# Replcement for "Pot calling the kettle black" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 22, 2004, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383 "2004-07-22T18:18:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383/1 "2004-07-22T18:18:34Z")
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 … ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383/2 "2004-07-22T18:50:44Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383/3 "2004-07-22T19:05:03Z")
I assume Bippy was sort of over-stating it to start a funny thread. Dude, that’s like the pilot calling the hippie “high”. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383/4 "2004-07-22T19:06:09Z")
Bush calling someone dumb. Kerry calling someone dull. A politician calling a lawyer dishonest. (or vice-versa) Fred Phelps calling someone a hate-monger. ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383/5 "2004-07-22T19:25:28Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383/6 "2004-07-22T19:31:50Z")
Like the pot calling the coke illegal 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) ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383/7 "2004-07-22T19:34:22Z")
Good one, Kalhoun. I think I’ll start using it. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383/8 "2004-07-22T19:36:58Z")
Y’know, black on a wok is GOOD. It means it’s well seasoned. Criminy, I also hope the OP is a joke. Should we get rid of “all over [something] like white on rice” too? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383/9 "2004-07-22T19:37:26Z")
Like **Cecil Adams** calling **Ken Jennings** intelligent? ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383/10 "2004-07-22T19:49:43Z")
[Here’s a relatively interesting, rational discussion](http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/2/messages/284.html) I yanked out of Google on the racism angle. Mmmmm, etymology. 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. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383/11 "2004-07-22T20:02:33Z")
> [@UrbanChic](#): > > Good one, Kalhoun. I think I’ll start using it. > > 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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383/12 "2004-07-22T20:20:14Z")
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 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383/13 "2004-07-22T20:22:46Z")
That’s like the dolphin calling the porpoise ‘fishbreath’. That’s like a New Yorker calling London expensive. That’s like the fly calling the bee ‘buzzy’. That’s like the fridge calling the freezer cold. That’s like the dodo calling the great auk extinct. That’s like the slime calling the muck gross. That’s like the geek calling the nerd loser. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383/14 "2004-07-22T20:34:36Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > 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. A tire calling the asphalt black. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383/15 "2004-07-22T20:59:11Z")
Michael Jakson calling the Pope white. ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383/16 "2004-07-22T21:02:38Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![PussyCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/22d042/32.png) [@PussyCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PussyCow)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383/17 "2004-07-22T21:08:54Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > 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. I agree with Loach that it is very far from a racist statement. However, more acurately, the saying comes from a time when stoves were wood-burning, and the pot and kettle would become coated in black soot. ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383/18 "2004-07-22T21:25:39Z")
> [@Rysler](#): > > (The) dalmation/leopard thing is my favorite so far I [don’t get it](http://public.fotki.com/JohnBuckLINY/farks/jag_dalmation.html) ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383/19 "2004-07-22T22:01:31Z")
> [@JohnBckWLD](#): > > I [don’t get it](http://public.fotki.com/JohnBuckLINY/farks/jag_dalmation.html) OK, who let the kids play join the dot with their family pet dalmation? ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383/20 "2004-07-22T22:04:15Z")
How about: “That’s like the hamster calling the snail slow” 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replcement-for-pot-calling-the-kettle-black/256383.md?page=2)