I don’t know if I’ve ever had a photographer, amateur or professional, seriously tell me to say cheese, but it’s the phrase most commonly associated with smiling in snapshots.
But why “cheese”?
I know that the eeeee sound in cheese makes your lips part and look a little like you’re smiling, so the physical aspect makes sense. But “cheese” isn’t the only word with a long e.
So why (and when) did photographers and photographees settle on “cheese,” and not “bees” or “knees” or “fleece” or “pleats” or “mean” or anything else?
(This site has an amusing tale involving flatulance that strikes me as unlikely. As in a giant put-on. But hey, if it’s true, someone let me know.)
So what do they say in non-English speaking countries? If they said “queso” in Spanish-speaking countries, for example, we’d see an awful lot of pictures of these folks with their lips pursed as if preparing to kiss someone.
In Japan, they say the number “two” (ni) which, in Japanese, is pronounced pretty much the same as the English word “knee”.
Actually, from what I’ve seen, the photogtapher asks “What’s one plus one?” (in Japanese, of course), to which those being photographed respond “Niiiiii”.
I’ve been living here for over twelve years, and every single time Japanese people pose for a photograph, the person with the camera says “Hai, Cheee-zu!”, and the people who are posing all say "Cheee-zu! ", and make the ‘V’ for ‘victory’/‘peace’ sign with their fingers, and then the person with the camera takes their picture. Never heard anyone say “ni” for a photo.
In Korea I remember saying “kimchee!” all the time before pictures. Of course, that could just be my family. You know, it probably was. Regardless, it seems like kind of a risk. What if the photographer snaps on the Kim instead of the chee?
You know what, I have no idea where I came across that little nugget of (mis) information. I took a measly one year of Japanese back in college, but the only thing I learned about photographs was the word shashin, so I didn’t pick it up there.
Now I wracking my brain trying to figure out where I heard that, and I just can’t figure it out. Strange.
Then I’ll gladly take your word for it. Perhaps I am the unwitting victim of some sort of bizarre meme or something.
Interestingly, Germans don’t say cheese (Kaese) when photographs. Their cue to smile is simply, “Laeche” (pronounced leh-keh), which of course, means “smile.” (Gotta hand it to those Germans in terms of coming up with such an imaginative, and yet, appropriate word!)
In the past I burning your dog. 