same, same, but different

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Phrase

same, same, but different

1. Almost the same thing, but with some differences.
   • 2010, Carl Hoffman, The Lunatic Express, →ISBN, page 270:

     A day before I'd stepped off a train in Vladivostok in snow and ice, still hung over from the vodka hug-fest with the silver-toothed gangsters, India and Afghanistan just over my shoulder, on my mind, and then, wham, a taxi through warm L.A. -- "Fuck, man, look at that traffic!" said the driver, who'd emigrated to the U.S. from Jordan when he was sixteen -- and I was plunging into a place I hadn't seen in months. As a T-shirt in India read, "Same, same, but different."

   • 2011, Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw., Same, Same But Different, →ISBN:

     I have pets too, but not nearly as many as you! Same, same but different!

   • 2012, Abhijit Bhaduri, Mediocre But Arrogant, →ISBN:

     So we are same same but different as they say in some parts of the world.

   • 2012, Stefan Larsson, Procedural Selling, →ISBN, page 121:

     Nothing MOVES from one level to the next without you ACTIVATING the market and the prospects. As the people say in Cambodia; Same, same but DIFFERENT.