Meaning
Of two people or things that may look superficially alike but are fundamentally different in character, quality or substance. Standard in the patterns 'like chalk and cheese' and 'as different as chalk and cheese'. Chiefly British (also common in New Zealand and Australian English) and little used in American English, where 'apples and oranges' does similar work. Informal and neutral-to-wry; a plain simile of contrast, not an insult in itself. Regional use: British English.
Origin
Medieval in origin and one of the oldest food comparisons in English. The earliest known record is John Gower's Confessio Amantis of the 1390s - 'Lo, how they feignen chalk for chese' - originally about fraudulently passing one thing off as another; The Phrase Finder dates the line to 1390 and suggests Gower himself may have coined the comparison, while Wiktionary notes it is attested in variant form since 1393. The literal basis is that some unaged cheeses look white and crumbly like chalk on the surface yet are utterly different in substance. The Phrase Finder argues the pairing survives chiefly because 'chalk' and 'cheese' are short, alliterating, snappy words, and it dismisses the local tourist-board stories of various English chalk districts as marketing rather than etymology. The phrase has stayed in continuous British use for six centuries.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- as different as chalk and cheese
- different as chalk and cheese
- like chalk and cheese
Usage Examples
- The twins may look alike, but in temperament they are chalk and cheese.
- Critics described the two galleries as chalk and cheese: one experimental, one stubbornly traditional.
- On paper the two jobs sound similar; in practice they are as different as chalk and cheese.