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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2009Prison Yolk
From Jeffrey Archer's new book, PRISONER OF BIRTH (a wonderful thriller, by the way): The setting: the protagonist, Danny, was eating 2 boiled eggs for breakfast and was interrupted repeatedly by the phone. Then follows: "Danny looked down at a prison yolk. 'Molly, could you boil me another couple of eggs?'. " What is "prison yolk" ?? Thanks, Jay >From Jeffrey Archer's new book, PRISONER OF BIRTH (a wonderful thriller, by >the way): [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > >What is "prison yolk" ?? The "yolk" is the yellow part of an egg. I assume that a "prison yolk" is a yolk in a cooked egg that has gone cold and hard, the way it might be in an egg served in a prison. In a prison there might be no attempt to supply the prisoners with freshly cooked food.  SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.english.usage) >>From Jeffrey Archer's new book, PRISONER OF BIRTH (a wonderful thriller, >>by [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > hard, the way it might be in an egg served in a prison. In a prison there > might be no attempt to supply the prisoners with freshly cooked food. Makes sense. Many thanks! Jay >> >From Jeffrey Archer's new book, PRISONER OF BIRTH (a wonderful thriller, >>> by [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > > Makes sense. Many thanks! It makes no sense at all, therefore is probably the correct explanation. :) It makes no sense because cooked egg yolk does not change its consistency depending on temperature; if runny, it stays runny; if hard, it stays hard. (Unless they have special eggs in England that /do/ change when cold.) Rather, if the egg was not as expected, I'd guess it was mis-cooked to begin with. This has a cognate in the Eastern European term "bishop's egg" (or "bishop's yolk") which means an egg boiled so that the yolk is no longer runny, (you can't dip into it) but not yet hard (does not crumble when bitten into or spooned). The term applies to the preparedness of the egg regardless of its temperature. The reason for the term is that presumably the Orthodox bishops cannot eat their eggs hard-boiled (that's how Jews eat them, therefore a big no-no), but cannot risk yolk dripping all over their beards either; the eggs have to be in a state just between the two. SignatureYou'd be crazy to e-mail me with the crazy. But leave the div alone. >>> >From Jeffrey Archer's new book, PRISONER OF BIRTH (a wonderful thriller, >>>> by [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] >dripping all over their beards either; the eggs have to be in a state >just between the two. "Hard boiled" is probably the right answer. As has been mentioned, there's little interest in providing a hotel service in prison, so the eggs come having been well boiled. "Unsentimental and practical; tough" is one of the meanings for "hard boiled", and it could also describe lots of the prison inmates. SignatureRobin (BrE) Herts, England |
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