Optimising Crockery-based Sayings (18th January 2008)
If you say someone is doing something wrong when you also do it:
That’s like the pot calling the kettle black.
You are the pot and you are saying the kettle is black when you are also black. This is out of step with modern culture in 2 important ways.
- Uses “black” as a replacement for something wrong.
- Modern pots and kettles are rarely black.
There is a similar saying without these problems. But it’s rather blunt:
That’s rich coming from you.
I’ve thought up a new saying for this case:
That’s like the sea calling the sky blue.
- No more faintly racist undertones.
- The sea and sky are often blue.
- Not blunt. You might even call it poetic.
Swapping “sea” and “sky” produces a tongue-twister, for me. Bonus!