amazing etymologies

Arnold Zwicky zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU
Sun Feb 17 22:18:32 UTC 2002


elizabeth zwicky has supplied me with a wonderful etymology
from a carton of Silk soy milk.  there's no source listed for
the historical claims (which are dubious on so many fronts that
you hardly know where to start criticizing).  (there is a
www.silkissoy.com web site, but i don't think it touches on
the origins of "easy as pie".)  in any case, here it is, for
collectors of such things:

---------------

"Easy as Pie"

As in "Drinking Silk is easy as pie because it tastes so
good!". Origin: The phrase "easy as pie" originated in Australia
around 1920. Surprisingly, it has nothing to do with eating pie. It
comes from a Maori word (the language of a people native to New
Zealand) "Pai", which means "good". To be pie at something is to be
good at it. To be easy as pie is to be so good at something it's easy.

--------------

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu), noting that NSOED has
  a much less exciting (and 19th-century) history, which
  takes the "pie" in question to be a development from the
  ordinary culinary noun



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