It’s always about coffee, isn’t it?
On weekends, I make the stuff with a cone filter thingy. At the sink I pour freshly filtered water into my water kettle. I place the kettle on the stove, on the biggest burner. I turn that burner up to 11!
Soon the sound of white noise spreads throughout the house. It gets thicker and thicker. It becomes difficult to move, like you’re walking through marshmallow fluff. The white noise from the kettle gets so loud that your ears begin ringing. That darned tintinabulationitis again!
Then just as quickly, it starts getting quiet as the water presently boils.
What’s that called? Is there a word for that? There oughta be a word for that enquieting.
That shift in sound just before the water boils is so important. It’s a signal. It’s almost time to pour the water into the coffee filter cone. Or the milk is almost done double-boiling before you cool it off some and stir in the yogurt starter. Or now you can get ready to add the noodles.
And while we’re at it, is there a word for that white-noise sound that water makes before it boils?
Is English missing out on something that other languages take for granted? Do other languages have words for these things? Boy do I wish that I’d studied comparative vocabulary in grad school.
If nobody else has a better word for it, may I suggest antici-whisper for the sound, and suspensurration for the lack of it. Or maybe simmer-roar and hushbubble. Or maybe simmersong and boildoze. I was up all night thinking these up. I just couldn’t stop!
OK, so I’m no Shakestaffe, and cannot invent useful new words. So I’ll just re-use old ones.
When it’s making the sound, the water is fretting. As it starts getting quiet, it’s beginning to doze.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
