Did you
know?

hotch-potch (UK), hodge-podge (US)

- a thick soup or stew of vegetables, potatoes, and usually meat

- a confused mixture of different things

Cambridge & Merriam-Webster Dictionaries

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ORIGIN

The original English term was “hotchpot,” dating from 1381 and deriving from the Anglo-Norman and Middle French "hochepot", a dish containing a mixture of many ingredients, especially a kind of stew made with minced beef or goose and various vegetables.

"Hotchpote" took on a metaphorical meaning, as in a confused mixture or a jumble by 1405, followed five years later by a rhyming version, "hotchpotch," referring both to the stew and the figurative jumble.

(Thanks to Ben Yagoda)

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SYNONYMS
a confused mixture of different things

alphabet soup, grab bag, hodge-podge, HOTCH-POTCH, mishmash, motley collection, patchwork, pig’s (or dog’s) breakfast, potpourri, scissors-and-paste job, smorgasbord  

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PRACTICE OWAD in an English conversation, discuss something like:

“How about having HOTCHPOTCH this coming weekend?”

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THANKS to Florian for suggesting today’s word.

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HERZLICHEN DANK to all readers helping me keep OWAD alive with single or monthly donations at:

https://donorbox.org/please-become-a-friend-of-owad-3

Paul Smith