Apples to Oranges
Apples and Oranges
An idiom that refers to the apparent differences between items which are popularly thought to be incomparable or incommensurable, such as apples and oranges, as well as 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.
Origin
The metaphor began as "apples and oysters" in John Ray's 1670 proverb collection, with Shakespeare using a similar phrase in The Taming of the Shrew: "As much as an apple doth an oyster." By the 19th century, "oysters" shifted to "oranges," likely due to oranges' increasing familiarity in English-speaking regions. The modern form "comparing apples to oranges" appeared in Broadcasting magazine in 1944, critiquing the comparison of radio and newspaper audiences as fundamentally mismatched.