October 22, 1996

the proof of the pudding

Last night distinguished New Yorker writer Ken Auletta, on the News Hour on PBS was heard to utter "the proof is in the pudding." Surely this meaningless distortion of the axiom "the proof of the pudding is in the eating" must be quashed (and he should know better). Agreed?

Well, "quashed" is a rather strong word. The variant the proof is in the pudding is fairly well established; and since many people don't know what the full form the proof of the pudding is in the eating means to begin with, we should start worrying about that.

Proof in the full version of this proverb is used in the now largely archaic sense 'test'. Pudding originally referred to a type of sausage, then to any food in a casing or crust. The proverb means something like 'don't judge something superficially, judge by the true result'. Proof does not mean 'a demonstration of truthfulness', the usual current meaning.

It is true that the shortened version, the proof is in the pudding, doesn't mean much on its own, but proverbs often shift their meanings and their forms, so the shortening shouldn't be regarded as that unusual. The shortened form is well attested; at Random House in the last ten years we've collected examples from a variety of sources, including The New York Times and a senator's speech, as well as your example from an unquestionably distinguished writer.

The first known use of the proverb is around 1300; it was attested in America in the late eighteenth century, and is considered one of the most common English proverbs.