The idiom ‘pot calling the kettle black' relates to hypocrisy and means ‘criticizing someone for a fault you also have, or for a wrong you have also committed'. This video explains the meaning of the idiom 'pot calling the kettle black' in English. We explain how to use it with some easy examples for Social and Business English.
If the red political party are slandering the blue party for something the red party did in the past, you can call that ‘a pot and kettle situation’ or say that the actions of the red party are like ‘the pot calling the kettle black’. If a pathological liar accuses someone else of lying, that’s ‘the pot calling the kettle black’. You can feel how old this idiom is because of the imagery of a pot and kettle so well used that they are both as black as each other! This idiom can be commonly heard in both social and professional environments.
Further Examples:
His accusations fell on deaf ears because it was like the pot calling the kettle black.
The noisy neighbours complained about noise coming from another house. Classic pot and kettle situation.