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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I received an email about old time words that we hear rarely if at all these days. I became nostalgic and so here it is with some additions and subtractions - in other words , heavily edited.... but perhaps it will spark some discussion!
Please excuse typos. I am recovering from (would you believe) Carpal Tunnel in right hand which is reason I haven't been posting in a great while.
So - here we go : I came across "fender skirts" - a term I hadn't read or heard in a long time There are other words and phrases that quietly disappear from our language with hardly a whimper.
Words/phrases like : "steering knobs" and "Continental kits." And still on subject of automobiles - when did we quit calling them "emergency brakes?" At some oint "parking brake" became the proper term. But I miss the hint of drama that went with "emergency brake."
And speaking of drama : Do you remember being able to ride on a car's "running board?"
A phrase I heard all the time in my youth but never anymore - "store-bought." Of course, just about everything is store-bought these days.
And mothers were embarrassed if they had to admit a cake was "store bought" instead of home made! How times do chage.
"Coast to coast" is a phrase that once held all sorts of excitement. Now we take the term "world wide" for granted.
On a smaller scale, in the 1950s, "wall-to-wall carpeting" covered hardwood floors. Today, everyone replaces their wall-to-wall with hardwood floors.
When's the last time you heard the quaint phrase "in a family way?" Imagine - "pregnant" was once considered a little too graphic, a little too clinical for use in polite company. So we had all that talk about stork visits and "being in a family way" or "expecting."
Apparently "brassiere" is a word no longer in usage. It's just "bra" now. "Unmentionables" probably wouldn't be understood at all. But we still use the word "delicates" - go figure.
In my youth we went to "the pictures" or "the movies'" Some really cool kids called movies "the flicks"
Here's a word I miss - "percolator." That was just a fun word to say. And what was it replaced with? "Coffeemaker." Booooring.
Ok, your turn.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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When I was a young kid "Sunday clothes" was still in vogue to describe the best suit or dress ( for guys and gals respectively...just to make it clear, I could see the vultures diving in on that ambiguity  ) you wore for church or special occasions. I think the term goes back to "The Gilded Age" (late 1800's) when everyone wanted to be the Vanderbilts or Astors but were too poor to afford more than one set of nice clothes.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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how timely--i saw a propeller plane today--remember when that term was used to distinges between them and 'jet engines" --(the first time i traveled to ireland we flew on a 4 engine propeller plane)
and how about 'station to station' (vs Person to person) long distance calls. --they used to have to scheduled and connected by an operator, too, none of this dialed direct stuff!
(when did i get old?)
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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I think any apparatus for making coffee from grounds is technically a percolator, so you can still call any boring old coffee maker that.
To keep to the thread, In New York, people are forgetting the names of the individual subway lines, the IND, BMT, and IRT.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Quote:
I think any apparatus for making coffee from grounds is technically a percolator, so you can still call any boring old coffee maker that.
Percolator is just the kind that has the grounds basket sitting on top of that hollow tube that the boiling water comes bubbling up through. Read all about it.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Quote:
Quote:
I think any apparatus for making coffee from grounds is technically a percolator, so you can still call any boring old coffee maker that.
Percolator is just the kind that has the grounds basket sitting on top of that hollow tube that the boiling water comes bubbling up through. Read all about it.
Coffee is a percolate; thus, anything that makes coffee from grounds is a percolator. "Percolator" as name for the kind of percolator we all know and love is a special usage. Me thinks.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
I think any apparatus for making coffee from grounds is technically a percolator, so you can still call any boring old coffee maker that.
Percolator is just the kind that has the grounds basket sitting on top of that hollow tube that the boiling water comes bubbling up through. Read all about it.
Coffee is a percolate; thus, anything that makes coffee from grounds is a percolator. "Percolator" as name for the kind of percolator we all know and love is a special usage. Me thinks.
the link Faldo gave was interesting reading, even for one that doesn't ever drink the swill.
