History Cheese it, it's the fuzz

Recently, as recent as a week and a half ago, I got pulled over by my local authorities. I was two blocks from my house and just pulled the 47 Ford out of the garage for the first time in two years (I broke it in March 2020, ripped the motor mounts out of the frame rail testing the acceleration rate from a stop sign) and was stopped for excessive noise levels. The funny part is the fact that my 18 year old daughter was following me as I was dropping the car off at my shop for a spring check over and to use a lift to do it. No fines issued by the local police and I was let go, but the real funny part is when I got home and my daughter decided to show my wife/ her mother the video she made on her cell phone. That is when I paid the price for loud exhaust. Wife took everything in stride and laughed it off, but I got the "look" followed by a verbal warning to not be stupid. Which of course I replied with, "Its me"

 

If you think hard you might be able to recall a slower chase that happened in California.

And the part about your dad, I use to say just take me to jail, I was more afraid of my dad than the police, I knew they wouldn't ware out my arse but my dad would. HRP

 

I had a pretty good collection of tickets in my youth. After 3 in a year, they suspend your license for 90 days, "habitual violator" they call it. Well, heck, I can drive a little bit and not get caught. Nope, got caught, then its 180 days suspension. Then, well, its only a short trip to town, be home by dark...caught again. usually it was speeding or roll thru a stop sign that got me. Last time, I got smart, realized that if you play by the rules you might not get pulled over! This worked, and to this day I believe all that driving with no license or insurance taught me to be a pretty good driver in the end. no violations in decades now

 

OK, I looked it up..

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cheese_it
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Unknown, but lexicographer Eric Partridge (1894-1976) speculated that it may be a corruption of cease

Plus it sounds better than "Peanut Butter it, it's the Fuzz!".

 

When I started driving it was easy to buy a good running car for $50.00. At that time the plates went with the car and insurance wasn't mandatory. We lived in an area outside of the city where the township only had 3 police officers. One worked days, one worked nights and the chief worked whenever. The department had bought some surplus army jeeps to replace the aging squad car. They could never catch up to any of us and it was common place to just outrun them. Thing is they knew who we were and paybacks proved to be a bitch after we were annexed by the big city and they got new police cruisers.

Years later one of them officers, his partner and myself played cat and mouse for months. I was riding my old 1942 Harley 45 on this occasion. There was no plate on the bike, no insurance which was now required and I blew through a red light and didn't stop at any stop signs, wasn't wearing a helmet (protesting the new law) and was engaged in a blatant attempt to out run them once again.
I had been having trouble with the carb and stalled it and got it kicked over and continued on twice before they caught up. I was still kicking it over when the cuffs went on.
I was riding with my friend Joe that night but they didn't go after him. He was doing wheelies past them on his Triumph, while they had me handcuffed in the backseat. Those cops laughed themselves silly every time Joe rode by on one wheel.
After getting out the lockup next morning I had a total of 5 tickets to pay, which of course I didn't, so a court date was scheduled which I never appeared for either. One day I got home from work and a squad car was in the driveway. I thought something must have happened but once in the house saw my mother and an officer drinking tea and joking about how long it was going to take for me to go to the bank and cash my paycheck.
Today you would do time for that but the 5 tickets totaled $100.00, $20.00 each offence.

For $100. I would do it all over again today.

 

Yeah ^^^^my little town had 2 cops, one car. they each worked a 10 hour shift, so from 2am to 6am no cops! None on sunday, and saturday' you had to guess if they were on or off

 

We too used to call them the fuzz.
Never thought about it then. But where on earth did that name derive from??

 

Been There And The Campus Cops Were Not Impressed...Expensive Indeed..

 

I got pulled over years ago coming home from the americruse in my old pos 47 Ford coupe. Had problems most of the way to Lincoln from the black hills of South Dakota. Coming home it was hotter than hell and I didn’t have an interior other than a front and back seat if you pushed the car the temp gauge would start to raise so we had to tool along at a slower speed which made the trip home drag on. About 50 miles from home I passed a car on a two lane and merged back into my lane on the solid yellow line, about a mile later I see red lights flashing behind me. I pull over, my buddy is in the passenger seat and my pops is in the back seat (I did mention it was hot as hell)my pops had enjoyed a few Budweiser’s on the way home. The officer walks up to the side of the car and say do you know why I pulled you over and I said no and he says you passed in a no passing zone come back to the cruiser with me. I go back and he starts righting a ticket and then asks if I had been drinking I said no so he says I saw several crunched up cans on the floor are those coke or Budweiser cans? By that time I’m pissed and said hell if I know go check yourself so he heads up to the car and sees they are beer cans and I proceed in getting a breathalyzer which I pass because I was not drinking. So now the officer is pissed and says he needs to search my car and I said go the hell ahead I don’t have shit to hide. Well my ole man had his 9 mm under my seat and the next thing I know the officer is yelling THERES A WEAPON IN THIS CAR!!!!!!! I pointed at my pops and said it’s his so then we go thru all the weapons license shit. Oh what a fun trip I guess I look back now and laugh.

