Stick the kettle on!

[Quinny66]

Hello, friends!
I've just heard "Should I stick the kettle on?" on Soccer AM TV programme. It was a parody on stereotypical Mancunians if it will help. I've always thought that one should say "put the kettle on".
Can you explain this, please?

 

[cyberpedant]

It's just another way of putting it, perhaps a bit more colloquial than "put."

 

[Chasint]

It's very informal but quite common. In my experience there is often a sense of carelessness associated with the term.

Example
Where shall I put this parcel?
Oh, it doesn't really matter. Stick it over there.


stick
v. [~ + object]

1. to pierce or puncture with something pointed;
   stab:He stuck the watermelon with a knife.
2. [~ + object] to thrust or push (something pointed) in, into, through, etc.:stuck pins into the pincushion.
3. to (cause to) be fastened in position by pushing a point or end into something: [~ + object]to stick a peg in a pegboard.[no object]The arrow stuck in the tree.
4. [~ + object] to fasten in position by or as if by something thrust through:to stick a painting on the wall.
5. [~ + object] to put on or hold with something pointed; impale:to stick a marshmallow on a fork.
6. to thrust or poke into a place indicated: [~ + object]The dog liked to stick his head out the car window.[no object]The dog's head stuck out the car window.
7. [~ + object] to place or set in a specified position; put:Stick the chair in the corner.

http://www.wordreference.com/definition/stick

 

[George French]

Hello, friends!
I've just heard "Should I stick the kettle on?" on Soccer AM TV programme. It was a parody on stereotypical Mancunians if it will help. I've always thought that one should say "put the kettle on".
Can you explain this, please?

I'm going to boil the kettle. I going to turn the kettle on.

GF..

Why are you surprised by different ways of saying heat the water up for a brew??????

 

[JamesM]

It's very informal but quite common. In my experience there is often a sense of carelessness associated with the term.

Example
Where shall I put this parcel?
Oh, it doesn't really matter. Stick it over there.

I'd say it's the same in American English.

 

[Quinny66]

Thank you very much everybody. You're all great fun

Gerorge French, I was surprised because I had never heard it before this show.

Biffo, thanks for examples.

 

[velisarius]

You were right to query this use of "stick", as it sounds a little strange even to a native speaker (like me) who has never heard it before. It sounds to me as though it's a regional use; "put the kettle on" for me is a set phrase and it wouldn't occur to me to change it. "Stick" for "put" is not otherwise unusual though.

"Polly stick the kettle on..." Hmmm??????

 

[perpend]

"to stick something on" is unusual for me in American English.

"to stick something somewhere" is idiomatic.

In other words "to stick the kettle on" kind of sounds odd to me.

 

[George French]

"to stick something on" is unusual for me in American English.

"to stick something somewhere" is idiomatic.

In other words "to stick the kettle on" kind of sounds odd to me.

Not to me though. "Stick the kettle on, and get on with it:- I'm parched".

GF..

While you are at it "Stick the tele/The Box on."

UK English, at its best!

 

[velisarius]

UK English, at its best!

A matter of opinion, I'm sure. Just for the record, what part of the UK would that be George French? Or are you speaking for all of us?

 

[George French]

velisarius,

"At its best". Somehow a tiny peace of attempted sarcasm did not transmit itself on this media.....

GF..

I would never dream of speaking for all of us. My better half would object:- and rightly so.....

By the way:- UK English is also spoken outside of the UK: you know.

Assume nothing: it's safer that way...

 

[velisarius]

It was a parody on stereotypical Mancunians if it will help.

Sorry, I should have been more direct. I've never spent more than about a month in Manchester and environs, so maybe someone can tell me whether this use of "stick the kettle on" is particularly characteristic of Mancunian speech or maybe of northern UK speech in general. It may have spread all over the UK while I've been away all these years drinking tiny cups of mud; I just don't know.

 

[George French]

Sorry, I should have been more direct. I've never spent more than about a month in Manchester and environs, so maybe someone can tell me whether this use of "stick the kettle on" is particularly characteristic of Mancunian speech or maybe of northern UK speech in general. It may have spread all over the UK while I've been away all these years drinking tiny cups of mud; I just don't know.

I'm not 100% sure but I believe that it's 'common' in Northern England. I'm more used to "put kettle on" for a brew.

GF..

A quote:-

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kettle
(UK) A vessel for boiling water for tea; a teakettle.​

Stick the kettle on and we'll have a nice cup of tea.

 

[ewie]

I've lived in northwest England since the Dawn of Creation (well, it feels like that long) and stick the kettle/telly/fire/light on doesn't sound at all unusual to me

 

[Smauler]

I'm (mostly) from southeast England, and "stick the kettle on" sounds fine to me. I'd generally use "put the kettle on", though.

 

[natkretep]

Speaking as someone who lived in Scotland, I find 'stick the kettle on' not unusual coming from someone speaking informally or attempting to be jocular.

 

[Quinny66]

Thank you all!

 

[panjandrum]

"Stick" the kettle on - works OK in this outpost of BE too, though like the rest, we normally "put" the kettle on.