Green Mile analysis and the cheese and the cracker...

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HarridanX

New Member
Apr 10, 2015
4
19
36
Hi,
I'm during analysis of the audiovisual translation of the Green Mile as it is my MA thesis topic, and I have a problem. Does anyone know what is the background, etymology of the saying used by Bill Dodge that ' cheese slid off his cracker'? Believe me, I've searched the Internet in both my languages, and the only thing that pops up is of course the Mile. I asked yesterday on S. King official FB page and got this msg:
"I'm sorry, but I don't know the origin of the expression. You may want to try asking on the message board.
://stephenking.com/xf"

So here I am. Anyone? Please help. It's so great part for analysis, and really would like to find where that saying comes from....
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
Welcome to the SKMB! Keep posting! I too cannot find the etymology of the saying, which of course means...

Nine cents short of a dime; not the brightest light on the tree; not the sharpest knife in the drawer; lights are on but nobody's home; one sandwich short of a picnic; the elevator doesn't go all the way to the top; not playing with a full deck; the wind is blowing but nothing’s moving; a few tacos short of a combo platter.
 

HarridanX

New Member
Apr 10, 2015
4
19
36
Hehehe nice list ;] thanks for that! I know the meaning of course. The Polish equivalents for this saying are brak mu piątej klepki (he lacks the fifth plank) or klepki mu się pomieszały (his planks has mixed up). They origin from the medieval belief that people have ten senses – five external and five internal. The external ones are vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. The internal senses are called the senses of soul: common sense, retentive imagination, compositive imagination, estimative power, and memory. Lack of any of the internal ones causes insanity. (that's actually excerpt from my paper)
And this kind of background I'm searching for (doesn't have to be medieval - who had crackers in medieval times anyway ;P).
For know I decided to set together those two idioms - one without and one with background. Will follow my topic for some time. If nothing changes, I'll delete it.
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
Hehehe nice list ;] thanks for that! I know the meaning of course. The Polish equivalents for this saying are brak mu piątej klepki (he lacks the fifth plank) or klepki mu się pomieszały (his planks has mixed up). They origin from the medieval belief that people have ten senses – five external and five internal. The external ones are vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. The internal senses are called the senses of soul: common sense, retentive imagination, compositive imagination, estimative power, and memory. Lack of any of the internal ones causes insanity. (that's actually excerpt from my paper)
And this kind of background I'm searching for (doesn't have to be medieval - who had crackers in medieval times anyway ;P).
For know I decided to set together those two idioms - one without and one with background. Will follow my topic for some time. If nothing changes, I'll delete it.
I guess I'm insane or should expect to be very soon. :down:
 

HarridanX

New Member
Apr 10, 2015
4
19
36
Guys, I'm new here, but I'd like to ask you a favour - don't spam this conversation. I came here for help for a particular reason and I'm interested only in the concrete answers, so if you don't have one, don't post. as simple as that.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
Wow. I think you just answered your own question. Your cheese slid off your cracker.

I think it means:

Not playing with a full deck.
Someone has a screw loose.
Not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Context clues should give the answer. What does the passage in the book say?
 
Last edited:

Spideyman

Uber Member
Jul 10, 2006
46,336
195,472
79
Just north of Duma Key
Hi,
I'm during analysis of the audiovisual translation of the Green Mile as it is my MA thesis topic, and I have a problem. Does anyone know what is the background, etymology of the saying used by Bill Dodge that ' cheese slid off his cracker'? Believe me, I've searched the Internet in both my languages, and the only thing that pops up is of course the Mile. I asked yesterday on S. King official FB page and got this msg:
"I'm sorry, but I don't know the origin of the expression. You may want to try asking on the message board.
://stephenking.com/xf"

So here I am. Anyone? Please help. It's so great part for analysis, and really would like to find where that saying comes from....


Not sure if this will help, but the phrase you are asking about is considered a "full deck-ism". Perhaps research on your part in that area will lead to the information you desire.

full-deckism


Noun
(plural full-deckisms)

  1. (linguistics) A word or phrase used to euphemistically refer to another person's being crazy, deranged or retarded.
Origin
After such phrases as "not playing with a full deck" and "a few cards short of a deck".
 

Walter Oobleck

keeps coming back...or going, and going, and going
Mar 6, 2013
11,749
34,805
You might could say King caught that phrase at the word pool where we all go to drink...and he also describes the word pool in Lisey's Story, a helluva story if you're in the market...that also has a story within the story, Scott's Story...and a number of others may it do ya fine. Here is a part of the "Author's Statement" at the back of Lisey's Story:
There really is a pool where we--and in this case by we I mean the vast company of readers and writers--go down to drink and cast our nets.

Here's a few more from Lisey's Story...page 270 in my USA hardback: "he's off his rocker, Lisey, popped his cork, lost his marbles, he's riding the rubber tricycle, and the only way you can help him is to call for the men in the white coats as soon as the phone's working again." Lisey's Story has this interesting metaphor about a curtain...of the mind...if everyone might could have a curtain like that in their minds, one with a don't-think zone behind it. "Bad gunky" is a phrase King uses that is a like-kind exchange of the cheese off the cracker. Where did that one come from? The cheese/cracker? From the word pool...my money is on King having heard it somewhere, some old codger speaking his piece somewhere some time some place. Or maybe it was a child. From the mouth of babes, so forth so on. Best of luck with it. :)