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pot calling the kettle black - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
There are two interpretations of this phrase,[1][2] though some sources give only the first interpretation.[3]
In the first interpretation, it refers to the fact that both cast-iron pots' and kettles' bottoms turn equally black when hung over a fire, and thus the pot is accusing the kettle of a fault it shares.
In the second (unlikely) interpretation, 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.
Cited sources:
- ^ Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins, by William Morris, Mary Morris
- ^ Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1870, revised by Adrian Room (Millennium Edition)
- ^ Pot, in Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, by E. Cobham Brewer, 1898 edition
What info I can find suggests a basis in physics. Or is that thermodynamics? Chemistry? Metallurgy?
Anyway, hope that helps. Sorry for any bother, all.
