The Proof is in the Pudding

Volume 2. Issue 5.

What was said? The HBO made-for-tv movie “Game Change” on Sarah Palin was very well done… it really shows that the proof is in the pudding.

Did someone really say that? Yes on NPR’s On the Media segment.

What does it mean? To fully test something you need to experience it yourself.

Origin:  The original expression was “the proof of the pudding is in the eating” where the word “proof” really means “test” (like in geometry class).

Different sources suggest different dates for when this phrase came into existence:

• 14^th century according to the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
• 1605 printed example – William Camden’s Remaines of a Greater Worke Concerning Britaine: “All the proof of  a pudding is in the eating”
• 1615 printed example – Miguel de Cervantes in Don Quixote: “The proof of the pudding is the eating”

Also important to note that at the time the phrase was used, pudding was not merely the jello variety in chocolate and vanilla… but typically included meat, oatmeal, and other things we don’t need to mention here.

Here’s Flula’s YouTube on “the proof is in the pudding” where his lesson #1 is don’t put your proof in the pudding…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVApHh5Rax4

Sources:
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/proof-of-the-pudding.html
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=the%20proof%20is%20in%20the%20pudding

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