"This pudding has no theme" (Winston Churchill?)

[Michael Quinion]

Laurence Horn asked:

> Then there's the question of proof.  I wonder at what point "The proof
> of the pudding is in the eating" turned into the rather more opaque
> "The proof is in the pudding"...

I've found an example that shows it's far from recent:

1928 Decatur Herald (Decatur, Illinois) 5 Aug. 3/4 'Proof is in the
pudding' that a successful tennis court need not be a grass court nor even
a clay court, when a cinder covered playground is available.



--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
E-mail: wordseditor at worldwidewords.org
Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org

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