Comparing apples and oranges

 

Comparing apples and oranges 

Watch this on YouTube here - Fruit Video - YouTube Video

Meaning:

Comparing apples and oranges means that one is trying to draw similarities between two things that are not similar, an unfair comparison. Though one may argue that apples and oranges are both fruit, they do not look, taste, feel, or smell the same. 

“like apples to oranges.”

Origin:

The idiom has its roots in an older phrase, comparing apples and oysters, which was seen in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew in 1592 it reads:

“As much as an apple doth an oyster, and all one.” 

John Ray repeated that comparison in his 1670 book of proverbs, where he also spoke about comparing oysters to apples.

Between the late 1600s and the late 1800s, the oysters were dropped in favor of oranges in the comparison.

The expression comparing apples and oranges came into use in the 1800s, though the term's popularity didn’t take off until the latter half of the twentieth century.

We see the comparison of fruits being used in other languages before it was fully translated to English. A few sayings are:

In Latin American Spanish, it is usually- comparar papas y boniatos (comparing potatoes and sweet potatoes)

for Spanish-speaking countries they are- comparar peras con manzanas (comparing pears with apples).

In Quebec French, they use the form as we see it today they compare apples to oranges - comparer des pommes avec des oranges (to compare apples with oranges), 

while in European French the idiom compares apples to pears - comparer des pommes et des poires (to compare apples and pears) 

and comparer des choux et des carottes (to compare cabbages and carrots).

Example:

Today we still use the saying to express - that comparing two things is not the same. Even though they may be in the same group, like fruit, they are to different to compare; they are not similar enough. An example sentence is:

“To compare Italian food with Mexican food is to compare apples with oranges.“

Watch this on YouTube here - Fruit Video - YouTube Video