Pandemic & Epidemic

Pandemic (pronounced pan-dem-ik)

(1) Of a disease, prevalent throughout an entire country, continent, or the whole world; epidemic over a large area (in modern use, now usually restricted to diseases spread over several continents, reaching epidemic level in at least two.

(2) In figurative use, general; universal.

1660-1670: From the Late Latin pandēmus (affecting all the people, public, general) from the Ancient Greek pandēmos (general) and the Ancient Greek πᾶν (pân) (all; equivalent to English pan-) + δῆμος (dêmos) (the people); the suffix –os was the adjectival form.  The suffix –ic is from the Middle English -ik, from the Old French -ique, from the Latin -icus, from the primitive Indo-European –kos.  The form existed in the Ancient Greek as -ικός (ikós), in the Sanskritas as श (śa) & क (ka) and in the Old Church Slavonic as -ъкъ (-ŭkŭ); a doublet of -y.  The suffix –ic is often added to words of Greek or Latin origin, but may be used regardless of source.  In modern English, there is sometimes the creation of redundant forms such as veganic (from vegan).  Related words include the nouns pandemia & pandemicity and the adjective interpandemic.

Epidemic (pronounced ep-i-dem-ik)

(1) Of a disease and affecting many persons at the same time, and spreading from person to person in a locality where the disease is not permanently prevalent.

(2) Extremely prevalent; widespread; a rapid spread or increase in the occurrence of something.

1595-1605: From the French épidémique, from épidémie, from the Latin epidemia, from the Ancient Greek ἐπιδήμιος (epidḗmios), from ἐπί (epí) (upon) + δῆμος (dêmos) (people) the Ancient Greek epidēmía translates literally as “among the people” but is often cited as “staying in one place”.  The early alternative forms epidemy and epidemick are long obsolete and related forms include the noun epidemicity, the adjectives interepidemic & preepidemic and the adverb epidemically.

Noted Pandemics

HIV/AIDS Pandemic (2005-2012)

Death Toll: 36 million; Cause: HIV/AIDS

First identified in Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1976, HIV/AIDS is a global pandemic with some 35 million people living with HIV, the vast majority in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 5% of the population (circa 21 million) is infected.  The AIDS death toll is thought to be understated because (1) dubious validity of statistical record-keeping in some countries (there are places where many deaths are not accompanied by a death certificate) and (2) a cultural reluctance among families to have AIDS recorded as the cause because of the association with homosexuality and IV drug use, hence the 1980s spike in recorded deaths from pneumonia.     

Flu Pandemic (1968)

Death Toll: 1 million; Cause: Influenza

A category 2 Flu also known as “Hong Kong Flu,” it was caused by the H3N2 strain of the Influenza A virus, an offshoot of H2N2.  It took only days to reach Singapore and Vietnam, and, within three months, had spread to The Philippines, India, Australia, Europe, and the US.  Although wide-spread, it had a low mortality rate under 1%.  Worst affected was Hong Kong where 500,000 died, some 15% of the population.

Lindsay Lohan thanking the Dubai Police for their helpfulness during COVID-19 pandemic, Dubai, April 2020.  Note the proxemics.

Asian Flu (1956-1958)

Death Toll: 2 million; Cause: Influenza

A pandemic of Influenza A of the H2N2 subtype, it originated in China, spreading from the province of Guizhou to Singapore, Hong Kong, and the United States.  Estimates for the death toll vary but the World Health Organization (WHO) lists 2 million deaths, 69,800 of them in the US.

Flu pandemic (1918-1919)

Death Toll: 20-50 million; Cause: Influenza

The best known pandemic, it infected over a third of the world’s population, killing between 20–50 million.  The mortality rate was a high 10-20% and unusually, where influenza had previously killed mostly juveniles, the elderly or already weakened patients, the 1918 pandemic disproportionally killed robust and healthy young adults, leaving children and those with weaker immune systems still alive.  The movement of vast numbers of people around the world at the end of WWI assisted the spread.