"It is virtually impossible to make a decent cup of coffee with a percolator." 
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
I think any apparatus for making coffee from grounds is technically a percolator, so you can still call any boring old coffee maker that.
Percolator is just the kind that has the grounds basket sitting on top of that hollow tube that the boiling water comes bubbling up through. Read all about it.
Coffee is a percolate; thus, anything that makes coffee from grounds is a percolator. "Percolator" as name for the kind of percolator we all know and love is a special usage. Me thinks.
the link Faldo gave was interesting reading, even for one that doesn't ever drink the swill.
"It is virtually impossible to make a decent cup of coffee with a percolator."
Er, yah, it looks good, but I'm at work -- diligently, as you can see. I *did* take the time, though, to check dic.com *after* posting (  ), and it looks like Faldo's right [play 2.5 measures of Souza]. Still, I don't see why we can't extend the meaning a little and have some fun using it.
BTW, you *can* make a good cup of coffee in a percolator, but it is an art, like baking bread.
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enthusiast
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I miss "whensoever" and "forsooth"  "The flicks" is just UK slang right? never heard of it being used in the US. I'm all against coinage of words, we have enough as it is
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Carpal Tunnel
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I have heard flicks or flics used in the Colonies. It is often heard in conjunction with a generic modifier, e.g. horror flics, chick flicks.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Quote:
I have heard flicks or flics used in the Colonies. It is often heard in conjunction with a generic modifier, e.g. horror flics, chick flicks.
We use it here in the US and A, too.
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Carpal Tunnel
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not to mention NetFlix...
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Quote:
I have heard flicks or flics used in the Colonies. It is often heard in conjunction with a generic modifier, e.g. horror flics, chick flicks.
...and here I thought the flics were the gendarmes, who came to your rescue after you were attacked in Paris...
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Carpal Tunnel
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I thought the flics were the gendarmes, who came to your rescue after you were been attacked in Paris
This cannot be so, because le ministère délégué au Tourisme assures one that no one is ever attacked in Paris.
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Pooh-Bah
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Interesting article, especially about espresso -- and the modern knock off of the Sylex is great fun, if wasteful.
Note: the still from the graveyard of the percolators shows drip pots. The diagram of the Vesuvio omits the stem, which descends into the boiling water; in these pots, it is not the steam that passes through the grounds, but the water, which is forced by the steam.
I miss the pressure levers on commercial espresso makers, they all seem to have disappeared after the 70s.
Boiled coffee is best made by *not boiling, but adding grounds to water that has just been stopped from boiling -- or not allowed to reach that temperature.
I've heard temperatures of about 190 degrees, too.
You don't need a lab thermometer, an instant-read meat thermometer works very well. By drilling a small hole in the top of your kettle and inserting a small, inverted cone-shaped coil spring, you can make a handy mount for it.
The Dutch may have made a very strong infusion by brewing in room-temperature water in sunlight for a day or two, then decanting the clear dark liquor from the grounds which, by then, have settled. This is mixed with hot water for drinking, much like a samovar.
I don't care a hoot about this scrupulously clean business. But it's never wise to leave your coffee on the heat. And you can actually taste it much better black and at room temperature.
It is better to be addicted to coffee than to opiates.
Good coffee can be made with percolators, if you have technique and rythm, good timing, and panache.
Last edited by inselpeter; 10/31/05 02:35 AM.
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Carpal Tunnel
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When I was a wee lad, my nanny was an Englishwoman married to a Norwegian. She prepared his coffee in an enamel saucepan which was badly stained from having had so much coffee brewed in it. Her method was to put cold water into the pan up to a dark ring which had been stained into the sides years before. Then she added coffee, half a broken egg shell and a pinch of salt to the cold water. This she put on the stove and watched it very, very carefully as it came just up to a boil -- which would lift the grounds on a foaming surface -- and remove it from the heat before it boiled over. Then it was allowed to steep for a bit, such that the grounds all settled to the bottom of the pan. She carefully racked off the coffee into large cups with about equal parts of hot milk sweetened with white sugar. As a youngster, I naturally thought everybody made it that way.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Quote:
She carefully racked off the coffee
racked off?
