Why do we say 'best thing since sliced bread' ?

Question

When in the grand scheme of things sliced bread isnt really that great ?

ok, I buy unsliced bread and cut it myself...So maybe I dont fully appreciate the wonders of sliced bread.

(and its not that much of a hardship getting a knife and cutting it myself!)

Answer 1

many people find cutting their own slices very difficult. Seems not everyone has a steady eye-to-hand coordination like us!

Answer 2

There's alot of great answers to this question, and the use of the term may have been appropriate in its day, but I always felt the use of that term implied a sort of sarcasm....

Like you say, sliced bread isn't really all that great in the grand scheme of things.

So "the best thing since sliced bread" to me has sort of the same mood as "I'm so happy here I could sh*t".

Items that might qualify as the "best thing since sliced bread":

The Rotato
Seal-a-meal
VCR Tape Rewinder
Wire Head Massager
The Clapper
Printer Cartrige Refill Ink
Toaster Ovens (kinda ironic, huh?)
Tidy Bowl Tablets
Universal Remote Controls
Modern Blister Packaging
Non-Flammable WD-40 (the thrill is gone!)
The Segway
Ring Tones

Anyone else? Bueller...Bueller?

Answer 3

In the culinary history of man, bread was one of the first food items that could be baked from basic staples such as corn and flower. For decades, it was torn apart in its warm state, as well it should be, and is today in some of the finer restaurants - and dunked in butter or olive oil or whatever.
When the cutting machine was invented, it provided a way to mass produce the bread, slicing it and doling it out in whatever number of slices were needed. That led to the creation of the sandwich, where a middle of meats and/or vegetables and/or jellies could be placed between two slices of bread and millions could be fed cheaply. It was also a way to provide quick, cheap lunches for troops during the Civil and other wars. Finally, it led to the major industry of bread makers such as Orowheat and others, becoming a major source of taxation for all countries. Therefore the invention of sliced bread was so overwhelming in its time that people could not imagine a greater invention of convenience, mass feeding, quick lunches and led to the saying that an army "fights on its stomach."
So you see, sliced bread is that great!

Answer 4

because a long time ago, when you bought bread, you had to cut the bread into slices yourself, which was apparently a difficult task. When sliced bread came out, one didn't have to cut it. Since it was a difficult task, and since there was sliced bread in stores, people say the "best thing since sliced bread"

Answer 5

Bread didn't come pre-sliced for a long time, so you had to cut each bit by hand - and the slices ended up wonky, or too thick. Now that bread comes pre-sliced, we are saved that hassle, and all our slices are the same - convenient.

Answer 6

Because back in the day (Violins please) during the war when stuff was rationed and times were hard and you tried to get bread to feed the whole family it was hard to slice it right to make it go round so naturally when it came sliced people were thrilled cos it didnt all fall apart or cause a row cos one of the nippers got a thicker slice than the other, tadah!

Answer 7

I think you will find that Sliced Bread is the best invention of mankind EVER, just image where you would be if you couldn't make a sandwich. I dread to think of a life like that.

Answer 8

but think about it! Back in the day, sliced bread was like the most amazing invention ever! I guess the saying just stuck!

Answer 9

We are used to sliced bread now but in the 1930's when it was first marketed, it saved housewives so much time it was highly treasured and the saying probably started at this time to describe something innovative and time saving.

Answer 10

When that saying came about having a piece of bread was every thing in the world. That is why you say it. When the French People were starving and their Queen Said let them eat cake, because there was no flora to make bread or cake. That is why they cut off her head!

Answer 11

It is if you never had it before. Slicing a load of bread every time you make a sandwich sucks.