Advertisement

Advertisement

six of one, half a dozen of the other

  1. The alternatives are the same: “I can take the bus or the subway to get home; during rush hour, it's six of one, half a dozen of the other.” The phrase , which is sometimes inverted as “half a dozen of one, six of the other,” is merely two ways of expressing the number six.


Discover More

Idioms and Phrases

The two alternatives are the same, as in Either Route 2 or Long Avenue will get you there—it's six of one, half a dozen of the other . This term simply equates two different ways of saying “six.” [First half of 1800s]

Advertisement

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


six o'clock swillsix-pack