Football Phrase: Six of one and half a dozen of the other

In this week's Weekly Football Phrase we explain the cliche 'Six of one and half a dozen of the other'. Find out more about this phrase by reading the transcript below and listening to the audio.

Six of one and half a dozen of the other

This week's English for football phrase is the cliche 'six of one and half a dozen of the other'. Of course, half a dozen and six are the same thing - remember a dozen is twelve - so when we say six of one and half a dozen of the other we mean that there is little or no difference between two things. You will often hear this phrase when people are unsure about a controversial decision in a game, such as a penalty claim or an offside decision, as they cannot tell whether it was one decision or the other. Sometimes you may hear a shortened version of this phrase: 'six of one' as those listening would be able to understand the full cliche form: Six of one and half a dozen of the other.



Example: The TV pundits were unsure whether the referee's decision was correct or not - they said it was six of one and half a dozen of the other







* You can also find many more examples of soccer vocabulary by going to our football cliches page here and our huge football glossary here.

* This post also features in our podcast show, along with a main report and our weekly predictions.



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