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A comparison of apples and oranges occurs when two items or groups of items are compared that cannot be practically compared. The idiom, ''comparing apples and oranges'', refers to the apparent differences between items which are popularly thought to be incomparable or incommensurable, such as apples and oranges. The idiom may also be used to indicate that a false analogy has been made between two items, such as where an ''apple'' is faulted for not being a good ''orange''. ==Variants== The idiom is not unique. In Quebec French, it may take the form ''comparer des pommes avec des oranges'' (''to compare apples and oranges''), while in European French the idiom says ''comparer des pommes et des poires'' (''to compare apples and pears''). In Latin American Spanish, it is usually ''comparar papas y boniatos'' (''comparing potatoes and sweet potatoes'') or commonly for all varieties of Spanish ''comparar peras con manzanas'' (''comparing pears and apples''). In some other languages the term for ''orange'' derives from ''apple'', suggesting not only that a direct comparison between the two is possible, but that it is implicitly present in their names. Fruit other than apples and oranges can also be compared; for example, apples and pears are compared in Danish, Dutch, German, Spanish, Swedish, Croatian, Czech, Romanian, Hungarian, Italian, Slovene, Luxembourgish, Serbian, and Turkish. However, apples are actually more closely related to pears (both are ''rosaceae'') than to oranges. In fact, in the Spanish-speaking world, a common idiom is ''sumar peras con manzanas'', that is, ''to add pears and apples''; the same thing applies in Italian and Romanian, where popular idioms are respectively ''sommare le mele con le pere'' and ''a aduna merele cu perele''. In Czech language the idiom ''míchat jablka s hruškami'' literally means ''to mix apples and pears''. Some languages use completely different items, such as the Serbian ''Поредити бабе и жабе'' (''comparing grandmothers and toads''), or the Romanian ''baba şi mitraliera'' (''the grandmother and the machine gun''); ''vaca şi izmenele'' (''the cow and the longjohns''); or ''țiganul şi carioca'' (''the gypsy and the marker''), or the Welsh ''mor wahanol â mêl a menyn'' (''as different as honey and butter''), while some languages compare dissimilar properties of dissimilar items. For example, an equivalent Danish idiom, ''Hvad er højest, Rundetårn eller et tordenskrald?'' translates literally as ''What is highest, the Round Tower or a thunderclap?,'' referring to the size of the former and the sound of the latter. In Russian, the phrase ''сравнивать тёплое с мягким'' (''to compare warm and soft'') is used. In Argentina, a common question is ''¿En qué se parecen el amor y el ojo del hacha?'' which translates into ''What do love and the eye of an axe have in common?'' and emphasizes dissimilarity between two subjects; in Colombia, a similar (though more rude) version is common: ''confundir la mierda con la pomada'', literally, to confuse shit with salve. In Polish, the expression ''co ma piernik do wiatraka?'' is used, meaning ''What has (is) gingerbread to a windmill?''. In Chinese, a phrase that has the similar meaning is 风马牛不相及 (fēng mǎ niú bù xiāng jí), literally meaning "horses and cattles won't cross into each other's area", and later used to describe things that are totally unrelated and incomparable. A number of more exaggerated comparisons are sometimes made, in cases in which the speaker believes the two objects being compared are ''radically'' different beyond reproach. For example, "oranges with orangutans", "apples with dishwashers", and so on. In English, different fruits, such as pears, plums, or lemons are sometimes substituted for ''oranges'' in this context. Sometimes the two words sound similar, for example, Romanian ''merele cu perele'' (''apples and pears'') and the Hungarian ''szezont a fazonnal'' (''the season with the fashion''). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Apples and oranges」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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