Why Name It That?

25 March 2020

Draconian

Draco the Lawgiver carving in the library of
the United States Supreme Court (Wikimedia)

Recently, I have been seeing "Draconian" used in the news to describe things like the measures being taken in Italy and other countries due to the coronavirus (COVID-19). The adjective is used when laws or their application are considered excessively harsh and severe.

Is there a Draco that makes things Draconian? My sons might say is it for Draco Malfoy, a character in the Harry Potter series of books and movies? No. Is it connected to Draco, a constellation in the northern part of the sky or the dwarf galaxy orbiting the Milky Way? No and no, but there is a connection for all of them and that connection is the man Draco who lived in the 7th century BC.

He was also called Drako or Drakon and was the first recorded legislator of Athens in Ancient Greece. He replaced the prevailing system of oral law and blood feud with a written code to be enforced only by a court of law.

But Draco established laws characterized by their harshness and since the 19th century "draconian" became an adjective referring to similarly unforgiving rules or laws.

19 March 2020

Murphy's Law

You probably have heard of Murphy's Law and it's likely that you have used the phrase or at least have encountered a situation where this adage (short statement expressing a general truth) or epigram (a brief saying or remark expressing an idea in a clever and amusing way) was used or should have been used.

"Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

The origin of the phrase is totally unknown and it's likely that people were saying this is something close to it long before anyone attached a name to it. So the question here is whether there actually was a Murphy and if so why the name became attached to the adage?

According to one version, the origin stems from an attempt to use new measurement devices developed by Edward Murphy, an American aerospace engineer who worked on safety-critical systems. The phrase was coined in adverse reaction to something Murphy said when his devices failed to perform.

According to the book, A History of Murphy's Law by Nick Spark, this common bit of philosophy does have a military origin. But the "facts" still seem to be a bit hazy.

Murphy worked at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base on high-speed rocket sled experiments and that's supposed to be where and when the coining of Murphy's law happened.

Reportedly, Murphy was not happy with the commonplace interpretation of his law which he saw as more serious. Murphy regarded his law as an important principle of defensive design - one should always assume worst-case scenarios.

Though Murphy may have been serious, the law that carries his name has been used in many less-than-serious situations.

15 March 2020

Steely Dan

Steely Dan is an American rock band. The core members are Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop. Rolling Stone magazine has called them "the perfect musical antiheroes for the Seventies."

The band's music is characterized by complex jazz-influenced structures and harmonies (played by Becker and Fagen along with a revolving cast of rock and pop studio musicians) and cerebral, wry and eccentric lyrics.

They are recording studio perfectionists. The story is told that the pair used at least 42 different studio musicians, 11 engineers, and took over a year to record the 7 tracks that resulted in the album Gaucho.

Becker & Fagen 2007

Donald Fagen was born in Passaic, New Jersey and Walter Becker was born in New York City and met as students at Bard College.

Being fans of Beat Generation literature, Fagen and Becker named their band after the "Steely Dan III from Yokohama," a strap-on, steam-powered dildo referred to in the Beat classic by William Burrough's Naked Lunch.