Apples vs oranges or pears? How to compare what shouldn’t be compared in your language.

27 comments

1. “Co ma piernik do wiatraka?”

   Litterally “What does gingerbread have to do with a windmill?”.

2. Same in Dutch. Geen appels met peren vergelijken.

   Apples and pears.

3. In English, apples and pears is Cockney rhyming slang for stairs.

4. Hungarian:

   “A szezont a fazonnal” (The season with the fashion)

   “A Jézuskát a géppuskával” (Baby Jesus with the machine gun)

   There are also funny sayings for confusing similar sounding sentences, such as “Nem mindegy, hogy sír mellett szarni, vagy szar mellett sírni” (Shitting next to a grave isn’t equivalent to crying next to a [pile of] shit)

   and

   “Nem mindegy, hogy kecsesen ringó fecske, vagy recsegve fingó kecske” (An elegantly fluttering swallow isn’t equivalent to a goat doing a crackling fart)

5. I wouldn’t say it’s an extremely common phrase, but I think in Spanish it’s “peras y manzanas” (“pears and apples”).

6. In Swedish, it’s: “Jämföra äpplen och päron” – “Compare apples and pears”.

7. There is a saying ‘prendere pomi per peri’ (understanding apples as pears), but it has another meaning, falling into gross oversights and misunderstandings, misinterpreting. There are similar expressions with other things, such as ‘prendere fischi per fiaschi’ (understanding whistles as flasks) or ‘prendere lucciole per lanterne’ (understanding fireflies as lanterns). In English, the equivalent expression is ‘getting the wrong end of the stick’.

8. In Spain we compare two kinds of goats. I do not have enough vocabulary for the translation: comparar churras con merinas.

9. In Portugal we say you can’t mistake or mix “alhos com bugalhos”.

   “Alho” means garlic and “bugalho” means oak apple or oak gall.

10. We compare apples with pears (“jabka s hruškama” in general Czech, standard would be “jablka s hruškami”) too

11. In Denmark it’s “æbler og bananer” so apples and bananas. Still fruits, but less similar than apples and pears.

12. I think the most well-known similar saying is:

    “*Üks räägib aiast, teine aiaaugust*” – One is talking about the fence, the other one about the gap/gate in the fence. It is used about both, people focusing on different aspects and not understanding each others point (including comparing stuff that cannot be compared), and people avoiding the real point on purpose (demagogy tactics).

    There might be not so very well known options that are more similar, but I could not find anything with google right now – maybe someone else will.

13. Romanian: “Nu compara merele cu perele!”

    Apples vs pears.

14. I’ve heard both “epler og pærer” (apples and pears) and “epler og bananer” (apples and bananas), but I wouldn’t say either of them are very commonly used expressions.

15. I can’t remember anything about fruit in this context, but there some other idioms that could be usef with the same meaning.

    Кто в лес кто по дрова – some to the forest, someone’s for firewood. It’s more about situations where people don’t understand each other or talking about absolutely different things

    Мухи отдельно, котлеты отдельно – flies separately, cutlets separately. Basically it means “let’s stop doing or discussing immiscible things”

    Путать теплое с мягким – confusing warm with soft

16. In Hungarian we say

    “Kevered a szezont a fazonnal.” Which means “you are mistaking season for style” or if you wanted to keep the rhyme then something like “you are mistaking season with reason.” We say it when someone compares two wildly different things or insists on two different things being the same or makes a false statement that is sort of the opposite of the truth.

    There are also some funny sentences that sound similar to indicate that two things are actually different:

    Nem mindegy, hogy helyet cserélsz, vagy csehet herélsz. – It’s not the same whether you switch placed or neuter a Czech.

    Nem mindegy, hogy csapba szarsz, vagy szarba csapsz. – It’s not the same whether you shit in a sink or hit shit.
    In English you could say “it’s not the same
    To shit in a sink or to sink in shit.”

    Nem mindegy, hogy banya, vagy bánya. – There is a difference between a witch and a mine.

17. It is similar. “Elmayla ve Armutu bir tutmak” – “to consider something as same as an Apple and a Pear.”

18. In France it’s “Ne mélange pas les choux et les carottes” which means don’t mix cabbages and carrots

19. I can’t think of one we often use in greek other than “έτερον εκάτερον” (loosely “this is something, and that is something else”) but there is also one that basically says “don’t confuse this for that” but it’s mostly things of different quality. Also it’s vulgar and I don’t know if people want to see such content so if there is interest I will reply with the phrase if anyone comments down asking for it.

20. In Serbian, we say “mešaš babe i žabe” – you’re comparing grandmas with frogs

21. “No confundas el tocino con la velocidad” is sometimes used in Spain. It literally means “Don’t mistake bacon for speed”, to express that two concepts have nothing in common.

22. Naps i cols. Turnips and cabbages. Turnip can also refer to male and cabbage to female.

23. *Barrejar naps i cols*, “mixing turnips and cabbages”.

    *Confondre els ous amb els caragols,* “mistaking the eggs (or balls?) for the snails”.

    *Contestar Glòries a Matines*, “answering Glories to/at Matins”.
    I’m not sure, but I think the “glories” here refers to the *gloria in excelsis Deo* chant from Latin mass, and Matins is the first hour of prayers, so I guess that chant didn’t correspond to that prayer? Do any Christians here know?

    *Prendre la A per la B*, “taking A for B”.

24. In Greek, traditionally, you use the expression “Αλλά τα μάτια του λαγού, και αλλά της κουκουβάγιας”, “Different are the eyes of the hare from the eyes of the owl”, meant to point out that certain things can appear similar, but are actually very different.

    This has being supplanted by the more common, and vulgar, phrase “μπέρδεψε ς την βούρτσα με την πουτσα”, “You’ve mistaken the hairbrush for a dick”, meaning you completely misunderstood a concept.

25. Maybe it’s only me, but I can think only about slightly vulgar phrase>!”compare dick to finger/порівняти хєр з пальцем”!<. I am certain that this is not the most common expression for this, it’s just the only one I can remember from my background rising in poor rural region.

26. As far as I know, Greek does not have that directly equivalent phrase format, outside of the understood-as-Anglicism “συγκρίνεις μήλα με πορτοκάλια” (you are comparing apples to oranges).

    There’s a few different formats that are used instead:

    * Άλλα αντ’ άλλα, της Παρασκευής το γάλα (semi-literally: [you are talking about] other [things] instead of other [things], and Friday’s milk)
    * Μπερδεύεις την πούτσα με την βούρτσα (literally: you are mixing up the dick [putsa] with a brush [vurtsa])
    * Μαζί μιλάμε, χώρια καταλαβαινόμαστε (literally: we are talking together, but understanding separately)
    * [chiefly Cypriot] Άλλα λόγια, θκειέ παπά (semi-literally: talking [about] different [things], uncle Dad)

27. “Estás mezclando peras con higos” means “You’re mixing pears with figs” in spanish. Another similar expression we have is “Estás mezclando el tocino con la velocidad” meaning “You’re mixing bacon with speed” (the idea is that they have nothing in common)