2006-12-07 07:45:23 · 2 answers · asked by jwald 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Quotations
One school of thought is it was first used by Ogden Nash in a 1936 story - 'Her picture's in the papers now, and life's a piece of cake.' But he may have been reflecting a contemporary saying, rather than inventing it. "Cake" turns up in lots of sayings and there is another school of thought that they all derive from the tradition of giving cakes as prizes, particularly at "cakewalks" in which u.s. slaves would walk around a cake in pairs, with the most graceful pair being given the cake as a prize. It was also apparently a popular saying in World War II, used by British airmen. Obviously, it's meant to convey the idea of something being easy (but not as easy as pie!)
2006-12-07 08:06:18 · answer #1 · answered by senlin 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is a much older possible origin, going back to the ancient Greeks. A "cake" in those times was a toasted cereal bound together with honey. It was given to the most vigilant man on night watch. Aristotle is quoted as having written in "The Knights": "if you surpass him in impudence, then we take the cake".
P.S. it's men that use the expression, and they don't do the baking.
2006-12-07 16:11:27 · answer #2 · answered by Crash 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