h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ah, I think I know this one.

There was a certain brand of adult movie in the early post-War years which featured young ladies in tight sweaters and a lot of volleyball. This was commonly known as a 'cheesecake' film. It went from there to be associated with something cheerfully insincere.

B

Great, Mu. That's not one I've heard. There is also the theory - linked to on the Entry - that it comes from the Urdu word chiz, meaning 'thing'. So a 'big cheese' came to mean someone who's a big thing, so a big deal. But how that connects to our modern interpretation has been lost in the ether...

Did the UK take on many words and phrases from Urdu back in those days?

I think there are quite a few English words that come from Hindi or Urdu, picked up from the Raj era - guru, shampoo, erm... Can anyone think of any others? On a web theme, isn't Avatar a variation on a Hindi word?

Bungalow...and pyjamas (I think)

Juggernaut.

B

kedgeree

D'you reckon the reasonably current slang term "Kushti" comes from the Raj era, as well?

"Kushti" meaning comfortable/more than OK, coming from when the Mem Sahbs emigrated north to the Hindu Kush (where the weather was kinder) to escape the worse of the monsoon season?

Oh! I do hope so, I rather like that.
I've been wondering if cheesy's roots lie in a more literal sense of the word. I mean, you either love it or hate it, it can outright exclude you from some social circles (try eating blue cheese in an enclosed office), it tends to... um... be old and a bit rotten?

Yeah, I've got nothing, here...