# Cheese it, the cops! ... Cheese?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-it-the-cops-cheese/243765
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 6, 2004, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-it-the-cops-cheese/243765 "2004-05-06T02:52:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-it-the-cops-cheese/243765/1 "2004-05-06T02:52:33Z")
I’ve heard this phrase, and variants thereof, fairly often - particularly in cartoons.
What it means is obvious - ‘Run for it, the authorities are here!’ - but how the heck ‘Cheese it!’ came to mean ‘Run!’ rather escapes me.
Anyone know the origin of the phrase?
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### Author:  [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-it-the-cops-cheese/243765/2 "2004-05-06T03:08:36Z")
“Cheese it” doesn’t mean “run”, it’s a euphemism for “Jesus Christ” and the intended meaning is “dammit!”.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-it-the-cops-cheese/243765/3 "2004-05-06T03:11:04Z")
It is cited in print as far back as 1811. It was underworld slang for “keep quiet.” (instantly)
There is quite a bit of criminal slang that was meant to be ‘mysterious’ to average people who overheard it. Sort of code. I’m not saying that is the case, but it could have been.
Alas, for now, it’s “origin unknown.”
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-it-the-cops-cheese/243765/4 "2004-05-06T03:39:54Z")
> [@samclem](#):
>
> There is quite a bit of criminal slang that was meant to be ‘mysterious’ to average people who overheard it. Sort of code. I’m not saying that is the case, but it could have been.
Well, that certainly makes sense.
That’s the theory I’ll stick with, even if ‘theory’ is the best we can do.
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-it-the-cops-cheese/243765/5 "2004-05-06T03:43:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> There is quite a bit of criminal slang that was meant to be ‘mysterious’ to average people who overheard it. Sort of code.
Also known as [argot](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=argot).
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-it-the-cops-cheese/243765/6 "2004-05-06T04:34:36Z")
Oh please. Doesn’t anyone take pictures any more?
“Cheese it” = smile the way you do when someone’s taking your picture and tells you to say “cheese”, i.e., look pleasantly innocent here come the cops.
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### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-it-the-cops-cheese/243765/7 "2004-05-06T05:24:07Z")
Oh, please, yourself. You’re just making that up, right? If **samclem** ’s 1811 date is right, it can’t possibly have anything to do with photography.
I’ve always heard and read it to mean exactly what the OP said, and only what he said: run for it. (So I disagree with **AndrewT** , too.)
What’s your source, **samclem**?
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-it-the-cops-cheese/243765/8 "2004-05-06T05:44:54Z")
I think AHunter is having us on, commasense.
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### Author:  [@quiltguy154](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy154)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-it-the-cops-cheese/243765/9 "2004-05-06T10:42:15Z")
“Cheese it” in the contested phrase is a reworking of “Cease it”, i.e. stop what you’re doing.
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### Author:  [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-it-the-cops-cheese/243765/10 "2004-05-06T11:32:11Z")
It’s derived from “cut the cheese” which is to fart. When the cops are coming after you, you should let off the smelliest fart possible so that the cops fall ill and stop chasing you. 😃
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-it-the-cops-cheese/243765/11 "2004-05-06T12:07:01Z")
All right, you big crazies. :smack:
From [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com):
> [@](#):
>
> cheese2 ( P ) Pronunciation Key (chz)
> tr.v. Slang cheesed, chees·ing, chees·es
> To stop.
>
> ## Idiom: cheese it Slang To look out. Often used in the imperative. To get away fast; get going. Often used in the imperative.
>
> [Origin unknown.]
> Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
> Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
> Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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### Author:  [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-it-the-cops-cheese/243765/12 "2004-05-06T12:19:49Z")
No, no, no, no, no! It comes from Wales and it is based on their national dish ‘Welsh Rarebit’ or cheese on toast. ‘Cheese it’ simply means to act like the cheese under a grill. Melt. Melt away into the night from the cops. Like cheese.
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-it-the-cops-cheese/243765/13 "2004-05-06T13:23:54Z")
My husband, the Geezer in Training, always says, “Chiggers! The fuzz!” Slight hijack, but it cracks me up every time.
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### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-it-the-cops-cheese/243765/14 "2004-05-06T13:27:01Z")
Well then, with the OP more or less answered, and summer coming on, this seems like the perfect time to mention the highly entertaining sport of [Cheese Racing.](http://www.apsmithadsl.plus.com/cheese/history.htm)
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### Author:  [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-it-the-cops-cheese/243765/15 "2004-05-06T13:41:13Z")
Well if things are gonna get cheesetastic the I’ll see your ‘cheese racing’ and raise you the ultra dangerous [cheese tolling](http://www.doctordanger.com/other/Cheese.htm). I recommend googling 'cheese rolling and looking for more pictures, I’ts very psycho.
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### Author:  [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-it-the-cops-cheese/243765/16 "2004-05-06T13:47:51Z")
‘rolling’ not ‘tolling’. Now that link wasn’t the one I wanted [this](http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/features/cheeserolling.shtml#) is the one I wanted to show you. Go down about a third of the way down the page and click in the ‘seeing is believing’ section coloured blue to start the picture gallery.