six of one, half a dozen of the other
The alternatives are the same: “I can take the bus or the subway to get home; during rush hour, it's six of one, half a dozen of the other.” The phrase, which is sometimes inverted as “half a dozen of one, six of the other,” is merely two ways of expressing the number six.
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Idioms and Phrases with six of one, half a dozen of the other
six of one, half a dozen of the other
The two alternatives are the same, as in Either Route 2 or Long Avenue will get you there—it's six of one, half a dozen of the other. This term simply equates two different ways of saying “six.” [First half of 1800s]
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.