee & hoopty.  Hooptie is a noun; the noun plural is hoopties.

Peak Cadillac Coupe DeVille is probably the 1968 model which, uniquely, combined the classic 1960s styling with the stacked headlamps with the new 472 cubic inch (7.7 litre) V8 which in the 1970s would grow to 500 cubic inches (8.2 litre) before shrinking in the post oil-shock world.  When, in 368 cubic inch (6.0 litre) form it was retired in 1984, it was the last of the old “big-block” V8s available in a passenger car.

Reflecting the etymology, the original use of coupé was to describe a horse-drawn carriage cut down to a smaller size to provide for greater speed & agility but by the time Cadillac released the Coupe de Ville in 1949, coupe had come generally to mean a two door car and DeVille was appended because it was known to be suggestive of something expensive or exclusive although presumably few were well acquainted with the literal translation.  That was probably just as well because the big Cadillacs weren’t ideal for use in densely populated and congested cities, even those of the late twentieth century US where the parking meters were further apart.  Adopting Cadillac’s usual conventions of nomenclature, the companion four-door models were called Sedan DeVille (It began in 1949 as de Ville and Cadillac published material with the spellings de Ville, De Ville & DeVille before standardizing the later) and the convertibles received no separate designation, labeled also Coupe DeVille.  Surprisingly, the two and four-door were the same length which must have helped with production-line rationalization.

My Hooptie by Sir Mix-a-Lot (Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group)

My hooptie rollin', tailpipe draggin'
Heat don't work an' my girl keeps naggin'
Six-nine Buick, deuce keeps rollin'
One hubcap 'cause three got stolen
Bumper shook loose, chrome keeps scrapin'
Mis-matched tires, and my white walls flakin'
Hit mickey-d's, Maharaji starts to bug
He ate a quarter-pounder, threw the pickles on my rug
Runnin', movin' tabs expired
Girlies tryin' to dis 'n say my car looks tired
Hit my brakes, out slid skittles
Tinted back window with a bubble in the middle
Who's car is it? Posse won't say
We all play it off when you look our way
Rollin' four deep, tires smoke up the block
Gotta roll this bucket, 'cause my Benz is in the shop
My hooptie - my hooptie
Four door nightmare, trunk locks' stuck
Big dice on the mirror, grill like a truck
Lifters tickin', accelerator's stickin'
Somethin' on my left front wheel keeps clickin'
Picked up the girlies, now we're eight deep
Cars barely movin', but now we got heat
Made a left turn as I watched in fright
My ex-girlfriend shot out my headlight
She was standin', in the road, so I smashed her toes
Mashed my pedal, boom, down she goes
Law ain't lyin', long hairs flyin'
We flipped the skeez off, dumb girl starts cryin'
Baby called the cops, now I'm gettin' nervous
The cops see a beeper and the suckers might serve us
Hit a side street and what did we find?
Some young punk, droppin' me a flip off sign
Put the deuce in reverse, and started to curse
Another sucker on the south side about to get hurt
Homey got scared, so I got on
Yeah my group got paid, but my groups still strong
Posse moved north, headin for the CD
Ridin' real fast so the cops don't see me
Mis-matched tires got my boys uptight
Two Vogues on the left, Uniroyal on the right
Hooptie bouncin', runnin' on leaded
This is what I sport when you call me big-headed
I pot-hole crusher, red light rusher
Musher of a brother 'cause I'm plowin' over suckers
In a hooptie
It's a three-ton monster, econo-box stomper
Snatch your girly, if you don't I'll romp 'er
Dinosaur rush, lookin' like Shaft
Some get bold, but some get smashed
Cops say the car smokes, but I won't listen
It's a six-nine deuce, so the hell with emissions
Rollin' in Tacoma, I could get burned
(Sound of automatic gunfire) Betta make a you-turn
Spotted this freak with immense posterior
Tryin' to roll smooth through the Hilltop area
Brother start lettin' off, kickin' that racket
Thinkin' I'm a rock star, slingin' them packets
I ain't wit' dat, so I smooth eject
Hit I-5 with the dope cassette
Playin' that tough crew hardcore dope
The tape deck broke
Damn what's next, brothers in Goretex
Tryin' to find a spot where we could hunt for sex
Found a little club called the N-see-O
Military, competition. You know.
I ain't really fazed, 'cause I pop much game
Rolled up tough, 'cause I got much fame
"How ya doin' baby, my name is Mixalot"
"Mixalot got a Benz boy, quit smokin' that rock"
Ooooh, I got dissed. But it ain't no thing
Runnin' that game with the home made slang
Baby got ished, Bremelo gip.
Keep laughin' at the car and you might get clipped
By a hooptie
Runnin' outta gas, stuck in traffic
Far left lane, throwin' up much static
Input, output, carbeurator fulla soot
"Whatcha want me to do Mix?"
Push freak, push
Sputter, sputter rollin' over gutters
Cars dip low with hard core brothers
Tank on E, pulled into Arco
Cops on tip for Columbian cargo
We fit a stereotype, that's what he said
Big long car, four big black heads
Cops keep jockin', grabbin' like 'gators
'Bout stereotypes, I'm lookin' nuthin' like Noriega
Cop took my wallet, looked at my license
His partner said "Damn, they all look like Tyson"
Yes, I'm legit, so they gotta let me go
This bucket ain't rollin' in snow
It's my hooptie