Sixth Cholera pandemic (1910-1911)

Death Toll: 800,000+; Cause: Cholera

Like its previous five incarnations, the Sixth Cholera Pandemic originated in India where it killed over 800,000, before spreading to the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe and Russia.  It was the source of the last American outbreak of Cholera although effective public health measures there restricted the death toll to eleven.  Cholera, a classic Medieval disease, remains endemic in India.

Flu pandemic (1889-1890)

Death Toll: 1 million; Cause: Influenza

Know at the time as Asiatic or Russian Flu and though once to be a strain of the Influenza A H2N2, it was an outbreak of H3N8.   The first cases were observed in May 1889 in three distant locations, Bukhara in Central Asia (Turkestan), Athabasca in north-western Canada, and Greenland. The rapid growth in urban populations provided vectors for the spread and although the first true pandemic in the era of bacteriology, while much was learned from it, it claimed over a million lives.

Lindsay Lohan thanking the Dubai Police for their helpfulness during COVID-19 pandemic, Dubai, April 2020.

Third Cholera pandemic (1852–1860)

Death Toll: 1 million; Cause: Cholera

Probably the most deadly of the seven cholera pandemics, it was the third major outbreak in the 19th century.  Like the first and second, the third originated in India, before spreading with extraordinary rapidity through Asia, Europe, North America and Africa.  A physician in England, where over 20,000 died, discovered contaminated water was the means of transmission.

Lindsay Lohan mugshot facemasks available through Redbibble.

The Black Death (1346-1353)

Death Toll: 75 – 200 million; Cause: Bubonic Plague

The Plague ravaged Europe, Africa, and Asia, with a death toll of 75-200 million, killing up to half the population of some European countries.  Thought to have originated in Asia, Plague was most likely spread by fleas living on the rats of merchant ships and in some countries, populations didn’t recover until the nineteenth century.  Now unknown in most parts of the world, outbreaks still happen in various places.

Plague of Justianian (541-542)

Death Toll: 25 million; Cause: Bubonic Plague

Thought to have killed perhaps half the population of Europe, the Plague of Justinian afflicted the Byzantine Empire and Mediterranean port cities.  The first verified and well-documented incident of the Bubonic Plague, it reduced the population of the Eastern Mediterranean by a quarter and devastated Constantinople, where, at the height of the pandemic, 5,000 a day were dying.

Lindsay Lohan thanking the Dubai Police for their helpfulness during COVID-19 pandemic, Dubai, April 2020.

Antonine Plague (165 AD)

Death Toll: 5 million; Cause: Unknown

Also known as the Plague of Galen, the Antonine Plague affected Asia Minor (modern Turkey), Egypt, Greece, and Italy and is thought to have been either Smallpox or Measles, though the true cause is unknown. The disease was brought to Rome by soldiers returning from Mesopotamia.  The pandemic significantly weakened the Roman army.

Aggravate

Aggravate (pronounced ag-ruh-veyt)

(1) To make worse or more severe; intensify, as anything evil, disorderly, or troublesome.

(2) To annoy; irritate; exasperate.

(3) In law (as aggravated), a class of criminal offence made worse by the circumstances of commission.

1425–1430: From late Middle English aggravate (make heavy, burden down), from the Latin aggravātus, past participle of aggravāre (to render more troublesome (literally to make heavy or heavier, add to the weight of)), the construct being ad- (to) + gravare (add to; to make heavy), from gravis (heavy), from the primitive Indo-European root gwere- (heavy).  The earlier English verb was the late fourteenth century aggrege (make heavier or more burdensome; make more oppressive; increase, intensify, from the Old French agreger.  Aggravate is a verb, aggravated & aggravative are adjectives, aggravator is a noun and aggravating a verb.

The adjective aggravated (increased, magnified) dates from the 1540s, the meaning "irritated" noted first in 1611 while that of "made worse" is from the 1630s.  In the late fifteenth century, aggravate had operated as an adjective in the sense if "threatened", from the Latin past participle.  The verb reaggravate dates from the 1610s and meant "to make still heavier" (a sense now obsolete), the construct re- (in this context "again") + aggravate. The word was re-purposed in the late fifteenth century as a past-participle adjective meaning "censured a second time" which, in the hands of lawyers, predictably begat reaggravated, reaggravating & reaggravation.  The adjective aggravating (making worse or more heinous (and implied in aggravatingly) emerged in the 1670s as the present-participle adjective the verb.  The phrase “aggravating circumstances” was in use by the late eighteenth century, building on the weakened sense of "provoking, annoying" which dates from 1775.  The earlier adjective in the sense "troublesome, causing difficulty" was the mid fifteenth century Middle English aggravaunt.

The literal sense in English (make heavier) has been long obsolete, the modern meanings (1) "to make a bad thing worse" dates from the 1590s while (2) the colloquial sense (to exasperate or annoy) is from 1611.  So, although it’s annoyed (though not aggravated) pedants and usage mavens for centuries, the meaning "to annoy or exasperate” has been in continuous use since the sixteenth century.  There are sources which note the later meaning emerged within twenty years of the first but it’s a highly technical point of definition and the original meaning, “to make worse” did have roots in Classical Latin.  Henry Fowler (1858-1933) in his authoritative Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) was emphatic in saying aggravate has properly only one meaning: “to make (an evil) worse or more serious” and that to “use it in the sense of annoy or exasperate is a vulgarism that should be left to the uneducated.”  Henry Fowler was always a model of clarity.  He was also a realist and acknowledged “usage has beaten the grammarians” and that condemnation of the vulgarism had “become a fetish.  The meaning “to annoy” is now so ubiquitous that it should be thought correct; that’s how the democratic, unregulated English language works.  However, for the fastidious, it may be treated in the same way as the split infinitive, something tolerated in casual but not formal discourse and certainly never in writing.

Aggravated offences in law

In the criminal law of common law jurisdictions, aggravated offences (assault, burglary et al) are those made worse by the circumstances in which they’re committed.  The aggravating conditions can be the intent of the perpetrator, a heightened vulnerability of the victim, the location of the offence or even the time of day.

In 2013, the Ugandan parliament considered the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act, which created two offences, (1) Homosexuality (being caught in the act; punishable by twelve months imprisonment) and (2) Aggravated Homosexuality (being caught a second time for which the death penalty applied).  However, even Kampala politicians thought that a bit much and substituted life sentences for hanging.  In 2014, President Yoweri Museveni (b 1944; President of Uganda since 1986) signed the bill into law, noting his decision was based on a report by "medical experts" who had concluded people are not born homosexual and the behavior is a life-style choice like becoming a vegan or joining the Freemasons.

However, in late 2014 the Constitutional Court of Uganda ruled the act invalid on technical grounds, finding it had been adopted without a parliamentary quorum.  Although the government indicated their intention to appeal to the Supreme Court, the attorney-general soon issued a statement that there would be no appeal.  It seems President Museveni had been generally surprised at the vehemence of foreign reaction to the law and it doubtless confirmed his view of homosexuality in Uganda as emblematic of the West’s "social imperialism" in Africa.  The bill has not been has not re-introduced although it seems some parliamentary and public support for such a move does exist.

Parliament in session, Kampala, Uganda, 21 September 2017

Cracking down on the smug.

In early August 2022, it was announced the Ugandan government had suspended the operations of SMUG (Sexual Minorities Uganda) a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) which had for some years operated as a resource centre, advocating for the rights of sexual minorities.  The Ministry of Internal Affairs issued a press release stating SMUG was continuing to operate despite being neither incorporated with the Ugandan Registration Services Bureau (URSB) nor holding a permit issued by the National Bureau for NGOs (NBNGO) and was therefore “operating illegally”.  SMUG had in 2012 applied for incorporation with the URSB but the application had been rejected on the grounds they were “undesirable”.

