Pot calling the kettle black
Encyclopedia
Idiom
Idiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made...
used to accuse a person of being guilty of the very thing of which they accuse another. This may or may not be hypocritical or a contradiction.
Alternative interpretation
As generally understood, the person accusing is understood to share some quality with the target of their accusation. An alternative interpretation, recognised 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. See also projection.Similar phrases
- In the Gospel of MatthewGospel of MatthewThe Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
7:3, JesusJesusJesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
is quoted as saying, during the discourse on judgmentalismThe Mote and the BeamThe Mote and the Beam is a New Testament saying in Matthew 7:1-5 as part of the Sermon on the Mount. The discourse is fairly brief, and begins by condemning those who would judge others, arguing that they too would be judged...
in the Sermon on the MountSermon on the MountThe Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...
, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" Many scholars have interpreted this as a proscription against personal attacks in general, not just particulars. - In the Gospel of JohnGospel of JohnThe Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...
7:53-8:11, describes the famous passage about Jesus and the woman taken in adultery, a confrontation between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees over whether a woman, caught in an act of adultery, ought to be stoned. Jesus shames the crowd into dispersing, and averts the execution. The English idiomatic phrase to "cast the first stone" is derived from this passage. - An aphorismAphorismAn aphorism is an original thought, spoken or written in a laconic and memorable form.The term was first used in the Aphorisms of Hippocrates...
sometimes attributed to George HerbertGeorge HerbertGeorge Herbert was a Welsh born English poet, orator and Anglican priest.Being born into an artistic and wealthy family, he received a good education that led to his holding prominent positions at Cambridge University and Parliament. As a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, Herbert excelled in...
states, "People who live in glass houses should not throw stones"... However it can be traced as a common saying in different languages independently from him.
Similar idioms in other languages
- ArabicArabic languageArabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
: "الجمل لا يرى عوجة رقبته" ("The camel cannot see the crookedness of its own neck") - ArabicArabic languageArabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
:"القرد في عين امه غزال" ("Monkeys parent sees her son, a deer"). - AssameseAssamese languageAssamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in...
: Hkhaale Hkhingik haanhe ("The Shaal fish laughs at the Shingifish") - Azeri: Kor kora kor deməsə bağrı çartlayar. ("If a blind man doesn't point out the other blind man that he's blind, he'll die")
- BasqueBasque languageBasque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
: Xoxoak beleari: Ipurbeltz!. "The blackbird to the crowCrowCrows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...
: Black tail!" - BengaliBengali languageBengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
: Chaluni bole chhuch re tor Pichhe kano Chheda!. "The Sieve tells the needle to mind the hole in its back!" - BulgarianBulgarian languageBulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
: Присмял се хърбел на щърбел! ("The starving are laughing at the toothless!") - BurmeseBurmese languageThe Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Although the constitution officially recognizes it as the Myanmar language, most English speakers continue to refer to the language as Burmese. Burmese is the native language of the Bamar and related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar, as well as...
: "The Son is one month older than the father" - Hindi: Ulta Chor Kotwal ko daante ("The thief [accused] yells at the police instead!")
- IndonesianIndonesian languageIndonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....
: Maling teriak rampok ("The thief shouting robber") - CzechCzech languageCzech 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. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
: Konvice nazývá kotlík černým ("The pot called the kettle black") Hrnec hrnci káže, oba černí jako saze – Čelakovský ("Pot preaches to pot, both as black as soot.") - ChineseChinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
: 五十步笑百步- ("[Those who have retreated] 50 steps laugh at [those who retreated] 100 steps.")- ChineseChinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
: 雞看不見雞背脊- ("A chicken can't see its own back.") - ChineseChinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
: 烏鴉笑豬黑，自己不覺得-SichuanSichuan' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
idiom ("The crow mocks the blackness of the pig, ignoring its own [blackness]") - ChineseChinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
: 龜笑鱉無尾-ZhangzhouZhangzhouZhangzhou is a prefecture-level city in southern Fujian province, People's Republic of China. Located on the banks of the Jiulong River , Zhangzhou borders the cities of Xiamen and Quanzhou to the northeast, Longyan City to the northwest and the province of Guangdong to the southwest.Zhangzhou...
