Gang

Gang (pronounced gang)

(1) A group of (usually male) adolescents who associate closely, often exclusively, for social reasons, especially such a group engaging in delinquent behavior.

(2) A group of people who associate together or act as an organized body for criminal or illegal purposes; A group of people with compatible tastes or mutual interests who gather together for social reasons:

(3) To arrange in groups or sets; form into a gang.

(4) An alternative term for a herd of buffaloes or elks or a pack of wild dogs

(5) A group of shearers who travel to different shearing sheds, shearing, classing, and baling wool (mostly New Zealand rural).

(6) In electronics, to mount two or more components on the same shaft, permitting adjustment by a single control.

(7) In mechanization and robotics, a series of similar tools arranged to work simultaneously in parallel (eg a gang saw is an assembly of blade and conveyor, pulling logs across its blades to cut an entire section into planks with one pass).

(8) As chain gang, a term to describe a work-gang of convicts chained together, usually by the ankles (mostly US, south of the Mason-Dixon Line).

(9) An outbuilding used as a loo (obsolete).

(10) To go, walk, proceed; a going, journey, a course, path, track (chiefly Britain dialectal, northern England & Scotland).

Pre 900: From the Middle English gangen from the Old English gang, gong, gangan and gongan (manner of going, passage, to go, walk, turn out) from the Proto-Germanic ganganą (to go, walk), from the primitive Indo-European ghengh (to step, walk).  It was cognate with the Scots gang (to go on foot, walk), the Swedish gånga (to walk, go), the Old High German gangan, the Old Norse ganga, the Gothic gaggan, the Faroese ganga (to walk), the Icelandic ganga (to walk, go), the Vedic Sanskrit जंहस् (jáṃhas & jangha) (foot, walk) and the Lithuanian žengiu (I stride").  Gang emerged as a variant spelling of gangue; scholars have never found any relation to go.

The evolution of gang from a word meaning “to walk” to one with a sense of “a group formed for some common purpose” appears to have happened in the mid-fourteenth century, probably via "a set of articles that usually are taken together in going", especially a set of tools used on the same job.  By the 1620s this had been extended in nautical speech to mean "a company of workmen" and, within a decade, gang was being used as a term of disapprobation for "any band of persons travelling together", then "a criminal gang or company" and there was a general trend between the seventeen and nineteenth centuries for it to be used to describe animal herds or flocks.  In US English, by 1724, it applied to slaves working on plantations and by 1855, it was used to mean a "group of criminal or mischievous boys in a city".  Synonyms include clan, tribe, company, clique, crew, band, squad, troop, set, party, syndicate, organization, ring, team, bunch, horde, coterie, crowd, club, shift and posse.  Despite the meaning-shift, both gangway and gang-plank preserve the original sense of the word.

Gang of Four

Although the term (and variations) has since often been used in both politics and popular culture, the original Gang of Four was a faction of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the four members all figures of significance during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976).  The best known of the four was Mao Zedong's last wife and the extent to which wife and gang, rather than Chairman Mao, were responsible for what happened in the Cultural Revolution remains a dispute among sinologists.  The Gang of Four were arrested within a month of Mao’s death in 1976 and labelled "counter-revolutionaries”.  After a CCP show trial, they were sentenced either to death or long prison-terms although the capital sentences were later commuted.  All have since died, either in prison or after release in the late 1990s.

A counter-revolutionary gang of four.

Heel & Heal

Heal (pronounced heel)

(1) To make healthy, whole, or sound; restore to health; free from ailment.

(2) To bring to an end or conclusion, as conflicts between people or groups, usually with the strong implication of restoring former amity; settle; reconcile.

(3) To free from evil; cleanse; purify:

Pre 900: From the Middle English helen, from the Old English hǣlan (cure; save; make whole, sound and well); cognate with the Dutch helen, the Saterland Frisian heila, heilen & hela, the Danish hele, the Swedish hela, the Old High German heilen, the Old Norse heila, the Scots hale & hail and the Gothic hailjan, all derivative of hāl & hale (whole).  Root was the Proto-Germanic hailijaną (to heal, make whole, save) from which Old Saxon picked up helian and Gothic gained ga-hailjan (to heal, cure), the literal translation of which was "to make whole", all of these derived from the primitive Indo-European koyl (safe; unharmed).  The Modern English health was a later derivation. 

