Tweedledum and Tweedledee en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˌtwiːdəlˈdʌm ən ˌtwiːdəlˈdiː/
Etymology
From Tweedledum and Tweedledee, a pair of identical characters in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. Their names may have originally come from an epigram written by poet John Byrom.
Meanings
-
(derogatory) Two persons or organizations deemed indistinguishable in some way.
The radicals said that Nixon and Humphrey were Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
-
(derogatory) A pair of people who spend a lot of time together, and look and act similarly.
With their apparently identikit backgrounds and bland politicians' patter, the contest has sometimes seemed an incestuous choice between Tweedledum and Tweedledee. When even the promised fratricidal war between the Miliband brothers failed to take off, one newspaper cartoonist illustrated a caricature of the contestants with the caption: Who cares who wins?
2010 August 25, Seumas Milne, “Ed is the only Miliband who offers a genuine alternative”, in The Guardian online:Some officers were starting to call Edendale's two detective chief inspectors Tweedledum and Tweedledee, because they were rarely seen except when they were sitting alongside each other at the head of a briefing.
2007, Stephen Booth, Blood on the Tongue: A Crime Novel:
Coordinates
six of one, half a dozen of the other (two persons or organizations deemed indistinguishable in some way)
Deriveds
Translations (12)
fr Tralalère et Tralali (people who spend a lot of time together, and look and act similarly) · it Pincopanco e Pancopinco (people who spend a lot of time together, and look and act similarly) · eo Fingrumad kaj Fingrumid (people who spend a lot of time together, and look and act similarly) · cmn 半斤八兩 /半斤八两 (people who spend a lot of time together, and look and act similarly) · fr bonnet blanc, blanc bonnet (two persons or organizations deemed indistinguishable in some way) · et eristamatud (people who spend a lot of time together, and look and act similarly) · es Patachunta y Patachún (people who spend a lot of time together, and look and act similarly) · es Tararí y Tarará (people who spend a lot of time together, and look and act similarly) · de Duck und Doof (people who spend a lot of time together, and look and act similarly) · ru Траляля́ и Труляля́ (people who spend a lot of time together, and look and act similarly) · sv två likadana (people who spend a lot of time together, and look and act similarly) · it pappa e ciccia (people who spend a lot of time together, and look and act similarly)
wikipedia: Tweedledum and Tweedledee · wikipedia: Lewis Carroll · wikipedia: John Byrom · wikipedia: Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There