Why Is It “Easy as Pie” When Making Pies Takes Work?

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

This is Arthur.

Arthur, where are you calling us from?

I’m calling from New Bern, North Carolina.

New Bern, North Carolina.

And what has prompted you to take time out of your busy day to give us a call?

I saw a commercial where they were saying, if you switch from this product to this product, it’s as easy as pie.

Now, to make a pie, you’ve got to get the tin, put the crust in, cut the apples, put the stuff in, and bake it.

Or if you want to go to the store, you’ve got to get in the car, find a parking spot, walk into the building, then you get the product, then you’ve got to wait in line, and then you’ve got to come back.

That ain’t easy.

No.

You’ve got a point there.

No, not at all.

So your question is, why do we say easy as pie if it ain’t easy?

Exactly.

That’s a great one. Let me ask you, Arthur, before we get into that, you’re in New Bern, North Carolina, but you sound like a New Yorker.

Born and raised in New York, about 125 miles outside of Manhattan.

On Long Island?

Exactly. Halfway between Montauk and Manhattan.

All right. So let’s talk about easy as pie. Why do we say it’s easy as pie if making a pie isn’t all that easy?

It’s probably because part of the expression is now missing.

Probably it was originally about the eating of pie is easy.

Easy is eating pie.

And we’ve just kind of shortened it.

It’s kind of related to something being a piece of cake.

A piece of cake isn’t all that easy, but it’s easy to eat.

I understand what you’re saying.

Yeah.

So it’s really just the phrase has been shortened.

We lost some of the original context, and now it doesn’t make a lot of sense until you know the story.

Now that I learned something from you, thank you very much.

We appreciate your call, Arthur.

Take care of yourself and give us another call sometime, all right?

I will.

If I have another question, I’ll ask you.

All right.

Bye-bye.

Please do.

Stay now.

Stay cool.

All right.

Cool as a cucumber.

Bye-bye.

Well, we love to answer your food and language questions.

Where those intersect, that’s our sweet spot.

Give me and Martha a call at 877-929-9673.