то ли дело

• ТО ЛИ ДЕЛО coll, approv

[Invar; subj-compl with быть (subj: any noun), pres only, or Particle; initial position only; fixed WO]

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⇒ s.o. or sth. is entirely different from, and better than, someone or something else (used to express approval, a positive evaluation of the person, thing etc that is about to be named as opposed to the one named previously):

- то ЛИ дело X ≈ X is quite another matter;

- X is a different story;

- thing X (with person X it) is a different matter (altogether);

- thing X is quite a different thing;

- X is not like that at all;

- X is not at all like [NP].

     ♦ "Всё может случиться: ну, как лопнет [компания], вот я и без гроша. То ли дело в банк" (Гончаров 1). "...Anything might happen - such as your company going bankrupt and leaving me without a penny. A bank is quite another matter" (1b).

     ♦ "А старик, оказывается, в первую мировую войну был у нас в плену и немного говорит по-русски. Но лучше бы он совсем не говорил. Путается, хочет всё объяснить... То ли дело эти молодые немочки, всё с полуслова понимают..." (Искандер 5). "It turned out the old man had been a prisoner of ours in the First World War and spoke a little Russian. But he would have done better not to talk at all. He kept getting tangled up, wanting to explain everything. ...The girls were a different story, they picked up on everything right away" (5a).

     ♦ На что борода - и та [у Момуна] не удалась. Посмешище одно. На голом подбородке две-три волосинки рыжеватые - вот и вся борода. То ли дело видишь: вдруг едет по дороге осанистый старик... (Айтматов 1). Even his [Momun's] beard was nothing but a joke. IWo or three reddish hairs on his chin-that was all there was to it. He wasn't at all like some stately old man you might see riding down the road... (1a).

     ♦ "Вот жизнь-то человеческая! - поучительно произнёс Илья Иванович. - Один умирает, другой родится, третий женится, а мы вот всё стареемся: не то что год на год, день на день не приходится! Зачем это так? То ли бы дело, если б каждый день как вчера, вчера как завтра!.." (Гончаров 1). [context transl] "Such is man's life!" Ilya Ivanovich pronounced sententiously. "One man dies, another is born, a third is married, and we keep growing older. ...There are no two days alike, let alone two years. Why should it be so? Wouldn't it have been nice if every day were like the day before, yesterday just like tomorrow?" (1b).