Bear resemblance

Bear resemblance

“Bear resemblance” is an expression we can use when saying one thing is similar to another thing in appearance or other characteristics.

This is one of those strange expressions where, you can use “bear resemblance” just like that. But you often use another word in the middle, a modifier, like “bears strong resemblance” or “bears little resemblance.”

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s just start with “bear resemblance.” Let’s say we have two things, and we want to say one reminds you of another. They aren’t exactly alike. But they are similar in some respects, especially in appearance.

Have you ever looked at a Euro banknote? They have illustrations of bridges and architecture, things like that. Have you ever tried to identify the landmark that’s displayed on a euro banknote? If you have, you might have had some trouble.

That’s because the images on euro notes are not images of real bridges and real windows and real buildings: they’re illustrations that bear resemblance to real places.

The central bank decided to print generic images that bear resemblance to the styles you find in many places in Europe. We’ll talk more about that in a future lesson.

So that’s “bear resemblance.” But as I said before, we often put a modifier in there. So let’s look at a few modifiers.

“Bear strong resemblance” means to seem very much like something else. The U.S. has a new branch of its armed forces. It’s called the Space Force. Just like we have an Army, a Navy, an Air Force: now we have a Space Force. And in 2020, the Space Force got a logo. I mean, you can’t have a branch of the armed services without a logo. And U.S. Space Force logo bears a strong resemblance to the Starfleet Command logo used in the Star Trek television series.

The Space Force logo bears a strong resemblance to the Star Trek logo; that means, the Space Force logo looks a lot like the Star Trek logo. The creator of Star Trek tweeted an image of it and said, he’s expecting a royalty payment!

John Madden was a legendary football player, coach, and broadcaster. American football. And there’s a comedian who does imitations. His name is Frank Caliendo. And when he does his imitation, Frank Caliendo’s voice bears a strong resemblance to John Madden’s voice. They sound very much alike. And the imitation is very funny.

“Bear little resemblance” goes the other way. That means, “there is very little in common” between two things. And that’s how I used it today. True “Parmigiano Reggiano” cheese follows a strict manufacturing process and must come from one region in Italy. Only three ingredients are allowed. But Parmesan cheese is a general category, and you can make that anywhere.

Today I said that the powdery Parmesan cheese you buy at the grocery store bears little resemblance to authentic Parmigiano Reggiano. That means, “there are very few similarities between the two.” They’re not total opposites. They’re in the same category: they’re both food; they’re both cheese. But the point is, they have very little in common.

Apple Computer was founded in 1976. The first mass-produced product was the Apple II. It was this massive beige box with a gray keypad. Apple still makes computers today. But the computers that Apple makes today bear little resemblance to those first models, which were sold in the 1980s.

Again, they’re in the same category: both the MacBook Pro today and the Apple II of the 80s: they’re both computers. But they don’t have much in common. Today’s MacBooks bear little resemblance to the Apple II’s of before.

You can say, “bear some resemblance” if there is some similarity. When I was a kid, I used to go to Yankee Stadium, a famous baseball stadium in the Bronx, New York. The Yankees had many good years there, but they didn’t want to play in an old stadium forever. So they tore that one down and built a new one.

The new stadium bears some resemblance to the old one. The field dimensions are the same, the colors are similar, the general architecture has a similar look and feel. But of course, it’s all modern and updated. They did a good job of making the new stadium seem like an updated version of the old one. It also honors the history of the old stadium, while having all the amenities that we expect today. So the new stadium bears some resemblance to the old one.

Finally, “bear a striking resemblance” can mean, you’re surprised by how close the comparison is. Some people say that the actress Emma Corrin bears a striking resemblance to Princess Diana, who she plays in the Netflix show “The Crown.” That means, people were surprised by how closely she looked like, behaved like, sounded like, seemed like, the real Princess Diana. They say that in the Crown the actress Emma Corin bears a striking resemblance to the real Princess Diana.

See you next time!

That was a tough one right? Well, they can’t all be easy. You don’t have to use this one a whole lot, but it’s a good one to have in your toolkit and to pull out once in a while.

All right, that’s all for Plain English today. This was lesson number 610, so remember the full lesson is available at PlainEnglish.com/610.

We’ll be back on Thursday. And we’ll pick up a topic I introduced in the expressions section of today’s lesson. I told you that the euro banknotes have illustrations that bear resemblance to actual places—but they’re not actual places. Well the euro banknotes are in for a redesign. And we’ll talk about that on Thursday.