# Why does "the cheese stand alone"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 28, 2006, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440 "2006-06-28T03:17:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440/1 "2006-06-28T03:17:27Z")
Remember the “Farmer in the Dell” song? It ends with the line “the cheese stands alone”. Can anybody tell me what that means? What is the derivation? I’m going back to the pool now, that’s why I can’t research it myself. I’ve one vacation day left, and I don’t intend to spend much of it online. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440/2 "2006-06-28T03:18:48Z")
It’s stinky cheese? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440/3 "2006-06-28T03:20:24Z")
It’s a good Stilton, aged to perfection. Hey, Qad! Post the pictures your lovely wife took over on the pictures thread in MPSIMS. Dinner next time is on me. I insist. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440/4 "2006-06-28T03:21:19Z")
Perhaps it’s really good quality cheese and needs no accompaniment. Or perhaps it just stands alone…waiting for the right wine to come along. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440/5 "2006-06-28T03:23:24Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > It’s a good Stilton, aged to perfection. > > Hey, Qad! Post the pictures your lovely wife took over on the pictures thread in MPSIMS. Dinner next time is on me. I insist. I can’t download until I get home! Had a **great** time with you. We forgot to discuss Pratchett, tho! Now there _must_ be a next time! ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440/6 "2006-06-28T03:30:30Z")
We also have to consider that the cheese may have been moved there. The question is … WHO moved it? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440/7 "2006-06-28T03:33:22Z")
Because Frank Miller is coming in on the noon train. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440/8 "2006-06-28T03:55:02Z")
**Why does the cheese stand alone?** 1. Because that’s just its whey. 2. Because “The Farmer in the Dell” is not just a song but a dance. At the beginning, one child, the “farmer,” stands in the center of a circle, and the other children sing and dance around him/her. On the first verse, s/he choses a spouse, and that child leaves the circle to join the farmer at the center. The spouse takes a child on the next verse; on the next the child picks a nurse; shortly after that it’s a barnyard menagerie that lasts long enough to pack the rest of the kids into the center, with the proviso that the last four characters “taken” are the dog, cat, rat, and cheese. The cheese, having no one left to “take,” stands alone, and gets to be the farmer on the next go-round. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440/9 "2006-06-28T14:51:30Z")
[Cheese] I like chocolate milk! [/Cheese] ---
**Author:** ![bauble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@bauble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bauble)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440/10 "2006-06-28T14:59:57Z")
Because cheese is a wedge of spite? ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440/11 "2006-06-28T15:31:50Z")
Because it sits… And waits… And… _Plans_. Soon, my pretties, soon… You will behold the TRUE power of cheese! ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440/12 "2006-06-28T15:37:58Z")
When they play this at the really smart kids’ preschool, the cheese takes ambient bacteria from the atmosphere. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440/13 "2006-06-28T15:39:57Z")
Because according to [phrase finder](http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/64350.html) you damn Yankees corrupted it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440/14 "2006-06-28T15:40:13Z")
Even Venezuelan Beaver Cheese enjoys solitude now and then. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440/15 "2006-06-28T15:41:28Z")
> [@ArrMatey!](#): > > Because it sits… And waits… And… _Plans_. > > Soon, my pretties, soon… You will behold the TRUE power of cheese! And don’t get me started on Operation The Cheese Stands Alone, the secret government program to give away cheese to the needy… ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440/16 "2006-06-28T18:12:43Z")
When I was a kid there was a lively argument over whether the cheese stands alone or the cheese picks the ketchup and the ketchup stands alone. I like cheese, and I like ketchup, but I don’t want any intermingling of the two. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440/17 "2006-06-28T21:21:36Z")
It’s Stinking Bishop and the song is a historical instance of Catholic-bashing? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440/18 "2006-06-28T21:27:21Z")
Are we assuming that it’s a problem for the cheese to stand alone? Perhaps the cheese prefers to be unpartnered. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440/19 "2006-06-28T21:47:53Z")
It’s waiting for someone to take it to sickbay. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440/20 "2006-06-28T21:55:35Z")
From fear that someone might cut it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-cheese-stand-alone/362440.md?page=2)