strange bedfellows

Cultural  

1. Unlikely companions or allies; often used in the phrase “politics makes strange bedfellows.”

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strange bedfellows Idioms  

1. A peculiar alliance or combination, as in George and Arthur really are strange bedfellows, sharing the same job but totally different in their views. Although strictly speaking bedfellows are persons who share a bed, like husband and wife, the term has been used figuratively since the late 1400s. This particular idiom may have been invented by Shakespeare in The Tempest (2:2), “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.” Today a common extension is politics makes strange bedfellows, meaning that politicians form peculiar associations so as to win more votes. A similar term is odd couple, a pair who share either housing or a business but are very different in most ways. This term gained currency with Neil Simon's Broadway play The Odd Couple and, even more, with the motion picture (1968) and subsequent television series based on it, contrasting housemates Felix and Oscar, one meticulously neat and obsessively punctual, the other extremely messy and casual.

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Example Sentences

Gas prices have a habit of making strange bedfellows of geopolitical and financial melees.

From MarketWatch

Gas prices have a habit of making strange bedfellows.

From MarketWatch

Taking on prediction markets, it seems, makes for strange bedfellows.

From Barron's

Strange Bedfellows: Artificial intelligence initially threatened to replace consultants.

From The Wall Street Journal

Slumping stocks, rising geopolitical risks and a tired bull market can make for strange bedfellows, however, and the emergence of Treasuries as a port of safety in the current market lull, just days after budget watchdogs warned U.S. debt could reach $64 trillion within the next decade, is a curious development.

From Barron's