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Why are things that are rather sentimental or cliched sometimes described as cheesy or corny? How did this originate? On thinking about it, they seem like rather unlikely foods - why not... just wonderin'
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I would take cheesy to mean of substandard quality, rather than sentimental or cliched. I think the metaphor is based on the texture of cheese and the fact that it doesn't always do quite what you would want when you are cutting it. I think corny derives from the rural aspects of it, the kind of unsophisticated demeanor of someone from the open prairie where much of the corn (in the USn sense) is grown. Why not wheaty? Well, we do talk of that sort of person as being a hayseed.
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I too have wondered about this. The Microsoft Encarta World English Dictionary 2001, on "corny," says "Late 16th century," in square brackets after the definition. Can the expression be that old? The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th Edition, says the first such use was 1930-1969, but gives only a definition, not an origin. I've always figured the reference was to farm life, so that a person among the corn would not be in the flow of urban life, thus would be a hayseed -- unsophisticated, not "with it."
As for "cheesy," 1870-1899 is the Shorter OED's first recorded date for its use in that sense. I wonder if it has to do with "cheeseparing," meaning stingy?
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Greetings, websafe! Nice to have another word nerd aBoard®  Meanwhile, little dog, this is an interesting thread and I guess your questions have been well addressed -- I have nothing to add, except to say I'm trying to think of other food-related terms similar to these two....
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other food-related terms similar to these two....hot-dog!!
formerly known as etaoin...
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Dear websafe: you mention of "with it" reminds me of seeing its origin being said to originate from the early 1900s when travelling carnivals had defrauded country bumpkin customers try to fight with the carnical operator who had cheated them. A "rhubarb" would ensue, and the "carnies" would yell "with it" to bring other canrnies to help fight the farmers.
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I thought for sure that we had discussed this here, but I'll be darned if I can find it. I did find a couple of interesting ref.'s, though:
Interestingly, the Swedish word to describe corny, provincial or even farcical comedy -- principally on the stage -- is 'buskis'. This must derive from buskin -- if so, an example of a word taking an opposite meaning through misunderstanding. http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=weeklythemes&Number=57979and
Vaude slang referred to unsophisticated comedy as being "stuck in the corn," soon shortened to "corny." http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=miscellany&Number=83457P.S.--Welcome aBoard, websafe! Glad to have you.
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Thanks for the kind welcome, AnnaStrophic.
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition, says "nerd" is PERHAPS from the so-named creature in Dr. Seuss' 1950 "If I Ran the Zoo"! Funny what you find when you look in the dictionary.
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Thanks for your kind welcome, Jackie.
I thought "buskins" were those sort-of-platform-shoe-boot thingies actors wore in Shaxpr's day? <Looking it up> OK, yeah ... Second meaning is "tragedy." OK.
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