 It is identified as a proverb ("refrán") in the text, functioning as a retort to the person who criticises another of the same defect that he plainly has.Among several variations, the one where the pan addresses the pot as "culinegra" (black-arse) makes clear that they are dirtied in common by contact with the cooking fire.This translation was also recorded in England soon afterwards as "The pot calls the pan burnt-arse" in John Clarke's collection of proverbs, "Paroemiologia Anglo-Latina" (1639).