This cartoon by Andy Davey from The Sun relates to news that TV chef Antony Worrall Thompson has been arrested for shoplifting cheese and wine at a Tesco supermarket. Read more >>
The cartoon shows Worrall Thompson preparing a recipe on TV (note the Tesco bag!) He tells the viewers: 'for this recipe, you'll need a pinch of cheese'. The joke relies on the double meaning of the word 'pinch'. A pinch of an ingredient such as salt is the amount that you can hold between your thumb and your first finger. And to pinch something, especially something of little value, means to steal it. This usage in informal. • Somebody pinched my wallet on the tube.
The Sun produced a classic front page headline for this story: "I've been Edam fool ... but I'll be Gouda from now on" (I've been a damn fool but I'll be good from now on). Of course, Edam and Gouda are types of cheese.
