Overegging the Pudding

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Paige from Lawrence, Kansas.

Hi, Paige.

Hello, Paige.

Hi. I’m a lawyer, and I’m calling to ask about a non-legal phrase that I read in a recent legal opinion.

This was a Kansas Supreme Court opinion issued a few weeks ago, and in the opinion, the court said that one of the litigants in the case had overstated or gone too far with an argument.

Mm—

But the way the court put it was to say that the litigant had over-egged the pudding.

The court put it that way? The judge?

The judge who wrote the opinion said that the party over-eggs the pudding when it discusses such and such statute.

Was this an American judge?

Yes, yes, although I believe that her husband is English.

The clues, they tell me something.

Oh, yes. I first had never seen the phrase anywhere in a judicial opinion or otherwise,

And I read a lot of judicial opinion,

So I’m always grateful when I come across a bit of lively judicial writing.

I can see how that qualifies.

So I was curious about both the history of the phrase

And whether it really does mean adding too many eggs to the pudding

Or whether it means overmixing the pudding.

I had read somewhere that it might be the sense of when you egg somebody on,

And you agitate them, and so it might be overmixing the pudding.

That kind of egg.

You got it exactly right when you described it as overstating the case.

It’s like saying more than you have to to prove your point.

After you’ve already won, you throw on some more evidence in your favor.

It’s just saying, maybe even to the point of making people then doubt you,

Even though they already agreed with you.

And it’s a Britishism, which is why I asked.

It’s not usually heard among Americans,

Except if they watch a lot of British television or know a lot of British folks.

And it literally means putting too many eggs in the recipe for a pudding.

And you can find it back as far as the 1830s.

It shows up first, I believe, as a Yorkshire phrase.

Yorkshire pudding phrase?

Actually, yes.

Yorkshire pudding and a variety of different other puddings, bread and butter pudding.

And there’s a cookbook out there.

Actually, it’s not really a cookbook so much.

It’s about the spirit of cooking by Gina Mallet, M-A-L-L-E-T.

And she talks about what happens when you add too many eggs to a recipe.

Eggs aren’t as forgiving as other ingredients.

And if you add too many eggs, you ruin a dish.

Like it won’t gel properly or it’ll taste overly eggy or the color will be wrong

Or the consistency will go one way or the other.

It gets really rubbery.

Yeah, it’s got proteins, it’s got fats in it.

Certain chemical things happen when it’s combined with salt

And other kinds of chemicals that you use to cook with.

Because you might think, oh, I’ll just add another egg in there.

It’ll be even better.

It’s just not the case.

It’s too much of a good thing.

Too much of a good thing, exactly.

How interesting that the judge used that expression.

I love it.

And I wouldn’t be surprised if she picked it up from her husband.

I wouldn’t be surprised at all.

So is it a common phrase in England?

It’s common enough where it shows up in newspaper headlines and in reviews of books or in reviews of theater productions and that sort of thing.

And it shows up unremarked upon.

Like the British writers never feel obligated to explain it to their readers.

Yeah, Nigella Lawson uses it.

Yeah.

Well, I’m definitely going to start using it because who doesn’t like pudding?

Who doesn’t like pudding? Right.

A good caramel pudding with some raisins in there.

And not too many eggs.

Not too many eggs.

Thank you for sharing this.

I’m glad to hear that legal writing sometimes can be lively because I didn’t know that.

Yeah, that’s a newsflash for us. Thank you.

All right. Well, thank you very much.

Bye-bye.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

Call us with your questions, 877-929-9673, or send an email to words@waywordradio.org.

Grant, Alex from San Diego just sent us an email with a great Chinese idiom.

It translates to ride the cow, look for the horse.

So does that mean work with what you have and maybe try to get something better later?

Exactly. Take what you can get now, but look for something better.

Alex says, my mom always tells me this, and especially so after I graduated and started looking for jobs.

I like that. Ride the cow, look for the horse.

Fantastic. Send your idioms or clever sayings or things that your mother told you to words@waywordradio.org

Or give us a call, 877-929-9673.