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Quote:
And you can actually taste it much better black and at room temperature.
That's why you drink it hot.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Quote:
Quote:
And you can actually taste it much better black and at room temperature.
That's why you drink it hot.
Ha!
You're nuts. Coffee is delicious.
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Carpal Tunnel
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racked off?
A winemaking term meaning to allow solids to settle out of a liquid and then to carefully pour the liquid from the top, leaving the solids behind.
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Carpal Tunnel
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> wine-making term
ah, thanks.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Quote:
racked off?
A winemaking term meaning to allow solids to settle out of a liquid and then to carefully pour the liquid from the top, leaving the solids behind.
I think in chemistry - and in oenology - that's also called "decanting." And the vessel used to store some liquors is a decanter.
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Carpal Tunnel
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racked off
Could that also be a crosspondial whine-making term?
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addict
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addict
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What about "duds" - as in "get your duds on". I also remember our first telephone - ca. 1959 - and the phone number Valley 7-3754. Oakvill had two exchanges, Valley and Victor. I also remember when they stopped using named exchanges and our number became plain old 827-3754.
When we moved from Oakville to Elmvale in 1969, Bell had not yet reached the area, and our phone # was 190 ring 31. When you wanted to make an outgoing call, you went through the operator, who asked "number, please". If you were on the phone and someone else on your line picked it up, you were supposed to say "using" and the other person was SUPPOSED to get off the line. I recall one winter day when a school bus and two cars collided on the road outside our house. I was on the phone to call the police and ambulance, and the local gossip picked up and demanded to know all the details!
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newbie
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newbie
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hey everybody..the topic of this thread was somewhat related to words. but more than half the posts here talk about coffee n coffee making..greaatt...mayb we can have a different thread dedicated to this world famous and much needed drink... mayb we all can discuss our ways of making coffee. and this being a global forum we would soon have greatt techniques of making coffee from allover the world...and i wud really like it becos its gonna be winter time here soon...
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enthusiast
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Are you proposing a new food thread?! Well, go ahead, serve it up May. , not that I'm the say-so guy around here, or anywhere for that matter, but may I have mine sweet and light please?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Love all the coffee talk! Especially Father Steve's description of his nanny's recipe. After I visited New Orleans I was using egg shells and chicory in brewing my coffee for awhile...one of their "secret recipes" Down Yonder.
>>old expressions<<
When I was growing up business hours was still very much in vogue and adhered to almost religiously. You did NOT conduct business on Saturday or Sunday, and on weekdays, 9-5 was strictly respected. It was even considered bad business to disturb somebody over business matters outside those hours...business hours. Imagine that...the destruction of which was led by telemarketers
and direct marketing. Shops and stores were always open on Saturday, for the most part, NEVER on Sunday. But you did not approach somebody over a business matter on Saturday. It was just considered bad decorum.
Now nobody seems to have any damned respect for anything or anybody...just the almighty dollar, or Euro, or.....
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Carpal Tunnel
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Yes, and I miss bankers' hours, too. The ability to only withdraw or deposit money, M-Th, 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM, and on Friday until 5:00 PM. Ah, those were the days! I miss the smoke from coal fires, also. And, did I mention, that the Mother Tongue enjoyed a Shining Golden Age of unalloyed Brilliance. I do miss Cholera and Whooping Cough, too.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I do miss Cholera and Whooping Cough, too.
Ah yes..and the good ol' German Measles. Nobody gets the German Measles anymore, just the generic brand if they do at all.
And the Mumps.
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stranger
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My grandmother used to say "Jumpin' Jehosafats!" all the time. Not a term I've heard much as of late. I did find this though, to my surprise: http://smallball.com/go/on.ball.team?tid=441252
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