# Why "Big Cheese"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-big-cheese/564786
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 20, 2010, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-big-cheese/564786 "2010-12-20T02:42:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2010, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-big-cheese/564786/1 "2010-12-20T02:42:16Z")
What’s the significance of the “cheese” in “Big Cheese” to denote someone who is important?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-big-cheese/564786/2 "2010-12-20T02:56:13Z")
[http://www.word-detective.com/030201.html](http://www.word-detective.com/030201.html)
> [@](#):
>
> But Paul Beale, who edited and updated Partridge’s “Dictionary of Catch Phrases” in the 1980s, suggests that the “cheese” in question may not be edible cheese at all. **“Cheese” (from the Persian “chiz” meaning “thing”) was slang in 19th century Britain for “the proper thing” or “the tops,” a usage still heard in the phrase “the big cheese.”** So “hard cheese” would mean “Lousy break. It could have been good but it wasn’t. Tough luck.”
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-big-cheese/564786/3 "2010-12-20T03:22:02Z")
Hmm. “Thing.” Not very satisfying.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2010, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-big-cheese/564786/4 "2010-12-20T03:43:16Z")
Same[explanation](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-big1.htm)I found. It has a little more symbology than just a big ‘thing’. I suspect it’s use is a little derisive when referring to a person.