Determining the origins of certain phrases is a piece of cake. But in terms of the idiom “piece of cake” itself, this goal is far from simple. We commonly use this phrase to describe any task that can be accomplished with ease. But you still may find yourself wondering why cake is the default dessert in this case, rather than a gooey brownie or a big bowl of pudding. Before we get sidetracked talking about sweet treats, let’s go back to the 1930s and discuss how the saying was first coined.
The Oxford English Dictionary notes the idiom originated in print in the 1936 edition of Primrose Path, a collection of poetry by Ogden Nash: “Her picture’s in the papers now, And life’s a piece of cake.” Oddly, earlier editions of the poem featured the line “And everything is jake” instead — “jake” being a slang term meaning “satisfactory.” While the rhyming swap preserved the poetry of the line, the meaning of “piece of cake” implied “ease” from the beginning, and it was not synonymous with “satisfactory.”
Shortly after Nash introduced the phrase, it was popularized by members of Britain’s Royal Air Force to describe an easy mission. Why they chose this phrase in particular is a bit of a mystery — maybe they read Nash’s poem, or perhaps they were inspired by “easy as pie,” a similar dessert-themed idiom dating to the 1890s. The cake idiom became indelibly connected with the RAF in short order, appearing in a 1942 article from the popular Life magazine about British pilots finding targets with ease. Many queries around linguistic message boards (they exist!) assume the idiom originated within the RAF, giving the pilots credit for the coinage. However, the American poet’s wording predated the military usage.
More from our network
Word Smarts is part of Optimism, which publishes content that uplifts, informs, and inspires.
