[Ads-l] Antedating of "Piece of Cake"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Fred Shapiro
> piece of cake (OED 1936)
>
> The OED's first use of the term "piece of cake" is dated 1936 by
> them.  The source is Ogden Nash's book The Primrose Path.
> The 1936 dating is erroneous, it should be 1935.

The situation is complex. There seems to be a solid reason for the
1936 date in the OED.

The 1935 U.S. Simon and Schuster edition of the collection "The
Primrose Path" by Ogden Nash is available via the Internet Archive. I
have been unable to find the phrase "piece of cake" in this 1935
edition.

Here is more information from the OED entry.

[Begin OED citation]
piece of cake noun
colloquial. Something easy or pleasant.
1936 Her picture's in the papers now, And life's a piece of cake.
O. Nash, Primrose Path 172
[End OED citation]

When I searched for a match based on the OED text, I found a pertinent
Ogden Nash poem titled "I Have Used It for Years" in 1933, but this
poem employed the phrase "And everything is jake" instead of "And
life's a piece of cake".

Here is an excerpt from the poem in "The New Yorker":

Date: June 24, 1933
Periodical: The New Yorker
Poem: I Have Used It for Years
Author: Ogden Nash
Quote Page 23, Column 2
Publisher: F-R Publishing Corporation, New York
Database: Internet Archive

[Begin excerpt]
Her life was rather grim.
But Pinkley Pills have showed her how
To cure that steady ache.
Her picture's in the papers now,
And everything is jake.
[End excerpt]

The same poem with the word "jake" appeared in the 1933 collection "Happy Days":

Year: 1933
Book Title: Happy Days
Author: Ogden Nash
Poem: I Have Used It for Years
Start Page 29, Quote Page 30
Publisher: Simon and Schuster, New York
Database: Internet Archive

[Begin excerpt]
Her life was rather grim.
But Pinkley Pills have showed her how
To cure that steady ache.
Her picture's in the papers now,
And everything is jake.
[End excerpt]

This confusing topic was discussed in the following English language forum:

Website: Stack Exchange - English Language and Usage
Date: March 6, 2018
Topic title: Where is Ogden Nash's "piece of cake"?
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/434216/where-is-ogden-nashs-piece-of-cake

Poster "Mari-Lou A" was unable to find "piece of cake" in the 1935
edition of "The Primrose Path". However, further down on the webpage a
participant using the handle "JJJ" asserted that that the 1936 edition
of "The Primrose Path" by Ogden Nash from the publisher Bodley Head in
London contained the phrase "piece of cake". The webpage included
scans which contain the following lines.

[Begin excerpt]
Her life was rather grim.
But Pinkley Pills have showed her how
To cure that steady ache.
Her picture's in the papers now,
And life's a piece of cake.
[End excerpt]

I have not personally accessed the 1936 Bodley Head edition.

Garson

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org