the proof is in the pudding?
I DON'T GET IT!!!
2006-11-12 11:29:55 · 15 answers · asked by leafy_c2i2 4 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Polls & Surveys
What does that mean? This is an old proverb that has joined the microwave generation!
It has been clipped down from the original phrase which was:
"The proof of the pudding is in the eating."
It means that the true value or quality of something can
only be judged when it's put to use or tried and tested.
The meaning is often summed up as:
"Results are what count...it's not how you start, but how you finish."
2006-11-12 11:32:59 · answer #1 · answered by 7aliens 3 · 3⤊ 2⤋
According to Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, the phrase dates back to at least 1615 when Miguel de Cervantes published Don Quixote. In this comic novel, the phrase is stated as, "The proof of the pudding is the eating."
Word Detective and the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms note that the phrase came into use around 1600. However, a bulletin board quotes The Dictionary of Cliches, which dates the phrase to the 14th century. The board also mentions a 1682 version from Bileau's Le Lutrin, which read, "The proof of th' pudding's seen i' the eating." A page of pudding definitions from the Oxford English Dictionary also cites the author Boileau (Bileau) as the first to use the phrase. So it seems likely that the phrase dates back to the 1600s, though the identity of its author is disputed.
These days, some people shorten the phrase to simply "proof of the pudding." Even the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language trims it down. Occasionally, it is even further abbreviated to "proof in pudding," irritating purists who argue that the shortened versions don't mean anything on their own. Let's just hope it doesn't get further reduced any time soon. "Proofpudding" just doesn't cut it.
2006-11-12 19:33:11 · answer #2 · answered by cynthetiq 6 · 0⤊ 3⤋
The expression started with cooked pudding and putting in the proper ingredients at the right time. If you did the right things then your pudding would be the right consistancy and taste. If not you ended up with a nasty bowl of mush. Therefore if you wanted to know if someone did something right or wrong, you would be able to judge by the results. Just like the pudding.
2006-11-12 19:37:49 · answer #3 · answered by Debbi 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
"The proof of the pudding is in the tasting." Meaning, of course, that you do not know if a thing is successful before you experience the results. The phrase "the proof is in the pudding" is simply a screwed up version of the original; it is meaningless.
2006-11-12 19:38:53 · answer #4 · answered by Red Yeti 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Come over and I will show you the proof in my "pudding."
2006-11-12 19:32:16 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 3⤋
well, proof is kind of a good thing to have, and pudding is sweet and good to have too, so, te proff is kind of like the pudding!
2006-11-12 19:33:27 · answer #6 · answered by -:-vInTaGe PaSsIon-:- 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
The proof is in the PUTTING, not pudding. God!
2006-11-12 19:31:50 · answer #7 · answered by RoninShonen 5 · 1⤊ 6⤋
Actually that's a shortened version of the old saying.
Check this out...http://ask.yahoo.com/20020903.html
2006-11-12 19:32:42 · answer #8 · answered by persnickety1022 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It means they want to see Bill Cosby frolicking in a tub full of pudding....errrr, maybe that's just me.
2006-11-12 19:31:34 · answer #9 · answered by pornstar 4 · 3⤊ 6⤋
Never heard that one before
2006-11-12 19:41:03 · answer #10 · answered by Brooklynn 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