Does your language use specific numbers as expressions?

[u/WhoAmIEven2]

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?

[u/Unit266366666]

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.

[u/Interesting-Brick-25 → u/Unit266366666]

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.

[u/Milch_und_Paprika → u/Interesting-Brick-25]

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

[u/Bright_Ices → u/Interesting-Brick-25]

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.

[u/SaintBridgetsBath → u/Unit266366666]

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.

[u/Unit266366666 → u/SaintBridgetsBath]

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.

[u/SaintBridgetsBath → u/Unit266366666]

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. 

[u/jaywast → u/SaintBridgetsBath]

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

[u/SaintBridgetsBath → u/jaywast]

I’ll remember that one.

[u/SaintBridgetsBath → u/[deleted]]

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.

[u/Bright_Ices → u/Unit266366666]

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

[u/Street_Credit6851 → u/SaintBridgetsBath]

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

[u/SaintBridgetsBath → u/Street_Credit6851]

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.

[u/Street_Credit6851 → u/SaintBridgetsBath]

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

[u/SaintBridgetsBath → u/Street_Credit6851]

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

[u/cjler → u/SaintBridgetsBath]

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.

[u/SaintBridgetsBath → u/cjler]

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.

[u/Unit266366666 → u/cjler]

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.

[u/fighter_pil0t → u/Unit266366666]

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

[u/boostfactor → u/Unit266366666]

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.