If the first example was "monkey wrench" instead of "boiling water", we'd never have seen the article.

Ha — you're probably right that it would have been less controversial. But I kept it precisely because it's arguable. Added a parenthetical acknowledging the HN debate and framing it as on-the-fence by design

Sure, but monkey wrench is in the dictionary. Heck, it's even in my printed copy of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.