chalk and cheese

English

Some cheeses superficially resemble chalk.

The surface of chalk may resemble cheese, but it is actually harder than most cheeses.

Alternative forms

• like chalk and cheese

Etymology

Attested in variant form since 1393. The surface of some cheeses, particularly unaged ones, resembles the surface of chalk: white, crumbling, but in substance cheese is much softer than chalk. It is interesting to note that lime chalk and cottage cheese forms a glue-like material used in the restoration of ancient half-timbered houses, perhaps suggesting an alternative original meaning.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

chalk and cheese (uncountable)

1. (British, New Zealand, idiomatic) Said of things that are very different, though possibly superficially alike.

Synonyms

• apples and oranges
• night and day, day and night

Translations

things that are very different

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 天壤之別 / 天壤之别 (zh) (tiānrǎngzhībié)

• Dutch: het verschil van dag en nacht n
• Finnish: yö ja päivä
• French: le jour et la nuit
• German: (superficially similar, but not the same) Äpfel und Birnen, (completely different) wie Tag und Nacht
• Japanese: 月とスッピン (tsuki to suppin)
• Polish: powierzchownie podobny
• Russian: не́бо и земля́ (ru) (nébo i zemljá), не́бо от земли́ (nébo ot zemlí)
• Spanish: parecerse como un huevo a una castaña, como agua y aceite, día y noche
• Urdu: زمین اور آسمان (zamīn aur āsmān, literally “land and sky”)

References

• "chalk and cheese", World Wide Words, Michael Quinion