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chalk and cheese

Said of things that are superficially alike but very different in substance.

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.
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Submitted on July 10, 2018

Translation

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Tiza y queso

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Nearby phrases

Some more phrases from our dictionary similar to chalk and cheese

cakes and alecat and mousecease and desistcarrot and stickcat and mouse gamechalk outcheese offchalk upcheese itchew the meat and spit out the boneschalk outbygones be bygones, and fair play for t…caught between the devil and the deep b…by leaps and bounds

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