pot [OE] This originally referred to any cylindrical container, as in chimney pot. A number of words and expressions are based on the idea pot used to cook food. A potboiler [M18th] is so called because writers dash off such books simply to earn a living, to ‘keep the pot boiling’.Potshot [L16th] comes from the idea of shooting an animal ‘for the pot’, purely for food rather than for display. You can say that something has gone to pot when it has deteriorated through neglect. This expression dates back to the 1530s and used to mean ‘to be ruined or destroyed’. It is based on the image of chopping ingredients up into small pieces and putting them in a pot ready for cooking. You can talk about the pot calling the kettleblack [L17th] when someone makes criticisms about someone else which could equally well apply to themselves. A version of this saying, ‘The pot calls the pan burnt-arse’, is included in a 1639 collection of proverbs by John Clarke. A watched pot never boils dates from the 18th century. Pot meaning ‘cannabis’ is a different word, recorded from the 1930s in the USA. It may be from Mexican Spanish potiguaya ‘marijuana leaves’.