 

Only got two tickets in my car, one for rolling through a stop sign, and one for reckless driving for doing a burnout in a parking lot, got that one thrown out since I was on private property.

Now in a truck, it’s a different story. Second trucking company I worked for was a small private carrier hauling it’s own product. The guy that owned it paid our tickets, he wanted us to deliver and get back ASAP for the next load. I got so many speeding tickets in one year they were about to pull my license. At the time, TN didn’t send tickets on the interstate back to your home state, so I really had a bunch that weren’t showing.

A few years later the Feds put a stop to that, any ticket you got in a truck had to be reported back to your home state. With the help of a radar detector, which they also made illegal in trucks, I was able to keep my nose clean from then on. Slowing down a bit as I got older helped, too!

 

My hot rods were to fast to be caught. Actually the few times I was stopped I was able to talk my way out of it. They just wanted to check out my builds.

 

I got a speeding ticket on a Sunday night about 11pm, driving back to college from National Guard weekend. Cop took my license and I was driving on the ticket until my court date.
Monday morning 7:30, left my girlfriends house. I got pulled over for speeding. Had to give cop #2 a ticket less than 8 hours old in place of my license.

Being in Military uniform got me no grace on either stop.... didn't expect much on stop #2

I drove 54 mph for the the next 365 days. 3 tickets and your license was suspended.

 

My dad had a saying that kept me pretty much on the straight and narrow. "If you're smart enough to get into trouble, you're smart enough to get out. Don't call."

 

One of my friends was heavy into dirt bikes and they could never catch him. Finally one day after he outran them they just went to his house and beat him half to death. I mean they beat him bad man, so bad he was never the same and his parents sued the shit out of the city.

 

I always thought "cheese it" was a play on words referring to a mouse grabbing the cheese and running for it before getting caught. It's one of those sayings that everyone understood without knowing why.

 

A couple stories refer to small town USA, my choice all my adult life, grew up in city. As a kid the local Sheriff does know you and watches you when you get out of line, chances are they know your parents. A pretty good friend always tells his story of his street racing, getting away from the Sheriff, But he was waiting at his house talking with his Mom. He did not get a ticket that night, but he sold the car after a couple of months of being followed whenever he drove the car, the Sheriff and deputy made it their mission to make him feel uncomfortable, it worked. LOL.

 

I sold one of my dirt bikes because I knew they'd snatch it the next time they caught me. I'm flying down a trail and a cop pulls his car across the path like a deer jumping in front of your bike. I laid the bike into a slide and got it stopped in time but these are the same cops that beat my buddy down. As he starts getting out of his car I started downshifting and he ran over and shut my bike off before I could split. No beatdown but he did tell me the next time he sees my bike it's history. He wasn't joking. Minor offenses by minors and adult cops that would just assume kill them for nothing.

 

I grew up on a farm in north central Missouri. The town where I attended high school did have issues with some young folks and automobiles. Town hired a town marshal that promised to "ticket every high schooler with a car the first week".

At 16, I had a 1956 Ford with pipes that today I would consider loud, but at 16 they were just right.

Well, I got my ticket, for speeding, which I was not.

Went to court, Dad went with me, and had explained how to conduct myself. So when the judge asked "how do you plead?" I stood up, and said "not guilty, your honor". Then "Mr. xxxx, you were the arresting office, what do you have to say?". "Well, of course he's guilty, if he hadn't been guilty, I would not have arrested him!". "The court finds the defendant guilty, and orders the defendant to pay a fine of $5. plus court costs".

Dad must have known about the fine, and costs, as he had given me a $20. before we arrived at the court. Court costs were $11.20, so with the fine the total was $16.20. I handed the bailiff the $20., and the bailiff gave me three $1's, three quarters, and a 1918/17 D buffalo nickel!!!!!!!!!!!

I sold the nickel at the local numismatic coin auction the next month for $100.

Happy ending, but there is a sequel.

This occurred before my Mother talked my Dad into stopping smoking. He waited until my car was behind the others in the driveway, and told me "I'm out of cigarettes, may I borrow your car?" I flipped him the keys, and heard the rest of the story later.

