chalk and cheese

English

Some cheeses superficially resemble chalk.

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

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 (Australian):

  (file)

Noun

chalk and cheese (uncountable)

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

   Synonyms: apples and oranges, day and night, night and day

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: niebo i ziemia
• 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