Many Nigerians like the drama that marked the November 2 presidential election in the United States of America. It is not that they are addicted to confusion, but they believe that some of the things happening in the God’s own country, especially regarding the attitude of President Donald Trump, have shown that their democracy too is far from being the angelic or perfect one that is normally projected. As a result, a senior lawyer, commenting on the issue on Sunday, said Trump had shown that America is a kettle calling the pot black, based on how the world power often intervenes in the politics of other nations.
I very much understand the analogy but I’m scared by the way the learned friend put the idiom. Kettle calling the pot black? No. He mangled it the way some other people do. The fact is that when we want to describe a situation in which someone comments or accuses someone else of a fault which he or she too shares, we say it is a case of the pot calling the kettle black – not the other way round.
Melting pot, melting point
The error reminds me of some others that are associated with the use of ‘pot’ in English. One of such manifests in describing a place that accommodates people, cultures etc. from different backgrounds or with different orientations. It is a melting what? Melting point, melting port or melting pot? It is a melting pot – and nothing else.
Those who say it is a melting point are tempted to do so because ‘melting point’ is also a legitimate expression. But it refers to the temperature at which a substance melts. So, as a Chemistry term, melting pot means a different thing (from melting pot): the temperature at which the solid and liquid forms of a pure substance can exist in equilibrium, quoting Encyclopaedia Britannica. Consider these examples:
London is a cultural melting pot.
Lagos is a major melting pot in Nigeria.
He is comparing the melting points of the plastic and iron.
Pot of call?
Another expression you should watch is the one that means (as an idiom) the various places that someone, especially a VIP, visits in the course of a trip. Is it points of call, ports of call or pots of call?
The President’s first … was the emir’s palace, where he was treated to beautiful cultural performances.
(a) point of call
(b) port of call
(c) pot of call
(d) point of calls
What is your answer? The correct statement is ‘port of call’. In its relatively plain context, it, according to Oxford Dictionary, means a place where a ship stops on a voyage. But, idiomatically speaking, it means a place where one stops for a short time, especially on a journey (Cambridge Dictionary). So, you should always be careful whenever you have to use it.
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