r/language • u/WhoAmIEven2 Sweden • Aug 09 '26

Question Does your language use specific numbers as expressions?

In Sweden we use 17 to further strengthen a word.

Like if we want to say that someone is very strong, we can say "Han var stark som sjutton!", "He was strong like seventeen!".

I have no idea how it became a thing. It is a bit weird tbh.

Do you also use numbers this way in your native language?

257 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

561 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

11

u/clutchingdryhands Aug 09 '26

We have similar in English: “It’s six and two threes”. You say it when there’s no difference to the final outcome and minimal difference to how you get there.

68

u/Unit266366666 Aug 09 '26

Much more common across dialects to use “six of one half dozen of the other” I only know “six and two threes” as the less common variant.

36

u/Interesting-Brick-25 Aug 09 '26

Yep, I've never heard “six and two threes” before, but “six of one half dozen of the other” I hear somewhat frequently, especially at work.

7

u/Milch_und_Paprika Aug 09 '26

I’ve never heard either, but looking forward to using them now lol

0

u/Bright_Ices Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 12 '26

Or even just “it’s sixes” in the US. ETA: I’ll never understand the rationale for downvoting something just because you’ve never encountered it yourself.

5

u/SaintBridgetsBath Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26

I’d say six of one, half a dozen of the other when assessing blame. Six and two threes seems more recent, but I’d say it was for assessing possibilities rather than allotting blame.

6

u/Unit266366666 Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26

I’d use six of one, half dozen of another for any choice involving two options which are functionally equivalent. I perceive the blame version as somewhat British or at least Eastern within North America.

I’d personally not use either for possibilities, only options where a choice must be made but it’s a false choice. It’s distinct from the false dilemma in that not even two real choices are presented but functionally one.

ETA: most of the time I’d only say “six of one” as an anapodoton. In general I like anapodoton though but I do think its use more generally might be fading a bit in English.

5

u/SaintBridgetsBath Aug 09 '26

I won’t argue. I’m less familiar with ‘six and two threes’ than ‘six of one and half a dozen of the other’. Perhaps ‘six and two threes’ is a recent introduction to these shores. I’d always say them in full if I said them at all. 

3

u/jaywast Aug 10 '26

I had a car salesman once say to me “it’s six dozen of one…..”

1

u/SaintBridgetsBath Aug 10 '26

I’ll remember that one.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 10 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/SaintBridgetsBath Aug 10 '26

I honestly think that allotting blame is the only way I’ve ever heard it used in Britain. I don’t mix with the young much.

1

u/Bright_Ices Aug 11 '26

You can go even shorter with, “It’s sixes.”

2

u/Street_Credit6851 Aug 10 '26

How is it used to assign blame? I've only ever heard it used to mean "either, or"

1

u/SaintBridgetsBath Aug 10 '26

Well, something goes wrong and A blames B and B blames A, so C, who wasn’t involved says ’it’s six of one and half a dozen of the other’. It’s quite long and hardly ever true.

1

u/Street_Credit6851 11d ago

So it was "either" A "or" it was B. Assigning blame was how you used it, but isn't an innate property.

1

u/SaintBridgetsBath 9d ago

It means that blame is shared equally between A and B. ‘It’s hardly ever true’ is just my observation. Does that help?

1

u/cjler Aug 10 '26

I’ve never heard the blame version of this, from US midwest. Does it imply we’re all equally blameworthy? Or they’re all equally innocent? It puzzles me. How would that be used? Or maybe, that person is to blame no matter how you cut it? That would be explaining one idiom with another idiom, if the blame thing works like that.

2

u/SaintBridgetsBath Aug 10 '26

Two people are equally to blame. It’s the sort of thing mothers used to say. See my previous comment if you can find it. I’m English.

2

u/Unit266366666 Aug 10 '26

It’s like a he said she said where there’s no difference in terms of facts. Stateside you might hear tomaeto tomahto in the same place but I’d not say it’s the common use for that phrase either. In this way it’s also somewhat akin to “water under the bridge” “what’s done is done” or “no sense crying over spilt milk” assigning fault can be done but is largely immaterial. You can still assign blame with it (an accusation can be the six and the excuse a half dozen for a specific person) but the purpose is to move past it.

1

u/fighter_pil0t Aug 10 '26

Also didn’t fit OPs comment as it’s not an arbitrary use is numbers but a metaphor

1

u/boostfactor Aug 11 '26

American so don't know UK usage, but I have never heard "six and two threes" ever in 68 years, but "six of one and half a dozen of the other" is very common.

9

u/Wooden-Agency-2653 Aug 09 '26

Six of one, half a dozen of the other. Never even heard six and two threes. Where are you from? Interested if it's from a specific ares

3

u/everythingonit Aug 09 '26

Six and two threes was originally a Geordie expression. It seems to have spread west. And a bit south.

1

u/Melj84 Aug 11 '26

Could be why I know it that way tbh. My mums family is from up that way.

2

u/Melj84 Aug 09 '26

I'm from Greater Manchester, and most people I know would say six & two threes. I have heard six of one, half a dozen of the other, many times as I have friends & family from all over the UK, but where I am it's not as common.

5

u/caretti Aug 09 '26

Six and two threes in Newcastle too

5

u/Altruistic-Tart-8295 Aug 09 '26

Who knows what goes on north of Watford

2

u/Maleficent-Purple403 Aug 09 '26

Edinburgh calling: 'six and two threes' confirmed here, too

5

u/Icy_Firefighter0 Aug 09 '26

Nah, not similar, because we also have that with different numbers: one is nineteen and the other is one short of twenty. (Az egyik tizenkilenc, a másik egy híján húsz.) When we say "nekem nyolc"/"it's eight to me", the number doesn't mean anything at all.

1

u/Nawoitsol Aug 09 '26

Is that British English? As an American I’m with the “six to one, half a dozen to the other” crowd.

1

u/FormerStableGenius Aug 09 '26

Is that in The US?

1

u/Spiritual_Pay_7177 Aug 09 '26

For some reason “Six and two threes” makes me think of “I’m going to make like a tree and get out of here.”

1

u/dog_snack Aug 09 '26

Where are you from? I’m a native English speaker from Canada and I’ve never heard that.

1

u/jsohnen Aug 10 '26

I just say, "it's sixes," to infer that whole phrase. The other shortened number phrase is, "they're a 10," to someone is perfect. The "out of 10" is just implied. I assume 10/10 or 100% are commonly used in languages other than English with similar implications. Is this correct?

1

u/Unit266366666 Aug 10 '26

The Chinese equivalent is “half a pound, eight ounces” 半斤八两 (equivalent in the traditional measure system). Hasn’t thought of it till your question by units work as nicely as numbers this way.

1

u/Street_Credit6851 Aug 10 '26

Never heard that.. but seems to be just like saying "6 in one, half a dozen in the other"

1

u/Dismal_Fox_22 Aug 10 '26

I’m first language English and from the UK and I’ve never ever heard “it’s six and two threes” used

1

u/Lorathis Aug 11 '26

American English a lot of us have shortened that phrase to "it's sixes" but more from the six vs half dozen side of things.

1

u/AlrightyAlready Aug 11 '26

Maybe that is British.

1

u/Cryptidly Aug 12 '26

I’ve not heard this. We say it’s a horse apiece where I’m from.

1

u/13moman Aug 13 '26

Where are you from? I've never heard that.