A watched pot never boils

Posted by Steven Syme on March 31, 2003

the explanation of a "watched pot never boils" is contrary to my understanding. It is explained as "it takes longer for something to occur if you watch it" whereas I understood that it originated from older times when a cooks apprentice was given the task of watching a pot of soup or broth suspended by a rope over a fire, whilst it was cooking. His task was to raise or lower the soup so that it would not boil, hence the term " a watched pot never boils. any comments?