8

A new girl started at the office, and she's quite a peculiar character. She moved here from Alabama and is definitely the excitable type. Every office has one I guess.

One thing she says every now and then is cheese and rice. Like, I'll ask her a question about something, and she'll reply, "Oh, cheese and rice, I don't know!"

A quick Google search turned up nothing but casserole recipes. Does "cheese and rice" mean anything? Is this something I just attribute to her strange perkiness, or is this just a Southern thing?

Improve this question
9
  • 10
    Why not ask her instead of this site? ;)
    – user730
    Commented Dec 13, 2010 at 23:58
  • 1
    maybe she has deeply suppressed emotional issues, which would make sense given her overly exuberant outer personality, and she (by now completely subconsciously) turns any thought she deems bad or unwholesome into a random gibberish phrase, such as cheese and rice. Flanders on the Simpsons went through the exact same thing. You should try to get her angry and see if she explodes.
    – Claudiu
    Commented Dec 14, 2010 at 0:07
  • What does hyper/spastic mean in this context?
    – Benjol
    Commented Dec 14, 2010 at 5:50
  • 3
    @JM, OK, because in the UK spastic is definitely not politically correct!
    – Benjol
    Commented Dec 14, 2010 at 8:11
  • 2
    Gor blimey! Surely this one is "too localised"?
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Dec 21, 2011 at 0:16

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
37

I've never heard this phrase before, and I don't know if it's prevalent in Alabama. However, I suspect that it's a taboo deformation of Jesus Christ, albeit a more colorful and idiosyncratic one than the most common variants.

Improve this answer
7
  • 7
    For a piece of speculation, this is pretty darn good. :)
    – user730
    Commented Dec 14, 2010 at 0:26
  • 1
    I have definitely heard this before, and it one of the many ways people avoid saying "Jesus Christ" because it is blasphemous. See also: "God bless it!"
    – Kosmonaut
    Commented Dec 14, 2010 at 0:51
  • 2
    That was my first guess as well. I've also heard the expression "cheese 'n biscuits" or "cheese 'n crackers" used in this context. It's all about the cheese .... :)
    – Will
    Commented Dec 14, 2010 at 16:20
  • 1
    Wow - that makes perfect sense. She says "gosh darnit" a lot, too.
    – JJ Caldwell
    Commented Dec 15, 2010 at 0:50
  • 1
    I HAVE heard this before, and it is 100% a J to the C avoidance maneuver.
    – horatio
    Commented Mar 31, 2011 at 14:59
11

This is a less offensive way of saying Jesus Christ per the urban dictionary.

Improve this answer
3

One of the DVD extras for the 2007 film Hot Fuzz is a "contractual airline version" where all swearwords have been replaced with clean euphemisms. It includes replacing "Jesus Christ!" with "Cheese and rice!", such as in:

"Cheese and rice, Mother Hubbard!

The very first definition in Urban Dictionary shows this had been done before:

1. cheese and rice
This is a less offensive way of saying "Jesus Christ"

It originated with the [1998] movie 'The Faculty'. In the real version, one of the characters exclaimed "Jesus Christ!" but in the edited TV version, they had it changed to "Cheese and rice!"

Guy #1: Aliens landed on Earth!
Guy #2: Cheese and rice!
by crowdish Nov 15, 2003

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .