Pan: The Critic Panned My Work

NOW, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.  Today's word, pan, takes us back to the days of the gold rush in California.

panning.  First a gold miner put dirt in a metal pan and added water.  Then he shook the pan so that the water would wash the dirt.  Slowly, he poured the water out of the pan.  If he was a lucky miner, pieces of gold would remain.

panned out well --had some gold.

pan out.   For a few, it panned out well.   But in time, huge machines were built that could wash many tons of dirt at a time.  Panning died out.

pan the work of a writer, artist or singer.