Leek & leak

Leek (pronounced leek)

(1) A cultivated plant, Allium ampeloprasum, of the amaryllis family, related to the onion, with a long cylindrical bundle of strap-like leaves and used in cooking, especially the paler portion (the bulb) near the base.

(2) Any of various onion-related plants, especially the wild leek, Allium ampeloprasum, from which the culinary leek was cultivated.

(3) In symbolism (in real or representational form), a national emblem of Wales

Pre 1000: From the Middle English lek, leek, leck & leike, from the Old English læc (Mercian), lēac (West Saxon), & lēc (a garden herb, leek, onion, garlic), from the Proto-West Germanic lauk, from the Proto-Germanic lauką & laukaz (leek, onion), from the primitive Indo-European lewg- (to bend).  The Proto-Germanic lauka- was the source also of the Old High German louh, the German Low German Look (leek), the Old Norse laukr (leek, garlic), the Danish løg, the Swedish lök (onion), the Old Saxon lok (leek), the Swedish lök (onion), the Icelandic laukur (onion, leek, garlic), the Middle Dutch looc, the Dutch look (leek, garlic), the Old High German louh, the German Lauch (leek, allium), and the Old Norse laukr.  The Finnish laukka, the Russian luk- and Old Church Slavonic luku are also presumed to be Germanic and the word provided the final element in garlic.  Leak is a noun; the noun plural is leeks.

Spike Milligan (1918–2002) (left), Peter Sellers (1925–1980) (centre) and Harry Secombe (1921-2001) with leeks, publicity photo for the BBC's Goon Show (1951-1960).

Leak (pronounced leek)

(1) An unintended hole, crack, or the like, through which liquid, gas, light, etc., enters or escapes.

(2) An act or instance of leaking.

(3) Any means of unintended entrance or escape.

(4) In electricity, the loss of current from a conductor, usually resulting from poor insulation.

(5) In politics, diplomacy or industry etc, divulgation, or disclosure of previously secret (especially official), information, to the news media or others (also in the sense of the “managed leak”, the controlled disclosure of nominally confidential information to selected targets).  A person who leaks information can be said to be “the leek”.

(6) To let a liquid, gas, light etc, enter or escape, as through an unintended hole or crack; to pass in or out in this manner, as liquid, gas, or light.

(7) In computing (usually as “memory leak”), the figurative loss of some static resource because of some flaw in design.

(8) In vulgar slang as “to take a leak”, to urinate.

(9) In psephology, the “leakage” of votes from one candidate to another as a quirk of the because of the mechanism of a voting system (used especially in preferential systems).

(10) In military slang (especially US), to bleed as a consequence of an injury sustained in combat.

1375-1425: From the Middle English leken (to let water in or out), from the Old English lecan (to leak), from the Middle Dutch leken (to leak, drip) or the Old Norse leka (to leak, drip), all of which were from the Proto-Germanic lekaną (to leak, to drain away), from the primitive Indo-European leg- & leǵ- (to leak).  It was cognate with Dutch lekken (to leak), the (obsolete) Dutch lek, the German lech (leaky), lechen & lecken (to leak), the Swedish läcka (to leak) and the Icelandic leka (to leak) and related to the Old English leċċan (to water, wet), the Albanian lag & lak (I dampen, make wet”) and ultimately modern words like leach and lake.  The verb leak (to let water in or out) emerged in the late fourteenth century, the noun leakage a hundred years later, the adjective leaky appearing midway between the two along with the related leakiness, the slang sense of which as “unable to keep a secret” documented by 1704 although in oral use it may earlier have been common, the figurative meaning "coming to be known in spite of efforts at concealment" in use by at least 1832, the transitive sense first noted in 1859.  The phrase “spring a leak” dates from the early fifteenth century and drew from the image of water bubbling from a spring.  Leak is a noun, verb & adjective, leakage, leakiness & leaker are nouns, leaky, leakproof & leakless are adjectives and leakily an adverb; the noun plural is leaks.

Mark Felt (1913-2008), the associate director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) who was "Deep Throat", the source of the leaks from government about the Watergate affair cover-up which provided the Washington Post's journalists with much of their information.  The identity of Deep Throat was for decades the subject of speculation and Felt was "outed" from time to time but so were other senior figures.  It was only three years before his death that Felt confirmed he was the source of the leaks, something confirmed by the Washington Post's reporters.  

The idiomatic "take a leak" has potential in advertising.

