chalk and cheese
English
Some cheeses look superficially like chalk.
The surface of chalk may look like 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, looks similar to chalk – white, crumbling – but in substance cheese is much softer than chalk.
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Noun
chalk and cheese (uncountable)
- (Britain, New Zealand, idiomatic) Said of things that are superficially alike but very different in substance.
Synonyms
- apples and oranges
- night and day, day and night
Translations
superficially alike but different
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References
- "chalk and cheese", World Wide Words, Michael Quinion