bricolage

Don't need no Chevy, no Ford, no Dodge.
Got my own hot Bricolage! —J.C.H.

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MEANING

bricolage /brē-ko-LAZH'/ n  ➤ In art or literature, a construction or creation from a diverse range of available things:  the chaotic bricolage of the novel is brought together in a unifying gesture.

 ➤ Something constructed or created in this way: bricolages of painted junk. —NOAD

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bricolage: v ➤ To make creative and resourceful use of whatever materials are to hand. —Claude Levi-Strauss.  Mid 20th century: French, from bricoler 'do odd jobs, repair.'

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bricoleur /brē-ko-LAIR'/ n ➤  A person who engages in bricolage.  Mid 20th century: French, literally 'handyman.' —NOAD

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Bricolage IN USE

➢ There’s a spirit of bricolage running through this [fashion] season, as if designers wanted their clothes to convey as many possibilities as possible. — Armand Limnander, "Group Hug | Paris," Women's Fashion, March 5, 2010.

➢ At the same time it's clear that technology and the mechanisms of the Web have been accelerating certain trends already percolating through our culture--including the blurring of news and entertainment, a growing polarization in national politics, a deconstructionist view of literature . . . , the prominence of postmodernism in the form of mashups and bricolage, and a growing cultural relativism . . . . —Michiko Kakutani. "Texts Without Context," The New York Times, "Arts & Leisure," March 21, 2010, 25.

➢ Here is a White Christian Nationalist group [the Tea Party] whose worldview is a bricolage of Ayn Rand novels, fundamentalist jeremiads and an ethnically-cleansed "history"  —"GOP, step away from the Tea Party," The Guardian - ‎Mar 22, 2010‎

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COMMENTS on bricolage and bricoleur

In his book The Savage Mind (1962), French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss [klod la'-vi stros] contrasted two types of problem solvers: the Bricoleur, who takes the "do-it-yourself" approach and the Engineer, who works "by-the-book."  Wikipedia explains these two concepts further:  

[bricoleur] has come to mean one who works with his hands, usually in devious or "crafty" ways in comparison to the true craftsman, whom Lévi-Strauss calls the Engineer. The bricoleur  is adept at many tasks and at putting preexisting things together in new ways. The Engineer deals with projects in their entirety, taking into account the availability of materials and tools required. The bricoleur approximates "the savage mind" and the Engineer approximates the scientific mind." 

Besides anthropology, bricolage functions usefully in many other disciplines.  Here are a few of them, gleaned from the Wapedia's page on bricolage:

In music, "Instrumental bricolage . . . includes the use of found objects as instruments, such as in the cases of  

• Irish Spoons,   

• humming through a comb and wax paper,

• Trinidadian Steel Drums (made from industrial storage drums),
• African drums and thumb pianos made from recycled pots and pans." 

Not to mention the tinkered sound of Punk.

In the visual arts, "bricolage is [viewed] as a technique where works are construted from various materials on hand, and is seen as a characteristic of postmodern works."  The collage art form is of its essence a bricolage.

In theatrical improvisation, bricolage makes use of  "the stage and the [pantomimed] materials [that] are all made  up on the spot to represent actual things the players know from past experience."

In philosophy the bricoleur has be likened to Coyote, the archetype of the trickster. 

The fashion industry uses the  bricolage style by "incorporating  items typically utilized for other purposes. For example, candy wrappers are woven together to produce a purse."

In television, MacGyver has been described as a "paragon of a bricoleur, creating solutions for the problem to be solved out of available found objects" and the A-Team was known for "creating, mainly weapons, out of any objects available."

Information systems, internet programming, as well as business organization and management, all employ bricolage. To read about its role in these applications, visit (wapedia.mobi/en/Bricolage).

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Needless to say, this bricolage on bricolage has been a pleasure for this bricoleur to bricolage.  

