boiling kettles

[neil]

on 27/7/05 5:20 am, Arnold M. Zwicky at zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU wrote:

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> Poster:       "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
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> on a plane on my mini-vacation, i came across the following in Ian
> Rankin's _A Question of Blood_ (Little, Brown paper, 2003), p. 250:
>
> -----
> She made herself coffee, taking a mouthful before realizing she
> hadn't boiled the kettle.
> -----
>
> this was (i think) a new usage for me, and probably british.  OED
> Online has:
>
> -----
> 4. a. trans. To cause (a liquid) to bubble with heat (see sense 1);
> to bring to the boiling point: esp. said of food, wholly or partly
> liquid, in the process of cooking; also of the containing vessel.
>
> c1420 Liber Cocorum 11 Boyle hit and sture lest hit brenne. a1500
> E.E. Misc. (1855) 34 Sume byllyd mettayl. 1692 Lond. Gaz. No. 2800/4
> The Copper boyls betwixt 15 and 16 Hogsheads at a time. 1831 CARLYLE
> Sart. Res. II. ix, As kind housewives..were boiling their husbands'
> kettles.
> -----
>
> the last of these is the usage i came across.  but ca. 175 years
> ago.  i'd guess from rankin's usage that it's still current, at least
> in scotland (where rankin sets his books).  but what do i know?
>
> arnold

Certainly current throughout the UK, and recalled since a juvenile in the
1950s.
FWIW there's a slang expression "Go boil your head" used when in
disagreement with someone.

--Neil Crawford