Meaning of ‘a Watched Pot Never Boils’
The idiom a watched pot never boils means that when we wait for something to happen, it can feel like it’s taking a really long time to occur.
Example: Anthony paced back and forth by the front door, counting the seconds as he waited for his package. Frustrated, he said, “Why is it taking so long?” His mother replied, “A watched pot never boils. Go do something else and it will be here before you know it.”
Related Idioms:
Interested in exploring more idioms that start with the letter A? Check out our Common Idioms Starting With A page for a list of them.
The Origin of ‘a Watched Pot Never Boils’
As the saying goes, a watched pot never boils. But is that really the case? It is easy enough to test. All you would have to do is fill a pot with water and place it on the stove. Next, turn up the heat and watch to see if the pot boils or not. Will it? I’ll save you the time and tell you that of course it will come to a boil! This expression, after all, is not meant to be taken literally. Obviously, water heating up on the stove will eventually reach its boiling point, whether you are there to see it happen or not changes nothing. So then, what point is this proverb trying to make? Let’s see:
The idea with this expression is that when we wait for something specific to happen (in this case, it’s waiting for water to boil), focusing on it can make it feel like it’s taking a really long time to happen. As if each second has become a minute, and each minute, an hour! Okay, maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea. It feels like time has slowed down. This feeling can also occur when we are bored, which, if we are waiting for water to boil, then that could be the case!
Anyways, according to The Phrase Finder, this saying was used by Benjamin Franklin in a report he made. This report was published in 1785, a part from it reads:
“I was very Hungry; it was so late; ‘a watched pot is slow to boil,’ as Poor Richard says.”
In the above quote, the proverb has the words “is slow to boil” instead of “never boils.” The latter is more common these days, and the earliest I could find this latter form is from a newspaper called Cobbett’s Political Register, Volume 14, 1808:
“If I had a labonrer, who was to become a notorious drunkard, I would dismiss him, becasue it would be my duty strongly to shew my disapprobation of so beastly a vice; but, after a good deal of observation, I am thoroughly convinced, that, as a ‘watched pot never boils,’ so a watched penny never breeds.”
So in summary, this common saying is, at the least, a little over 230 years old.
Example Sentences of ‘a Watched Pot Never Boils’
Example Sentences:
1. My brother ordered pizza a short while ago and he keeps checking the window to see if it has arrived. I tried telling him that a watched pot never boils, but he was too hungry to listen.
2. Sarah was anxiously waiting for the results of her job interview, checking her phone every few minutes. Her friend, seeing her impatience, said, “A watched pot never boils, it’ll come when it comes.”