Being Flirtatious / Pot Calling The Kettle Black

Personally, I dont think there's much harm in flirting, as long as you know the other person feels comfortable with it too. Of course, there is a limit, as with everything. If you go around flirting heavily with every guy you see, then you will probably be labled a slut. So just keep it short and sweet, maybe try just with guys/girls who are really good friends.

They told me that I was a flirt a few years ago. Then I began pondering. If I were to compare to those whom I know, they are more flirtatious than me and I perfectly do not understand why they keep hammering at me for being a flirt while they themselves are flirtatious people.

It's like the pot calling the kettle black.

Why aren't they being put down too? Why am I always taking the shit?

I don't really care. Really. All these are trivial matters.

Maybe because I'm in the limelight and they're not so it's obvious that they will take note of every movement I make. And if I make a wrong move, there goes the gossips and bad-mouthing. But when I do something charitable or good, they would just dismiss it with a "So What?

Seriously, it's not worth my time talking about all these craps.

A little side track,

It's clear that "the pot calling the kettle black" refers to criticism that could equally apply to the critic. But why is "black" a criticism in this phrase? I am specifically wondering if this is one of those nasty ethnic slurs that is left over from a time when such things were more commonly spoken, or if some other interpretation might apply. Any ideas or information? Please send an e-mail. Thanks.

I thought that the 'black' in the saying referred to the soot which accumulates on pots and kettles which are used on fire stoves. Maybe the 'black' in this case is a criticism because it's not very nice to have black soot marks left on the table or wherever the kettle is placed? Just my personal interpretation, I don't have any book references.

In the days when cooking pots and kettles where placed over open fires to heat the contents they accumulated a great deal of soot on their exteriors and the color of one was indistinguishable from the other: that color was the black as one might expect with finely divided carbon in the form of soot - a percentage of which is in the relatively recently discovered carbon 60 form by the way.

Therefore to use the expression 'Pot calling the kettle black' was to indicate to the listener that there was absolutely nothing to choose between one of two or more positions, people, behaviors etc.

Hmm...