{"id":163,"date":"2021-11-02T16:40:46","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T16:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=163"},"modified":"2021-11-02T16:41:01","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T16:41:01","slug":"chalk-and-cheese-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/chalk-and-cheese-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Chalk and Cheese - Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When using the idiom \"<em>chalk and cheese<\/em>,\" you're <strong>referring to two items, tasks, people, or ideologies<\/strong> that are entirely different from one another. The phrase <em>still has a use today<\/em>, and many people use it in informal and formal settings to describe differences.<\/p>\n<p>This idiom dates all the way back to the 13th century, and it remains relevant today. The \"<em>chalk<\/em>\" and the \"<em>cheese<\/em>\" can refer to many different items, people, ideologies, or any situation where you want to compare two opposites.<\/p>\n<p>Let's look at the origins and meanings of this phrase and how to structure the idiom in a sentence.<\/p>\n<h2>Chalk and Cheese Meaning<\/h2>\n<p>\"<em>Chalk and cheese<\/em>\" is an idiom <u>describing two polar opposites<\/u>. You'll use this phrase when you want to describe two or more <strong>items, people, animals, food types, and more<\/strong>. Essentially, the idiom refer to having nothing common with someone else or a lack of similarity. It's a short and snappy phrase-making clever use of alliteration.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Chalk and Cheese | Ask Linda! | Idioms\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TaWu9U0GqMY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Chalk and Cheese Example Usage<\/h2>\n<p>When using the idiom \"<em>chalk and cheese<\/em>,\" you'll be <u>comparing opposites<\/u>, usually in an informal setting, but it's also useful in some formal situations.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>My sister and I come from the same parents, we have the same genetics, but we're as different as <em>chalk and cheese<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>What you do in public and how you behave at home is as different as <em>chalk and cheese<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Comparing Ricks BMW to Skylar's VW Bug is like <em>chalk and cheese<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>The summer and winter seasons in the UK are as different as <em>chalk and cheese<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>We can't partner with that company; our business models are like c<em>halk and cheese<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Chalk and Cheese Origin<\/h2>\n<p>The origin of \"<em>chalk and cheese<\/em>\" comes from the UK in the 13th century. Some shopkeepers would try to <em>stretch their profits<\/em> by adding chalk into the ingredients when making cheese to add more weight to the final product.<\/p>\n<p>However, customers would catch onto this trick over time and use the phrase to highlight the difference between good and bad cheese producers.<\/p>\n<h2>Phrases Similar to Chalk and Cheese<\/h2>\n<p>There are plenty of idioms that are similar to \"<em>chalk and cheese<\/em>.\" They refer to severe differences in products, people, personality, businesses, ideologies, and more. You can use the idiom whenever you're comparing things or people that are opposites. Here are a few examples of similar phrases.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It's like \"<em>apples and oranges<\/em>.\"<\/li>\n<li>As <em>different as X and Y<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Like <em>night and day<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Like <em>fire and ice<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li><em>Good and evil<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>The <em>dark and the light<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Phrases Opposite to Chalk and Cheese<\/h2>\n<p>If you're using the opposite of <em>chalk and cheese<\/em>, then you're describing similar things. Some opposite idioms would be the following.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Two peas in a pod.<\/li>\n<li>Likeminded individuals.<\/li>\n<li>We fit together like a glove.<\/li>\n<li>Like white on rice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n<p>The <u>correct phrasing<\/u> of the idiom is as follows.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Chalk and cheese.<\/li>\n<li>As different as <em>chalk and cheese<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Like comparing <em>chalk and cheese<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Ways People May Say Chalk and Cheese Incorrectly<\/h2>\n<p>Some people may use the idiom \"<em>chalk and cheese<\/em>\" in sentences or conversations that <u>don't express the proper meaning<\/u> of the idiom.<\/p>\n<p>Examples would be the following.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dinner and supper are like <em>chalk and cheese.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>My clothing items are <em>chalk and cheese<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Acceptable Ways to Phrase Chalk and Cheese<\/h2>\n<p>When using the idiom \"<em>chalk and cheese<\/em>,\" you're describing a significant difference between two items, people, or ideologies. So, using the phrase requires you to make a comparison.<\/p>\n<p>Modern differentiations of the saying could be \"<em>Chalk and Talk<\/em>.\" In the <u>early 1930s in England<\/u>, this phrase was around, but it never really took off in modern popular culture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-2\">When using the idiom \"chalk and cheese,\" you're referring to two items, tasks, people, or ideologies that are entirely different from one another. The phrase still has a use today, and many people use it in informal and formal settings to describe differences. This idiom dates all the way back to the 13th century, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions\/164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}