pot, you

   Robert L.Chapman’s Dictionary of American Slang defines ‘pot’ in one of its meanings as an obnoxious person, especially an unattractive woman. It is clearly meant in that sense in Moviola, by Garson Kanin, where it is supposedly Tallulah Bankhead who calls Paulette Goddard ‘you pot’. ‘Pot’ on its own seldom occurs in British usage (applied to a person), but ‘fuss-pot’, ‘swank-pot’, ‘bigpot’ remain in use. Of these, ‘fuss-pot’ was earlier ‘fuss-box’, so it would seem that ‘pot’ is thought of in the general sense of container. A ‘big pot’ was possibly one who had or spent a pot of money, a lot of it.

   In Vanity Fair, by William Thackeray, there is an indication that ‘Pots’ was used to summon a potman or potboy, whose job was to serve liquor and take it to customers who were outside the premises.