[Eru]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pot_calling...ttle_black

The phrase "The pot calling the kettle black" is an idiom used to accuse a person guilty of the very thing of which they accuse another. This may or may not be hypocritical or a contradiction.

As generally understood, the person accusing is understood to share some quality with the target of their accusation. An alternative interpretation, recognised by some,[1][2] but not all,[3] sources is that the pot is sooty (being placed on a fire), while the kettle is clean and shiny (being placed on coals only), and hence when the pot accuses the kettle of being black, it is the pot’s own sooty reflection that it sees: the pot accuses the kettle of a fault that only the pot has, rather than one that they share. See also projection.