[Magdalen] Indian (and other) English

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

I remember the pressure cooker when I was a kid.  As I recall, we used it
for cooking, not painting.

However, that reminds me of an afternoon when I was in my workshop after
hours. There was a microwave against the back wall which I used to heat up
the water for my obligatory cups of coffee.

I would heat up the water in the cop and then toss in the powder and
creamora and splenda or whatever, and viola, as we musicians like to say.

I would start a cup and then work on paperwork and then make the coffee.
Sometimes I got absorbed in the paperwork and would have to start all over
again.

One day, I realized I'd forgotten all about it and started the microwave
again, and walked back to my desk.

What followed was one of the loudest reports I have ever heard.

I knew the microwave could not have exploded, and besides, there it stood,
intact.  I came over ot it and found the inside of it sopping with water,
and perhaps a half-inch of water left in the cup.

I had heated the water, thus removing all gases from it, and then allowed
it to cool somewhat.

Reheating it allowed the water, now free of any small items to foster the
onset of boiling, to heat up well past the boiling point until finally it
all changed to steam in a realllly magnificent BANG!!

I guess it's small wonder that boiling water powers large cities. There's a
LOT of power there.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Mon, Mar 2, 2015 at 4:30 PM, Lynn Ronkainen <houstonklr at gmail.com> wrote:

> I remember the *one* time my mom used her new pressure cooker that Dad
> gave her for Christmas (late 50s)... clearly something she had wanted....
> all three of us stood in the kitchen while it whistled, steamed and roiled
> on the electric burner, then the top blew off.... never used it again
> (probably got rid of it). I have no idea what was in the pot.
>
> Lynn
>
> My email has changed to: houstonKLR at gmail.com
>
> website: www.ichthysdesigns.com
>
> When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have not
> a single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave me."
> attributed to Erma Bombeck
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Jon Egger" <revegger at gmail.com>
> Sent: Monday, March 02, 2015 11:40 AM
> To: <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
> Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Indian (and other) English
>
>
>  Jay, my mother, too, had a fear of pressure cookers.  I've been watching
>> some vids on You Tube about pressure cooking and can see where her fear
>> may
>> have come from.  Despite the 'modern changes' the cooks always remind the
>> viewer of the dangers that come with pressure cooking.
>>
>> +++
>> Grace & peace,
>> jon
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Mar 1, 2015 at 9:43 PM, Jay Weigel <jay.weigel at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>  After working so much with many Indian doctors and nurses , I developed a
>>> positive fondness for the peculiarities of Indian English, which is as
>>> different from American or British English as they are from one another.
>>> I
>>> often peruse Indian cooking and other sites and I just came across an
>>> expression I hadn't seen before. I am familiar with one expression which
>>> is
>>> used frequently to describe the process of heating mustard seeds in oil
>>> until they make a spluttering noise, which is always written in recipes,
>>> "Splutter the mustard." That always makes me smile, but this one made me
>>> laugh out loud. Indian cooks have a love affair with their pressure
>>> cookers. I don't....I'm scared to death of them....but I was reading a
>>> recipe today for dal which included the phrase "Pressure to four
>>> whistles."
>>> It makes sense, of course, but verbing sure does weird language.....and
>>> Indian English verbs a LOT!
>>>
>>>