Entry in progress—B.P.
(Oxford English Dictionary)
piecrust, n.
In proverbial and allusive use, with reference to a promise that is easily or casually broken.
1681 Heraclitus Ridens 16 Aug. v/1 He makes no more of breaking Acts of Parliaments, than if they were like Promises and Pie-crust made to be broken.
1706 E. Ward Hudibras Redivivus I. v. 9 Fair Promises avail but little, Like too rich Pye-crust, they’re so brittle.
1780 J. O’Keeffe Tony Lumpkin in Town i. 4 The Squire’s good at a promise, that’s certain; but what’s a promise? Pye-crust.
1869 Hazlitt’s Eng. Prov. 320 Promises are like pie-crust, made to be broken.
10 June 1922, Vermont Republican (Windsor, VT) pg. 4:
Promises and pie crust are made to be broken, but the printer gets more of the former than the latter.
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
Recent entries:
•“I came, I saw, I coffee’d” (7/25)
•“Love ordering food hate answering the door” (7/25)
•“Can anyone tell me what oblivious means? I have no idea” (7/21)
•“Sundays were made for good coffee, good music, and being lazy with the people you love” (7/21)
•“The people who currently own this world don’t care which ruler you choose. They care only that you keep choosing to be ruled” (7/21)
More new entries...
Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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