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34-575: To compare is to bring two or more things together (physically or in contemplation) and to examine them systematically, identifying similarities and differences among them. Comparison has a different meaning within each framework of study. Any exploration of the similarities or differences of two or more units is a comparison. In the most limited sense, it consists of comparing two units isolated from each other. To compare things, they must have characteristics that are similar enough in relevant ways to merit comparison. If two things are too different to compare in

68-405: A rhetorical device , references to adding apples and oranges are made in the case of teaching students the proper uses of units . Here, the warning not to "add apples and oranges" refers to the requirement that two quantities with different units may not be combined by addition, although they may always be combined in ratio form by multiplication , so that multiplying ratios of apples and oranges

102-556: A aduna merele cu perele ) also compare pears and apples. In Portuguese, the expression is comparar laranjas com bananas (to compare oranges and bananas). In Serbian , it is Поредити бабе и жабе ( Porediti babe i žabe ) (to compare grandmothers and toads). In Romanian , it is baba și mitraliera (the grandmother and the machine gun) and vaca și izmenele (the cow and the longjohns). Some languages compare dissimilar properties of dissimilar items. In Danish , Hvad er højest, Rundetårn eller et tordenskrald? (Which

136-521: A diff after the Unix diff utility , there are a range of ways to compare data sources and display the results. Some widely used file comparison programs are diff , cmp , FileMerge , WinMerge , Beyond Compare , and File Compare . Apples and oranges A comparison of apples and oranges occurs when two items or groups of items are compared that cannot be practically compared , typically because of inherent or fundamental differences between

170-418: A form of metaphor that explicitly use connecting words (such as like, as, so, than, or various verbs such as resemble ) though these specific words are not always necessary. While similes are mainly used in forms of poetry that compare the inanimate and the living, there are also instances in which similes are used for humorous purposes of comparison. A number of literary works have commented negatively on

204-546: A number of foundational data sets, including the Human Relations Area Files , and the Ethnographic Atlas. Together with Douglas R. White , he developed the widely-used Standard Cross-Cultural Sample , which is currently maintained by the open access electronic journal World Cultures. Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory is a framework for cross-cultural communication , developed by Geert Hofstede in

238-554: A sufficiently large sample so that statistical analysis can be made to show relationships or lack of relationships between the traits in question. These studies are surveys of ethnographic data, or involve qualitative data collection. Cross-cultural studies are applied widely in the social sciences , particularly in cultural anthropology and psychology . The first cross-cultural studies were carried out by 19th-century anthropologists such as Edward Burnett Tylor and Lewis H. Morgan . One of Edward Tylor's first studies gave rise to

272-735: A useful way, an attempt to compare them is colloquially referred to in English as "comparing apples and oranges ." Comparison is widely used in society, in science and the arts. Comparison is a natural activity, which even animals engage in when deciding, for example, which potential food to eat. Humans similarly have always engaged in comparison when hunting or foraging for food. This behavior carries over into activities like shopping for food, clothes, and other items, choosing which job to apply for or which job to take from multiple offers, or choosing which applicants to hire for employment. In commerce, people often engage in comparison shopping : attempting to get

306-440: Is a discursive strategy. There are a few important points to bear in mind when one wants to make a comparison. First of all, one has to decide, in any given work, whether one is mainly after similarities or differences. It is very difficult, for example, to say, let alone prove, that Japan and China or Korea are basically similar or basically different. Either case could be made, depending on one's angle of vision, one's framework, and

340-447: Is allowed. Similarly, the concept of this distinction is often used metaphorically in elementary algebra . Cross-cultural studies Cross-cultural studies , sometimes called holocultural studies or comparative studies , is a specialization in anthropology and sister sciences such as sociology , psychology , economics , political science that uses field data from many societies through comparative research to examine

374-517: Is highest, the Round Tower or a thunderclap?), referring to the size of the former and the sound of the latter. In Russian , сравнивать тёплое с мягким ( sravnivatʹ tjoploje s mjagkim ) (to compare warm and soft) is used. In Argentina , a common question is ¿En qué se parecen el amor y el ojo del hacha? (What does love and the eye of an axe have in common?). In Colombia , confundir la mierda con la pomada (to confuse shit with ointment)