Heel (pronounced heel)

(1) The back part of the human foot, below and behind the ankle.

(2) An analogous part in other vertebrates.

(3) In zoology, either hind foot or hoof of some animals, as the horse.

(4) The part of a stocking, shoe, or the like covering the back part of the wearer's foot.

(5) A solid, raised base or support of leather, wood, rubber, etc, attached to the sole of a shoe or boot under the back part of the foot.

(6) By analogy, things resembling the back part of the human foot in position, shape etc, such as the heel of a loaf of bread.

(7) The rear of the palm of the hand, adjacent to the wrist.

(8) The latter or concluding part of anything (now rare).

(9) In architecture, the lower end of any of various more or less vertical objects, as rafters, spars, sternposts of vessels or the exterior angle of an angle iron.

(10) In naval architecture, the after end of a keel or the inner end of a bowsprit or jib boom.

(11) The crook in the head of a golf club.

(12) In railroad construction, the end of a frog farthest from a switch.

(13) In horticulture, the base of any part, as of a cutting or tuber, that is removed from a plant for use in the propagation of that plant.

(14) A vile, contemptibly dishonorable or irresponsible person.

(15) In cock-fighting, to arm (a gamecock) with spurs.

(16) In admiralty jargon, the inclined position from the vertical when a vessel is at ten (or more) degrees of list.

Pre 850: From the Middle English helden, a variant of the earlier heeld and derived from the Old English hēla, heald & hieldan (to lean or slope).  It was cognate with the Dutch hiel, the Old Frisian hêl, the Old Norse hallr and the Old High German helden (to bow).  In the sense of “back of the foot”, root is the Old English hela, from the Proto-Germanic hanhilon which was cognate with the Old Norse hæll, the Old Frisian hel and the Dutch hiel), all derived from the primitive Indo-European kenk (heel, bend of the knee).  The meaning "back of a shoe or boot" is circa 1400 and features in a number or English phrases: Down at heel (1732) refers to heels of boots or shoes worn down when the owner was too poor to have them repaired; the Achilles' heel refers to only vulnerable spot in the figure from Greek mythology; in Middle English, fighten with heles (to fight with (one's) heels) meant "to run away."  The nautical, Admiralty and architectural forms are all derived (however remotely) from the earlier meanings related to slopes and angles.

Heels in the military

United States Army Class A (Dress A) Uniform guide (women).

Heels in the shoes of women’s military uniforms are not unusual and the US Army guide is typical, specifying between ½ - 3 inch height on a closed-toe pump, essentially anything between a flat and a kitten heel.  With the formal dress uniforms worn for dinners and such, higher heels have long been worn.  In Western militaries, heels have never been worn with combat uniforms or when drill-marching although they’re not an unusual sight on parade grounds, worn with dress uniforms.  They have however in recent years been seen on female soldiers in both the DPRK (North Korean) and Russian armies although there seems to be no evidence of the practice during the Warsaw Pact era.

DPRK (North Korean) female soldiers.

Like his father (Kim Jong-il (1941–2011; The Dear Leader, 1994-2011) and grandfather, (Kim Il-sung (1912-1994; The Great Leader, 1948-1994), Kim Jong-un (b 1983; The Supreme Leader (originally The Great Successor) since 2011) likes women in heels.  Note the big hats, a long tradition in the North Korean military.

Russian female soldiers.

Women in the Russian military appear to use a variety of heel heights with dress uniforms including even stilettos which is interesting.  Presumably  the stilettos are used only when marching on smooth, regular surfaces; it would be very difficult to march on the cobble stones in Moscow's Red Square while in stilettos and even in lower heels traction & stability might be marginal.  

The Ukrainian minister for defense trying not to notice some stilettos.

