Way With Words: Proof in Pudding

In honor of Thanksgiving Day, today’s ‘Way With Words’ will be of an edible nature.

A common phrase heard to describe the act of finding out for oneself is “the proof is in the pudding,” or “the proof in pudding is in the eating.”

“The proof in pudding is in the eating,” is the longer and complete version of the saying, while “the proof is in the pudding,” is the shorthanded form that makes no sense to a literal-minded person.

Word-detective.com describes the saying as a “very old phrase, dating back to at least 1605, and ‘proof’ in the adage is an antiquated use of the word in the sense of ‘test’.”

For example,‘testing’ the pudding by eating it to know if said dish was delicious, the judgment being that it tastes good.

However, ‘pudding’ in that day and age was not the goopy chocolaty treat we eat today, but a form of sausage or blood that could potentially make one sick.

Therefore the proof was in the taste test, as just by looking at it, one couldn’t tell if thepudding would be to die for.

Despite Americans not knowing what ‘pudding’ means, and having shortened the phrase from “the proof in pudding is in the eating” to ” the proof is in the pudding,” many still understand the connotation that things need to be experienced before they can be judged.