A Perfect Storm

Image: WikiImages

The phrase "a perfect storm" has multiple uses but they all originate from the same basic meaning. The commonality is that any "perfect storm" is an event in which a rare combination of circumstances drastically aggravates the event. 

The most literal use of the term is in weather forecasting. It refers to an unusually severe storm that results from a rare combination of meteorological phenomena. It is somewhat ironic since a perfect storm is often deadly and hardly "perfect" to those affected by it.

The phrase entered our vocabulary when a 1997 book, The Perfect Storm, and in 2000 a popular movie adaptation entered the mainstream. 

Sebastian Junger planned to write a book about the 1991 Halloween Nor'easter storm which was technically an "extratropical cyclone." While researching for the book, Junger learned that the event was the confluence of three different weather-related phenomena which a meteorologist told him was the "perfect situation" to generate such a storm. Junger then coined the phrase perfect storm and use it as the title of his 1997 book.

Since the book and movie's release, the phrase has grown to mean any event where a situation is aggravated drastically by an exceptionally rare combination of circumstances.

Despite Junger coining the weather-related perfect storm, the Oxford English Dictionary has published references going back to 1718 for "perfect storm." The earliest citations use the phrase in the sense of "absolute" or "complete." For example, in Thackeray's novel Vanity Fair, he writes "in the midst of a perfect storm of sympathy.

There is even an 1850 meteorological use of the phrase describing "A perfect storm of thunder and lightning all over England."

Today, a "perfect storm" most often means a worst-case scenario, such as its use during the financial crisis of 2007–2008 to describe the terribly "perfect" combination of circumstances that allowed the crisis to occur.

Nautical terms part one

 

Image by Brigitte Werner from Pixabay

As with my earlier posts on terms that come from the world of printing, such is the case with nautical terms that entered the language in some form. I gained some inspiration for this post from an essay by Hester Blum about her brief voyage on a 19th-century whaling ship.

"Think of all the idioms for competency that come from seafaring: knowing the ropes, crackerjack, all told, first rate, flying colors. There are plenty of nautical expressions for incompetency, too: deadwood, over a barrel, run afoul, scraping the bottom of the barrel. My expertise in the language and literature of sailing does not necessarily translate to manual or experiential fluency, nor did I expect it to."

Some of these terms have fallen out of fashion. As a child, I would hear adults tell us kids to "pipe down" meaning to get quiet. Aboard a ship, the boatswain's pipe, or whistle, is used to summon a crew, relay orders and dismiss them. To dismiss a crew, the boatswain piped and the command "pipe down" is given. After dismissal, things were quiet and the command became associated with quieting down or making less noise.

Boatswain's whistle, pipe, or bosun's pipe

The phrase “know the ropes” comes from sailing where ropes, or lines, are important to navigating and steering the ship. One who knows the ropes has experience in sailing.

"Crackerjack" isn't just a snack food that appeared in the 1890s. In the late 19th-century crack and jack were merged into a new word. Cracker is an elongation of crack which is an adjective meaning "expert" or "superior" that dates from the 18th century, as in "He is a crack shot with a rifle." Even earlier, "crack" was a noun meaning "something superior" and a verb meaning "to boast." 

"Jack" has been used for "man" since the mid-1500s. We find it in the expression "jack-of-all-trades" and in nautical terms as "Jack Tar" to mean a sailor. (The "tar" comes from the coating on ropes.) Crackerjack entered English as a noun referring to "a person or thing of marked excellence," and then was used as an adjective. 

"All told" is an idiom we don't hear very much these days. It means with everything or everyone taken into account. "All told there will be 75 people attending." It was once used on board ships to indicate all were present.

"First-rate" has its origin in the rating "A1" which was used to mean "having the highest qualifications" in reference to commercial ships. Lloyd's of London used this rating system. Shipping was very important in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries, and Lloyd's rating system became known beyond shipping to mean "of the finest quality" or "first-rate."

The term "flying colors," as in "she passed the test with flying colors" and "showing your true colors" to mean to reveal one's character (usually used in a negative way) both come from a sailing practice. At one time, ships hoisted their national flags ("fly their colors") before commencing battle, BUT some ships would carry flags from many countries and hoist "false flags" to confuse or mislead their enemies rather than show their "true colors."

Toto

Toto (stylized as TOTO) was formed in 1977 in Los Angeles.  Toto is known for a musical style that combines elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, progressive rock, hard rock, R&B, blues and jazz. Having released 14 studio albums and sold over 40 million records worldwide. The group has received several Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009. 

Toto by W. W. Denslow
from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

In the early 1980s, band members told the press that the band was named after the dog in The Wizard of Oz. The other origin story is that Jeff Porcaro had written TOTO on one of their demos just to be a marker on the tapes. Bassist David Hungate saw it and said that “in toto” was Latin for “in all, totally, entirely, or all-encompassing.” That might have been a secondary reason to stick with it. It was also easy to remember.

Toto from the Falling in Between Tour (Milan, 2006)

David Paich and Jeff Porcaro were session musicians on several albums and decided to form a band. They put together the group produced the band's eponymous debut album in 1978. It had a Top 5 single "Hold the Line." But their more global fame came with Toto IV (1982) with hits "Africa" and "Rosanna" which reached number 2. Band members played on many other bands' albums as session players throughout the 80s.

 

Soft Machine

 

Soft Machine in a 1970 promo photo

Soft Machine is an English rock band formed in 1966 in Canterbury. they were one of the first British psychedelic acts. They moved into a more progressive rock and jazz fusion sound. According to bassist Hugh Hopper, "We weren't consciously playing jazz-rock. It was more a case of not wanting to sound like other bands. We certainly didn't want a guitarist." Though there were several guitarists in the band's numerous incarnations including Andy Summers, Kevin Ayers, and John Etheridge, but an organ, saxophone, flute, and various keyboards have always been part of their sound.

The band's name comes from the novel The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. His "soft machine" is another name for the human body. Burroughs has said that he was interested in how control mechanisms invade the body.

The main plot appears in chapter VII, "The Mayan Caper." It concerns a secret agent who has the ability to change bodies or metamorphose his own body using "U.T." (undifferentiated tissue). He makes a time travel machine and takes on a gang of Mayan priests. 

It is a strange novel and influenced by Burroughs' own drug experimentation. Perhaps the band was intrigued by his composing method known as the cut-up technique. Burroughs had written about a thousand pages earlier which he cut and pasted to create this novel and others.

They never achieved much commercial success, but the band is considered by critics to have been an influential rock band, if only as an "underground" band with a kind of cult following.

In the 1970s, there were several alternative offshoots of the band formed including the Soft Heap, Soft Head and Soft Ware.

 

Bad Company

The original Bad Company lineup in 1976

 (L to R) Boz Burrell, Paul Rodgers, Simon Kirke, Mick Ralphs

"Bad Company" is a song by the hard rock band also called Bad Company that was released as the third single from their debut album, the eponymous Bad Company in 1974.

This English hard rock band was formed in London in 1973 by singer Paul Rodgers and guitarist Mick Ralphs, later adding drummer Simon Kirke and bassist Boz Burrell.

Throughout the 1970s, they were very successful with their first three albums, Bad Company (1974), Straight Shooter (1975), and Run with the Pack (1976).

Their best-known singles were "Bad Company", "Can't Get Enough", "Good Lovin' Gone Bad", "Feel Like Makin' Love", "Ready for Love", "Shooting Star", and "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy." all of which still get "classic rock" radio airplay.

I had always heard that the inspiration for the band's name was the 1972 modern Western film, Bad Company, starring Jeff Bridges. The film is about a group of young men who flee the draft during the American Civil War to seek their fortune and freedom on the Western American frontier.

The song "Bad Company" certainly suggests that film:

A company always on the run
A destiny, oh it's the rising sun
I was born, a shotgun in my hands
Behind the gun
I'll make my final stand, yeah
That's why they call me
Bad company...
Rebel souls
Deserters we've been called
Chose a gun
And threw away the song...

As far as the name of the band itself, Paul Rodgers stated in an interview with Spinner.com, that the idea came from a book of Victorian morals that showed a picture of an innocent kid looking up at an unsavory character leaning against a lamp post with a caption that read "beware of bad company."

Bad Company was considered to be a "supergroup" since it was made up of two former members of Free (Rodgers and Kirke), former Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs; and ex-King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell. 

Since 2011, the band has toured with various combinations of original and temporary members.

DISCOGRAPHY
Bad Company (1974)
Straight Shooter (1975)
Run with the Pack (1976)
Burnin' Sky (1977)
Desolation Angels (1979)
Rough Diamonds (1982)
Fame and Fortune (1986)
Dangerous Age (1988)
Holy Water (1990)
Here Comes Trouble (1992)
Company of Strangers (1995)
Stories Told & Untold (1996)