The decision of the Ukraine's Ministry of Defense to train female soldiers to march in high heels attracted interest, much of it from Ukrainian politicians, little of it supportive, except for the women involved.  Despite that, when in late June 2021 photographs emerged of women soldiers training in heels for a march scheduled for 24 August to mark the thirtieth anniversary of independence from the Soviet Union, an army spokesman reported the drilling to master the steps was "progressing well" although one soldier in an interview confirmed it was "...a little harder than in boots".  Social media soon went into action, one on-line petition demanding Ukraine's (male) defense minister don the not infrequently uncomfortable shoes to try marching in them and most critics, including female Ukrainian legislators, accused the military of sexism and having a “medieval” mind-set.  The virtual protest was the next day brought into parliament when female lawmakers arranged a line of high-heeled shoes before the defense minister and suggested he wear them to the anniversary parade, a joint statement from three cabinet ministers adding that the "...purpose of any military parade is to demonstrate the military ability of the army. There should be no room for stereotypes and sexism”.

Ukrianian female cadets practicing in heeled pumps.

The Defense Ministry initially declined to comment but did later issue as statement pointing out heels had been part of dress uniform regulations since 2017 and included pictures of female soldiers in the US military wearing heels during formal events and although they didn't mention it, Ukrainian soldiers regardless of gender all wear boots when deployed for combat or active training.  The great heel furor however didn't subside and the defense minister, after consultation with female military cadets, issued a joint statement with the military high command acknowledging the heels were inconvenient.  Later addressing a gathering of cadets, the minister pledged to look into the matter of “improved, ergonomic” footwear “in the shortest possible time”, although it wasn't made clear if the new shoes would be available for the August parade.  In another supportive gesture he also confirmed senior defense officials "would look into" improving the quality of women's underwear, this presumably in response to concerns raised by the cadets although the minister didn't go into detail of this, saying only that if the trial of the cadet's “experimental” footwear went well, they could be issued to all female members in the military.

Harder than it looks.

In recent years, women have played increasingly prominent roles in the Ukrainian military, especially in the ongoing conflict with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv allowing women to serve in combat units after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.  Women now make up more than 15 percent of the country’s armed forces, a rate which has more than doubled since the conflict erupted and more than 13,000 women have been granted combatant status.  Some 57,000 women serve in the Ukrainian military and NATO standards are in the process of being introduced, membership of the alliance being described still as a "long term" goal.  Given Ukraine's long and troubled relationship with both Russia and the Soviet Union, the lure of NATO is understandable but the Kremlin is opposed and there's now little enthusiasm in Western capitals.  The view from NATO HQ has for some time been that the relationship with Moscow will be easier to manage if a border which the Kremlin regards as hostile is not extended.

Pre-dating even the apparently abortive sartorial innovations of the Ukrainian Army, military camouflage has long attracted designers who like the juxtaposition of fashion and function.  The fetching stiletto (top) with the rakishly slanted heel is a Prada Camo Green Pump (part number 17008094NH; US$600).

Lindsay Lohan in Christian Louboutin Madame Butterfly black bow platform bootie with six-inch (150 mm) heel.

Cacoëthes

Cacoëthes (pronounced kak-oh-ee-theez)

(1) An uncontrollable urge or irresistible desire, especially something harmful or ill-advised.

(2) In medicine, a bad quality or disposition in a disease; a malignant tumor or ulcer (obsolete).

1560s: From cacoēthes, a Latinized form of the Ancient Greek κακοήθης (kakoēthēs) (ill-habit, wickedness, itch for doing (something)), from κακός (kakos) (bad) from the primitive Indo-European root kakka- (to defecate) + ἦθος (ēthē- & êthos) (disposition, character); Related is the modern ethos.  The Ancient Greek kakóēthes was a neuter (used as noun) of kakoḗthēs (malignant), literally “of bad character; of evil disposition”.

Cacoëthes is a noun, the noun plural is cacoethe & cacoethic is an adjective; the preferred modern spelling is cacoethes but cacoëthesor is used by some classists.  It shouldn’t be confused with cacoethics (bad ethics or morals; bad habits).  It’s remembered in Juvenal's insanabile scribendi cacoethes (incurable passion for writing) and it was said of Machiavelli that he suffered the cacoethes scribendi (an urge to write dangerous words).

Consequences of the cacoethetic.  Lindsay Lohan under arrest

Antediluvian

Antediluvian (pronounced an-tee-di-loo-vee-uhn)

(1) In biblical scholarship, of or belonging to the period before the biblical flood of Noah (Genesis chapters 6-9); a person who lived before the biblical flood.