(in FujianFujian' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
) idiom ("The turtle makes fun of the trionychidaes that they are of short tails.")
- Chinese
- CroatianCroatian languageCroatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
: Rugala se sova sjenici da ima velike oči ("The owl mocked the tit for having large eyes") - DanishDanish languageDanish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
: Man skal ikke kaste med sten hvis man selv bor i et glashus ("You shouldn't throw rocks if you live in a house of glass") - DutchDutch languageDutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
: De pot verwijt de ketel dat hij zwart ziet ("The pot reproaches the kettle for looking black") - EstonianEstonian languageEstonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
: Pada sõimab katelt, ühed mustad mõlemad ("The pot reproaches the kettle – but they are both black") - PersianPersian languagePersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
: دیگ به دیگ می گه روت سیاه ("The pot calls the kettle black") - FinnishFinnish languageFinnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
: Pata kattilaa soimaa – musta kylki kummallakin ("The pot reproaches the kettle – black [is] the side of each") ("The hospital that laughs at charity"), ("The shovel mocks the poker") - GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
: ("Sweep first in front of your own door")- GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
: ("One donkey calls the other one longears") - GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
: ("To touch one's own nose first") - GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
: ("Who sits in the glass house, shouldn't throw stones")
- German
- GreekGreek languageGreek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
: Ipe o gaidaros ton petino kefala ("The donkey said to the rooster "Your head is too big"") ("All who disqualify [another due to a fault] with their own [having that] fault [so] disqualify") - HungarianHungarian languageHungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
: Bagoly mondja verébnek, hogy nagy a feje or the short form Bagoly mondja verébnek ("The owl says the sparrow has a large head") - IrishIrish languageIrish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
: Sin an túlán ag tabhairt tóin dubh ar an phota! ("That is the pot calling the kettle black!") - ItalianItalian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
: Il bue che dà del cornuto all'asino ("The ox calling the donkey horned"), Cencio che dice mal di straccio ("A rag speaking ill of a cloth") ("Eye wax and snot" shortened from "Eye wax laughing at the snot"), Sanabo.com ("The dung-stained dog reproaches the chaff-stained dog."), Naver or "겨 묻은 개가 똥 묻은 개를 흉본다" ("The chaff-stained dog disparages the dung-stained dog."), Naver ("The pot laughing at a black kettle"), Patarles.lt (Tap water in the pan, splashing his own face) (Like Spit into the sky) ("To throw stones in a glass house") ("The pot tells the other pot your face is black"), Tebyan ("The cauldronCauldronA 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.- Etymology :...
was reprimanding the pot and it soots itself"), often contracted to Przyganiał kocioł garnkowi ("The cauldron was reprimanding the pot") ("You are yourself good for nothing, and still trying to ridicule others") ("Look at your nose," implying they also have dirt on their nose.),- ("The dirty is talking about the half clean"),
- (The pig talking about the bacon),
- (People with glass roofs don't throw stones)
- (The one with shabby/torn clothes says to the naked man) ("Potsherd laughs at the cracked pot") ("To see a little straw in other's eye, and not to notice a log in his own"; this is Matthew 7:3); ("Maybe others' cows could moo, but not yours!", "Look who's talking!")