Of black & white; right & wrong.  The SMUG once used a logo with a white figure holding aloft a banner with the rainbow colors of the LGBTQQIAAOP in front of a group of black figures.  That was a bad idea and quickly it was replaced with one in which all the figures were rendered in black, the concern presumably that the original might confirm President Museveni's suspicion that gaynessness was an example of Western social imperialism being imposed on Africa.

Pro-ana

Pro-ana (pronounced pro-anna)

(1) Of or relating to the position that anorexia is a lifestyle choice.

(2) The on-line community advocating this view.  The most pure among the community actively deny anorexia nervosa is a clinical condition.

Circa 1998-2001:  The construct is pro + ana.  Pro was from the Classical Latin prō (in favor of, on behalf of), from the Proto-Italic por-, from the primitive Indo-European pr- & pro.  Ana is a clipping of of anorexia (an(orexi)a), a phonetic diminutive of the 1957 scientific term anorexia nervosa, the construct being the Ancient Greek ἀν (an) (without) + ὄρεξις (órexis) (appetite, desire) + the Latin nervōsa (nervous).  The clipping of "anorexia" was created both as verbal shorthand and coded language (so the matters of diet and related matters could be discussed without the risk of "outsiders" understanding.  "Ana" was thus a form of personification and a "cover", the outsiders hopefully assuming a young lady named Anna was being spoken of.  Ana in this context is thus obviously unrelated to the suffix -ana (familiar in forms such as "Victoriana", "Americana" etc) which originally was most associated with continental literature and derived from the neuter plural of Latin adjectives ending in -anus.  In his A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) defined the suffix thus: "Books so-called from the last syllables of their titles; a Scaligerara, Thuaniana; they are loose thoughts, or casual hints, dropped by eminent men, an collected by their friends."  The suffix -ana has since been subject to some mission-creep.

Etymologists are inclined insist the correct form can be only "pro-ana" and there are traditions in English which supports this but the community itself uses ana, pro ana and proana interchangeably, the most common form the short-form ana, following the practice with anorexia nervosa which is truncated to anorexia in all but formal academic or clinical work.  Over two-odd decades, pro-ana has also spawned words such as thinsperation and thinology, used to describe specialized editorial content of the calling; the much less-used term pro-mia refering to bulimia nervosa.  Pro-anas are purists who maintain high-standards; those who aspire to the anahood but in some way fail are dismissed as "wannarexics".

Lindsay Lohan wearing (non-ana) red wrist-string.

The ana's standard means of social identification is a simple, beaded red bracelet, the beading of some significance because variations of red bracelets, some as simple as a wrist-string, have long been used by many cultures, usually with some sort of link to the idea of a good-luck charm.  Famously, a חוט השני (the khutt hasheni, a thin scarlet or crimson string) is sometimes worn as Jewish folk custom as a way to seek protection from those misfortunes which may be aimed at one by the עין הרע (evil eye).  It's most associated with the Kabbalah sect and Kabbalic scholars say there's nothing in ancient Jewish texts about wrist-strings of any color and the "tradition" is a recent folk practice which seems to have begun in the north-eastern United States early in the twentieth century.  Anas thus need always to check for beading before reaching out.

Notes

Although at the time it never reached the critical-mass needed to coalesce into a movement, the pro-ana concept actually pre-dates the web.  Among the bulletin boards the nerdiest connected to with 1200 or 2400 baud modems in the 1980s and early 1990s were both anorexia support boards and those which celebrated the condition but it was the widespread adoption of the www by the mid-late 1990s which permitted pro-ana to become world-wide.