(2) In figurative use, anything or anyone very old, old-fashioned, or out of date, antiquated, primitive, outdated, outmoded, ancient, archaic, antique, superannuated, anachronistic, outworn, behind the times, medieval, quaint, old-fangled, obsolescent, obsolete, prehistoric, passé, fossilized.

1640-1650: From the Latin ante- (before; preposition and prefix) +‎ dīluvium (flood).  The Latin ante- is derived from the primitive Indo-European hénti, locative singular of the root noun hent- (front, front side).  It was cognate with the Ancient Greek ἀντί (antí) (opposite, facing), the Sanskrit अन्ति (ánti), the Old Armenian ընդ (ənd), the Tocharian Bānte and the English and.  The word was coined by English physician Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682).

Handy adjective: politicians and others

Though sometimes casually treated as such, prehistoric and antediluvian are not synonyms.  Prehistoric has a precise (though culturally and geographically variable) meaning.  It means before history was written down, hence before writing which emerged some five millennia ago in Mesopotamia.  Historians note the pivot has to be the creation of writing with some historic meaning and that earlier (usually financial) records don’t fulfil this criterion.  Representational forms predated writing, most famously as cave paintings, but these, while helpful in the interpretation of the archaeological record, don’t impart meaning in the same way as text.

Literal: The Subsiding of the Waters of the Deluge (oil on canvas, 1829) by Thomas Cole (1801-1848). 

Antediluvian (before the flood) is a word from biblical scholarship.  It refers to time prior to the biblical flood of Noah but also to the notion of a monumental flood preserved in the folklore of a remarkable number of cultures although there is nothing in the geological record to suggest there was ever a global flood in the sense of the Old Testament writings.  Although usually used figuratively, for biblical-literalists (many of them south of the Mason-Dixon line), antediluvian means the actual time before the flood described in chapters 6–9 in the Book of Genesis.  The literalists invented their own field of study called diluvial geology (also labelled flood or creation geology) and regard the text in Genesis 6–9 as a scientific record; they date the great flood to within the last five thousand years.  The term is used also in the field of Assyriology for kings, according to the Sumerian king list, those supposed to have reigned before the great flood.

Figurative: Barnaby Joyce (b 1967; Deputy Prime-Minister of Australia 2016-2018 & Jun 2021-) admiring a lump of coal, Parliament House, Canberra, February 2017.

As a pejorative adjective, antediluvian is sometimes used figuratively although the choice is not always most appropriate.  Ancient is probably better to describe something old or antiquated if so old as to lack functionality; Methuselan is a most attractive adjective to apply to old folk.  Antediluvian is best reserved to describe the archaic or outdated views and opinions held by people, regardless of their age.

Umbrella & Parasol

Parasol (pronounced par-uh-sawl or par-uh-sol)

(1) A type of lightweight umbrella used, especially by women, as a sunshade.

(2) In architecture, a roof or covering of a structure designed to provide cover from wind, rain, or sun.

(3) In bar-tending, a miniature paper umbrella used as a decoration in tropical-themed cocktails.

(4) In aviation, as parasol wing, a wing not directly attached to the fuselage but held above it, supported by either cabane struts or a pylon.  Additional bracing may be provided by struts or wires extending from the fuselage sides.

1610–1620: From the French & Middle French parasol from the Italian parasole, the construct being para- (to shield) + sole (sun); the Italian sole being derived from the Classical Latin sōl (sun).  The rarely used adjectival form is parasoled.  A curious and long extinct Americanism from the late nineteenth century was bumbershoot.

Umbrella (pronounced uhm-brel-uh)

(1) A portable, usually circular cover for protection from rain or sun, consisting of a fabric held on a collapsible frame of thin ribs radiating from the top of a carrying stick or handle.

(2) In marine biology, flattened cone-shaped contractile, contractile, gelatinous body of a jellyfish or other medusa.

(3) In military jargon, something that covers or protects from above such as aircraft safeguarding surface forces or a general descriptor of an independent nuclear deterrent.

(4) By analogy with the military use, any over-arching protection.

(5) Something, as an organization or policy that covers or encompasses a number of groups or elements.

