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Chalk and cheese5/1/2023 Chalk or cheese? Back in 2016, we put it to the vote. Back then, chalky landscape of Kent won out but we’re ready now to swap over to Cheshire, and although it involves closing one gallery for a few more days it couldn’t be happening at a more appropriate moment. Some of you might remember the public campaign- Chalk or Cheese?-which we ran to help us decide which one should take pride of place first. In spite of this global reach, this was a project that spoke powerfully of British identity and to the core Festival themes of land and people.Knowing that textiles are vulnerable objects and that our audiences want to see more of our amazing reserve collection, for the last five years we’ve had another wall-hanging from the series ready to take Kent’s place in the gallery. O’Connell himself was a fascinating international figure who had moved to Australia in 1920 before returning to England in the mid-1930s. The finished hangings echoed colour designs that had been sketched out by O’Connell, which were then reproduced on textile using wax-resist dyes and with the help of studio assistants and sister duo, Iris and Betty Sheridan. Designed by ‘lost modernist’ Michael O’Connell, the work sought to capture the character of eight different regions of Britain’s farmed landscape. This entire artwork featured prominently in the Country Pavilion of the Festival of Britain Exhibition on London’s Southbank during 1951. This is one of seven 3.8-metre-high sections that were originally created for a 46-metre-long undulating display called the ‘Diversity of British Farming’. This section depicts scenes of farming and rural life in Kent. Displayed in our Our Country Lives gallery, this wall-hanging by Michael O’Connell is one of eight artworks from a series. Here, oast houses, trees, farms, hop fields, and hedgerows merge in a landscape of stylised patterns set against the colour-palette and perspective of an old manorial map. Read on to find out why the extra wait will be worth it!Īs many of you know, our current displays culminate in the striking sight of an enormous mid-century textile artwork showing rural Kent. We are sorry to say it means our first visitors back will have to socially distance from the Our Country Lives gallery for a little longer, which has to stay locked down for just a few more days to allow the changeover to take place. As he explains, this has been in the pipeline since we relaunched the galleries in 2016. All Rights Reserved.As we get ready to share the Museum with visitors once again, Curator of MERL Collections Ollie Douglas is to hand to reveal a change to our displays. He is not close to being the best driver. Hence - chalk is good, and long chalk better. This refers to the old schoolroom custom of making merit marks in chalk. To win a race by a long chalk is to win easily, by some distance. The phrase is first recorded in the States in 1890, where lots of things were and are said to be big - not just cheeses but shots, enchiladas and cojones, all meaning much the same thing.Īnother old English saying. English-speakers thought they were hearing 'the real cheese', which in turn became into 'the big cheese' on arrival in the United States. And sadly for the cheese lobby, this usage deerives not from the foodstuff, but from the Persian or Hindi word chiz, meaning 'thing'.Ī word heard and used by Britons in the Empire, chiz migrated to Britain in the phrase 'the real chiz' (the real thing not being, in this case, anything to do with Coca-Cola!). Unlike cheesy or cheesed off, this is an example of cheese seen as something generally positive - a person of great import. Not surprisingly, this meaning is also derived from mouldy cheese. To be 'cheesy' is to be cheap, naff and unsubtle. Similar in origin, perhaps, to being 'browned off'. There appear to be no reasons why this state of mind should be associated with cheese, other than it is plainly and uncomfortably clear when it goes 'off'. To be upset, bitter or miserable at the actions of others. Or in other words, the ways in which differences are described in the USA and Britain are. Americans prefer to describe differences as 'like night and day'. Surprisingly, while that historic divide is an ancient one, the phrase doesn't seem to have crossed the Atlantic like so many others. They were, or so they liked to say, like chalk and cheese. Meanwhile, farmers to the west of town benefited from grassy green pastures where cattle were raised - and cheeses made.īoth sets of farmers came to sell their wares at Salisbury Market but never mixed. The origins of the phrase can be traced back to Wiltshire, where they are quite proud of it.įarmers in the area around Salisbury Plain were obliged to raise sheep because of the chalky nature of the land. Jasona1976 asks: Where does the saying 'like chalk and cheese' come from
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