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408-518: Is like comparing "apples and sewing machines." The idea is that although dissimilar, apples and oranges are at least fruits and at least share rudimentary similarities, whereas comparing them to something entirely different, such as pine cones or light bulbs, highlights how patently absurd making a comparison between the two is. This may be extended even further, comparing the fruit to non-physical concepts, such as "apples and jury nullification ". A particular related idiom found in accounting and economics

442-440: Is that of the "apples to apples comparison"; such comparisons are meant to filter out such complicating factors as accounting standards, size and scale and time periods. For example, same-store sales is widely used as measurement because it allows a direct comparison of how the business is doing ignoring growth, which can be a significant complicating factor. At least two tongue-in-cheek scientific studies have been conducted on

476-431: Is used. In Polish , a similar idiomatic question is co ma piernik do wiatraka? (What does the gingerbread have to do with the windmill?). In Chinese , a similar phrase is used: 风马牛不相及 ( fēng mǎ niú bù xiāng jí ) (horses and cattle won't mate with each other). A humorous variant is to replace "oranges" with something utterly dissimilar to apples; most famously, Jack Horner said that comparing science and religion

510-508: The 1970s. It describes the effects of a society's culture on the values of its members, and how these values relate to behavior, using a structure derived from factor analysis . The original theory proposed four dimensions along which cultural values could be analyzed: individualism - collectivism ; uncertainty avoidance ; power distance (strength of social hierarchy) and masculinity-femininity (task-orientation versus person-orientation). It has been refined several times since then. With

544-578: The Eastern Mediterranean 1560–1660 Avner Ben-Zaken has argued that cross-cultural exchanges take place at a cultural hazy locus where the margins of one culture overlaps the other, creating a "mutually embraced zone" where exchanges take place on mundane ways. From such a stimulating zone, ideas, styles, instruments and practices move onward to the cultural centers, urging them to renew and update cultural notions. The modern era of cross-cultural studies began with George Murdock (1949), who set up

578-451: The belief that there is a drive within individuals to gain accurate self-evaluations. The theory explains how individuals evaluate their own opinions and abilities by comparing themselves to others to reduce uncertainty in these domains, and learn how to define the self. Following the initial theory, research began to focus on social comparison as a way of self-enhancement, introducing the concepts of downward and upward comparisons and expanding

612-456: The best deal for a product by comparing the qualities of different available versions of that product and attempting to determine which one maximizes the return on the money spent. In the twenty-first century, as shopping has increasingly been done on the internet , comparison shopping websites have developed to aid shoppers in making such determinations. When consumers and others invest excessive thought into making comparisons, this can result in

646-440: The central statistical issue of cross-cultural studies: phylogenetic autocorrelation also known as Galton's problem . In the recent decades historians and particularly historians of science started looking at the mechanism and networks by which knowledge, ideas, skills, instruments and books moved across cultures, generating new and fresh concepts concerning the order of things in nature. In Cross-Cultural Scientific Exchanges in

680-475: The comparing apples and oranges defense should no longer be considered valid. This is a somewhat startling revelation. It can be anticipated to have a dramatic effect on the strategies used in arguments and discussions in the future." A second study, written by Stamford Hospital 's surgeon -in-chief James Barone and published in the British Medical Journal , noted that the phrase apples and oranges

714-421: The comparison of adjectives and adverbs is degree of comparison. Academically, comparison is used between things like economic and political systems. Political scientist and historian Benedict Anderson has cautioned against use of comparisons without considering the relevant framework of things being compared: It is important to recognise that comparison is not a method or even an academic technique; rather, it

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748-423: The comparisons made between wit and wit, courage and courage, beauty and beauty, birth and birth, are always odious and ill taken?" Editing documents, program code, or any data always risks introducing errors. Displaying the differences between two or more sets of data, file comparison tools can make computing simpler, and more efficient by focusing on new data and ignoring what did not change. Generically known as

782-524: The conclusions towards which one intends to move. Anderson notes as an example that "[i]n the jingoist years on the eve of the First World War , when Germans and Frenchmen were encouraged to hate each other, the great Austro-Marxist theoretician Otto Bauer enjoyed baiting both sides" by comparing their similarities, "saying that contemporary Parisians and Berliners had far more in common than either had with their respective medieval ancestors". Notably,