1600–1610: From the Italian ombrella and umbrella (parasol, sunshade), diminutive of ombra (shade), an earlier variant of ombrello from the Late Latin umbrella, an alteration (under the influence of the Latin umbra (shade or shadow)) of the Latin umbella (sunshade).  In both Latin and Italian, the –ella suffix was used with female nouns to form diminutives and was the feminine equivalent of –ello.

Of Sun and Rain

Although structurally, essentially identical, the convention of use is that a parasol protects from the sun and an umbrella, rain.  In French this is formalised with parapluie (umbrella), the construct being para (to shield) + pluie (rain); pluie derived from the Latin pluvia (rain) whereas parasol is para + sol (sun).

Lindsay Lohan: Tyler Shields photo shoot, 2010.

Vantage

Vantage (pronounced van-tij or vahn-tij)

(1) A position, condition, or place affording some advantage or a commanding view, expressed usually as "vantage point".

(2) An advantage or superiority (obsolete except when used by Aston-Martin).

(3) In lawn tennis, short for advantage (obsolete except for a few tennis snobs).

1250-1300: Middle English from Anglo-French, by apheresis from the Old French avantage (advantage or profit).  The phrase vantage point first noted in 1865, a variation of the earlier vantage ground from circa 1610.  The early English alternative vauntage, soon faded from use and the derived forms, vantages (third-person singular simple present) vantaging (present participle) and vantaged (simple past and past participle) are now wholly obsolete. 

DB2 Vantage DHC

The word Vantage was first used by Aston Martin in 1950 on the DB2.  The title indicated an uprated engine specification: a pair of larger carburetors and a higher compression ratio which added 20bhp to the standard DB2’s 105.  Almost 250 were built with both saloon (AM’s term for a two door coupé) and drophead coupé (DHC, the term then often used by English manufacturers to refer to formal convertibles) coachwork.

DB4 Vantage Saloon

Strangely, although the Vantage moniker caught on with aficionados, it wouldn’t be again used by the factory for almost a decade.  The DB4 Vantage was released with the Series IV cars in 1961, now with triple carburetors and a higher compression ratio, the cylinder head was also revised with bigger valves, the package yielding 266bhp, some ten per cent more than a standard DB4.  The Vantage this time was visibly distinct as well as technically upgraded, gaining the faired-in headlights and bright aluminum trim from the earlier DB4 GT.

DB5 Vantage Saloon

While mechanically almost identical to the Series IV, the more spacious Series V Vantage of 1962, the last in the DB4 line, was stylistically different, being essentially a prototype for the upcoming DB5.  The two are virtually indistinguishable; indeed one Series V DB4 Vantage was used alongside a DB5 in the filming of the James Bond film Goldfinger.  Of the 141 built, the rarest and most desirable were the half-dozen with the optional DB4 GT engine.

DB5 Vantage DHC

The Vantage option remained on the books when the DB5 was released in 1965.  Now with triple Weber carburetors, the factory rated the Vantage at 325bhp, a jump of 40 over the standard engine and only 68 of the 887 saloons were built to the Vantage specification.  More rare still was the DB5 Vantage convertible, a mere eight of the 123 built although, over the decades, a great many of both have be upgraded to the Vantage standard.

DB6 Vantage Saloon

Introduced in 1965 and made in two series, the now Kham-tailed DB6 remained in production until 1970.  The DB6 Vantage was mechanically identical to its predecessor but there were detail changes.  Retained was the Vantage badge introduced with the DB5, but the nomenclature was now added as a discreet script on the side strakes and much attention was devoted to improving passenger comfort.  At this point, while coupés continued to be labelled saloons, convertibles were now styled Volantes (a derivation of the Italian word for "flying").  Spread between two series, out of a total DB6 production of 1739, 405 Saloons and 42 Vantage Volantes were built

DBS Vantage Saloon

By the mid 1960s, the market in which Aston Martin competed, although larger, was more contested than even a decade earlier.  As early as 1961, Jaguar’s E-Type had, at a fraction of the cost, matched the DBs in style and performance, if not quality and their V12 project was known to be well-advanced.  The Italian thoroughbreds, Ferrari, Maserati and Lamboghini, all with eight and twelve cylinder engines, were setting new standards and there was now an array of trans-Atlantic hybrids which combined exquisite European coachwork with cheap, effortless and reliable American V8 power.  Aston Martin’s six cylinder engine, Vantage tweaked or not, was starting to look technologically bankrupt.  Accordingly, the factory developed both a new car, the DBS, and their own V8.  For a variety of reasons, the V8 wasn’t ready by the time the DBS, a typical Aston Martin mix of traditional and modern, was released in 1967 so the familiar six, again available in Standard or Vantage form was carried over from the DB6 although, to counter increased weight, the Vantage version boasted revised camshafts.

