Watched kettle never boils

Origin of: Watched kettle never boils

Watched kettle never boils

In its original format of ‘a watched pot never boils’, which is still the preferred American version, it is attributed to Benjamin Franklin who recorded it during the early 1700s. The British ‘kettle’ version probably followed later during the same century. It derives from the allusion, or perhaps the illusion in this instance, that a pot or kettle always seems to take longer to boil when one watches it.