The phrase "
The pot calling the kettle black" is an
idiomAn idiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has figurative meaning — its implication comprehended only through common use; whereas the literal definition of the idiom, itself, does not communicate its meaning as a figurative usage.In linguistics, idioms are usually presumed to be figures of...
used to accuse a person or thing of being marked with or guilty of the very thing they are pointing out; in this interpretation, it is shown that there is something shared. This may, or may not be
hypocriticalHypocrisy is the act of pretending to have beliefs, opinions, virtues, feelings, qualities, or standards that one does not actually have. Hypocrisy is thus a kind of lie. Hypocrisy may come from a desire to hide from others actual motives or feelings....
or
contradictoryIn classical logic, a contradiction consists of a logical incompatibility between two or more propositions. It occurs when the propositions, taken together, yield two conclusions which form the logical inversions of each other...
. There is also an alternative interpretation.
The actual idiom is "The Pot Bottom Calling The Kettle Bottom Black".
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The phrase "
The pot calling the kettle black" is an
idiomAn idiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has figurative meaning — its implication comprehended only through common use; whereas the literal definition of the idiom, itself, does not communicate its meaning as a figurative usage.In linguistics, idioms are usually presumed to be figures of...
used to accuse a person or thing of being marked with or guilty of the very thing they are pointing out; in this interpretation, it is shown that there is something shared. This may, or may not be
hypocriticalHypocrisy is the act of pretending to have beliefs, opinions, virtues, feelings, qualities, or standards that one does not actually have. Hypocrisy is thus a kind of lie. Hypocrisy may come from a desire to hide from others actual motives or feelings....
or
contradictoryIn classical logic, a contradiction consists of a logical incompatibility between two or more propositions. It occurs when the propositions, taken together, yield two conclusions which form the logical inversions of each other...
. There is also an alternative interpretation.
Alternative interpretation
The actual idiom is "The Pot Bottom Calling The Kettle Bottom Black". A subtler alternative interpretation, included by some, but not all, sources is that the pot is sooty (being placed on a fire), while the kettle is clean and shiny (being placed on coals only), and hence when the pot accuses the kettle of being black, it is the pot’s own sooty reflection that it sees: the pot accuses the kettle of a fault that only the pot has, rather than one that they
share.
Poem found in "Maxwell's Elementary Grammar" school book copyright 1904.
"Oho!' said the pot to the kettle;
"You are dirty and ugly and black!
Sure no one would think you were metal,
Except when you're given a crack."
"Not so! not so! kettle said to the pot;
"'Tis your own dirty image you see;
For I am so clean -without blemish or blot-
That your blackness is mirrored in me"
Similar phrases
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Similar idioms in other languages
- Arabic
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: "The camel cannot see the crookedness of its own neck"
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- Bulgarian
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: Присмял се хърбел на щърбел. ("Nick laughed at dent")
- Chinese
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for being black")
- Croatian
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: Rugao se lonac loncu, a oba crna. ("Pot mocked another pot, and they were both black")
- Czech
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. Czech is similar to and mutually intelligible with Slovak and, to a lesser extent, to Polish and Sorbian. - Official status :Czech is widely...
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- Dutch
Dutch is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language.
"1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language...
: De pot verwijt de ketel dat hij zwart ziet ("The pot reproaches the kettle for looking black")
- Estonian
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: Pada sõimab katelt - ühed mustad mõlemad ("The pot reproaches the kettle - yet both of them are black")
- Finnish
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. It is one of the official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a Finnish dialect, are spoken...
: Pata kattilaa soimaa ("The pot reproaches the kettle")
- French
French is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
: L'hôpital qui se fout de la charité ("The hospital mocks the charity"), La pelle se moque du fourgon ("The shovel mocks the poker"),
- German
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: Ein Esel nennt den andern Langohr. ("One donkey chides the other for being a long-ear")
- Greek
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: Είπε ο γάιδαρος τον πετεινό κεφάλα ("The donkey called the rooster a fathead")
- Hebrew
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:"השום צוחק על הבצל שהוא מסריח" הפוסל במומו פוסל (the garlic laughs at the onion for its smell) ("The disqualifier disqualifies based on his own fault")http://hebrewlog.blogspot.com/2004/06/blog-post_108771123693970305.html
- Hungarian
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: Bagoly mondja verébnek, hogy nagyfejű ("The owl tells the sparrow that it has a big head")
- Italian
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: Il bue che dice cornuto all'asino or Il bue che dà del cornuto all'asino ("The oxAn ox is a bovine animal trained as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly adult, castrated male cattle, but cows or bulls may also be used in some areas...