816-838: The idiom is comparer des pommes et des poires (to compare apples and pears) or comparer des choux et des carottes (to compare cabbages and carrots). The former is the same as the German Äpfel mit Birnen vergleichen. In Latin American Spanish , it is comparar papas y boniatos (to compare potatoes and sweet potatoes) or, for all varieties of Spanish , comparar peras con manzanas (to compare pears and apples) or sumar peras con manzanas (to add pears and apples). In Peninsular Spanish , juntar churras con merinas (mix Churras with Merinos, two breeds of sheep) and confundir el tocino con la velocidad (confuse bacon and speed). Italian ( sommare le mele con le pere ) and Romanian (

850-560: The involvement of Johnny Appleseed , and color. The Annals of Improbable Research subsequently noted that the "earlier investigation was done with more depth, more rigour, and, most importantly, more expensive equipment" than the British Medical Journal study. On April Fools' Day 2014, The Economist compared worldwide production of apples and oranges from 1983 to 2013, and noted them to be "unrelated variables". While references to comparing apples and oranges are often

884-408: The motivations of social comparisons. Human language has evolved to suit this practice by facilitating grammatical comparison , with comparative forms enabling a person to describe a thing as having more or less of a characteristic than another thing, or to describe a thing in a group as having the most or least of that characteristic relative to the group. The grammatical category associated with

918-414: The objects. The idiom , comparing apples and oranges , refers to the differences between items which are popularly thought to be incomparable or incommensurable , such as apples and oranges . The idiom may also indicate that a false analogy has been made between two items, such as where an apple is faulted for not being a good orange . The idiom is not only used in English. In European French

952-454: The phrase "comparative studies" is generally used to refer to cross-cultural studies , within the fields of sociology and anthropology . Émile Durkheim , one of the founders of the field of sociology, said of this term that "comparative sociology is not a particular branch of sociology; it is sociology itself". The primary use of comparison in literature is with the simile , a figure of speech that directly compares two things. Similes are

986-518: The practice of comparison. For example, 15th-century English poet John Lydgate wrote "[o]dyous of olde been comparsionis", which was reflected by many later writers, such as William Shakespeare , who included the line in Much Ado About Nothing , "comparisons are odious". Miguel de Cervantes , in a passage in Don Quixote , wrote, "is it possible your pragmatical worship should not know that

1020-663: The problem of analysis paralysis . Humans also tend to compare themselves and their belongings with others, an activity also observed in some animals. Children begin developing the ability to compare themselves to others in elementary school. In adults, this can lead to unhappiness when a person compares things that they have to things they perceived as superior and unobtainable that others have. Some marketing relies on making such comparisons to entice people to purchase things so they compare more favorably with people who have these things. Social comparison theory , initially proposed by social psychologist Leon Festinger in 1954, centers on

1054-443: The scope of human behavior and test hypotheses about human behavior and culture. Cross-cultural studies is the third form of cross-cultural comparisons. The first is comparison of case studies, the second is controlled comparison among variants of a common derivation, and the third is comparison within a sample of cases. Unlike comparative studies, which examines similar characteristics of a few societies, cross-cultural studies uses

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1088-487: The subject, each of which concluded that apples can be compared with oranges reasonably easily and on a low budget, and the two fruits are quite similar. The first study, conducted by Scott Sandford of the NASA Ames Research Center , used infrared spectroscopy to analyze both apples and oranges. The study, which was published in the satirical science magazine Annals of Improbable Research , concluded: "...

1122-556: The widespread access of people to the Internet and the high influence of online social networks on daily life, users behavior in these websites have become a new resource to perform cross-cultural and comparative studies. A study on Twitter examined the usage of emoticons from users of 78 countries and found a positive correlation between individualism-collectivism dimension of Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory and people's use of mouth-oriented emoticons. Another user experience study on

1156-471: Was appearing with increasing frequency in the medical literature, with some notable articles comparing " Desflurane and propofol " and " Salmeterol and ipratropium " with "apples and oranges". The study also found that both apples and oranges were sweet, similar in size, weight, and shape, that both are grown in orchards , and both may be eaten, juiced, and so on. The only significant differences found were in terms of seeds (the study used seedless oranges),

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