kettle of fish

English

WOTD – 28 February 2012

Alternative forms

• kiddle of fish, kittle of fish, keddle of fish

Etymology

From kettle, a variant of kiddle, a weir or fence of stakes in a stream used to catch fish.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

kettle of fish (plural kettles of fish)

1. (idiomatic) An awkward situation.

   Synonyms: can of worms, predicament; see also Thesaurus:difficult situation

   • 2004, Ellen Raskin, chapter 13, in The Westing Game:

     "That's a fine kettle of fish," he exclaimed, then turned to his dinner companion. "Fine kettle of fish. I'm so hungry even that sounds good, and from the looks of this menu that's probably what I'll get."

2. (idiomatic) A situation recognized as different from or as an alternative to some other situation.

   Synonyms: ball game, horse of a different color, pair of shoes

   That is another kettle of fish entirely.

   • 2023 November 29, Richard Foster, “Tyne & Wear Metro goes with the flow”, in RAIL, number 997, page 34:

     Network Rail would have faced a bigger issue. Maintaining the track for one freight train a day is one thing - doing so for 200 passenger trains a day was a very different kettle of fish.

Translations

predicament — see predicament

different or alternative situation

• Finnish: toinen asia, eri asia, liemi (fi) (literally “broth”)
• French: autre paire de manches
• Polish: inna para kaloszy (pl) f