to say cheese
18
4.6
- idiom
- /seɪ tʃiːz/
- Informal
:
sonreír
- The photographer told us to smile and say cheese before he took the photo.
- smile, say cheese
- tells me to say cheese
- Hey, guys, say cheese
Examples
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- Say cheese!
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Say cheese!
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Here ya go, say cheese! -
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Everybody say cheese! - Cheese! - Hi!
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I experienced the humor gap in China when I suggested everyone say "cheese" for a photo.
Blog text (28) -
"Say cheese," she said, smiling brightly.
Fiction book (2001) -
All right, say cheese.
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And everybody say "cheese."
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So say cheese!
Blog text (28) -
C'mon, say cheese!
Synonyms
1
7.5
To smile for a camera when someone takes a photo
Say this to make people smile for a photo
To put on a quick fake smile to hide how you feel
Surface Forms
Morphology
Literally the phrase combines 'say' (utter) with 'cheese' (the word), so a learner who knows both words can guess the instruction to speak the word 'cheese', but the intended pragmatic effect—prompting people to smile for a photo—is a conventional, culture-specific use not directly derivable from the constituents. The relation is therefore partially transparent (literal composition + pragmatic convention) but requires prior exposure or cultural knowledge to fully understand.
Etymology
Say cheese likely comes from the sound you make when you say cheese: the long 'ee' pulls your mouth into a 'smile'. Photographers began using this to make people 'smile' for a 'photograph', so today it means to tell people to smile before a picture.