Talk:pot calling the kettle black

I thought the blackness of the pot (and the kettle) were supposed to be from the heating fire beneath them? --Connel MacKenzie T C 06:36, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

Yeah. I looked it up. Better? —Dvortygirl 06:48, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

Not sure that throwing stones in glass houses is quite the same thing. It's more of a foolish behaviour isn't it? Lar 17:08, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

This is so silly, it doesn't actually give an explanation. My friend doesn't understand what it means, saying im not a kettle, shes not a pot, and neither of us are black. I came here looking for an explanation. USELESS WIKIPEDIA GUYS! —This unsigned comment was added by 62.254.220.101 (talk • contribs).

Alternative interpretation

This explanation was added to the the English Wikipedia, before the article was redirected to Wikitionary: "This comes from old times when pots and pans were generally black and kettles were generally metallic and reflective. Therefore the pot sees its black reflection in the kettle and thinks that the kettle is black." I don't know if it is more accurate than what we got here, but I thought I'd mention it. -- Anon.

You’re not imagining things – several sources give this alternative explanation.

I’ve added it, with citations.

Nbarth (email) (talk) 21:39, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

I suspect that this is just a modern re-interpretation because kettles were never shiny when placed on coals for any length of time (I remember them!), but if the references say so, then I suppose we should report it. Dbfirs 17:14, 30 January 2011 (UTC)