What is Cheesy?

I've been thinking a lot about the word cheesy lately. When someone or something is "cheesy," it isn't necessarily considered good. Cheesy is overwrought. Cheesy is ridiculous. Cheesy is inarticulate. Cheesy is a sequin dress with plastic shoes or a powder blue tuxedo without the irony. I suppose cheesy comes from American slices in buttery grilled cheese sandwiches, with strings of goo hanging between the halves. Kind of processed, kind of comfortable in a guilty pleasure sort of way, something that makes you go "awwwww - cheesy!"

There is ABSOLUTELY more than one kind of cheesy cheese at the mega mart. In fact, some goat cheeses are made of nothing more than frozen curd and dried milk! Ew. And this is some of the cheese that doesn't even look cheesy. Even as a kid, I knew there was something wrong with something called "Pasteurized processed cheese food." A few too many superlatives.

The reality is, however, that there are cows, goats and sheep all over the world chewing on tasty greenery and being milked into buckets by farmers who take the milk no further than their their kitchens to make cheese that is tangy and complex and smoky, and earthy and sometimes gooey but never boring.

So please, if you love cheese, please refrain from calling unpleasant, boring, one-note, ridiculous situations or activities cheesy! Anyone suggestions for replacement phrases for these unfortunate situations will be most welcome!