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Original poster

To have only just understood this pun...

156 replies

Cardboardeaux · 04/09/2024 20:44

In a book I'm currently reading, a character talks about putting some coffee on the hob "to perk". I hadn't heard that use of the word "perk" before but it obviously derives from "percolate".

But then I realised... Central Perk (the coffee shop in Friends)!

Obviously I got the "Central Park" bit of the pun but it has taken me 25 years to get the "Perk" bit.

AIBU to think I can't be the only one not to have twigged?

OP posts:
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TheMarzipanDildo · 05/09/2024 21:15

OneTC · 05/09/2024 20:57

Yeah that waffley versatile was meant to be awfully versatile.

I'm not very good with puns generally Blush

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That’s another one I didn’t get then. It’s not great tbf!

OneTC · 05/09/2024 20:57

GreenPoppy · 05/09/2024 20:48

What is there to get about Birdseye potato waffles?

That they are 'wafflely versatile'? Or something else?

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Yeah that waffley versatile was meant to be awfully versatile.

I'm not very good with puns generally Blush

DisabledDemon · 05/09/2024 20:48

Well, to be fair, it's a multiple pun.

You've got 'Central Perk', which is a play on the name 'Central Park'.

Then you've got 'Perk', which is a play on 'percolate'.

And you could go even further and have a pun on 'Perk' as a benefit.

GreenPoppy · 05/09/2024 20:48

OneTC · 05/09/2024 18:56

The one that took me about a million years to get was Birdseye potato waffles.

Central perk isn't obvious to a standard English speaker and people pulling a superiority flex over friends is fucking hilarious. Of all the things you're gonna pretend you knew 😅

What is there to get about Birdseye potato waffles?

That they are 'wafflely versatile'? Or something else?

Sharptonguedwoman · 05/09/2024 20:27

OneTC · 05/09/2024 18:56

The one that took me about a million years to get was Birdseye potato waffles.

Central perk isn't obvious to a standard English speaker and people pulling a superiority flex over friends is fucking hilarious. Of all the things you're gonna pretend you knew 😅

sorry but thought it was obvious.
That said, think it’s an age thing. Asked a 39 yr old, she’s never seen a percolator.

oakleaffy · 05/09/2024 19:30

Nonethemiser · 05/09/2024 18:59

Oooh that's done my head in - I hate double negatives - now I can't work out which way to vote but I hadn't worked it out (even though I'm normally quite good with puns)

I love a good pun, but ''Central Perk'' is a bit lame.. A bit like those old hairdresser 'joke' names like 'Curl up and dye'

Isn't a double negative a positive?

oakleaffy · 05/09/2024 19:27

BarbaraHoward · 04/09/2024 20:48

Ooh. I knew it was a pun, but I thought it was on perk, like your coffee perks you up. Percolate never occurred to me!

Same! Who says ''Percolate?''I too thought it was because it perked one up.

Nonethemiser · 05/09/2024 18:59

Oooh that's done my head in - I hate double negatives - now I can't work out which way to vote but I hadn't worked it out (even though I'm normally quite good with puns)

OneTC · 05/09/2024 18:56

The one that took me about a million years to get was Birdseye potato waffles.

Central perk isn't obvious to a standard English speaker and people pulling a superiority flex over friends is fucking hilarious. Of all the things you're gonna pretend you knew 😅

LifeofBrienne · 05/09/2024 18:51

Procrastinates · 05/09/2024 18:06

How was your comment not rude? You begged to differ that it wasn't a reflection on the posters intelligence.

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Happily, I am secure in having adequate mental faculties despite any gaps in my knowledge of not-widely-used slang related to preparing hot drinks. Mumsnet really is weird sometimes!

TheMarzipanDildo · 05/09/2024 18:49

ReadingWorm · 05/09/2024 18:04

Who knew a MN thread in 2024 about 90’s sitcom would bring that comment out of you? 😂

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That’s just how I roll.

Beansandneedles · 05/09/2024 18:08

I just thought that coffee perks you up due to caffeine. But that's now even more clever!

Procrastinates · 05/09/2024 18:06

ReadingWorm · 05/09/2024 18:02

Rude comment? The only rude comment I can see is you using the word “twat”.

