Since “Pot calling the kettle black” has been called racist (it certainly portrays being black as a negative attribute for a pot or kettle) we need a replacement that carries the same tone without risk of being rude.
I propose
“Like a slug calling a worm slimey”
but I’m sure you Dopers can come up with something even better …
How the hell is that racist? Don’t play into the ignorance of others. It comes from a time when pots and kettles were cast iron. They were both black. It is calling someone a hypocrite. It doesn’t even imply that there is anything wrong with the color let alone equate the color with race. If someone wants to be ignorant and misread the saying then let them. I’ll stay with the old saying thank you.
With the exception of old photographs of minstrel performers, I’ve yet to see a black person. People in varying shades of brown, sure…but never black.
How about:
The cracker calling the rice white.
The Dutchman calling the Scottsman cheap.
The German calling the mule stubborn.
The Italian calling the Puerto-Rican short tempered.
The Chinaman calling the Senior Citizen a bad driver.
The American calling the Frenchman pompous.
or
The PC police calling everyone else intolerant.
OH, I DO hope Bippy is really joking about the racism angle here.
Anyway, to be lazy, you could keep the same phrase, and just use practically any colour, it being easy now to have pots and kettles in bright red, yellow, or whatever.
Of course, that would be missing out on the obviousness of them being the same colour:
OK,
a rose calling a geranium red
a dalmation calling a leopard spotty
Come to think of it, this could be a fun game, PLUS it is already helping to remind me that I should buy a new kettle:) (any colour as long as it heats water, naturellement)
I hope the OP was joking about the pot calling the kettle black being racist. If somoene’s really claiming that it is, I’ll take 'em to the Pit without a second thought.
Whether or not the OP was being facetious, it’s still a good exercise, because “pot calling the kettle black” is a dead cliche, and should only be used by people too lazy to create new, evocative metaphors.
Celyn’s dalmation/leopard thing is my favorite so far.
Omarosa, from “The Apprentice”, called another contestant a “racist” when the constestant said to her, “That’s like the pot calling the kettle black”. So after reading the OP, I had the same reaction Loach had, since I had heard someone get upset about it.
Yes, it was the apprentice which I heard about someone saying this phrase is offensive. I thought WTH. That’s why the OP was written with the wording “has been called” and not “is considerd”. Still as it stands pot calling the kettle black is kind of an outdated and cliched phrase, and few peeps ever cook on open fires anymore that would cause the blackening that the phrase refers to. So I hoped the dopers could come up with some clever and funny alternatives. And you guys have proved some great ones so far
That’s like:
Elvis calling Andy Kaufman dead.
Charles Nelson Reilly calling Paul Lynde butch.
Streisand calling Liz Taylor humble.
Luciano Pavarotti calling Leslie West svelte.