What does pot and kettle mean?

Answer 1

That is someone criticizing another for an action that he himself has done or for a characteristic that he himself shares. It refers a cooking container criticizing another cooking container for becoming blackened through use despite the first container being equally blackened.
The phrase is used to point out somebody's hypocrisy.
On old wood stoves the pot and kettle were usually blackened from soot, therefor if the Pot were to insult the Kettle by calling it black it would be insulting itself in the process since it was the same.
Therefore when you accuse someone of doing something that you do yourself you are like the pot who calls the kettle black
This idiom refers to a hypocrite or accusing someone of being hypocritical. If I am lying but call you a liar you could say, Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black. If you are overweight and yet tell me to watch what I eat, I could say, That's the pot calling the kettle black.
example citation:

"But how many conservatives who are targets of such slurs know these liberals are indulging in one of the greatest intellectual ruses in history? How many realize it's a matter of the red-faced pot calling the kettle black?"


When someone accuses another of a fault like lying, sloth or greed this phrase is used to counter accuse. For example, if you were spying on your girlfriend's e-mails and she found out about it while she was spying on your e-mails her accusation that you didn't trust her could be countered with, isn't that the pot calling the kettle black, since she also has trust issues. This comes from a period when pots and kettles were both made out of cast iron, so both the pot and the kettle were black.
The kettle calling the pot black, both are black, so it refers to a person who is telling another person that they are doing something wrong when they are doing the same thing. for example a smoker telling another smoker that they shouldn't smoke. a thief calling someone else a thief. etc
The Pot and the Kettle are both black. Is often used by a person condemning other people for something they do themselves. So if a person (the pot) is accusing someone (the kettle) of doing something they actually do. They are both actually the same (black) therefore the pot has not right to condemn the kettle without actually condemning themselves.

Answer 2

The "kettle calling the pot black" refers to a time when kettles and pots were normally heated over an open flame. The smoke from the flames would blacken the bottom of whatever vessel was placed over the fire. Consequently, if a kettle was blackened on the bottom from the fire, any pot placed over the same fire would also be blackened on the bottom.

Accordingly, to say that someone/thing is like "the pot calling the kettle black" is to point out the the person/thing is being hypocritical.

Answer 3

Nothing. It's "pot calling the kettle black." That means that the black pot is trying to insult the black kettle by calling it black, when both cooking pots are the same color. This means that whatever the person just pointed out or commented about, the same thing can be said about them.

Example: Bob just made fun of Sally being over-weight, if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black!

Answer 4

The phrase, "pot calling the kettle black," originated in the 1600's or the 17th century, it was originally used to point out hypocrisy in others. Authors and people who wrote plays used this comparison. Many find it to be racist or nonsense, but it makes very much sense if one knows that most pots and kettles were made out of cast-iron (which turns black with heat) in the 17th century.

Answer 5

It's "That's a case of the pot calling the kettle black." This phrase means that one person is accusing another of being or doing something when the first person is or is doing the same thing.

The phrase began back when food was cooked over a fire, and the smoke turned all the pots and kettles black.

Answer 6

This is a short way of saying the old proverb. The full proverb is "That's the pot calling the kettle black." It means someone is judging a person for something that they do themselves.

Answer 7

Hypocritical

Answer 8

Hypocrisy.

Answer 9

idiom

Answer 10

Black