CHEEZ IT!

What is this a reference to? It's been driving me nuts all night....

(yes, I *KNOW* it's a snack food. I'm curious as to why it became synonomous with "run away")

I think "cheese it" (as in "Cheese it, it's the cops") was a slang phrase long before it became a junk food. I'd lay dollars to doughnuts that the snack food was named for the phrase.