What is the meaning of hot potato?

A hot potato means a thorny problem. It is a metaphor that the things to be solved are very difficult, but after solving them, they will benefit. More often, it means that you must rely on real talents to be competent for the work that always takes risks, or to achieve a goal, and you will never give up until you reach the goal.

The meat of sweet potato is soft after being cooked. The reason why sweet potato is hot refers to a thorny problem. Hot sweet potato is not only hot, but also burns people because the meat is sticky like mud. Therefore, there is this saying.

Extended information:

This word is easily confused with hot words. The original meaning of being hot refers to feeling hot to the touch, which is a metaphor for being powerful and arrogant, making people afraid to approach. This is a derogatory term, but now everyone uses this word to describe the popularity.

Idioms and allusions

Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, was a very successful emperor when he was young. However, Li Linfu was appointed as Prime Minister by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, and politics began to corrupt. In 745 AD, he named Yang Yuhuan as the imperial concubine, indulged in debauchery and debauchery, and his politics became more and more corrupt. Yang Guifei has a cousin named Yang Zhao. Because of Yang Guifei's favor, Yang Zhao also rose to the top, made an empire, and Tang Xuanzong also gave him the name "Guo Zhong".

Soon after Li Linfu died, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty appointed Yang Guozhong as the prime minister, leaving all the government affairs to Yang Guozhong. For a while, Yang's brothers and sisters were so powerful that they ganged up for selfish ends and made the whole court malodorous, so that rebellions broke out in An Lushan and Shi Siming soon after. But at that time, Yang's brothers and sisters lived a luxurious life.