Vantage Saloon

The DBS and DB6 were produced in parallel until 1970, the last few DB6s built after the DBS V8’s release the previous year.  The last of the six cylinder DBSs came in a run of seventy named simply Vantage, all with the revised twin-headlight coachwork introduced in 1972 which would serve the line essentially unchanged until 1989.  Historically, the final seventy were then a unique anomaly, the first time a Vantage was not the most but the least potent offering.

V8 Vantage Volante

That historical quirk was certainly rectified after the Vantage’s half-decade hiatus, during which the first oil crisis of the early 1970s had transformed the market.  Most of the trans-Atlantic hybrids had been driven extinct, Jaguar had moved in a different direction, Mercedes-Benz had chosen not to compete, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and Maserati all had their own brushes with bankruptcy, Porsche were moving up-market to become a competitor and governments were imposing more and more regulations.  The 1977 Aston Martin Vantage took a different approach to the mid-engined Italian or turbo-charged German opposition.  Although there was much attention to aerodynamics and chassis dynamics, mostly it was about simple brute force, the additional power over the standard V8 gained by the traditional methods used in Vantages past and it proved effective, able to run with the Lamborghini Countach, the Ferrari BB and even the Porsche 911 Turbo of the time.  This time, the factory didn’t release a claimed power output, describing it instead as “adequate”.

V8 Vantage Zagato Saloon

The Vantage, as both saloon and volante, remained in production until 1989 and served as the basis of the shorter, radical, and very rare, V8 Vantage Zagato saloon and volante.

Virage Vantage V550 Saloon

High-priced brute force remained a gap in the market and Aston Martin continued its commitment with a Virage-based supercharged Vantage in 1993 which, by 1998, was running twin superchargers, its 600bhp making it the most powerful production powerplant in the world, making the Vantage capable of close to 200 mph (320 km/h); Virage production ended in 2000.

DB7 Vantage Saloon

The DB7, first shown at the Geneva Motor Show in 1999, became the next Vantage and now under Ford’s ownership, it used a 5.9 litre V12 engine developed in co-operation with Cosworth Technology.  It was the first time a Vantage wasn’t a development of the standard engine, the straight six in the DB7 being a different configuration and remarkably, by historic standards, the DB7 Vantage verged on mass-production: over four-thousand built over a four and a half year life which ended in 2003.

VH V8 Vantage Saloon

Ford were pleased by the sales and in 2003, again at the Geneva Motor Show, unveiled on the VH platform the AMV8 Vantage Concept, so well-received the order books were bulging by the time the production version was released in 2005.  It proved to be the most successful car in Aston Martin’s history and this time it really was mass-produced, necessitating construction of a second production line; eventually more than fifteen thousand would leave the factory.  Less brute force than before, the new V8 Vantage relied on technology to exceed the performance of most of its predecessors.  For those attracted by more performance or more exclusivity, in 2009, Aston Martin unveiled the V12 Vantage, weighing little more than its V8 sibling but boasting an additional hundred-odd horsepower and able to reach 190 mph (305 km/h).  In 2012, the V12 Vantage Zagato was added to the books.

V12 Vantage S

However, after the GFC (Global Financial Crisis), the expansion of the money supply (essentially governments giving cash to the rich) at the upper end of the market meant there was increasing taste for conspicuous consumption.  Like other manufacturers anxious to meet demand with supply, Aston Martin responded with a bespoke programme, offering degrees of customisation to the point of one-off creations but also, new product lines, hence the 2013 V12 Vantage S.  It joined the new generation of machines now able routinely to attain the 200mph (320 km/h) speeds first promised by the Italians in the early 1970s but not realised because of the means available at the time to defeat the formidable opposition of physics.  At a tested 205mph (330 km/h), the terminal velocity of the V12 Vantage S made it the fastest Aston Martin ever and, in a nicely nostalgic touch, in 2016, even a manual gearbox was offered.

