Humble pie

For the hard rock band of the same name, see Humble Pie (band).

Related Topics:
Hard rock - Humble Pie (band)

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To eat humble pie, in common usage, is to apologize and face humiliation for a serious error.

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The expression derives from umble pie, which was a pie filled with liver, heart and other offal, especially of cow. These parts were known as umbles, and since they were considered inferior food, in medieval times the pie was often served to lower-class people.

Related Topics:
Pie - Liver - Heart - Offal - Cow - Medieval

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Although "umbles" and the modern word "humble" are etymologically unrelated, each word has appeared both with and without the initial "h" after the Middle Ages until the 19th century. The similarity of the two words was probably a significant factor in the evolution of "eat humble pie" as an idiom.

Related Topics:
19th century - Idiom

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