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666 words

grandee

A Spanish Grandee, 
Late Middle Ages

From The Pictorial Encyclopedia 

of Fashion (1968) Ed. Paul Hamlin

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MEANING

grandee n [gran-DEE] 
➤ A person of the highest eminence or high rank in Spain or Portugal

➤ A person of eminence or high rank

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IN USE

➣ "With humor, reasonableness, and a touch of sarcasm, [President Obama] invited the Republican grandees in the audience to play the role of straight man, so to speak, and they obliged: row upon row of pale, middle-aged white men, unmoving and unmoved, frowning or smirking at every Presidential request for cooperation.—Hendrik Hertzberg. "Sparrin' Words," The Talk of the Town, The New Yorker, Feb. 8, 2010.

➣ "His name was Bernie Madoff, a former chairman of NASDAQ and an industry grandee." — "Prophets of the financial crisis," Economist, March 18, 2010.

➣ "The Planet Mars..hath been reckoned one of the Grandees in Aetherial Regions." 1686 Goad, Celest. Bodies II. iv. 194 —OED

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ORIGIN

[Spanish and Portuguese grande, "great (one)." from Latin grandis, grand.] —AHD

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COMMENTS

For a Spanish Grandee of the late middle ages, a grandiose hat was the thing!

Now that's a "Grandee-ose" Hat!

A Grandee in early Spain, Brewer notes, "was a nobleman of the highest rank, who had the privilege of remaining covered in the king's presence." By "remaining covered" Brewer mean they could wear their grandiose hats in the presence of the king.  

The title appears first to have been assumed during the late Middle Ages by certain of the ricos hombres, or powerful magnates of the realm, who had by then acquired vast influence and considerable privileges, including one—that of wearing a hat in the king’s presence—which later became characteristic of the dignity of grandee. —The Encyclopaedia Britannica [EB]

Eventually, specific protocols about these proto-symbolic hats were set in place:  

[B]y the early 17th century the grandees of Spain had been divided into three classes: those who spoke to the king and received his reply with their heads covered; those who addressed him uncovered but put on their hats to hear his answer; and those who awaited the permission of the king before covering themselves.—EB

Grandees were allowed another privilege, to be "addressed by the king as 'my cousin” (mi primo), whereas ordinary nobles were only qualified as “my kinsman” (mi pariente).—EB

Jump to present time in the United States and we learn that Republican grandees of  the House of Representatives who met in February in Baltimore to discuss health care reform with President Barack Obama found themselves addressed by their leader not with the distant "my kinsman" formality of  "Congressman" but with the "my cousin" first-name familiarity of John, Eric, and Mike.  


Use of the informal direct address did not help warm these Republican grandees  into accepting the President's ideas.  Their "No we won't!" minds had been locked in cold storage long before the conference.

Charles Dharapak/Associated Press

G.O.P. Grandees, 2010

From left, John Boehner, House minority leader, Eric Cantor, House minority leader, and Representative Mike Pence listened to President Obama speak at a Republican retreat in Baltimore, February 2010.

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513 words cold

sobriquet

Jeffrey Scales/HSP Archive

Jerry Brown a.k.a. 

"Governor Moonbeam"

c. 1975 

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MEANING

sobriquet [SO'-bri-KAY']  n.  
1. An affectionate or humorous nickname

2. An assumed name —AHD

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IN USE

➢ "For the uninitiated, ‘Governor Moonbeam’ became Mr. [Jerry] Brown’s intractable sobriquet, dating back to his days as governor between 1975 and 1983, when his state led the nation in pretty much everything — its economy, environmental awareness and, yes, class-A eccentrics." —Jesse McKinley, "'Governor Moonbeam' Recalled," The New York Times, "The Nation," March 7, 2010, 5.

➢ "Guess we are all aware that much adored celeb couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, known better by their grapevine sobriquet ‘Brangelina,’ have already disproved the recent song and dance in the buzz circles, over their rumored ‘split’." —entertainmentandshowbiz.com, Feb. 19, 2010. 

➢ "With Nixon embroiled in his Watergate defence, [Alexander] Haig took on an expanded role, handling many of the president's governing chores, and earning the sobriquet, 'the thirty-seventh-and-a-half president'," said Politico.com. —By Madeleine Morris, BBC News, WashingtonBBCnews.com, 20 February 2010. 

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ORIGIN

From the Old French soubriquet, chuck under the chin. —AHD

First cited: 1646. –OED

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COMMENTS

How does sobriquet differ from nickname?

