Is it or isn’t it?

IT seems like a “pithole”, because some are the size of pits, or even lovo pits. It’s definitely not a “pethole”, because who wants to keep one as a pet?

It must be a “pathole”, because it seems to be filled and patted down in gentle — like manner — as if to allow it to grow again in the future — instead of tar — sealing it down for good.

Could it be a “puthole”? It most certainly could, because different tar and bitumen mix are “put” into it, to try and fix it, but without success. In fact, success has been “put on hole-d” for the time being.

Well then it must be a “pothole”.

Some people say that it is so named, because it is like the hole left behind by the potter after making a pottery item.

Closer to home, the hole at times, seems like the size of a large cooking pot.

Interestingly, the dictionary says that it is a hole in the surface of the road — no surprises there. Here is the interesting bit.

It’s also another name for an underground cave. Well, well, well (is literally a “hole in the ground’’), that must be it Sherlock, going by the thousands of examples on our roads. Listen! You can just faintly hear the potholes say, “I want to be a cave when I grow up”.

The funny thing is, that we seem to be doing our best to enable that aspiration to be met.

Next thing, cave exploration aka “pot-holing”, may just become a popular pastime here in Fiji, in the near future.

EDWARD BLAKELOCK Admiral Circle, Pacific Harbour