I’ve been trying to understand the irrational fear many people have about discussing distillation. If you even mention the “D” word some people get weak in the knees and their eyes start rolling around in their heads.
So, I went to my confidant and adviser, my wife, and was discussing peoples’ reactions to the D-word on this forum with her. My 11 year old son was listening and looking thoughtful, “Dad, it’s just like Lord Voldemort – ‘He Who Shall Not Be Named!’ They’re afraid of the name.”
Hmm… I think he’s got something there. There is a great deal of misinformation and superstition about distilling out there. Many people think that if you even whisper the D-word, the boogeyman is gonna jump through the computer monitor and hack away at you with an axe. Only the actual act of distilling alcohol (without a license) is illegal.
On this forum we discuss every other form of alcoholic beverage production - inside-out, upside-down, forward, backwards, and sideways - fearlessly. Why does the room clear when someone mentions the D-word? I believe it’s superstition -plain and simple.
Perhaps if it were called something else it might not be so scary? How about:
Purification of a Select Compound by Phase-Change Separation?
That covers both liquid to gas and liquid to solid phase change purification.
We could call it PSC-PCS for short.
There’s nothing like a good PC acronym to take the scary out of a thing.