never the twain shall meet
English
editEtymology
editFrom the poem The Ballad of East and West.[1]
Phrase
edit- (idiomatic) Used to emphasize that two subjects are so different that they cannot coexist or agree with each other.
- 1981 December 27, Charles Bonnell, “Throwing In The Towel”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 23, page 5:
- In Silverstein's terms, Frank is an "excitement seeker" and the lover is a "home builder." Never the twain shall meet. Again, for a while I saw the conflict between the two in the movie as a refreshing examination of a problem many gay couples (of both sexes) face. But […]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Rudyard Kipling (1889) “The Ballad of East and West”, in Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads, published 1919: “Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, […]”