The moon and green cheese

[Charles Doyle]

BTW:  The OED's remarks on the meaning of "green" in the phrase "green cheese" seem inconsistent.  At the entry for the lexified phrase, we find:

"a. New or fresh cheese (see GREEN a. and CHEESE n.1 2a).    b. An inferior kind of cheese prepared from skim milk or whey.    c. Cheese coloured green (usually only in parts, with a pattern) with sage; also called sage cheese.
    "The saying to believe that the moon is made of green cheese (for which see CHEESE n.1 2a) might belong to any of these senses; perh. sense c is the most likely, the reference being to the variegated surface of the moon."

However, the earliest example of "green cheese" in sense c ('herbed cheese') is from 1727, translating the French "fromage persille," whereas the saying about the moon and green cheese is exemplified from 1529.  And the OED's entry at CHEESE n.1.2a appears to favor sense a ('unripe cheese'):

"GREEN CHEESE: fresh cheese, not thoroughly dried; esp. in the expression to believe (to persuade any one, etc.) that the moon is made of green cheese."

--Charlie

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