- SerbianSerbian languageSerbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
: Rugala se šerpa loncu, a i ona garava ("The casserole laughs at the pot, and they are both sooty") - Sinhalese: තමුන්ගේ ඇසේ තිබෙන පොල් පරාලය ගැන නොසොයා, අනුන්ගේ ඇසේ පොල් කෙන්ද ගැන සෙවීම ("Talking about string in someone's eye before looking at rafter in his/her eye") (The goose that is hit is the one to honk.) (Clean before your own doorstep first.) ("Don't throw stones in glass houses"), ("Sweep [first] clean in front of your own door") ("Move away, you are blackening me, said the pan to the pot") ("The donkey talking about ears")
- México: ("The grill said to the pot")
- Venezuela: ("An armadilloArmadilloArmadillos are New World placental mammals, known for having a leathery armor shell. Dasypodidae is the only surviving family in the order Cingulata, part of the superorder Xenarthra along with the anteaters and sloths. The word armadillo is Spanish for "little armored one"...
telling a turtleTurtleTurtles 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: ("if you have a tail made of straw, you'd better stay away from the fire").
- Argentina: ("The dead guy laughs at the one with the throat slit") ("[Enau] accuses others, but he himself is guilty") thai-language.com, look up อิเหนา
- TurkishTurkish languageTurkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
: "Tencere! Dibin kara." "Seninki benimkinden de kara". ((One pot saying to another) "Pot, your bottom is black." – (other pot replying back) "Yours is blacker than mine!") ("The thief scolding the magistrate in reverse") ("Dog ridicules cat for being hairy") ("Look at home") ("Before you heal someone, be in good health yourself")
Uses
- Miguel de CervantesMiguel de CervantesMiguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written...
in Don Quixote — "said the frying-pan to the kettle, get away, blackbreech" - Henry FieldingHenry FieldingHenry 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 PennWilliam PennWilliam Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful...
in Some Fruits of Solitude in Reflections and MaximsSome Fruits of Solitude in Reflections and MaximsSome Fruits of Solitude in Reflections and Maxims is a 1682 collection of epigrams and sayings put together by the early American Quaker leader William Penn. Like Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack the work collected the wisdom of pre-Revolutionary USA. It is included in volume one of the...
— "For a Covetous Man to inveigh against Prodigality... is for the Pot to call the Kettle black." - Margaret MitchellMargaret MitchellMargaret Munnerlyn Mitchell was an American author and journalist. Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937 for her epic American Civil War era novel, Gone with the Wind, which was the only novel by Mitchell published during her lifetime.-Family:Margaret Mitchell was born in Atlanta,...
in Gone with the WindGone with the WindThe slaves depicted in Gone with the Wind are primarily loyal house servants, such as Mammy, Pork and Uncle Peter, and these slaves stay on with their masters even after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 sets them free...
— "The pot's calling the kettle black." - Francisco Gabilondo Soler "Cricri"Francisco Gabilondo SolerFrancisco Gabilondo Soler was a Mexican composer and performer of children's songs. He recorded and performed those songs under the name of Cri-Cri: El Grillito Cantor .-Biography:Gabilondo was born in the city of Orizaba, Veracruz...
wrote El comál y la olla — a song that tells a fableFableA fable is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized , and that illustrates a moral lesson , which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.A fable differs from...
in which a (male) grill and a (female) pot keep criticizing each other.
"In Lao language, it means: ພາສາລາວມີຄວາມໝາຍວ່າ "ນົກເຄົ້າ ທ້ວງຕາແມ່".
- Maynard James KeenanMaynard James KeenanMaynard James Keenan is an American rock singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, winemaker, and actor. Originally from Ohio, Keenan spent his high school and college years in Michigan. After serving in the Army in the early 1980s, he attended Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids...
of ToolTool (band)Tool is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1990, the group's line-up has included drummer Danny Carey, guitarist Adam Jones, and vocalist Maynard James Keenan. Since 1995, Justin Chancellor has been the band's bassist, replacing their original bassist Paul D'Amour...
in "The PotThe Pot"The Pot" is a song by American rock band Tool, released as the second single from their fourth album 10,000 Days. The song was their first #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. In 2008, the song received a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance. According to The Rock Radio, a...
" - "Now when you pissed all over my black kettle you musta been high."