Extremely Unctuous

Sometimes when I start comparing two words and wondering about an etymological connection I don't actually need to hear either of them.  In this case I was simply looking at a picture of the White House Press Secretary.

I would not want this job.  You have to stand up in front of a bunch of reporters and, well, shade the truth to make your boss look good.  In a Republican administration most of the press corps will be your antagonists.  Challenging but straightforward.  In the current administration you expect them to be your friends and when the relationship is not one of happy, mutual back scratchery things devolve quickly to Mean Girl Middle School levels.  Hey, its the job and it ain't no easy one.    

You can't really do it unless you are a bit unctuous.  The primary meaning of this is "excessive flattery", but a secondary meaning is oily as in slippery and evasive.

The counter phrase that got me thinking was the Roman Catholic ceremony of Extreme Unction, the last minute confession and absolution in which one assumes a very high degree of candor would be in order.  A Press Sec given to same would have a short career.  So how do these disparate concepts link together?

Back we go to Latin where "unctus" was the act of anointing, such as in a coronation.  This was done with fancy, expensive oils.  Elected officials and their lackeys often feel as if they are the anointed ones of the modern age.  From there it is just a couple of linguistic hops and skips to a new definition as "oily" or "greasy".  The Catholic church preserves much of the Latin world for us and Extreme Unction is a call back to the ceremonial anointing.  It is actually supposed to be done on a non-emergent basis in which case a special oleum infirmum or "oil of the sick" is employed.  This is only one of the elements of what is referred to as Last Rites, and to discourage its use as literally a last gasp measure it was rebranded in 1972 as Anointing of the Sick.

There. It's never a good day unless you learn something new.  And your odds of that are greater at Detritus of Empire than at your average White House Press Conference.