Just as well you don’t mind being shown up as lacking intelligence.

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How was your comment not rude? You begged to differ that it wasn't a reflection on the posters intelligence.

ReadingWorm · 05/09/2024 18:04

TheMarzipanDildo · 05/09/2024 16:44

Oh don’t be a knob

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Who knew a MN thread in 2024 about 90’s sitcom would bring that comment out of you? 😂

ReadingWorm · 05/09/2024 18:02

Procrastinates · 05/09/2024 16:49

Personally I'd far rather not get the pun and be considered to lack intelligence than be a twat who feels the need to post such an unnecessarily rude comment but maybe that's just me... Hmm

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Rude comment? The only rude comment I can see is you using the word “twat”.

Just as well you don’t mind being shown up as lacking intelligence.

Sharptonguedwoman · 05/09/2024 16:59

Howdoesitworkagain · 04/09/2024 20:54

Aren’t you clever 🤣

Im guessing you haven’t read the other replies if your surprise at others not knowing it is still
hypothetical… and the voting balance suggests most didn’t know this variation of the pun.

Perk for percolate isn’t really common parlance in the UK.

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Beg to differ. Honestly, I got the joke on day 1. No, not showing off but I think it might be an age thing. Those of us in our 60s are very familiar with coffee percolators, first episode of Friends 1994 so 30 yrs ago. Coffee percolators now a thing of the past. Anyone under 30, possibly never seen or used one.

Procrastinates · 05/09/2024 16:49

ReadingWorm · 05/09/2024 16:31

I beg to differ.

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Personally I'd far rather not get the pun and be considered to lack intelligence than be a twat who feels the need to post such an unnecessarily rude comment but maybe that's just me... Hmm

TheMarzipanDildo · 05/09/2024 16:44

ReadingWorm · 05/09/2024 16:31

I beg to differ.

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Oh don’t be a knob

ReadingWorm · 05/09/2024 16:31

LifeofBrienne · 05/09/2024 08:28

The word ‘perk’ is common in UK English as in ‘a perk of the job’ or ‘it perks you up’. I’m mid-40s and have never heard ‘perk’ in relation to using a coffee percolator. I don’t think that’s a reflection on my intelligence.

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I beg to differ.

Sunplanner · 05/09/2024 11:57

Howdoesitworkagain · 04/09/2024 20:54

Aren’t you clever 🤣

Im guessing you haven’t read the other replies if your surprise at others not knowing it is still
hypothetical… and the voting balance suggests most didn’t know this variation of the pun.

Perk for percolate isn’t really common parlance in the UK.

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No need to be nasty, the OP asked a question and I answered it.

Nothing wrong with different views, that's the point of a forum.

EternallyDelighted · 05/09/2024 11:32

I am really surprised so many didn't get this, I wasn't a fan and hardly watched it but picked this up straight away but agree maybe it's because percolating isn't how we tend to make coffee now so the word isn't used much.

IDontHateRainbows · 05/09/2024 11:26

DogInATent · 05/09/2024 08:27

Wait until you start reading hairdressers and chip shop names on the High Street...

Indeed, I know of a 'curl up and dye' hairdressers and the politically incorrect 'a salt and battered' fish shop although this was many years ago !

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 05/09/2024 09:04

Howdoesitworkagain · 05/09/2024 08:49

Yes they were quite common even in the UK up until the 80s (my parents only used it when guests came round tbh) but calling it a perk has never been common in the UK, which might be another reason why people didn’t make the connection.

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People used to say the coffee was ‘perking’! Some of them anyway. Most MNers will never have heard that, though.

Howdoesitworkagain · 05/09/2024 08:49

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 05/09/2024 07:52

I’m not surprised that anyone after my generation wouldn’t get it - who on earth uses a percolator now? But they were fairly common a few decades ago. Even in the U.K.!

Edited

Yes they were quite common even in the UK up until the 80s (my parents only used it when guests came round tbh) but calling it a perk has never been common in the UK, which might be another reason why people didn’t make the connection.

Funkyslippers · 05/09/2024 08:45

MidwichCuckoo · 05/09/2024 00:02

Yes we all know what perk means but in the case of Cental Perk it's a play on the word " perculate"

I didn't know either! But I'm British so that's my excuse 😊

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