You know how people sometimes describe things as "cheesy"? Not food, but other things like a movie or a smile? Whenever I hear that it gives me pause to think. I never say it because I don't know exactly what it means. I know it means basically the same thing as "corny," but why did people start saying "cheesy"? Does it convey something extra or different? I don't get it. I really just don't get it. I certainly don't mind it if you say it--I want you to say it freely around me. But if you ever hear me say it I am either being fake or have just succumbed to peer pressure.
I also never say "amazing." OK, I rarely say "amazing." Think about it. Every time you hear the word "amazing," it's an exaggeration. For me, using the word "amazing" sparingly is a matter of principle just like not using antibiotics when I don't really need them. The overuse of antibiotics weakens their effect when they are genuinely necessary. Now when I want to refer to something that amazes me it's just not the same because people think, "Oh my gosh! Amazing? That sounds just like Red Mango! Or these flats I'm wearing! Or Gwyneth Paltrow's website! Or, guys--chocolate!"
Until I die I will not have my linguistic integrity removed from me.
*Bored by this post? Yeah, I should have reduced it to a Tweet. Can't win 'em all.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Corny is, like, silly. Cheezy is more like low quality.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I had no idea. Thank you.That helps.
ReplyDeleteCheesy could be one of those nondescript words that people use without knowing what they mean by it but they've heard others use it so they figure it must mean something important until it becomes regurgitated so much that it seems to develop its own persona on mere fumes alone, or something like that.
ReplyDeleteFrom Urban Dictionary (which may itself qualify as cheesy... or maybe I was cheesy for looking it up... Now look what you've turned me into!)
ReplyDeleteThis is an important word and nobody has it right yet. What it means is: Trying too hard, unsubtle, and inauthentic.
Specifically that which is unsubtle or inauthentic in its way of trying to elicit a certain response from a viewer, listener, audience, etc. Celine Dion is cheesy because her lyrics, timbre, key changes, and swelling orchestral accompaniment telegraph 'i want you to be moved' instead of moving you. Gold chains on an exposed hairy chest are cheesy because they shout out: "I have money and I am manly" instead of impressing a woman in a more subtle way, or allowing a woman to form her own judgments. The excessive showing off suggests he's compensating for what he does not have--i.e., he's actually poor, insecure, or short with an inferiority complex. Cliches are often cheesy because they are an obvious and artless way of making a point. A movie might be cheesy if it contains 'on the nose' dialogue, like "I can't live without you" or "You had me at hello."
The thesaraus in Word compares cheesy to tacky, cheap, unpleasant, and tasteless. Now, what if I was after a word comparable to the taste or appearance of cheese? I mean, would you say that the moon is tacky? I just don't think so...
You know - I often think of that little meatball from the Saturday mornings of my childhood...
ReplyDeleteSo do I, Kate. So do I.
ReplyDeletethe sound of the word "corny" really freaks me out. and i actually don't understand the meaning of it so i prefer "cheesy" as an all-encompassing term for everything.
ReplyDeleteI went to high school at a convent and there was this nun, Sister Margaret Mary, who would pray every day for us girls to "not be cheap or cheesy". I have no idea what that woman was talking about, but it never failed to make us start laughing (muffled of course).
ReplyDeleteMore than "awesome" I hate the word "revolutionary". Especially how it is applied to beauty products. The new 16-hour lipstick is going to cause a bloody uprising? Really? Think I'll pass.
If I may impose--just ran across your blog and it's actually grammatical, whch threw me for a loop. Most everybody else writes like R.L. Stein or my fifteen year old niece.
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth ($0.00) my take is that cheesy is low quality that takes itself too seriously, with a little poor taste thrown in, and maybe the idea of being out-of-date enough be pathetic but not enough to be out and out weird. Smarmy car salesmen wear cheesy ties--I know that.
I like the word cheesy better than the word corny - cheesy is so much more apt for designating that which I find, well, unbearably corny!!
ReplyDeleteMost adjectives are incredibly overworked - I try to use definitive adjectives to convey meaning - sometimes it works in written prose - mostly in spoken prose I get blank stares.
I like your friend Staci's very thorough response. I thought the title was very clever.
ReplyDeleteThis post is amazingly cheesy.
ReplyDeleteI was definitely not bored.
ReplyDeleteI also think Jennie W.'s nun-teacher is amazing.
Cheesy has a low brow connotation for me, but corny can be endearing.
ReplyDeleteDoes it drive you crazy when people use the word literally all the time and in the wrong context? It makes me a crazy woman.
Surreal. . .that's the word you will never hear out of my mouth. If you haven't noticed, it's the most overused/incorrectly-used word on television (mostly reality TV). Really? Melting clocks and all that? That's what winning the Biggest Loser/crossing The Amazing Race finish line/being skinnier than the other ANTM witches felt like?
ReplyDeleteThis is just a reminder to you that Doug Fabrizio called me... TWICE. But we never spoke, I kept missing him and then it was over... but I still have his number programmed into my phone. How stalker-y is that? Almost as stalker-y as having his photo here. Are you trying to draw out his detractors again? Bring it on! Doug Fabrizio Doug Fabrizio Doug Fabrizio! Did you catch his interview with Diane Rhem on Utah Now? They totally have a crush on each other.
ReplyDeleteWhen I hear the word cheesy I think of cheese whiz or velveeta, not real cheeses like gouda or swiss.
ReplyDeleteStaci just spelled out the things I like to see in a movie and I love Celine Dion, does that make me cheesy?
i agree with hanner: i think of corny and cheesy as interchangeable, however, the word corny is gross and in fear that it might be mistaken for the word horny, i avoid using it.
ReplyDeleteCould you cite some examples of events that you could, in good conscience, designate "amazing." I for one am glad that I didn't miss this tweet.
ReplyDeleteI think I'd like to start replacing "amazing" with "fantastic," like the Brits. It sounds much better.
ReplyDelete