This week I will posting a couple of blogs. They will all focus on phrases that are used, that in all honesty make no sense. But, no one ever takes the time to think, "Hey, maybe I shouldn't fit in with the crowd and make sense."
The first phrase this week is, "piece of cake". Now traditionally this is used to describe something as easy.
"What did you think of that math test?"
"It was a piece of cake."
Really? How many of you have made a cake? It's not like you just pop it into the oven. You do have to combine the correct amount of all the ingrediants together. Which instantly makes it harder than somethings. I would understand the phrase, "easy as toast." Toast is simple. Get the piece of bread, place it in the toaster, select the color you want to toast to come out (the dial), and finally take the toast out.
Another phrase that is similar to "a piece of cake" is "easy as pie". That only makes sense if you are eating the pie. And that isn't always easy. Pies can be messy. The filling often falls onto the plate, and if you are using plastic silverware the problem becomes more difficult. The filling always falls off the silverware and makes it ten times harder to accomplish the goal of eating the the pie.
Bottom line: Eating pie, and making toast are a piece of cake.
Idioms are very interesting collections of words. :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/
P.S. Pie is better than cake. Just sayin'!