Idiom
kettle of fish
Meaning
An awkward situation.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“That is a different kettle of fish entirely.”
“I can fix a leaky sink, but repairing the entire plumbing system is a different kettle of fish.”
“Managing a small team is straightforward, but leading a global organization through a crisis is quite another kettle of fish.”
Examples
simple
“That is a different kettle of fish entirely.”
contextual
“I can fix a leaky sink, but repairing the entire plumbing system is a different kettle of fish.”
complex
“Managing a small team is straightforward, but leading a global organization through a crisis is quite another kettle of fish.”
Origin
The term derives from kettle, a variant of kiddle, referring to a weir or fence of stakes placed in a stream for the purpose of catching fish. This method of trapping fish provided the foundational noun for the idiom.
Key words
Related idioms
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