ProverbCommunicationEnglish origin1546

You would make me believe the moon is made of green cheese.

Meaning: Absurd claims require absurd evidence; gullibility has limits even when persuasion is skillful.

Origin: John Heywood's 1546 collection has "the moon is made of a green cheese," and it was already a byword for gullibility. "Green" meant new and unripened, not the color: a young round cheese could look like the pale full moon. Believing such a thing was the mark of a simpleton.

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