Vantage Roadster

The times are changing and there is an end-of-an-era feel to the latest Vantage.  Now with a Mercedes-Benz-AMG four litre V8, it doesn’t quite match the top-end performance of the V12 but is said to be a more practical day-to-day proposition to own while being less environmentally thuggish.  These are relative terms and while today’s Vantage is not quite how things used to be done, it’s unlikely there’ll ever be another big V12.  Those who can may be advised to enjoy it while it’s here.

Aston Martin Vantage Production Numbers

DB2 Vantage: 248 saloon and DHC

DB4 Vantage: 135 (plus 6 DB4 GT Vantage)

DB5 Vantage: 68 saloon (plus 8 DHC)

DB6 Vantage: 335 saloon (plus 29 Volante)

DB6 Vantage MkII: 70 saloon (plus 13 Volante)

DBS Vantage:290 saloon

Vantage 70 saloon

V8 Vantage: 372 saloon (plus 194 Vantage Volante)

V8 Vantage Zagato: 52 saloon (plus 8 Vantage Volante)

Vantage/V8 Vantage: 273 saloon (plus 40 specials)

DB7 V12 Vantage: 2,086 coupe (plus 2,056 Volante)

V8 Vantage (VH): 15,458 coupe (plus 6,231 Roadster)

V12 Vantage: 2,957 (all types including V12 Vantage S)

Vantablack

Vantablack (pronounced van-tah-blak)

A black material which absorbs 99.965% of light reaching its surface.

2014: Modern English construct, Vanta, an acronym for Vertically Aligned NanoTube Arrays + black.

Vantablack is built from clusters of vertical nanotubes on a substrate using a modified chemical vapour deposition process (CVD).  When light strikes Vantablack, instead of reflecting back and thus being visible, it becomes trapped, bouncing among the tubes until absorbed, dissipating into heat.  The densities are impressive for physical stuff; each square centimetre contains about a billion nanotubes.

Industrially, it’s an improvement over previous products because it can be created at 750°f (400°c) whereas an earlier substance, developed by NASA, demanded a 1380°f (750°c) environment.  However, in manufacturing, this is expensive and, Vantablack can be grown only on materials capable of enduring this temperature, further limiting commercial application.  Despite this Vantablack is a functional improvement which also offers better thermal stability and a greater resistance to mechanical vibration.  First developed in the UK’s National Physical Laboratory, trademark is held by Surrey NanoSystems.

The blackest known material ever in earthly existence, Vantablack is used to improve the performance of both ground and space-based cameras, improve heat-absorption in solar arrays and prevent stray light entering telescopes.  The military apply it to thermal camouflage because if used to coat 3D objects, they appear visually flat “black holes” without any shape or depth.

Potential LVBD customer.  Lindsay Lohan and the quest for the perfect LBD.

Nictate

Nictate (pronounced nik-teyt)

To wink.

1755–1765: From the Latin nictātus, past participle of nictāre (to wink, fidget, blink, signal with the eyes), related to nicere (to beckon) from the primitive Indo-European root kneigwh- (to blink, to draw together (the eyes or eyelids)), source also of the Gothic hniewan, the Old High German nigan (to bow, be inclined).  The related forms are nictitated & nictitating.

The alteration nictitate

The intransitive verb nictitate is sometimes described as an alternative spelling of nictate but it’s more a niche alteration for a specialised niche.  Nictitate’s origins are the same as nictate, coming from the Latin word for winking, nictāre.  The addition of the extra syllable is thought to have been under the influence of Latin verbs ending in -itare, such as palpitare and agitare (from which, respectively, English gained palpitate and agitate).  The niche is in zoology, a role it’s played since scientists in the early eighteenth century began to describe a “nictitating membrane”, the so-called "third eyelid", the thin, usually transparent membrane in the eyes of birds, fishes, and other vertebrates, the function of which is to help keep the eyeball moist and clean.

Noted nictator, Lindsay Lohan, nictating.