The pot calling the kettle black

Uncommon card · No. 92421

"The pot calling the kettle black" is a proverbial idiom that may be of Spanish (or ultimately Italian) origin, of which English versions began to appear in the first half of the 17th century. It means a situation in which somebody accuses someone else of a fault which the accuser shares, and therefore is an example of psychological projection, or hypocrisy. Use of the expression to discredit or deflect a claim of wrongdoing by attacking the originator of the claim for their own similar behaviour (rather than acknowledging the guilt of both) is the tu quoque logical fallacy.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Charles H. Bennett, Public domain