Pot calling the kettle black
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The phrase "Pot calling the kettle black" is an idiom, used to accuse another speaker of hypocrisy, in that the speaker disparages the subject in a way that could equally be applied to him or her. In former times cast iron pots and kettles were quickly blackened from the soot of the fire, so it seems ridiculous of the pot to call the kettle black.
Chinese philosopher Mencius relates a similar story about a soldier laughing at another soldier retreating 100 steps, while retreating 50 steps himself.[1]
[edit] Uses in Literature
- Cervantes in Don Quixote — "said the frying-pan to the kettle, get away, blackbreech"[2]
- Henry Fielding in Covent Garden Journal — "Dares thus the kettle to rebuke our sin!/Dares thus the kettle say the pot is black!"
- William Penn in Some fruits of Solitude' - ""For a Covetous Man to inveigh against Prodigality... is for the Pot to call the Kettle black."
- Shakespeare in Troilus and Cressida — "The raven chides blackness."[3]
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.chinapage.org/story/pot.html
- ^ http://www.online-literature.com/view.php/don_quixote/125?term=kettle
- ^ http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/troilus_cressida/troilus_cressida.2.3.html
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