I first heard this expression last fall, after stumbling upon a German film by the same title being screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. I became mildly obsessed with the movie for a few months (about a young German boy who travels through Cambodia after completing school) and strangely, it played a huge part in my decision to quite my job and travel.
'Same same, but different' is a way to describe any two things that share certain similarities, but are not identical. As far as I know, the term was born in Southeast Asia (namely Thailand) but I've recently discovered it's more widespread use. My kids say it to eachother often, and it baffles me every time. They could be arguing over the most inane thing, getting all worked up and starting to yell, but the minute one of them whips out 'same same, but different!' a wave of calm comprehension rolls across the other child's eyes, and the argument inevitably stops. The only thing more effective in ending an argument in Korea seems to be a quick game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Before today I had never personally used the term, mainly because I don't fully understand it's significance. But after a lengthy in-class discussion this morning (where I desperately tried to explain why, if Canadian and American Thanksgiving are essentially the same holiday, they take place at different times) I decided to give 'same same' a test run. And so, after answering far too many questions I finally just responded, ''Because. Same same, but different''. And just like that! Problem solved. All I heard was a resounding ''Ohhhhh!'' fill the classroom, as if to say ''Silly teacher! Why didn't you just say so!''
Who knew teaching could be that easy.
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