east is east, and west is west (and never the twain shall meet)
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Two things are fundamentally incompatible and can never come together.
Hai thứ cơ bản không tương thích và không bao giờ gặp nhau
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Equivalents & related
Lighter cards are two steps away in the meaning graph — equivalents of equivalents, reached via the entry shown on the card.
Common questions
What does “east is east, and west is west (and never the twain shall meet)” mean?
Two things are fundamentally incompatible and can never come together. Literally: Geographic regions
Is “east is east, and west is west (and never the twain shall meet)” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.
What is the closest equivalent?
“nói dễ, làm khó” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.