Pro-ana content tends to be (1) victim stories, (2) images & clips where ribcages & shoulder blades are often seen and clavicles much admired and (3), lists of helpful tricks and techniques.  Politically, the accepted world view is they are not suffering from an illness; ana is a human right, an essential part of their identity and just another lifestyle choice.  As pieces of design, the sites tend to use pre-defined templates and in that are unremarkable although the preponderance of monochromic imagery is noted.  The pro-ana sites began to attract wider attention early in the twenty-first century, the irony being that much of the criticism came from the very publications many suggest contribute to eating disorders.  Off and on since then, pressure from the public and anti-ana organizations has compelled many hosts to shut down pro-ana sites although these efforts are Sisyphean, the relocations usually quick.

Pro Ana Tips and Tricks for Beginners

(1) Keep track of your calories.  Set an absolute number and NEVER exceed it, while trying always, gradually to lower the number.  Within the calorie limit, aim for a diet which is 75% leafy-green vegetables & legumes, 20% tart fruit and 5% nuts. Sugar should be zero because enough is in the fruit but, if absolutely necessary, a daily barley-sugar boiled sweet is OK.  This diet mix can at the margins be varied but must stay vegan.

(2) Drink lots of water; try to aim for seven litres a day but anything over five is OK.  Being hydrated is anyway healthy and drinking water before taking food helps fill your stomach faster so you’ll eat less.  Remember to not drink a lot of water at once; instead keep hydrated by drinking little amount after every few minutes.  Always drink it as cold as possible, it forces the burning of more calories to restore body temperature.  Unless operating in extreme conditions with high fluid loss, do not go over eight litres a day. 

(3) Place a full-length mirror in your bedroom and evaluate yourself on daily basis. This is one of the best ways to keep yourself motivated and remember, you’re there to be critical as well as admire.  If you can arrange multiple mirrors to provide for a 360^o view that's even better because it makes it easier to focus on problem areas.

(4) Have small meals.  It’s easier for the body to burn three 100 calorie meals than one of 300 and gives your body the illusion that you’re eating enough to keep the stomach full, whereas you’re eating less.  Always eat slowly and chew thoroughly, it will hasten the digestive process.  After every meal, brush teeth.  Not only is this good for dental hygiene but with freshly brushed teeth, you'll be less inclined to eat. 

(5) Find an ana-buddy.  The anorexic diet can be a harsh mistress so an ana-buddy with whom you can talk about your problems and diet related stuff can be helpful but only if they're a kindred spirit.  This works not only by keeping each other motivated but you'll find also you'll teach each other new tricks or exercise routines.  You both must be 100% committed to the diet and such noble souls are rare so, if need be, replace them with someone wholly committed.

(6) With the aggressive pro-ana diet, it’s very important to take vitamin pills.  Research suggests that for most people on what is the orthodox "balanced diet", vitamin supplements are probably unnecessary but because pro-ana doesn't include certain food groups, a daily multi-vitamin is recommended and usually adequate so take two only if you become light-headed or faint with any frequency; you may need specific additional supplements.  The most publicized deficiency associated with pro-ana is iron and it may thus be necessary greatly to increase the intake of leafy greens like spinach or peas, broccoli & string beans; seeds high in iron include pumpkin, sesame, hemp and flaxseeds.  One's family physician can obtain the tests to determine specific deficiencies and these should be dealt with by adjustment to the diet.  Remember though that doctors are apt to be dictatorial and the recommended technique to deal with their negativity is just to agree with whatever they say.  Try to appear sincere and be deferential; they like that.   

(7) Avoid butter and oils.  Treat them like sugar.

(8) Sleep at least eight hours a day, preferably more.  Less sleep means tiredness and hunger and you can’t eat while asleep.

(9) Keep setting a target weight.  Because of fluid retention and other cyclical variations, it’s probably counter-production to set daily targets and a weekly goal is better although true obsessives will monitor at least once a day and this is not discouraged.  To stay motivated buy some posters of your favorite slim model to observe while weighing-in.  Many non-ana diet sites suggest avoiding weighing-in daily or even more frequently and clinically they're probably right but they just don't understand the nature of obsessions.  Record the weigh-ins so you can chart progress over weeks and months; this requires nothing more demanding than the most basic open-source spreadsheet but math nerds can do it with pencil & paper which they find satisfying.   

(10) Wearing short clothes can be very motivating. When you wear short and revealing clothes and look at yourself in the mirror you will realize the parts where you need to lose weight and how important it is to you.  Wear in private clothes you'd never dare to wear in public and make it a goal to be able to wear them out without looking fat.

(11) Coffee and tea are good appetite suppressants.  Drink only black coffee or tea and NO milk or sugar.  Avoid caffeine drinks; either they’ll contain sugar or chemicals about which there exists no reliable research on how they affect the appetite.  Avoid the inherently sweet herbal teas; they do tend to stimulate the appetite in a way black tea and coffee don't.  Black tea and coffee are an important component in training the palette away from sweetness and towards the tart.  After a while, this will start to influence your choice of fruits and vegetables; as a general principle the darker and more bitter in taste, the better.

(12) Drink the juice of a squeezed lemon in hot water first thing each morning and last thing each evening; it has the general effect of adding to the stomach acids which break up food.  Because of this acid, always brush teeth afterwards.

(13) If you have to eat in company, wear baggy clothes with big pockets which can be lined with plastic bags.  Then, when no one is looking, you can dispose of food and people will think you eat normally.  It sounds a difficult thing surreptitiously to manage and to start with it will be but you’ll learn to adopt techniques like always sitting in a corner or at the end of the table and soon become an expert.  It's easier than it sounds.

(14) Exercise every day.  Gyms are optional because you can do even better with ana-specific routines such as running up stairs or hills, both of which have an extraordinary multiplier-effect on whatever distance is undertaken.  Unlike gyms, it's also free.  Never use elevators and escalators; always take stairs.  Wherever possible replace travel by cars, trains and busses with walking or biking.  This is also good for the planet which is the only one we have.

(15) Eat ice; ice can be an alternative to a meal, it really works.  Shaved ice is best because it avoids dental damage and there are many things to consider when eating ice and curiously, sometimes it's advantageous to take more, sometimes less.  For a discussion on the mechanics of ice-eating: The eating of ice

Anorexia nervosa was included in the (1952) first edition of the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as a psycho-physiological reaction. The DSM-II (1968) moved it to Special Symptoms–Feeding Disturbances and in 1980, a new eating disorders section was created for the DSM-III.  The most significant structural change probably came in 1994 when in DSM-IV the condition was afforded its own section.  The DSM-5 (2013) relaxed some of the diagnostic criteria including, for the first time, rendering it all entirely gender-neutral, a gesture to conform with practices elsewhere rather than anything suggestion clinical experience was noting a greater gender-spread in the patient count.  Announcing DSM-5, the board noted it wished to reduce the number of patients in the former EDNOS (Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified) category, now reclassified as the OSFED (Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder) group.  Thus the psychiatrists staked their claim in this low-cal demarcation dispute by claiming the wannarexics.

Abrosexual

Abrosexual (pronounced ab-ruh-seks-uhl (U) or ab-roh-sek-shoo-uhl (non-U))

Describing, noting, acknowledging or relating to a person whose sexual orientation is fluid and may from time to time fluctuate.

2013: The construct was abro- + sexual.  Abro- was not a standard suffix but was an adaptation of the Ancient Greek ἁβρός (feminine ἁβρᾱ́, neuter ἁβρόν) (habrós) (graceful, delicate, pretty) which scholars of the Classics note appeared usually in verse (though never in epic poetry) and was rare in early texts written in prose.  In abrosexual it was used in the sense of “graceful, delicate, pretty” (presumably because in Antiquity it was used especially of the human body) but originally it could also describe something splendid in appearance, an elegance of style or (often in a derogatory manner), dainty, luxurious or effete, thus the transferred sense of “delicate”, applied often to those from the Orient.  The construct of abrosexual appears one of English’s linguistic novelties and is unrelated to abrogate (now best known from the use in administrative law) which, dating from 1526, was from the Middle English abrogat (abolished), from the Latin abrogātus, the perfect passive participle of abrogō (repeal), the construct being ab (away) + rogō (ask, inquire, propose).