The American Heritage Dictionary answers the question by usefully describing a conceptual hierarchy among the terms appellation  (the broadest term), sobriquet  (the narrowest), and nickname (an intermediate middle):

An appellation is a name, other than a proper one, that describes or characterizes, generally in pictorial terms, and that gains currency more through use than through a formal act of designation [as with a denomination or a title]: "Great Emancipator" is thus an appellation for Lincoln.

A nickname is an appellation with informal, sometimes humorous, overtones, such as "Honest Abe."

A sobriquet is an especially [emphasis added] humorous or picturesque nickname.

Since the AHD offers no example of sobriquet for Abraham Lincoln, I offer these  historical instances — "The Illinois Ape,"  "Ignoramus Abe," and "King Linkum the First" — each phrase, it appears, attempting to be especially humorous or picturesque within its specific pejorative intention.

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ADDENDUM

For Those Readers Curious About the Genesis of Jerry Brown's Sobriquet "Governor Moonbeam."

In "'Governor Moonbeam' Recalled" (cited above), Jesse McKinley relates the origin of Jerry Brown's sobriquet "Governer Moonbeam":

The nickname was coined by Mike Royko, the famed Chicago columnist, who in 1976 said that Mr. Brown appeared to be attracting “the moonbeam vote,” which in Chicago political parlance meant young, idealistic and nontraditional.

The term had a nice California feel, and Mr. Royko eventually began applying it when he wrote about the Golden State’s young, idealistic and nontraditional chief executive. He found endless amusement — and sometimes outright agita — in California’s oddities, calling the state “the world’s largest outdoor mental asylum.”

“If it babbles and its eyeballs are glazed,” he noted in April 1979, “it probably comes from California.”

[The article continues: "Governor Moonbeam."]

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Rube Goldberg

Rube Goldberg, American 

cartoonist, circa 1914

bancroft.berkeley.edu

proper noun,  adjective (1956)
  
[roob']
Rube Goldberg  
The name of the American humorous artist Reuben (‘Rube’) Lucius Goldberg (1883-1970), used attributively  of any unnecessarily complicated, impracticable or ingenious device of the kind illustrated by this artist. Hence Rube Goldbergian adjective.—OED

A Typical Rube Goldberg Design:

"Local Government Efficiency Machine" by Rube Goldberg 

Taxpayer sits on pneumatic cushion (A)

forcing air through a tube (B)

blowing balloon (C)

into candle (D).

Exploding balloon scares dog (E)

which pulls leash (F)

dropping ball (G)

on teeter totter (H)

launching plans (I)

which tilts lever (J).

Then pitcher (K)

pours water into plant (L)

causing it to grow, which pulls string attached to hand (M)

that lifts the wallet (N).

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Example Sentences:

I

But the shenanigans around the jobs bill provide an opportunity for him [President Obama] to break the mold of Rube Goldberg public policy, and to create real change for the American economy and our political process. —Ben Mangan, CEO of EARN. "Obama should channel Lincoln's steely resolve," On Jobs, SFGate, February 14, 2010.

II

Toyota has been stumbling so far in coming up with a robust accelerator fix; one dealer describes the current one as a Rube Goldberg solution that is hardly representative of the kind of work usually done by Japanese engineers.—Alex Taylor III, "Toyota's Tylenol moment," CNNMoney.com,  January 28, 2010.

III 

And by the time the [Bill] Clinton plan . . . got fed through the congressional wood chipper, it would probably make Rube Goldberg's craziest invention look like the Lever of Archimedes.*  —Hendrick Hertzberg  The Talk of the Town, The New Yorker, Oct. 7 2007.

*Comment on "Lever of Archimedes"

"While Archimedes did not invent the lever," Wikipedia reports, "he wrote the earliest known rigorous explanation of the principle involved.  According to Pappus of Alexandria, his work on levers caused him to remark, 'Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth,' [meaning] there is no limit to the amount of work it is possible to do with the lever."  

Archimedes' remarkable words, over the centuries, gave rise to, so to speak, more than a few drawings and cartoons:

i.bs.blogspot.com; www.planet-science. com 

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Antidote for Elaborate Design

An Antidote — if not precisely an antonym  — for the Rube Goldbergian design lies in the Principle of Parsimony, a.k.a. Occam's Razor.  WIII definesparsimony as "economy in the use of means to an end; especially economy of explanation in conformity with Occam's Razor," which, in turn, it defines as "a scientific and philosophical rule conceived by William of Occam (ca. 1837) stating 'that entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily'."

