CHEESY

SLANG PRESENTATIONBy Davida Jordan

Does not have to do with food!

Definitions vary:•urbandictionary.com lists 16 different definitions•Can mean exaggerated, fake, trying too hard, excessively sentimental or emotional, non-ironic

CAUTION!•What is cheesy to one person may be very meaningful to someone else.

Part of Speech: ADJECTIVECheesy can be used to describe things:

•Music•Clothing•Gifts•Holidays

MUSIC

CLOTHING

GIFTS

HOLIDAYS

Origins of Cheesy"cheap, inferior," 1896, from Urdu chiz "a thing,"

Picked up by British in India by 1818 and used in the sense of "a big thing."

By 1858, cheesy had evolved a slang meaning of "showy," which led to the modern, ironic sense.

Source: cheesy. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved January 26, 2010, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cheesy

Modern Usage of CheesyProbably in the last 20 yearsOften used to talk about things from the 1980s

Who Says Cheesy?Young peopleJudgmental people/snobs

(fashion, music, movies)

SYNONYMSCornyTackyGoofySillyUgly

KitschyIn bad taste

CONNOTATION OF CHEESY

• Mildly negative– Cheesy is something that makes you groan and

smile at the same time.

SENTENCES WITH CHEESY______1. You shouldn’t wear that shirt—it’s so cheesy! It looks like it’s from 1982!

2. Guess what my aunt got me for my birthday? The world’s cheesiest teddy bear. It’s 5 feet tall, bright pink, and sings Happy Birthday.

3. A lot of love songs are very cheesy…and I still like them. When you are happy and in love, you like cheesy things.