Editor's Corner

Good morning, folks. I hope you enjoyed your weekend!

One of our coworkers sent me an article that mentioned the phrase “pie in the sky” and then provided the Korean equivalent, which is “rice cake in a picture.” I tried to think of what, exactly, the idiom “pie in the sky” meant. I gave it my best guess and then checked in with The Free Dictionary and its idioms. Here are a few of their examples.

Pie in the Sky

· McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

1. Fig. a future reward after death, considered as a replacement for a reward not received on earth. Don’t hold out for pie in the sky. Get realistic. If he didn’t hope for some heavenly pie in the sky, he would probably be a real crook.

2. Fig. having to do with a hope for a special reward. (This is hyphenated before a nominal.) Get rid of your pie-in-the-sky ideas! What these pie-in-the-sky people really want is money.

· Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003.

Something good that is unlikely to happen. Our leaders need to offer more than pie in the sky when they talk about political and social issues.

· The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

An empty wish or promise, as in His dream of being hired as a sports editor proved to be pie in the sky. This expression was first recorded in 1911 in a rallying song of a union, the International Workers of the World (or "Wobblies"): "Work and pray, live on hay, you’ll get pie in the sky when you die."

Thank goodness, we are Jack Henrians rather than Wobblies!

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

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