Makes the Cheese More Binding

Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Matt Blake from Memphis, Tennessee.

Hi, Matt in Memphis. How you doing?

Well, when I was at East Carolina University, I had a professor for music theory that was known for his colorful expressions, and there was one in particular I was always curious about. If he was giving an assignment and added restrictions or conditions that he knew would make it more difficult, he would say with a smile, “That makes the cheese a bit more binding, doesn’t it?”

So, you know, we knew what he meant, but where does that come from and why does it mean that?

Well, yeah, you said you knew what he meant. What did he mean?

Well, he was just saying it makes it more complicated, more difficult.

But why cheese is a bit more binding?

I don’t know.

Yes, this phrase refers to the constipating effect of cheese on a person’s digestion.

And what’s interesting about this phrase, Matt, is that it’s been used a couple of different ways.

And one of them is the way that your professor used it to make the cheese more binding. It means to make something more challenging or to complicate a situation.

You know, if the cheese gets binding, then, you know, the plot thickens. Things got more difficult.

And that’s kind of a negative sense.

But at the same time, making the cheese more binding can also be positive, I guess, depending on how you feel about the cheese doing its work.

Because make the cheese more binding can also mean to improve or to enhance a situation.

Say you and I are negotiating about something and you throw in a little something that makes the deal more enticing to me, then I might say, “Well, now that makes the cheese more binding.”

But I have another question for you, Matt.

Okay.

Did you ever watch old episodes of The Twilight Zone?

Yes.

Okay. Do you remember the one called To Serve Man?

Oh, yeah.

Okay, yeah. That’s incredibly famous. Maybe the most famous one.

Yeah, it’s definitely my favorite.

These nine-foot-tall space aliens come to Earth, and one of them tells government officials that they come in peace, and they’re coming to create a paradise here on Earth.

And then he takes off, and you remember he leaves behind a book in their mysterious language, and the humans are all skeptical about what the aliens are really up to.

And they’re trying to decipher this mysterious book.

And then one of their cryptographers manages to translate the title.

And you remember what the title is, Matt?

To Serve Man.

Exactly.

And at that point, when they realize that in the episode, one of the government officials says, “Well, that makes the cheese a little more binding.”

And at that point, he’s all excited about it because he thinks that’s a positive thing.

And we won’t talk about anything else that happens in it because we don’t want to spoil it for anybody who hasn’t seen it.

You can spoil it at this late date, Martha.

Do you think?

But what about all the young people out there who haven’t seen this episode?

Anyway, he thinks things are going to turn out great, and they don’t.

Again, I just love that this expression is in that episode.

Well, that makes the cheese a little more binding.

So it’s got both positive and negative senses.

And it’s been around for, what, Grant, about a century?

Yeah, yeah, at least the early 1900s.

Lots of different variations, but the cheese is always there and the binding is always there.

So it has to do with your insides.

Gotcha.

Well, thank you, Matt, for your call and sharing your memories with us.

All right, well, thank you very much.

Take care of yourself. Bye-bye.

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