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"simple as pie" or "easy as pie"

Posted by Israel Cohen on May 11, 2001

In Reply to: "simple as pie" or "easy as pie" posted by ESC on February 01, 2000

As "simple as pie" is a very ancient expression in English.
It is probably at least as old as the nursery rhyme
"Simple Simon met a pie-man". He didn't meet a baker,
or any other type of "man".

I believe this is simply (no pun intended) the translation of
an Aramaic pun. The Aramaic word for simple is P'SHooT.
The Aramaic word for pie is PaSHTiDaH. In modern Hebrew,
the phrase "simple as pie" is: P'SHooT k'mo PaSHTiDaH.
Both words begin with peh-shin-tet.

PaSHTiDaH may, by metathesis, be a precursor of pizza
(pronounced PeeT-Sa), which is a baked, open-faced pie
consisting of a thin layer of dough topped with tomato
sauce and cheese, and often peppers, sausage,
mushrooms, etc. Also called .

izzy_cohen@bmc.com

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