Apples and oranges
Meaning
Two things that are so fundamentally different that it is illogical or impossible to make a meaningful comparison between them.
Origin
The phrase "apples and oranges" is a vibrant idiom that likely gained widespread popularity in American English by the mid-20th century, though the underlying concept of comparing two distinct items to highlight an invalid comparison is much older. Its brilliance lies in its simplicity: everyone knows an apple and an orange are both fruits, yet they are distinct enough in taste, texture, and appearance to make a direct, quality-based comparison nonsensical. It's a rhetorical shortcut, effectively saying, "What are you even talking about?" when faced with an irrelevant or invalid comparison, cutting through faulty logic with two everyday items from the fruit bowl. This intuitive, everyday metaphor instantly conveys the absurdity of trying to equate two fundamentally different things, making it a staple in discussions about flawed reasoning.
Examples
- Trying to compare the benefits of living in a bustling city to residing on a quiet farm is like comparing apples and oranges; they offer completely different lifestyles.
- The marketing team's sales figures for the new product can't be directly compared to last year's established line—it's apples and oranges.