That's like the pot calling the kettle black...

Hey everyone, I came back from my trip to Europe and am ready to post some new lessons ^_^ I hope you all had a Happy New Year and good luck in your studies in 2010!

Today, I was talking to my friend at a cafe and asked her if she liked my new tuque(winter hat in Canadian English pronounced Two-ku), she said she didn't like it... then when we were leaving I saw her tuque and said:

"That's like the pot calling the kettle black!"

She had no idea what I was talking about so I had to explain the idiom and thought it would make a nice post for my blog~!

First, let's go over the vocabulary:

pot - a deep round container used for cooking, usually made of metal and often having a lid.

kettle - a metal pot with a lid used for boiling water, often called a teakettle

A teapot is used to serve tea BUT is NOT used to boil water, whereas a teakettle is used to boil water to make tea and may or may not be used to serve it.

Now, when people use pots and kettles to cook over a fire over time they turn black. So, normally BOTH pots and kettles are black. So the expression "That's like the pot calling the kettle black!" is used when someone says something about someone else BUT it is also true about them!!!

Fat guy: I had to break up with my girlfriend.

Friend: What?!?! Why? You seemed happy together...

Fat guy: She got fat so I dumped her.

Friend: What? That's the pot calling the kettle black buddy!

So as you can see it is often used when someone say something negative about someone which is also true about them!

Have a nice week and I hope you enjoy my new lessons in 2010,

Phil