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

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Guided by the use of the phrase "piece of cake" in the 1936 version of
Ogden Nash's poem I searched for earlier matches, and I found the
following pertinent figurative use in the popular syndicated column
"Office Cat":

Date: October 19, 1927
Newspaper: The De Kalb Daily Chronicle
Newspaper Location: De Kalb, Illinois
Article: The Office Cat
Quote Page 4, Column 7
Database: Newspapers.com
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-chronicle-pieceofcake/190906842/

[Begin excerpt]
What is life? A piece of cake,
Or a bitter pill we've got to take?
[End excerpt]

I think this citation illuminates the later use of "piece of cake" in
Ogden Nash's poem, but it may not fit into a conventional dictionary
entry.

Garson

On Mon, Feb 9, 2026 at 1:36 AM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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

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