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cornute")
- Japanese
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: "目糞鼻糞を笑う" ("For the sleep in one's eyes to laugh at the snot in one's nose")http://www.sanabo.com/kotowaza/arc/2001/11/post_333.html
- Korean
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: "똥 묻은 개가 겨 묻은 개 나무란다" ("The dung-stained dog reproaches the chaff-stained dog.")http://endic.naver.com/endic.nhn?docid=2247950 or "겨 묻은 개가 똥 묻은 개를 흉본다" ("The chaff-stained dog disparages the dung-stained dog.")http://endic.naver.com/endic.nhn?docid=2042150
- Lithuanian
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: "Juokiasi puodas, kad katilas juodas" ("The pot is calling the cauldron black")
- Macedonian
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: Магарето на эајакот му рекло ушло ("The donkey is calling the rabbit long-eared")
- Norwegian
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: Å kaste sten i glasshus ("To throw stones in a glass house")
- Persian
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: دیگ به دیگ میگه روت سیاه ("The pot tells the other pot your face is black")http://www.tebyan.net/index.aspx?pid=19667&BookID=17465&PageIndex=8&Language=1
- Polish
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: Przyganiał kocioł garnkowi, a sam smoli ("The cauldronA cauldron or caldron is a large metal pot for cooking and/or boiling over an open fire, with a large mouth and frequently with an arc-shaped hanger.-Symbolism and mythology:...
was reprimanding the pot and it soots itself"), often contracted to Przyganiał kocioł garnkowi ("The cauldron was reprimanding the pot")
- Portuguese
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: O sujo falando do mal-lavado ("The dirty slandering the unclean [as being unclean]") / Diz o roto ao nu ("One with torn clothes mocks the naked" / Olha quem fala ("Look who is talking")
- Punjabi
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: ਆਪ ਕਿਸੇ ਜਹੀ ਨਾ, ਨਕ ਚੜਾਨੋ ਰਹੀ ਨਾ ("You are yourself good for nothing, and still trying to ridicule others")
- Romanian
Romanian or Daco-Romanian is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova. It has official status in Romania, Republic of Moldova, and the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in Serbia...
: Râde ciob de oală spartă ("The shard laughs at the broken pot")
- Russian
Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe...
: В чужом глазу соломину видеть, в своём—бревна не замечать ("To see a little straw in other's eye, and not to notice a log in his own")
- Spanish
Spanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
: Apártate que me tiznas, dijo la sartén al cazo ("Move away, you are blackening me, said the pan to the pot") El burro hablando de orejas ("The donkey talking about ears"), México: El comal le dijo a la olla, qué tiznada estás ("The grill said to the pot, look how blackened you are"), Venezuela: Cachicamo diciéndole a morrocoy conchúo ("An armadilloArmadillos are small placental mammals, known for having a leathery armor shell. The Dasypodidae are the only surviving family in the order Cingulata, part of the superorder Xenarthra along with the anteaters and sloths...
telling a turtleTurtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
it is too hard shelled"), Colombia: El que tiene rabo de paja, que no se arrime a la candela ("if you have a tail made of straw, you'd better stay away from the fire"). (wâa dtàe kăo ì-năo bpen eng) ("As for Enau, he is the same") Look up อิเหนา
- Turkish
Turkish is spoken as a first language by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other...
: Tencere dibin kara, seninki benden kara ("Pot, your bottom's black; no, yours is blacker than mine")
- Uzbek
Uzbek is a Turkic language and the official language of Uzbekistan. It has about 23.5 million native speakers, and it is spoken by the Uzbeks in Uzbekistan and elsewhere in Central Asia...
: Ishtoni yoʻq ishtoni yirtiqdan kulgan ekan ("A man without pants laughed at man with holey pants")
- Welsh
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic spoken natively in Wales, in England by some along the Welsh border and in the Welsh immigrant colony in the Chubut Valley in Argentine Patagonia....
: Sbia adra ("Look at home")
Uses in literature
- Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, often considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature and is regularly regarded among the best novels ever written. His work is considered among the most important in all...
in Don Quixote, fully titled The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha , is a novel written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes...
— "said the frying-pan to the kettle, get away, blackbreech"
- Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones....
in Covent Garden Journal — "Dares thus the kettle to rebuke our sin!/Dares thus the kettle say the pot is black!"
- William Penn
William Penn was an English founder and "Absolute Proprietor" of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future U.S. State of Pennsylvania. He was known as an early champion of democracy and religious freedom and famous for his good relations and his treaties with...
in Some fruits of Solitude - "For a Covetous Man to inveigh against Prodigality... is for the Pot to call the Kettle black."
- Margaret Mitchell
Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell was an American author, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937 for her novel Gone with the Wind. The novel is one of the most popular books of all time, selling more than 30 million copies...
in Gone with the WindGone with the Wind is a romantic drama and the only novel written by Margaret Mitchell. It is set in Jonesboro and Atlanta, Georgia during the American Civil War and Reconstruction...
— "The pot's calling the kettle black."
See also
- Tu quoque
Tu quoque is a Latin term that describes a kind of logical fallacy. A tu quoque argument attempts to discredit the opponent's position by asserting his failure to act consistently in accordance with that position; it attempts to show that a criticism or objection applies equally to the person...
in law / juristic context:
- Unclean hands
Unclean hands, sometimes clean hands doctrine or dirty hands doctrine is an equitable defense in which the defendant argues that the plaintiff is not entitled to obtain an equitable remedy on account of the fact that the plaintiff is acting unethically or has acted in bad faith with respect to the...
- Equity (law)
- Equitable remedy
In law, equitable remedies are the remedies developed and granted by the old courts of equity, such as the Court of Chancery in England, and still available today in common law jurisdictions...