Meaning & Analysis
A kettle, itself blackened with soot from a fire, accuses a pot of having a black bottom ('ass'). The accuser is criticizing the accused for a fault they both share.
Insights
Hypocrisy and Self-Unawareness
The proverb is a direct accusation of hypocrisy, aimed at those who criticize others for faults they themselves possess. It highlights a lack of self-awareness and the moral inconsistency of the accuser.
The Absurdity of Mutual Fault
It illustrates the absurdity of mutual recrimination where neither party holds the moral high ground. The act of accusation is rendered meaningless and foolish when the accuser is equally culpable.
Blindness to One's Own Flaws
The proverb warns against the human tendency to find fault in others while conveniently ignoring one's own identical shortcomings. It serves as a reminder to engage in self-reflection before passing judgment.
Historical Domestic Context
The proverb is rooted in the domestic reality of open-hearth cooking, where cast-iron pots and kettles were inevitably blackened by soot. This shared, unavoidable condition makes the accusation of blackness particularly ironic and absurd, grounding the moral lesson in a universally understood domestic context of the era.
Psychological Projection
This proverb is a classic illustration of the psychological defense mechanism of projection, where an individual attributes their own unacceptable faults or insecurities to others. By accusing the pot, the kettle deflects from its own identical flaw, a timeless observation of human behavior.
A Tool for Social Correction
The proverb serves as a powerful and memorable tool for social correction. Its simple, vivid imagery provides an accessible way to identify and rebuke hypocrisy, making it a durable piece of folk wisdom for policing moral consistency within a community. The cross-reference 'The devil rebukes sin' elevates this from a simple observation to a profound moral critique.
Rhetorical Devices
Personification
The proverb gives human attributes of speech and judgment to inanimate kitchen objects. This personification makes the abstract concept of hypocrisy tangible, humorous, and memorable.
Situational Irony
The core of the proverb's effectiveness lies in its situational irony: the accuser is guilty of the very flaw it is condemning, making its judgment entirely baseless and absurd.
Colloquialism
The use of coarse, direct language like 'black ass' or the historical variant 'burnt-arse' adds a blunt, rustic force to the expression, making the insult and the moral lesson more impactful and less abstract.
Domestic Imagery
The strong visual of two soot-covered pots in a kitchen creates a simple, powerful, and easily recalled image that effectively carries the proverb's moral weight.
Transcription
Quotations
The pot cals the pan burnt-arse.
The pot laughs at the kettle.
To say as the fryingpan said to the pot, viz. every one about his business, also stand off black arse, thou dost smuch me; the Devil corrects Sin.
(black-a—).
The Kettle calls the pot black arse; the pot calls the pan burnt arse.
As another old Proverb says, do not let Kettle call the pot black-arse.
Black Arse quoth the Pot to the Caldron.
Cross References
- See St., no. 1870.
- D262 The devil rebukes sin
- F782 The frying pan said to the kettle, Avaunt, black brows
- K33 Ill may the kiln call the oven burnt-house (burnt-tail)
- N112 Who more ready to call her neighbor scold than the arrantest scold in the parish?
- R34 The raven chides blackness
- V43 Vice corrects sin.
Annotations
- Spoken when others upbraid us with those Faults that they are guilty of themselves.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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