How to Read “A pot lid and a snapping turtle”
Nabebuta to suppon
Meaning of “A pot lid and a snapping turtle”
“A pot lid and a snapping turtle” is a proverb that describes two things so completely different that comparing them is meaningless. It points out the foolishness of trying to treat things with totally different values, qualities, or levels as if they were equal.
You use this proverb when someone tries to compare things that clearly don’t match. For example, when comparing a beginner’s skills to a professional’s, or forcing a ranking between things with completely different natures.
The proverb emphasizes this meaninglessness through concrete images: an everyday pot lid versus a snapping turtle, a luxury ingredient. By showing the gap is too large to compare, it makes the point clear.
Even today, this easy-to-understand metaphor works well when showing differences in class or dimension.
Origin and Etymology
No clear written records explain the origin of this proverb. However, we can make interesting observations from the words themselves.
“Nabebuta” literally means a pot lid. It’s an ordinary kitchen tool everyone knows. Meanwhile, “suppon” (snapping turtle) has been treasured as a luxury ingredient since ancient times.
By the Edo period, people already knew it as food for health and stamina. Common people could rarely afford it.
Placing these two side by side creates an expression contrasting things with extremely different values. The pot lid is cheap and everyday. The snapping turtle is expensive and special.
The proverb uses concrete objects to show how meaningless it is to compare things with completely different shapes and purposes.
What’s interesting is why the snapping turtle was chosen. It resembles a turtle but has a soft shell and a unique appearance.
Beyond being expensive, its distinctive presence may have made the contrast with the ordinary pot lid even sharper. This is a concrete and understandable metaphor born from Japanese food culture and daily life.
Interesting Facts
Snapping turtles were called “marugame” in old times. Special pots existed just for cooking them. These pots had their own lids.
But this proverb deliberately contrasts just an ordinary “pot lid,” not “a snapping turtle pot lid.” This choice makes the difference in value stand out even more.
Snapping turtles were also known as lucky symbols of longevity. Edo period documents record that one snapping turtle cost several days’ worth of food for common people. It truly was something special.
Usage Examples
- Comparing my shogi skills to a professional player’s is like a pot lid and a snapping turtle
- His work and mine have a gap like a pot lid and a snapping turtle, so comparing them is embarrassing
Universal Wisdom
“A pot lid and a snapping turtle” contains deep insight into the human tendency to compare. We constantly compare everything in daily life and try to rank things. But does comparison always make sense?
This proverb teaches us that some things are so different that comparing them is meaningless. Yet people sometimes force meaningless comparisons anyway.
This might come from feelings of inferiority. Or from wanting to feel superior. Or perhaps from the desire to simplify and understand things easily.
Our ancestors understood this human nature. That’s why they used extreme examples everyone knows: an everyday item and a luxury ingredient. They expressed the meaninglessness of comparison in a clear way.
This proverb has been passed down through generations because people can’t escape the act of comparing, no matter the era.
True wisdom means knowing what should be compared and what shouldn’t. It means recognizing the foolishness of measuring everything on the same scale.
It means understanding each thing’s value in its own context. This proverb continues to ask us about the importance of such a mature perspective.
When AI Hears This
Looking at the pot lid and snapping turtle combination through complexity science reveals a surprising principle. It’s the idea that “optimal solutions are incalculable.”
For example, matching 10 lids to 10 pots creates 3,628,800 possible combinations mathematically. To find the perfect match, you’d need to try every pattern.
But in a real kitchen, people try randomly and settle for “this is good enough.” This compromise is what complexity science calls a “local optimal solution.”
What’s interesting is that not aiming for perfection sometimes works better overall. Consider forming research teams.
If you try to completely analyze abilities and personalities for perfect matching, the computational cost becomes enormous. Instead, combining people somewhat randomly and adjusting as you go often produces unexpected chemistry.
Google’s Project Aristotle research found that the best teams aren’t necessarily combinations of the best people. Rather, “psychological safety,” the quality of interaction, matters more.
In other words, “the relationship that functions together” has more value than “perfect shape matching” between pot and lid. This proverb contains wisdom that values pragmatism over perfectionism, and emergence over design.
Lessons for Today
This proverb teaches modern people the liberating wisdom that “some things don’t need comparing.” Do you ever compare yourself to others on social media and feel down? Or feel anxious comparing yourself to successful people in different fields?
What matters is pausing before comparing. Are the things you’re about to compare really on the same level? Your life and someone else’s life, your today and someone’s ten years from now—these might be as different as a pot lid and a snapping turtle.
The way to use this wisdom is to have your own standards for evaluation. Don’t measure yourself by others’ standards. Look at things through the values you cherish.
Then you can walk your own path without being disturbed by meaningless comparisons.
Comparison can sometimes fuel growth, but you don’t need to compare everything. Recognize differences and respect each thing’s value.
This flexible perspective will lighten your heart as you live in the modern world.
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