The pot calling the kettle black - Revision history

SamHB: OK, OK, I'll link it.

2016-09-11T01:17:48Z

OK, OK, I'll link it.

DavidB4-bot: /* top */clean up & uniformity

2016-07-12T07:09:47Z

top: clean up & uniformity

SamHB at 04:32, February 5, 2015

2015-02-05T04:32:06Z

SamHB: Another one inspired by Cons. Thanks for being a good sport. Sparring with you is always fun.

2015-02-02T16:13:40Z

Another one inspired by Cons. Thanks for being a good sport. Sparring with you is always fun.

New page

'''The pot calling the kettle black''' is an idiom describing the act of a person criticizing another person for a fault that the speaker is himself guilty of. The saying is generally used in the form of private grumbling among people who have been criticized over something. "Can you believe what he said? That's a real case of the pot calling the kettle black."

In colonial days, cooking was done with pots suspended over the fire in the fireplace, and those pots became black from soot and oxidation. No piece of cookware would be justified in criticizing another piece of cookware over this.

Examples of this behavior abound in everyday life. One of the best-known public examples of this might be the [[Katyn massacre]] during World War II. The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, each blamed the other for it, despite despite their own monstrous human rights records.

In fact, this kind of behavior is so commonplace that it was criticized (not in those words, of course) by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount:

{{Cquote|And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?|||Matt. 7:3, KJV}}

Because this saying carries the implicit notion that "black" is equated with "bad", some people who have a good sense of humor over issues of political correctness have jokingly suggested that the racial overtones could be overcome by using the phrase "the maggot calling the pus white".

[[Category: Idioms]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:17, September 11, 2016
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	'''The pot calling the kettle black''' is an idiom describing the act of a person criticizing another person for a fault that the speaker is himself guilty of. The saying is generally used in the form of private grumbling among people who have been criticized over something. "Can you believe what he said? That's a real case of the pot calling the kettle black."	+	'''The pot calling the [[kettle]] black''' is an idiom describing the act of a person criticizing another person for a fault that the speaker is himself guilty of. The saying is generally used in the form of private grumbling among people who have been criticized over something. "Can you believe what he said? That's a real case of the pot calling the kettle black."

	In colonial days, cooking was done with pots suspended over the fire in the fireplace, and those pots became black from soot and oxidation. No piece of cookware would be justified in criticizing another piece of cookware over this.		In colonial days, cooking was done with pots suspended over the fire in the fireplace, and those pots became black from soot and oxidation. No piece of cookware would be justified in criticizing another piece of cookware over this.

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:09, July 12, 2016
Line 11:		Line 11:
	Because this saying carries the implicit notion that "black" is equated with "bad", some people who have a good sense of humor over issues of political correctness have jokingly suggested that the racial overtones could be overcome by using the phrase "the maggot calling the pus white".		Because this saying carries the implicit notion that "black" is equated with "bad", some people who have a good sense of humor over issues of political correctness have jokingly suggested that the racial overtones could be overcome by using the phrase "the maggot calling the pus white".

−	[[Category: Idioms]]	+	[[Category:Idioms]]

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 In colonial days, cooking was done with pots suspended over the fire in the fireplace, and those pots became black from soot and oxidation.  No piece of cookware would be justified in criticizing another piece of cookware over this.
-Examples of this behavior abound in everyday life.  One of the best-known public examples of this might be the [[Katyn massacre]] during World War II.  The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, each blamed the other for it, despite despite their own monstrous human rights records.
+Examples of this behavior abound in everyday life.  One of the best-known public examples of this might be the [[Katyn massacre]] during World War II.  The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, each blamed the other for it, despite their own monstrous human rights records.
 In fact, this kind of behavior is so commonplace that it was criticized (not in those words, of course) by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: