List of proverbial pairs
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This is a list of proverbial or idiomatic pairs or pairs employed in common spoken or written usage. For a complete listing of pairs see Lists of pairs. For a list sorted by name see List of pairs by name.
- Apples and oranges (conceptual; opposing; food)
- Bacon & eggs (complementary; food)
- Bathroom & W.C. (complementary) (British usage) The two essential hygienic plumbing facilities.
- Bed and breakfast (
- Black & white (conceptual; opposing)
- Bread & butter (complementary; food)
- Bread & Roses (Proverbial of women's labor issues, from slogan of the 1912 Lawrence, Massachusetts strikers)
- Bread & water (complementary; food)
- Breaking & entering (legal term)
- Bubble & Squeak (complementary; food) (dish made from leftover potatoes and cabbage)
- Cats & dogs (rivals/opponents)
- Cause and effect
- Cease & desist (Legal idiom)
- Chalk & cheese (rivals/opponents) British phrase, "as different as chalk and cheese"
- Cloak & dagger (idiom) refers to secretive acts
- Coat & tie (equipment; complementary) (The two required articles constituting formal dress)
- Corned beef & cabbage (complementary; food) Proverbial lower-class Irish main course
- Death & taxes (complementary) (proverbial pairing of two inevitabilities)
- Divide & conquer (complementary)
- Fight or flight (opposing)
- Fish & chips (complementary; food)
- Flotsam & Jetsam (complementary; legal)
- Friend or foe (opposing)
- Gin & tonic (complementary; beverages)
- Gin & Vermouth (complementary; beverages)
- ham and eggs (complementary; food)
- Heaven & Earth (opposing)
- Heaven & Hell (opposing)
- Jack & Jill (fictional; companions)
- Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak (colleagues; commercial partners) The proverbial "two Steves in a garage" who founded Apple Computer, Inc.. (with assistance from Mike Markkula)
- King & Country (complementary)
- Mad dogs & Englishmen (complementary; title) Noel Coward song title, referring to creatures that "go out in the mid-day sun" in tropical climes; also motion picture title, name of singing group, name of advertising agency.
- Motherhood & apple pie (complementary) The two primary undisputed American values
- Mutt & Jeff (fictional; companions; comic strip) Creations of Harry Conway "Bud" Fisher; it was the first well-known daily comic strip. Hence also proverbial for any tall-short pair of men.
- Nature or nurture (opposing)
- nuts & bolts (complementary)
- Oranges and lemons (complementary) (Nursery rhyme)
- Peaches & cream (complementary)
- Salt & pepper (complementary; food)
- Salt & vinegar (complementary; food)
- Shave & a haircut (complementary)
- Skull & Bones (complementary) Name of Yale secret society.
- Skull & Crossbones (complementary) Symbol of death, piracy, and poison.
- Silk & Satin (proverbial pairing of two lustrous, luxurious fabrics)
- Smoke & mirrors (The illusionist's elements
- Sticks & stones (complementary) Sticks and stone may break my bones, but words will never hurt me
- Thunder & lightning (complementary)
- Tom & Jerry (fictional; rivals/opponents; animated cartoon); also (
- Tweedledum & Tweedledee (complementary) Proverbial for an trivial difference; originally creations of John Byrom, referring to musical controversy; also (fictional; twins) creations of Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass