Why "a different kettle of fish"? | Notes and Queries

Why "a different kettle of fish"?

• THIS IS a variant of the far more common "pretty kettle of fish", meaning a disagreeable situation, which goes back at least to the early 18th century. In former centuries a "kettle" was a metal pot used for boiling liquids or cooking, and a fish-kettle was a common household utensil. The phrase "a kettle of fish" was also used in northern England and Scotland to describe an outdoor salmon picnic, as well as the pot in which it was prepared, and the ironic figurative usage perhaps reflects the dismay of finding that something expected to be pleasurable is in fact the opposite. Only when the lid was removed would the contents be revealed.

  (Professor) Bernard Capp, Dept of History, University of Warwick, Coventry.