Wednesday 16 April 2008

Name this?





In various parts of India, this is called a pakkad, a sanasi / saansi, patkaru, and heaven knows what else. Question is, is there an English word for them things? No, not tongs. Pan-grip is one option, but the ones we've seen are hugely over-engineered in comparison.

(Oh. And the caption to the first picture, on the site from where we lifted the image, says that these are, from left to right (we assume), the Plain, Goti and Disco models.)

12 comments:

neha vish said...

It's called an idukki in Tamil. And you're right - I've not really come across a "real" English term for it. So far all my firang friends drool at the sight of it.

1conoclast said...

I thought even pakkad was somewhere between rustic & engineered...

Do you know that Hindi doesn't have a term for martyr? Not one I've heard anyway.

Anonymous said...

In Indian cooking, there are many non-tech-intensive things that make cooking easy. Other things that come to mind include a lemon crusher, and a seive for filtering tea!

Anonymous said...

I have heard my north india friends calling this pakkad

13 said...

@Neha, idukki? that's the name of a district in Kerala :)
I don't know what it's called but it's used widely in my kitchen.

Killing.Time said...

What's wrong with tongs? Aren't they very much like blacksmith tongs?

EYE said...

Another word I have heard in the north is 'chimti'

Anonymous said...

In Marathi we call it as Pakkad

Anonymous said...

i heard my friends call it "ekla" or "ikla" in kannada

Anonymous said...

pakkad is the Hindi for 'Pliers', an instrument to grip something firmly.

Anonymous said...

Crucible tongs or blacksmith's tongs, could be two options. In addition, there is a similar instrument, using the same fundas, used at sea - but the name is not for gentle audiences and has to do with dogs stuck whilst fornicating.

Get well soon. When I was locked up in hospital, I put a poster outside which said "Don't ask me questions if the answer is one of these:-

Yes
No
Maybe
The Doctor's Don't Know
42"

All the best. Sorry about the hospital food. You can always get your revenge later.

Anonymous said...

Its galled Pakkad in Hindi. Neha pls marry me. :-)
by Anush.