The moon is made of a green cheese
The moon is made of a green cheese, scilicet "Luna e formella casei recentis constituitur", est locutio communis Anglica, primum ab Ioanne Heywood medio saeculo XVI relata in opere suo A dialogue of the effectual proverbs in the English tongue concerning marriages. Exemplum est rei de cuius veritate homines aegre ad credendum persuadebunt. Idem conceptus iam antea reperitur, non in forma locutionis sed in fabula populari a Petro Alfonsi narrata in Disciplina clericali ("De bobus lupi promissis a rustico vulpisque iudicio"): faciem lunae imo puteo in aqua reflexum esse: lupum, a vulpe suasum, caseum esse credidisse et in puteo descendisse, unde exire nescivit. Anno 2002 die 1 Aprilis (quo die res falsas solemus sicut veras dicere) NASA photographema Lunae divulgavit in quo datum impressum rite videtur antequam materies Lunaris casearia consumi debeat. Senator Texanus Philippus Gramm ad eandem locutionem non sine sale allusit, qui haec anno 1989 dixit: If we should vote next week on whether to begin producing cheese in a factory on the moon, I almost certainly would oppose it ... On the other hand, if the government decided to institute the policy, it would be my objective to see that a Texas contractor builds this celestial cheese plant, that the milk comes from Texas cows, and that the Earth distribution center is located in Texas. ("Si mox nobis suffragia ferre contigit, an caseus in officina Lunari fieri incipiendus sit necne, suffragio meo paene certe deprecabor, sed, si talis propositus a regimine accipiatur, tunc confirmare coner redemptorem Texanum illam officinam caseariam Lunarem aedificaturum, vaccas Texanas lac illud producturas, Tellustria illius casei horrea non alibi quam in Texia positura.")