What does “like a box of chocolates” mean?
Trying Durian, The Smelliest Fruit In The World
B1 English listening practice · American English · Picked for people who know some
Tasting durian for the first time, one friend reaches for a famous comparison: «It’s a box of chocolates, but a bad box of chocolates. You don’t know what you’re gonna get.» The idiom “like a box of chocolates” means you can’t predict what you’ll get, one bite sweet, the next one foul. It fits durian perfectly.
The phrase comes straight from the 1994 film Forrest Gump: “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” Americans now use it for any unpredictable situation, a new job, a blind date, an exotic fruit. A friendly, everyday way to say “who knows?”
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Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-US 2012 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸English food-challenge and taste-test videos trying durian and other strange fruit.
- ▸In casual English for any unpredictable situation (“it’s a bit of a box of chocolates”).
- ▸English idiom lessons on expressions that come from famous movies.
- ▸Among friends daring each other to try something weird.