In politics, diplomacy and industry, leaks have existed as long as there has been information to leak although the motivations have varied.  Leaks have enabled many battlefield victories and, especially if strategically timed, sabotaged many political campaigns, one advantage of this approach being that what is leaked doesn’t of necessity have to be true.  Although this tradition of the leak had a long (if not noble) lineage, such things seem to have been commonly described as leaks only since 1950 although the notion in this context had existed for centuries.  In politics leaks aimed at destabilizing or compromising one’s official opponents are familiar but the most amusing are those designed to embarrass one’s colleagues, internecine squabbles the most fun to watch.  The Nixon White House (1969-1974) took up the challenge of stopping leaks linguistically as well as operationally, the unit set up to “plug the leaks” informally known as “the plumbers”.  In their endeavors the plumbers enjoyed some early success but there was also mission creep, the unit responsible for the “third-rate burglary” at the Watergate complex which led eventually to the Richard Nixon's (1913-1994; US president 1969-1974) resignation.

1975 Triumph Trident T160.

It’s possible to tell this Trident has just been parked because there are no tell-tale patches of oil on the ground below.  Before the Japanese manufacturers proved it was possible to mass-produce motor-cycles without endemic oil-leaks, the rationalization of owners of British bikes had always been the weeping fluid was helpful because the seals existed “not to keep oil in but to keep dirt out”.  Whether true or not, the urban legend was that the fewer the cylinders and the greater the displacement, the more the vibration and the volume of oil leaked.  Thus the biggest singles (such as BSA's 441 & the various 500s) were most susceptible and the triples (750 cm³) the least while among the twins, the 500 & 650 cm³ machines wept less than those which displaced 750 & 850 cm³.  However, that's damning with faint praise and all concede that while things improved over the years, it was always the case that some leaked more than others

In computing, the dreaded “memory leak” or “resource leak” is technically, usually a failure to de-allocate previously reserved portions of memory or a resource so leak in this context is an expression of effect rather than cause, the resource still existing but now inaccessible.  The idiomatic “take a leak” entered popular use after appearing in fiction during the 1930s but late in the sixteenth century Shakespeare’s audiences would have understood there were alternatives when an iourden (chamber pot) was denied: "Why, you will allow vs ne're a Iourden, and then we leake in your Chimney: and your Chamber-lye breeds Fleas like a Loach." (Henry IV, Part 1 II.i.22).

Lindsay Lohan’s chicken pot pie with leeks and veal meatballs appears in Jamie’s Friday Night Feast Cookbook (Penguin Books, 2018).  It serves 8.

Ingredients

2 onions
2 carrots
2 small potatoes
2 medium leeks
Olive oil
300g free-range chicken thighs, skin off, bone out
300g skinless boneless free-range chicken breast
4 rashers of higher-welfare smoked streaky bacon
1 knob of unsalted butter
50g plain flour
700ml organic chicken stock
2 tablespoons English mustard
1 heaped tablespoon creme fraiche
A ½ bunch (15g) of fresh woody herbs
White pepper
3 sprigs of fresh sage
300g minced higher-welfare veal (20% fat)
1 large free-range egg
300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting (for pastry)
100g shredded suet (for pastry)
100g unsalted butter (cold) (for pastry)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180C (350F).  Peel and roughly chop the onions and carrots, then peel the potatoes and chop into 2cm (¾ inch) chunks.  Trim, halve and wash the leeks, then finely slice.

Place a large pan on a medium heat with one tablespoon of oil.  Chop chicken into 3cm (1¼ inch) chunks, roughly chop bacon and add both to the pan.  Cook for a few minutes, or until lightly golden. A dd the onions, carrots, potatoes and leeks, then cook for a further 15 minutes or until softened.  Add the butter, then stir in the flour to coat.

Gradually pour in the stock, then add the mustard and creme fraiche.  Tie the woody herb sprigs together with string to make a bouquet garni and add to the pan. Cook for 10 more minutes, stirring regularly, then season with white pepper.

Meanwhile, for the pastry, put the flour and a good pinch of sea salt into a bowl with the suet; cube and add the butter. Using the thumb and forefingers, rub the fat into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Slowly stir in 100ml of ice-cold water, then use the hands to bring it together into a ball without over-working.  Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes, during which, make the meatballs.

Pick and finely chop the sage, season with salt and pepper, then with the hands scrunch and mix with the veal.  Roll into 3cm (1¼ inch) balls, gently place in a large pan on a medium heat with half a tablespoon of oil and cook for 10 minutes or until golden all over, jiggling occasionally for even cooking.

Transfer the pie filling to a large (250 x 300mm (10-12 inch)) oval dish, discarding the bouquet garni.  Leave to cool, then dot the meatballs on top.

Roll out pastry on a clean, flour-dusted surface until it's slightly bigger than pie dish. Eggwash edges of dish, then place the pastry on top of the pie, trimming off any overhang, pinching the edges to seal and make a small incision in the centre. Use any spare pastry to decorate the pie if preferred.  Eggwash the top, bake for 50 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the pie is piping hot.  Leave to stand for 10 minutes before serving.