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Which sentence is better? are they same?

  • All people are the same to them
  • All people are the same for them
Jasper
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amanda
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  • possible duplicate of Does the adjective 'same' ALWAYS have the definite article 'the'? – Damkerng T. Jun 18 '14 at 10:58
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    How is it duplicate? This question is about "...same FOR.." Vs. "...same TO.." and mine one was whether 'same' takes 'the' in all cases. – Maulik V Jun 18 '14 at 11:45
  • It asks about the nuance of to and for in this context. Nice question, worth keeping here +1 – Maulik V Jun 18 '14 at 11:58
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    Both are valid, and mean much the same, but idiomatically, *to* is far more common. Google Books "It's all the same to* me"* has a claimed 238,000 instances, whereas "It's all the same for* me"* has just 572. Arguably, *to* emphasises the perception of being the same, where *for* emphasises the actual effect/influence. – FumbleFingers Jun 18 '14 at 11:59
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    possible duplicate of Usage of "to": can "to" here be replaced by "for"? – Kinzle B Jun 18 '14 at 12:34
  • Alicja Z and StoneyB gave you good answers! @amanda – Kinzle B Jun 18 '14 at 12:45
  • And this one: http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/20010/for-me-to-me-which-is-correct-or-better-in-these-examples?lq=1 @amanda – Kinzle B Jun 18 '14 at 12:47
  • @amanda I proposed to close the answer not solely because of 'the same' problem, which was one of the problems that should be addressed in this question before the OP (amanda) edited it after my voted to close as a possible duplicate. But I was interrupted by something else, and soon forgot to add more useful information as I planned. For that, my apologies to the OP. However, there are a few more problems in the OP's sentences that need to be addressed because they make it difficult to answer this question. – Damkerng T. Jun 18 '14 at 14:35
  • To answer this quesion, which is, as @MaulikV pointed out, about 'the nuance of to and for, I think we'll need know who are these them, all people are the same to them or for them "in what way". Without these two facts, it's difficult to answer this question appropriately. Fortunately, FumbleFingers already gave a good explanation for the difference between the same to and the same for in general contexts, and Zhanlong Zheng already posted links to two related questions. – Damkerng T. Jun 18 '14 at 14:36
  • If I had to come up with something that makes sense to me, it might be something weird like this. -- I will use Venusians for the case of All people are the same to them. They came to Earth and thought to themselves, "I can't tell which one of them is which. All people look the same to me." -- As for the other case, All people are the same for them, I will use Martians. They came to Earth and thought to themselves, "All people are the same for me. All of them are equally good for me to eat. Yummy!" – Damkerng T. Jun 18 '14 at 14:37

3 Answers3

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Take a clear example:

Republican or Democrat - they both mean the same to John.

That usage is suggestive of an opinion or position held by John. Essentially (as suggested in an earlier comment by @magistermurphy) a subjective one.

Republican or Democrat - they both mean the same for John.

Suggests that, whoever wins, the outcomes will be the same for John. Here the opinion is more objective or, at least, it is being offered as such by a third person

PerryW
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Which is better will depend on context. The distinction is very subtle and almost entirely idiomatic.

I can't find any official information on this, so I can only give the idiomatic impression of a professional writer.

In my writing I would use "all the same to me" to describe the speakers reactions. The "me" is reacting to something, and the reaction is "it's all the same."

I would use "it's all the same for me" to describe the speakers assessment. The "me" is assessing the impact of something on them and their assessment is "It's all the same"

Jessica Burde
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  • I also know of no official rules, but to my ears, "All people are the same to them," sounds like it emphasizes their subjective, erroneous impression that all people are the same, while "All people are the same for them," points of a less subjective impression, as in "All people are the same for them: unable to help." Do you agree? – Will Murphy Aug 10 '14 at 00:38
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According to Cambridge Dictionaries Online same to you is an idiom and is used as un answer to someone who has greeted or insulted you in order to wish the same thing to them.

Ex:

Happy Christmas! - The same to you!

Get lost! - Same to you!

As for the same for you it means roughly the same thing, but as Fumble Fingers points out in his comment, accentuates the actual effect/influence.

Community
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Lucian Sava
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  • I think the idiom "[the] same to you" is generally used as an independent sentence. The OP's examples don't contain this idiom. I suppose this might be why someone downvoted. –  Jul 22 '14 at 18:00
  • @snailplane, thank you, for clarifying. I was puzzled indeed and didn’t really know the downvote’s reason – Lucian Sava Jul 23 '14 at 08:23