"Apples to Oranges" Idiom Meaning, Origin & History | Superduper English Idioms
Channel: Superduper English Idioms
Date: 2020-08-11

0:00 - How to Say, “Apples to oranges…”
0:37 - Examples of “Apples to oranges…”
1:47 - Meaning of “Apples to oranges…”
2:00 - Origin of “Apples to oranges…”
4:17 - More Examples of “Apples to oranges…”
5:32 - Conclusion

“Apples to oranges…”

You’ve probably heard someone say, “Apples to oranges,” when saying that two things cannot be fairly compared.

You may have also heard them say, “That’s like comparing apples to oranges,” or, “You can’t compare apples to oranges.”

“You can’t choose between buying a new computer and taking a vacation, that’s apples to oranges!” your friend and you might be discussing.

Maybe you’re chatting with your cousin when she asks if you’d rather live in the middle of nowhere or be lonely for the rest of your life, “That’s like comparing apples to oranges!” you retort.

“Apples to oranges. There’s no comparison between today’s climate change and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum…

… the former, global warming is taking place over decades, while the latter occurred over thousands of years,” your geography teacher might be teaching a lesson.

As you can see, a comparison of “apples to oranges,” or “apples and oranges”, is a comparison that would be hard to make.

Though apples and oranges are both fruit and thus share some comparable characteristics, they differ so much in general that many of their traits cannot be directly contrasted.

This idea of being unable to compare things that have such dissimilar characteristics is a common thread throughout human cultures.

In France, they “compare apples and pears,” or “cabbages and carrots.”

In Mexico, they are used to, “comparing potatoes and sweet potatoes.”

In Serbian, they say, “comparing grandmothers and toads.”

In Welsh, they say, “as different as honey and butter.”

The Russian, “to compare warm and soft,” is quite interesting.

The Colombian, “to confuse poop with ointment,” is hilarious!

The Chinese say, “horses and cows won’t mate with each other.”

At the end of the day, comparing “apples to oranges” is simply an idiom that encourages you to compare things that are more directly parallel.

Something else you can say instead of “apples to oranges,” is along the lines of, “not an apples to apples comparison.”

“Comparing my minivan to your sports car is not apples to apples,” you might say, considering that these two vehicles were made for different purposes.

“Let’s not compare apples to oranges! A new dishwasher is a necessity, whereas a new TV is not!” you might say to your partner.

Perhaps you’re pressuring your friend to go vegan and she suggests donating to a wildlife charity instead and you angrily say, “Apples to oranges! How can you care about animals if you eat them?!”

Maybe you’re deciding between tofu and meat, “Well, both have protein, but they taste totally different! It’s an apples to oranges comparison…” your partner might say.

So, whenever you encounter a situation in which you think one item cannot be chosen over another item because they are so different…

… or you feel that two items have no comparable features, don’t forget to say that it’s an “apples to oranges” comparison!

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