The Cheese Got Stinky & Other Cheesy Idioms

When does “cheese” not signify a wedge of creamy lusciousness? When it represents revenge, a hot date, or a bad hairdo. While the Danes nibble their Havarti, Cypriots enjoy their Halloumi and Swedes slice their Herrgårdsost, speakers of languages around the world creatively employ their various terms for cheese in their own particular idioms.

Here’s a look at the way 15 cultures enlist “cheese” to scold, warn, or ridicule their citizens.

Dutch – De kaas van je brood laten eten = “To let the cheese on your bread be eaten” = To be overly generous. As a typical Dutch lunch consists of two ingredients, bread and cheese, if you let someone eat the best part (your cheese), you’re probably too giving.

English -– The Big Cheese = the most important person. Etymological research suggests this American food idiom was actually imported from India via Britain. British colonizers seem to have misappropriated the Urdu word "chiz" which means “thing.” The British used "the real chiz" to mean "a big thing or event,” which evolved into “the big cheese” when it crossed the pond.

(If we want to claim an idiom as truly American, there’s always the odiferous interrogation, “who cut the cheese?”)

Illustrations by Lila Volkas — Illustration by Lila Volkas

Farsi – مثل کارد و پنیرن = “They are like a knife and cheese” = They are enemies.

French – Pas la peine d’en faire tout un fromage = “It’s not worth making make a big cheese.” It’s no big deal.

German – Dreikäsehoch = “Three cheeses high” = a quaint measure of height, often used to describe a small child.

German – Mach keinen Käse = Make no cheese = Don’t do anything stupid.

Hungarian – Kevés vagy, mint mackósajtban a brummogás = “You’re as little as the roaring in a Mackó cheese.” (Mackó is a type of Hungarian cheese with a cute little bear on its label). This phrase is used to call someone useless.

Italian – Essere come un topo nel formaggio = “To be like a mouse in cheese” = obviously in seventh heaven.

Lithuanian – Nei žento, nei sūrio = "[They got] neither cheese, nor a son-in law" = They calculated wrong and received nothing in a situation where they expected much.

Lithuanian – Sūris sūrį varo = “Cheese is chasing cheese” = This means someone is making a lot of cheese, so clearly their household is rich.

Polish – Śmiać się jak głupi do sera = “to laugh like a stupid person at cheese” – to laugh without a reason.

Portuguese – Pão pão queijo queijo = “bread bread cheese cheese” = To be clear and straightforward. Bread is bread and cheese is cheese with no confusion. It is what it is.

Romanian – S-a împuțit brânza = "the cheese got stinky" = the friendship is over.

Spanish (Mexico) – Peinado como un queso Oaxaca = Likens a bad comb-over hairdo to a stringy Mexican cheese from the state of Oaxaca.

Spanish (Spain) – Estar como un queso = “to be like a cheese” = to be attractive and desirable.

Swedish – Ge tillbaka för gammal ost = Giving someone a hunk of pungent, old cheese is an old-fashioned description of getting revenge

Turkish – Lâfla peynir gemisi yürümez = “Remarks do not make the cheese boat go” = you can talk all you want, but that won’t make it happen. = Talk is cheap

And---drum roll, please---here is the winner of the