I can't help but imagine Sir William, blade in hand, at work on a Rube Goldberg contraption, cutting, with the utmost efficiency and precision, each of Rube's carefully articulated strings.

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Check out Chris Madden's clever cartoon:

chris madden.co.uk

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absquatulate and bamf

 thefreedictionary.com
Cat absquatulating

Definition and Regional Note from AHD:

verb

[ab-SKWATCH-u-late]

absquatulate: To depart in a hurry; abscond: 

"Your horse has absquatulated" (Robert M. Byrd)

intr. v. -lated, -lating, -lates Midwestern; Western U.S.

[Mock-Latinate formation, purporting to mean "to go off and squat elsewhere."]

Regional Note. In the 19th century, the vibrant energy of American English appeared in the use of Latin affixes to create jocular pseudo-Latin "learned" words." There is a precedent for this in the languages of Shakespeare, whose plays contain scores of made-up Latinate words. Midwestern and Western absquatulate has a prefix ab-, "away from," and a suffix -ate, "to act upon in a specified manner," affixed to a nonexistent base form--squatul--, probably suggested by squat. Hence the whimsical absquatulate, "to squat away from."

Another such coinage is Northern busticate, which joins bust with --icate by analogy with verbs like medicate. Southern argufy joins argue to a redundant -fy, "to make; cause to become. Today these creations have an old-fashioned and rustic flavor curiously at odds with their elegance. They are kept alive in regions of the United States where change is slow. For example, Appalachian speech is characterized by the frequent use of words such as recollect, aggravate, and oblige (7-8).

From The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000 [AHD].

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COMMENTS:

AHD speculates in its "Regional Note" that absquatulate is a mock Latinate formation "to squat away from." If we read this definition too literally — and let's do that,  just for fun —  as a verb describing a dynamic action, we are asked to picture one very close-to-the-ground style of self-mobilization.  Imagining a person "squat away from" some location appears, at least in this writer's imagination, as someone "squat-walking," i.e., starting from the squat position, moving the bent right leg forward in what we might loosely call a "step," moving the left in a likewise fashion, then the right, and the left and so on. It's something like the shikko movement in the martial art of Aikido: low striding leading with one's knees; knee walking. I can't imagine one person asking another to go "shikko" or "squat-walking" in the park. 

Therefore, I think that The American Heritage Dictionary's 1a definition of absquatulate (at the top of this page) is the operative one: "to depart in a hurry; abscond." Here, I picture a squatting (or seated or reclining) person enjoying an otiose moment on a front porch. Out of the front door comes a friend who says, "Hey, let's obsquatulate!" The squatter, who agrees with his friend's suggestion, stands up and joins her in going for a walk.

Not surprisingly, absquatulate--a word that states a negation--opens with the prefix "ab-," which means "away from" or simply "not" (as in ab-normal). Accordingly, the erstwhile squatter decides "not" to squat any longer but to "move out of" the passive mode of  "squatage" (a nonce word for today) in order to "move into" the dynamic mode of walking.

EXAMPLE SENTENCE:

If not kept under guard, the suspect will, for sure, absquatulate.  You know, bolt right off!  Like Nightcrawler:  go bamf! [1] --B'nJ'n

 Nightcrawler, one of the X-Men

fanpop.com

[1] bamf: the noise made by Nightcrawler (of the X-men comic book series) when he uses his teleporting [2] powers. 

[2] teleporting: the ability to jump nigh-instantaneously from one location to another.

"Nightcrawler flashed in and out of the President's office leaving nothing but a brief hint of brimstone." 

--The Urban Dictionary http://www.urbandictionary.com (15 Feb 2007).

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A Final Note:

Watch out!  The letters b-a-m-f , as the acronym B.A.M.F., carry a shameless street-wise significance, "Bad Assed Mother F*cker, usually a term of approbation". --The Urban Dictionary http://www.urbandictionary.com (15 Feb 2007).

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