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PERCOLATE

Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2012 11:01 pm
by Dr. Goodword

• percolate •

Pronunciation: pêr-kê-layt • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb

Meaning: 1. To seep downward through a granular substance or material, as rainwater percolates through the soil. 2. To prepare (coffee) in a percolator.

Notes: The advent of the coffee percolator was almost the downfall of today's word. Because the bubbling coffee in the glass knob on the lid of the percolator attracted so much attention, it was easy to think that the verb percolate means to bubble upwards. No, no, no! The name percolator came from the fact that the boiling water filtered down through the coffee grounds once it reached the top. Now that we make coffee by different means, let's give this verb back its meaning.

In Play: I have always thought that the "trickle-down" theory, the assumption that some of the money accumulated by the wealthy will trickle down to those who actually need it, should be called the Economic Percolation Theory. That would help us keep the meaning straight. The important thing to remember is that the movement is generally a downward filtering action: "Rumors percolating from the president's office have it that we are in for a shake-up at the top."

Word History: Today's word is an adopted daughter from the Latin verb percolare, derived from per- "through" + colare "to strain, filter". Colare comes from colum "a strainer, sieve", the same root that gave us colander via Old Provençal colador "strainer". We don't know how colum came to be in the Latin language, but we do know quite a bit about the prefix. It shows up as a preposition in Sanskrit as pari "around, about, through", in Greek as peri "around, about, beyond", and in the Russian prefix pere- "through," Lithuanian per "through," and German as the prefix ver-. English inherited the O-form, which percolated down to Modern English as for and fore-.

Re: PERCOLATE

Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2012 11:22 pm
by Slava
We all, of course, recognize that good old Russian prefix pere- from the Gorbachev era. Then again, in this instance it means re-, not through.

Re: PERCOLATE

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 12:56 pm
by LukeJavan8
Perestroika?

Remember the old "Percolator Song"?

Re: PERCOLATE

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 3:23 pm
by Philip Hudson
Perestroika - Gorbachev's restructuring.

Do you mean "Its Time for da Perculator". Note the spelling error. I never heard it until I listened to ten seconds of it just now on Youtube. It is beyond bad. I could have gone to my grave satisfied never having heard that ten seconds.

Re: PERCOLATE

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 7:56 pm
by LukeJavan8
I'll have to go check it out there.
It was originally an advertisement for some brand of
coffee way back when, but then it hit the big charts.
Don't know if it ever became number one. But I do
remember it on the radio.

Re: PERCOLATE

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2012 11:12 am
by Philip Hudson
Percolating coffee has gone by the way and that is a good thing. When coffee grounds receive multiple percolations, chemicals in the coffee that are not so good for you are leached out of the grounds. The caffeine gets percolated out on the first round and that is what we are wanting when we drink caffeine. As everyone who has burned the midnight oil in preparation for a major exam knows, it is the caffeine that temporarily raises your IQ and keeps you awake.

Re: PERCOLATE

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2012 2:59 pm
by Perry Lassiter
Sorry, but caffeine is the least of my interest in coffee. It's FLAVOR! When my doc said after my heart attack eight years go that I could drink it in moderation, I switched to limiting caffeine to the first morning pot, and the next two or three to excellent decaf, which is hard to find, but possible. Columbian or Sam's organic decaf are indeed very good.

Re: PERCOLATE

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 6:39 pm
by misterdoe
I have to second Philip's assessment of that Percolator song. I'd never heard of it before now either, and wouldn't have missed it.
Glad that Geico ringtone never made it to the radio... or did it?

Re: PERCOLATE

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 11:52 am
by LukeJavan8
I have a friend whose ringtone is the theme of the
Micky Mouse Club show from the 50's.


Perhaps I have led you astray. I've tried You Tube
and am having trouble finding it. Could some one
show me the site you all are referring to?

Re: PERCOLATE

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 10:24 pm
by Philip Hudson
Its time for the Perculator:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UlhLd76IzQ

Re: PERCOLATE

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 11:15 pm
by LukeJavan8
That is not the one that I was referring to.
That is hideous, and I don't blame you for not appreciating it.

It has to be on here somewhere. If you can ignore the couple
drinking their coffee, this is the closest I can find so far.
Note the coffee in the glass bubble being perked:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSqaP7E1 ... re=related

FOUND IT:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSqaP7E1 ... re=related


(I guess you did find the same one as my first one above.
I just did not read far enough down. But my second one
is the way I remember it, and that is what was made into
a radio favorite.)

Re: PERCOLATE

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 11:23 pm
by Perry Lassiter
If you have that much time on your hands to dig that up, you need to teach another class to keep you busy.

Re: PERCOLATE

Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 10:39 am
by LukeJavan8
touche(with the accent over the e)

Re: PERCOLATE

Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 11:14 am
by Perry Lassiter
That was aimed at Philip, but if the shoe fits...

Re: PERCOLATE

Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 11:17 am
by LukeJavan8
It does fit.
I spent entirely too much time looking at all those You Tube
videos to find the right one. I'm glad I did, but still........