Pot Calling the Kettle Black

An expression that is said when one accuses another person of that which they are equally guilty of.

Many years ago, people used to cook over an open flame using copper kettles and iron pots. The copper kettles were usually polished after every use whereas the iron pots were not and remained blackened from the soot from previous cookings. Well someone got the idea that if the iron pot were alive and it looked at a nearby copper kettle, it would see a black image. The iron pot believes it sees the image of the copper kettle when in reality, because the copper kettle was polished, what the iron pot was seeing was a reflection of itself. This symbolic phrase became associated with hypocrisy. An accuser blames someone else for having a fault when the accuser has the same fault.

Joe accuses Mark for not keeping his house clean when in reality, Joe has a messy house. Therefore, Joe is guilty of "the pot calling the kettle black".

by Dancing with Fire June 24, 2011

pot

A term for mariujana of any sort.

"Let's smoke some pot."

by Bowman June 16, 2002

pot of dough

a load of dough>
a load of money>
a lot of money

"he made a pot of dough in the undertaking business after he got out of pencey" (salinger 16).

by pbbt October 10, 2007

Crap Pot

When four or five dudes each take a shit in the toilet without flushing and leave it for the janitor to clean up.

The janitor walked into the bathroom only to discover that someone had left a crap pot for him to clean up.

by Huyer April 26, 2010

pot hound

Pot Hound or Pot Pong: An extremely hungry dog of unknown parentage typically found wandering the streets of the twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago. This type of dog mainly chases food and will do anything for food. A mutt, mongrel, mixed breed dog.

I just found a pot hound puppy!

by Sidreal February 14, 2015

Pot Liquor

The juice from cooked greens left in your bowl or on your plate.

After eating my mustard and turnip greens, I took my cornbread and sopped up the pot liquor.

by Erica Rucker January 1, 2009

Life is a pot of beans

Nigerian saying that literally means "life is a struggle place" or "life is messy" because beans is messy.

Mark Zuckerberg's wealth has plummeted $20 BN this year alone. This life is a pot of beans.

by TheAlienMaven January 13, 2019