Parboil doesn't need to be a word

I thought this was a bad opinion until I checked the etymology

From Middle English parboyle , from Old French parbouillir (“to boil thoroughly”), from Medieval Latin perbulliō , from Latin per (“thoroughly”) + bulliō (“I boil”). Sense “to boil partially” (c.1440), rather than original “to boil thoroughly” is by corruption: associating the prefix with part (from Latin pars (“part”)) rather than per .[1]

So it didn’t even mean part boil originally! Get rid of it :put_litter_in_its_place:

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You can be gormless but can you be without gorm?

I’ve got gorm but I’m not a gormless

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But you have because that’s the common usage in the context of boiling vegetables - their being in boiling water wherein which to cook. Certainly much more common than it denoting sublimation :slight_smile:

Same goes for steaming

Would be hilarious (and energy consuming) if ‘I’m gonna steam some broccoli’ literally meant turning the broccoli into its gaseous state

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That’s me after a Sunday roast :wind_face: :joy:

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Think it’s bedtime for me

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is primarily why I added that bit!

I’m worried you’re serving “boiled potatoes” that have only touched boiling water for a second…

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I genuinely just thought people were just saying “part boil” until way into adulthood

Not me pal

The essence of this thread is that we have shortened ‘cooking potatoes through prolonged immersion in boiling water’ to ‘boiling potatoes’

And that ‘part boiling potatoes’ is a shortened version of ‘partly cooking potatoes through less prolonged immersion in boiling water’

And, as @froglet has so usefully discovered… ‘parboiling’ has become a confused nonsense because we’re always shortening language to a mush and the perpetual sliding of the signifier under the signified is real yo

My potatoes are always perfect though :ok_hand:t3: (not a euphemism)

All carbs before parbs

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Oh I get the confusion, when I said

I meant boil sense 2 https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/boil#Verb then I added in sense 1 as a joke (:crazy_face:). I.e. Potatoes are only boiled when they’re cooked, before that point they are boiling (or parboiled) but not boiled. I.e. Parboiling is possible. Then @froglet came along and ruined that notion.

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Boiled and cooked is not the same this is what I’m saying arrrgh language is useless I have the perfect meme on my phone to sum up the problem but I can’t find it now I’m going to carry on looking tho

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Salt to taste makes sense just fine. The purpose of the salt is to activate your tastebuds and everybody’s are different so you need to use different amounts for different people. You’ve got the right level when the taste of the food seems to fill the whole of your mouth with flavour without tasting salty

I FOUND IT

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Hate it when people say ‘It’s freezing’ and I have to inform them that actually it is above the boiling temperature for many elements.

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Nailed it

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And yet… many things are solid at room temperature :thinking:

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Reckon Theo will love this thread.

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Got a bit bored after @froglet’s amazing etymology and just skipped to the end.

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Tell you what @bugduv, when you have to open a game of Scrabble and you’ve got A, B, I, L, O, P, R you’re gonna be glad it’s a word!

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