up to Idioms

Different kettle of fish

Contribute an edit

Submissions are moderated and will not appear immediately.

Text

Allowed HTML: <em>, <strong>, <i>, <a href>, <p>, <ul>, <ol>, <li>, <sup>, <sub>. Links must be internal relative URLs.
Anything else, eg suggestion of category change, scientific name etc.
Altered image of a bucket of fish
A different kettle of fish means a completely different situation or subject from the one being discussed before. People use this idiom when something changes the topic or introduces a new and separate issue.

The expression comes from older British cooking terms where a kettle meant a pot used for boiling fish. Talking about a different kettle of fish meant dealing with an entirely different dish.

Fixing a small leak is one thing, but rebuilding the whole roof is a different kettle of fish.