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 Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 7:44 am
potboiler • PAHT-boy-ler • noun
: a usually inferior work (as of art or literature) produced chiefly for profit
Example Sentence:
After gazing at the lake's serene beauty, Susie sat down in a nearby Adirondack chair and opened up a potboiler for some mindless entertainment.
Did you know?
"Potboiler" draws its meaning from what was once the heartbeat of the home, the hearth and its boiling pot. In the days before modern conveniences, it was essential to maintain a fire within a home's hearth for warmth and domestic activities. In order "to make the pot boil" or "to keep the pot boiling" for cooking, one needed fuel, and to acquire fuel one typically needed an income. When artistic and literary works, especially inferior ones, became the means of keeping the pot boiling in some homes during the 19th century, it didn't take long for the literati to criticize such works as insignificant potboilers.
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Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 10:51 am
we call those "popcorn books"; it is interesting that the metaphor still returns to food!
and although i do not brag about it, i will admit to consuming my share of Mary Higgins Clark and Nora Roberts.
as well as R.L. Stine and Dean Koontz.
it's not like you can call it a balanced meal, or good nutrition, but it makes a fun snack.
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Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 2:54 pm
Can anyone recommend me some good potboilers? smile
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