The word –sexual was a noun or adjective describing a state or style of sexuality, the construct being sex + -ual.  Sex was from the Middle English sexe (gender), from the Old French sexe (genitals; gender), from the Latin sexus (gender; gender traits; males or females; genitals), from the Proto-Italic seksus, from the primitive Indo-European séksus, from sek- (to cut, cut off, sever), thus the meaning “section, division (into male and female)”.  The use as it applied to women was influenced by the Middle French le sexe (women), traces of this development noted in the late sixteenth century.  The usage for third and additional sexes was calqued from the French troisième sexe (third gender), which was applied first to “masculine women” in 1817 and male homosexuals in 1847 (the first such reference in English apparently to in reference to Catholic clergy, a theme which continues, one of the internal criticisms of the Roman Curia (the Holy See’s ecclesiastical cum bureaucratic apparatus, the establishment which runs the Vatican) that it is a “gay cabal”.  Perhaps surprisingly, the use of the word “sex” to describe “sexual intercourse” seems not to have appeared in print until 1899 when was used in that context in HG Wells’ (1866-1946 and a noted proponent of “free love”) novel Love and Mr Lewisham; obviously an abbreviation rather than a euphemism and etymologists presume the use would for some time have been “verbal shorthand” in oral use.  Modernity arrived in 1929 when DH Lawrence (1885–1930) introduced the phrase “have sex” to idiomatic English; it caught on.  The –ual suffix was a back-formation from Latin adjectives ending in –uālis (formed from fourth-declension nouns suffixed with –ālis) and an alternative form of –al.  Abrosexual is an adjective and a (non-standard) noun; the noun plural is abrosexuals.  The companion word is the (non-standard) abroromantic.

Abrosexual seems first to have appeared on-line in 2013 but interest has recently spiked for reasons not immediately clear, sexual fluidity hardly a new idea; the current feeling seems to be it has become increasingly popular as a form of self-identification, one which has the advantage of infinite variability (no consistency demanded).  One early criticism of the word was it was unnecessary because the “P” in the LGBTQQIAAOP glossary referred to “pansexual” (those attracted to a person because of their personality; sex and gender both irrelevant) which seemed to cover the behavior.  The difference however is that pansexuality is a permanent state whereas abrosexuality is an identity in which orientation may shift, the implication presumably that whatever might be the orientation to which one has shifted, as long as it lasts, it is exclusive although how that maps onto some states has never been explained.  For example, a bisexual may be attracted almost exclusively to one gender and may then shift to favor almost exclusively the other: is that an example of fluidity within the rubric of bisexuality, an instance of abrosexuality or both.  In other words, must the shift be only between the LGBTQQIAAOP categories or can it also refer to degrees of intensity, a definitional puzzle complicated further by the multisexual umbrella which covers those whose preference span a number of categories.

The Abrosexual Pride flag.

