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Despite the rhyming effect, does "the kettle callin' the pot" refer to any "kettle" or "pot" of the historical backdrop?
Burr: Geniuses, lower your voices,
You keep out of trouble and you double your choices.
I'm with you, but the situation is fraught.
You've got to be carefully taught:
If you talk, you're gonna get shot!
Hamilton: Burr, check what we got.
Mister Lafayette, hard rock like Lancelot,
I think your pants look hot,
Laurens, I like you a lot
Let's hatch a plot blacker than the kettle callin' the pot...
What are the odds the gods would put us all in one spot,
Poppin' a squat on conventional wisdom, like it or not,
A bunch of revolutionary manumission abolitionists?
13 mrt. 2025 12:43
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I think that Lin Manuel Miranda wanted to emphasize the “blackness” or darkness of the plot he plans to hatch. Since most English speakers are familiar with the proverbial idiom “The pot calling the kettle black,” they are able to fill in the blanks in Hamilton’s words and understand that his plot is exceptionally “black” or dark/twisted/revolutionary/cunning/etc.
Of course, it also fits in with the rhythm and meter of the song and provides a good transition to the next few lines.
I don’t think Miranda is referring to any pot or kettle of historic significance, just the idiom “The pot calling the kettle black.” More information:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_pot_calling_the_kettle_black
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/127144/the-meaning-of-the-english-idiom-pot-calling-the-kettle-black
13 mrt. 2025 15:11
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