godhenry
03-13-2006, 05:06 AM
(sorry i was going to make this a new topic since this was totally OT to lachrymoIogy's previous thread. But I messed up. So now I'm making it a new post (so i guess i lied when i said it was my first and last post here...)
I usually don't really care. But with some people's strong dislike of a possible tracktitle "the pot" because of its seeminly irrelevance (mostly due to our perception of the word "pot" as in "the boiling pot" or something marijuana related), I'd like to offer the following. Since on the tracktitle pot is preceded by a definte article, it's not likely that it's referring to weed unless they're talking about a very specific weed. And TOOL claims to be not politcal, so we can rule out "the boiling pot." But if we stay on the same track to think of it as being referred to something SPECIFIC in a proverb or slang, one comes to mind immediately: "the pot calls the kettle blackarse." This proverb and variations of it have appeared in all different literature. It means to point out a person to be making a hypocritical statement. To spare myself writing up a coherent explanation to this proverb, I googled it. Here's a passage I've found on an article on this proverb:
"In the Dictionary of Cliches (Rogers 1985), the author gives a rather elaborate definition and implies that the pot mistakenly assumes that the kettle is more flawed:
An assertion that someone else has the very faults that can be attributed to you (the presumption being that the accuser is unaware of having such faults). The saying dates from centuries ago, when stoves ran on wood and coal. Presumably after long use, both the pot and the kettle would be black. We can almost surmise, however, that in many households the kettle, particularly if made of copper, was kept polished and hence, reflect the blackness of the pot. The pot, looking at the reflection,would see black which would appear to be on the side of the kettle; the pot could then accuse the kettle of a fault it did not have. Don Quixote, written in the early 17th century, contains a sentence that can be translated: "You are like what is said that the frying pan said to the kettle, 'Avant, black-browes'" (Rogers 202).
In Ronald Ridout and Clifford Writing's English Proverbs Explained (1967) we get the equally dark explanation:
A person tends to blame another for the faults he has himself. The soot from an open fire blackens the cooking utensils placed upon it, and the pot becomes no less blackened than the kettle. It has, therefore, no right to criticize the kettle, and neither have we the right to condemn others for behaving in the same way as we do ourselves."
Sounds like Reflection gone south....
...or "Do unto you now what has been done to me."
This is probably my first and last post. Good luck and see you around when TOOL comes to tour!
H.
I usually don't really care. But with some people's strong dislike of a possible tracktitle "the pot" because of its seeminly irrelevance (mostly due to our perception of the word "pot" as in "the boiling pot" or something marijuana related), I'd like to offer the following. Since on the tracktitle pot is preceded by a definte article, it's not likely that it's referring to weed unless they're talking about a very specific weed. And TOOL claims to be not politcal, so we can rule out "the boiling pot." But if we stay on the same track to think of it as being referred to something SPECIFIC in a proverb or slang, one comes to mind immediately: "the pot calls the kettle blackarse." This proverb and variations of it have appeared in all different literature. It means to point out a person to be making a hypocritical statement. To spare myself writing up a coherent explanation to this proverb, I googled it. Here's a passage I've found on an article on this proverb:
"In the Dictionary of Cliches (Rogers 1985), the author gives a rather elaborate definition and implies that the pot mistakenly assumes that the kettle is more flawed:
An assertion that someone else has the very faults that can be attributed to you (the presumption being that the accuser is unaware of having such faults). The saying dates from centuries ago, when stoves ran on wood and coal. Presumably after long use, both the pot and the kettle would be black. We can almost surmise, however, that in many households the kettle, particularly if made of copper, was kept polished and hence, reflect the blackness of the pot. The pot, looking at the reflection,would see black which would appear to be on the side of the kettle; the pot could then accuse the kettle of a fault it did not have. Don Quixote, written in the early 17th century, contains a sentence that can be translated: "You are like what is said that the frying pan said to the kettle, 'Avant, black-browes'" (Rogers 202).
In Ronald Ridout and Clifford Writing's English Proverbs Explained (1967) we get the equally dark explanation:
A person tends to blame another for the faults he has himself. The soot from an open fire blackens the cooking utensils placed upon it, and the pot becomes no less blackened than the kettle. It has, therefore, no right to criticize the kettle, and neither have we the right to condemn others for behaving in the same way as we do ourselves."
Sounds like Reflection gone south....
...or "Do unto you now what has been done to me."
This is probably my first and last post. Good luck and see you around when TOOL comes to tour!
H.