THE MANY USES OF 'POT'

During lunch the other day, a few of us at the cafe table were discussing
the merits of different kinds of cooking pots. One person preferred
aluminum cookware, another cast iron, and so on around the table. A
newcomer arrived in the middle of this conversation and when he sat down he
mistakenly thought we were discussing the merits of pot, as in marijuana.
This, of course, provided a good laugh.

Going about my chores the rest of the day, I considered the word "pot" and
pondered its multiple uses and meaning. Not only is a pot an important
kitchen implement and a slang term for marijuana, the very word itself has
become a kind of emblem and lends itself to a multitude of interpretations.

We have all kinds of pots. I own a number of stewpots and bean pots and
other kinds of cooking pots. I also have a bunch of potholders, as well as
a couple of teapots. At the same time, I know a few individuals who could
be described as crackpots and one or two that might be identified as
fusspots. I once heard a mother refer to her child as a stinkpot.

The word "pot," depending on how it is used outside of the immediate arena
of cooking, sometimes takes on an air of condescension. In the hands of an
expert, it can be employed as a term of near contempt. A potshot, for
example, was originally used in England to describe an uncommonly easy shot
fired at an animal, the meat of which was intended for the stewpot. Today,
a potshot is considered an unsportsmanlike shot, one of convenience and not
of skill.

In the writing business, the term "potboiler" refers to a book that is
written purely for the money and often manifests little skill and polish.
"Potluck" suppers are popular at church functions and elsewhere, but
potluck originally meant that a visitor was served whatever was left in the
cookpot. In historic England, a "potwalloper" was a term used for commoner
who, according to author John Thorne, "gained the right to vote only by
proving he had a fireplace in which to do his cooking."

The term "potbelly" is a less-than-endearing reference to one with a
bulging and bulbous stomach. A "potlicker" is used to refer to someone so
crude and unmannered as to lap up the remains in the bottom of a cooking
pot, usually the leftovers generally saved for the dog. The phrase "to go
to pot" means someone is well on the way to ruin. To be "potted" is to be
hopelessly inebriated.

Some etymologists tell us the word "pot" comes from the Latin verb potare,
which means "to drink." The Latin "potus" is a noun for "a drink." Over the
years, they claim, the use of the word came to be associated with cooking
and eating as well as drinking. Others claim the common use of the word
"pot" as it relates to a cooking vessel came from the Welsh word, also
"pot," which means the same thing.

Regardless of its origins, the word "pot" is firmly ensconced in our
language in a variety of ways. A truly flexible word it is, one with
multiple uses and meanings, depending on how it is inflicted into
conversation or comment.

This brings us back to the use of the word "pot" as a synonym for
marijuana. How, I wonder, did that specific use of the term arise? Is it in
anyway related to any of the aforementioned uses?

Curious, the word pot.