Apples and Oranges - Criticism of The Idiom

Criticism of The Idiom

Various scholars have questioned the premise of the incomparable nature of apples and oranges, both in serious publications and in weblogs and spoofs (see below). These criticisms of the idiom, however, tend to assume that you cannot compare apples and oranges is a descriptive statement capable of logical or scientific counter-example, without addressing the possibility of interpreting the idiom as a normative statement (meaning something such as it's not fair to judge apples and oranges by the same criteria).