English Help Online's Blog

The idiom I’d like to write about today is “to be a different story”. It is used to talk about when one situation is completely different from another situation. For example:

My father is so unfair. He never lets me borrow the car, but if my brother needs it, then that’s a different story. He lets my brother do anything he wants.

In many countries in the world people get angry if someone is late, but in Latin countries, it’s a different story. My friend from Brazil tells me people there don’t mind if someone is late.

Before the recession, I didn’t worry about money, but now it’s a different story. Now I’m very concerned about saving money.

We could substitute the word “situation” for the word “story” and people would understand, but it wouldn’t sound natural; “to be a different story” is a very natural and useful expression in English. I hope you’ll be able to use it now.   🙂