like chalk and cheese
Meaning: Completely different, though perhaps similar at first glance.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “The twins are like chalk and cheese: one loud, one shy.”
Category: Food & Drink
Origin: Chalk and a pale cheese can look alike but are nothing alike. The British comparison is found from the 14th century, in John Gower.
Equivalents in other languages
- Japanese: 月とすっぽん (Tsuki to suppon) — literally: The moon and a snapping turtle
More idioms — Food & Drink
- teach your grandmother to suck eggs — To give advice to someone who knows far more than you.
- make a hash of something — To do something very badly.
- Tomber dans les pommes — Suddenly losing consciousness — possibly derived from the older expression 'être dans les…
- Avoir la moutarde qui monte au nez — To be getting angry.
- Pédaler dans la semoule — To be confused and getting nowhere.
- Raconter des salades — To tell lies or tall tales.
More English idioms
- look before you leap — Think carefully before acting.
- blush to the roots of one's hair — To go very red with embarrassment.
- love is blind — People in love do not see the faults of the one they love.
- not see beyond the end of one's nose — To have a narrow outlook and ignore anything beyond one's immediate concerns.
- word gets around — News and rumors spread quickly from person to person.
- shut the stable door after the horse has bolted — To take precautions only after the harm is done.
From our tongue twisters
- Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter. — A 'b / t / tt' plosive drill that bounces between Betty, butter, and bitter.
- She sells seashells by the seashore. — The definitive 's' versus 'sh' alternation — the tongue has to switch place of articulati…
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. — A relentless 'p' plosive drill; a peck is an old dry measure of about nine litres.