The marshal generally sat at the one stop sign in town. Dad pulls up to the stop sign, pulls that Ford down into low, and promptly lays a strip of rubber for a block, does a U-turn (legal), and drives back by the marshal. The marshal had fired up his Pontiac, and was ready for the chase. They he saw who was driving, and commented "Good evening Mr. xxxxxxxxx, nice evening, isn't it". And Dad drove on home!

But in general, I have a very high respect for officers of the law. After I was joined by Uncle Sam, I was forced to be one.

Jon

 

I always thought it meant smile for the camera. When a cop was running radar it was brush your teeth and comb your hair, we got a kojak with a Kodak!

 

None of my run ins with the cops are pre 1965, soooo....

I do have one absolutely epic story about running from the cops. My friends say it's the best me story, and I've got a lot of crazy ones from my party days. The details aren't much to be proud of nowadays, but suffice it to say I got away, with much effort.... Lol.

 

For a department within a department, Philadelphia Highway Patrol have always had the coolest uniforms.

 

10-4, Good buddy.

 

Good theory, but "cheese it" predates "Kojak" by at least a few decades.

 

Town I grew up in 9-10k population. I was about 18, Got pulled over heavy snow, about 8pm, was driving about 15 mph, but my crappy winter car didn't have a working driver's window. I opened the door and got out.

I was face to face with a police handgun. "Face down on the ground"

I calmly mentioned there was a foot of snow and slush, can we talk. Cop started to calm down, he was only about 4 years older than me.

He's yelling about can't get out of car on a police stop. I'm asking why I got pulled over - brake light. OK. He's saying I'm getting arrested.
I asked if he wants to go to court and explain weapon drawn over a taillight in a snow storm.

We agree to part ways. I ran into him many times over the next few years around town, we just nodded to each other. Weird situation.

 

I had them take my car apart right on Telegraph one time. I pulled out from the Detroit side so naturally the car had to be stolen. They had me lit up like they just made the drug bust of the year and checked every VIN number they could find. The car was clean so they were just making major spectacles of themselves and had to let me go once they were done.

 

"Cheese it", from Wikipedia, and other sources:

"Unknown, but lexicographer Eric Partridge (1894-1976) speculated that it may be a corruption of cease."

"Cheese it' has been part of English slang since at least the mid-1800s. The word "cheese' has been used with the meaning "to put an end to' or "to stop' since at least 1812, and this is the sense which led to the idiomatic expression.

Jon

 

I had so many I could bore y'all to tears, but the best is when an abusive bully with a badge has to eat shit.

I had moved out and been gone for about 2 weeks setting up my place. I pick up my pal 1 night and as I turn the corner get pulled over. WTF!?! After papers please, "Now I gotcha. I've had a dozen complaints just today, burning your tires up and down here, enough is ENOUGH!" "Bullshit! Not me, I haven't even been..." "Shut up! Don't even try it, orange convertible, white top, you're lucky I don't impound you right now!" "Look, I'm not the only orange Camaro in this city. I've been busy setting up my new place and..." "I told you, SHUT UP! I'm supposed to believe that shit? Keep it up and you'll go to jail too." "Yeah? Go ahead, arrest me asshole, I'LL OWN YOU! How about YOU shut up and listen! It's not me." He starts coming toward me, and a block away I hear a burnout and at the 1st street up, out comes a bright orange Camaro (67, mine was a 69) with a white top. "So, officer, you were saying?" He looks at the car as it passes us, looks at me like he'd like to just shoot me, but generally freezes. "And he'll tell me it's you!" "But it ain't, and you know it. Can I have my stuff?" "Get outta here!" as he goes after that guy. I laughed for probably a 1/2 hr. 2 weeks later that 67 was on the corner by the highway with for sale signs in it.
True story, back in 78, Allen Pk, MI.

 

Thinking back, I mostly recall a cartoon called "Cheeze It The Cat". It was a Looney Toons parody of The Honeymooners (also referred to as The Honeymousers in another cartoon). I like the beginning, which shows Ralph driving up in a wind-up toy bus and singing "Wild Irish Rose".

 

I did a lot of street racing when I was young and had a very fast OT 69 nova, built SBC, 671, m-22. One bad night my luck ran out. It was a Saturday night, I had been raising hell in the Nova all night, racing and winning. Then had a race set up against a 68 vette. I beat the vette but a road block had been set up by the local police at the end of the road we were racing on. I was arrested and the Nova impounded. I was only 17 so no jail but I got a 2000 dollar fine and loss of license for one year. My parents were not impressed. This did not end my racing days, Hey, I was young and dumb and had a way to fast car.