It is Six of one and half A dozen of the other là gì

In english we have the phrase, "six and half a dozen" to say that neither one idea or another is any better, for example when trying to make a decision between two things and someone asks "which do you prefer?" you can reply, "hmm, i dont know, its six and half a dozen really." What i was wondering, is if there is a similar phrase in french? Can it be literally translated? -> Six et une demi douzaine Thanks folks, love the forums, they are really useful! Just been looking at bon/bien, solved a long mystery for me!!

Moderator note: Multiple threads merged to create this one.

I must admit I had never heard of that English expression so no, you couln't translate it literally [except if you want to have fun ] Maybe you could say: 'c'est du pareil au même'

Just a thought

While in college, we used to say "sex of one and half-a-bosom of another"

Je pense à l'expression : c'est bonnet blanc et blanc bonnet.

Try "choisir entre la peste et le cholera" but it might be a little strong

It's swings and roundabouts.
[Just trying to even up the score with the French]

Six of one, half a dozen of the other This is an English saying, I don't know if it is used in any other languages, but it sort of means how things that are the same can sometimes be called different things. My attempt is as follows: Six d'un, demi-douzaine de l'autre.

Is this correct? Is there a better way to say it?

Bonjour !

I think that, in France, the equivalent could be : c'est bonnet blanc et blanc bonnet.

Other French speaking countries most probably have their own version of it.

Merci, Agnès et zaby. So am I correct in assuming that one could say it either way - "bonnet blanc" or "blanc bonnet"? Or is there a correct order in which to say this?

The expression Agnes and Zaby gave is the one I've seen to express that concept. As in French the adjective usually follows the noun, I assume the fixed expression would be "bonnet blanc et blanc bonnet." In any event, that's the order I've always seen.

Makes sense. I've never heard any one say, that's a half-dozen of one, six of the other.

C'est du pareil au même. C'est kif-kif [bourricot] Dans un autre contexte, pas avec la phrase sur le chemin: C'est chou vert et vert chou.

et j'en oublie sûrement d'autres.

[…]

"[Either one?,] it's six of one half a dozen of the other"

[Either one?,] it's six of one half a dozen of the other"
Une virgule ne devrait-elle pas être placée après one [It's six of one, half a dozen of the other] ou alors and entre les deux propositions — ou prononce-t-on tout ça parfois d'un trait ?

-Oh, I think it was six of one and half a dozen of the other!

Merci, The prof. Dans l'exemple que tu donnes, surtout conjugué au passé, je pense que je n'aurais pas correctement deviné ce que ça signifie [deux enfants, chacun responsable pour moitié].

La traduction est peut-être dans ce cas précis "il n'y en a pas un pour racheter l'autre" = one is as bad as the other ?

Oui, dans le sens que je connais, c'est synonyme de "one is as bad as the other". Merci pour la traduction.

En fait il faut avoir ce virgule. c'est-a-dire il y a une pause obligatoire entre le début et la fin de la phrase "It's six of one [pause] half a dozen of the other"

Et peut être utilisé dans des contextes variés, pour signifier tout simplement que c'est pareil. Par exemple, 2 chemins différents pour parvenir à un lieu, ou 2 méthodes utilisé pour atteindre le même but.

Comment on OLN's translation- it is more positive to say : "One is as good as the other." Perhaps the French phrase implies a negative but the English means six = half a dozen - there is no difference at all so you can just toss up to choose.
More obscure for a fifty-fifty choice would be "Toss a coin" or "Heads or tails" - meaning "eenie meenie miney mo" - sorry for the weird spelling but I had to look that up on google because it's a very common phrase but always spoken and rarely written.
As far as the pause in the middle goes it is necessary for the apposition of the two halves and can be marked by a comma or a dash or just a spoken pause. I would agree with and instead of the comma but or is possible.
guillaume

In my opinion, this doesn't have to necessarily mean that the two things are exactly the same/have exactly the same effect, but can mean that out of two choices, neither is obviously better than the other.

How might we translate this in a football context, i.e.

"You couldn't whistle for a penalty there Jim, it was six of one, half a dozen of the other."?

l'un n'était pas plus en faute que l'autre [suggestion]