# say cheese

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-cheese/321762>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [September 15, 2005, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-cheese/321762 "2005-09-15T11:11:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Pez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5e9695/32.png) [@Pez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pez)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-cheese/321762/21 "2005-09-21T17:45:14Z")

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slightly off topic:  
the sexiest word in english (according to Robert Rankin) is:  
plinth  
if you don’t believe me, get a hot babe to say it slowly while watching her lips.  
enjoy

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**Author:** ![Coil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Coil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coil)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-cheese/321762/22 "2005-09-22T14:07:21Z")

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I’ve heard Swedish photographers use cheese (in english) quite a lot.

I remember one photographer who took photos for the school catalog back in 1st or 2nd grade who had us kids say indisk kamelskit (Indian Camelshit) which made all us kids laugh. It does contain a couple of long ee sounds too.

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**Author:** ![justman777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@justman777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justman777)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-cheese/321762/23 "2005-09-22T14:33:50Z")

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In Japan people say the convenient word “Niiii” (Pronounced like knee). Which means “smile” as well as having the necessary smile producing eee vowel sound.

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**Author:** ![rupan777x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb8c5e/32.png) [@rupan777x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rupan777x)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-cheese/321762/24 "2005-09-24T05:07:40Z")

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> [@justman777](#):
>
> In Japan people say the convenient word “Niiii” (Pronounced like knee). Which means “smile” as well as having the necessary smile producing eee vowel sound.

Not trying to be rude, but I lived in Japan for 5 years and never heard this. Usually, Japanese use “cheese” (or “chee-zu” as they pronounce it; this must also be punctuated by goofy peace signs with hands) as well.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-cheese/321762/25 "2005-09-25T00:07:53Z")

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The other night I saw an Argentinian movie, which included a scene of people posing for a picture. They said “whiskey”, pronounced something like “weekee” (I have no idea how it was spelled in Spanish). This might be more significant than the same usage in Mexico, being further from US influence.

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**Author:** ![wish101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/6f9a4e/32.png) [@wish101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wish101)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2005, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-cheese/321762/26 "2005-09-26T09:32:12Z")

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In Korea, we say Kimchi!

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**Author:** ![wish101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/6f9a4e/32.png) [@wish101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wish101)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2005, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-cheese/321762/27 "2005-09-26T09:34:21Z")

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Oops, I did not notice someone else had already said that.

If you were wondering, kimchi is one of the traditional side dishes that is eaten with almost every meal. It is fermented Chinese cabbage with many spices, and I have heard it compared to something called sauerkraut.

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