IdiomFood & Drink
Swedish
Swedishfå betalt för gammal ost
Meaning: To be punished or retaliated against for a past wrong, to receive belated payback.
Literally: To be paid for old cheese
Example: “Han var elak mot alla i skolan och nu får han betalt för gammal ost.” — He was mean to everyone at school, and now it's come home to roost.
English equivalent: To come home to roost
Equivalents in other languages
Spanish: de aquellos polvos, estos lodos Literally: From those dusts, these muds
English: come home to roost
Origin: Being paid for old cheese is getting one's comeuppance for something done long ago. Why old cheese is not explained in any source found: it may stand for an old debt or a grudge that has been kept, like a cheese left to age, but this is only a guess.
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