Why do we say "A fine kettle of fish"?

Background:

Something is said to be “a fine kettle of fish” when it’s a real mess, or a complicated/tangled state of affairs. “A pretty kettle of fish” is another form of this saying. This is not to be confused with the phrase “A different kettle of fish,” which means something that’s completely different from the subject being discussed. Similar versions of that idiom would be “a horse of another color” and “a whole ‘nuther ball game.”

First, there’s the term “kettle.” Most of us today think of a kettle as a round container with a spout that one uses for heating water for tea (aka, a teakettle). Originally, though, a kettle was any metal vessel used for boiling or heating liquids over a flame. It’s thought that the word had its genesis in the Latin noun catillus—a deep pan for cooking. The oldest such metal items come from Mesopotamia and date from between 3500 and 2000 BCE; they were used to boil water for purification purposes.

Kettles specifically for poaching fish began appearing in England in the 17th century. These specialty pans are long—up to 32” to accommodate large fish—and narrow (5”-6”), and usually oval. They have handles on each end, a lid, and often a rack or tray inside that also has handles so the fish can be lifted out whole. They were made from copper and sometimes lined with tin. One can still purchase fish kettles today (now usually termed “fish poachers”); the design hasn’t changed at all over time, although the material from which fish kettles are made has improved.

In 18th-century Scotland a practice became popular whereby a dinner party was held outdoors near a river. In A Tour in England and Scotland (1791), author Thomas Newte writes:

“It is customary for the gentlemen who live near the Tweed to entertain their neighbours and friends with a Fete Champetre [a picnic], which they call giving ‘a kettle of fish’. Tents or marquees are pitched near the flowery banks of the river… a fire is kindled, and live salmon thrown into boiling kettles.”

It’s thought, therefore, that the phrase “a fine kettle of fish” was at one time literal—the outing was successful and therefore it was a fine kettle of fish.

No one is quite sure when or why the saying became an idiom. Some believe it’s because the kettles were sometimes rather rowdy and disorganized, giving rise to someone using the phrase sarcastically. Others point to the fact that the pieces of the poached fish could get all muddled together, looking rather messy. The transition seems to have happened fairly early, though, as Henry Fielding uses the phrase “pretty kettle of fish” in The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews (1742). It’s certain that it was being used figuratively by the early 19th century. In Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, published in 1811, Captain Francis Grose writes, “When a person has perplexed his affairs in general, or any particular business, he is said to have made a fine kettle of fish of it.”

Although not as popular as it once was, “a fine kettle of fish” is still used today and its meaning is understood by most.

More expressions and their source

Challenge yourself with BookBrowse Wordplays