Hi all,

Can anyone enlighten me on the difference in usage between 一緒 and 同じ？ I know the basic distinction between them being "togetherness" (we did such and such together) vs. "sameness" (we are in the same class), but it seems like there's a lot of overlap because 一緒 can be used to describe sameness as well. I always understand the meaning when I hear them used but I don't know which one to choose when I want to describe sameness myself.

Thanks in advance!

僕は彼と同じ背丈だ。

I've not seen this overlap before. Could you give some examples?

You might find these two words easier to understand if you browse sentences with 一緒 and同じ on http://jisho.org/sentences/ (the sentences get longer/more complex as you go through the pages)

I'd explain how I see them as different but I don't want to risk giving wrong info.

Hope the link is helpful

OK, looked into it further and according to Meikyo, what I'm talking about appears to be a Kansai thing! Would explain a lot since I live in Kobe.

{関西などの方言から｝同じであること。
「趣味が御一緒で結構ですね。」
「6年間一緒のチームでやってきた。」

Both of those example sentences could easily have 一緒 replaced with 同じ。

From conversations with friends:
俺は彼と一緒のやつ使っとう。　vs. 俺は彼と同じやつ使ってる。

I will check with my friends / colleagues / 奴s here and see what they say

I think the key part of that definition is から, indicating that it came from Kansai-ben. I think it's common throughout Japan (now) and most of my dictionaries don't even mention Kansai in the definition.

It's definitely used all the time in Fukuoka. I often will ask if something is the same using 同じ and the answer from the other person is 一緒,一緒.

Jarvik, you're right! I done got overzealous with Kansai pride.

Here's what I asked:

「一緒のやつ」と「同じやつ」の違いは何？

Here's what two friends said:

Pal #1: うーん、ほとんど同じやなぁ。。違いはあんまり見つからんかも。
しいて言うなら、「同じやつ」は、何々（物）と同じってことで、「一緒のやつ」は誰々（人）の持ってるやつと同じって感じかも。
でも両方人にも物にも使うから違いは全然気にしなくていいと思う！
「やつ」がついたらどっちもsame as~の意味になるよ。


Pal #2: 同じ意味よ。
「同じ」の方がアカデミックに聞こえるけど、「やつ」がついとるからなぁ

Two completely different answers. なぜかいうと、たぶん日本人は意識せずに使ってるからかな。　This really bothers me though because I will usually say one and then someone will use the other when they reply, like captal mentioned. So I don't know if I am being corrected or not :/