more holes than Swiss cheese

more holes than Swiss cheese

mainly AMERICAN
If an argument, theory or plan has more holes than Swiss cheese, it has very many faults and problems. The current laws have more holes than Swiss cheese. Jackson claimed the system had more holes in it than Swiss cheese. Note: Swiss cheese is used in various other ways to describe an argument or theory like this. In my view it's a Swiss cheese you have there, not a case. Jones criticizes what she sees as Miller's `Swiss-cheese thesis'. Note: `Swiss cheese' is an American term for cheese such as Emmenthal, which has round holes in it.
See also: cheese, hole, more, Swiss
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.
See also:
  • have more holes than Swiss cheese
  • Swiss
  • Annie Oakley
  • nineteenth hole
  • fall in
  • fall in(to)
  • fall into
  • black hole
  • rust out
  • out at the
References in periodicals archive
The plot had more holes than Swiss cheese but who cares when the dialogue was sparkling and Auld Reekie was shining like a new pin?
Frances Traynor: QUITE A SHOCK I GOT