The annual Abrosexual Pride Day is 2 July and of course, by definition, abrosexuals are not restricted to than one celebration.  An asexual might mark International Asexuality Day on 6 April and then shift to become a lesbian, thus enjoying also Lesbian Visibility Day on 26 April, Lesbian Day on 8 October and Coming Out Day 72 hours later.  There is also an acknowledged abrosexual flag although the origin of the design is contested as is the meaning represented by the choice of colors; the most popular suggestion being green signaling queer attraction, the fade to and from white the effortless transition and the pink the actual shift.  The hues are those of a watermelon, the use of which is analogous with the contemporary use of the N-word which is permissible only by (certain) people of color (PoC) in that it should be spoken only by those who identify was abrosexual, use by others a slur or micro-aggression depending on context.  It's not the first time "watermelon" has been co-opted: in Thailand the word is used to describe soldiers who are "green on the outside, red on the inside", the reference being to (1) the green military fatigues they wear and (2) red being the color of the political opposition (the establishment using the yellow of the royal family).  So abrosexuality is a permanent state of orientational flux.  Even if one switches from one to another only once in one’s life, one remains at least a latent abrosexual, however much one may rationalize such things as “just a phase” because the modern politics of sexuality are predicated on the “born like this” paradigm; the shifts inherent in abrosexuality are an inherent part of one and not a lifestyle choice like becoming a vegan or joining the Freemasons.  Phases might exist but they’re part of the whole and all are equally authentic but abrosexual doesn't belong in the LGBTQQIAAOP glossary; it is a process, not a category.

Just a phase: Lindsay Lohan with former special friend Samantha Ronson.

There are however those who have suggested such things could be a purely situational occurrence; a thing of time and place.  Interviewed in January 2018, Lindsay Lohan was asked about if she considered herself “sexually fluid” to which she responded with an unambiguous “No, I definitely like men”.  Probed further about her sometimes tempestuous relationship with former special friend Samantha Ronson she seemed amused and replied “I was living in LA.  I'm not saying it's a bad thing…” and that expanded a little on her observation in 2013: “I know I’m straight. I have made out with girls before, and I had a relationship with a girl.  But I think I needed to experience that and I think I was looking for something different.”  She concluded her 2018 comments by noting she was “having a break from relationships at the moment… not forever, but just for now."  In Ms Lohan’s case the fondness for women may just have been an “LA induced” phase and (now a married mother) she’s permanently straight but “not forever, but just for now” is the essence of abrosexuality.

Puffery

Puffery (pronounced puhf-uh-ree)

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

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

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

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

The meaning “to fill, inflate, or expand with breath or air” dates from the 1530s while the intransitive sense (in reference to small swellings & round protuberances) was noted by 1725.  The transitive figurative sense of “exalt” was known by the 1530s which shifted somewhat by the early eighteenth century into the meaning “praise with self-interest, give undue or servile praise to”, the idea by mid century focused on the figurative sense of “empty or vain boast”, this sense soon extended to mean “flattery & inflated praise”.  The derogatory use of poof for “an effeminate man; a male homosexual” was noted from the 1850s and is presumably from puff (possibly in the sense of “powder puff”, an allusion to the stereotype of their “excessive concern with maintaining a delicate appearance”)) and the extended form “poofter” was early twentieth century Australian slang, an unusual linguistic departure for a dialect which tended either to clip or add a trailing “e”, “y” or “o” sound to words.  The correct spelling for the furniture piece (A low cushioned seat with no back; a padded foot-stool) was pouf, from the French pouf & pouff (again of imitative origin) but, presumably because of confusion caused by the pronunciation, the spellings puff & poof sometimes are used.  The suffix -ery was from the Middle English -erie, from the Anglo-Norman and Old French -erie, a suffix forming abstract nouns.  The suffix first occurs in loan words from the Old French into the Middle English, but became productive in English by the sixteenth century, sometimes as a proper combination of -er with “y” (as in bakery or brewery) but also as a single suffix (such as slavery or machinery).  Puffery is a noun; the noun plural is pufferies.

Mere puffery

In law, the concept of “mere puffery” was created to provide a buffer between the “meaningless” sales pitch and the deceptive or misleading claims which amount to a misrepresentation.  A misrepresentation may be actionable; “mere puffery” is not.  Puffery is used to describe a claim that (1) a “reasonable person” would not take seriously or (2) is so vague or subjective that it can be neither proved nor disproved.  Those two definitions operate in conjunction because even if an assertion can be disproved, if it would be absurd for the “reasonable person” to claim they believed it, it will be held to be “mere puffery”.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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