I've heard a bajillion people over the years call things "The greatest
thing since sliced bread" etc.

They're all wrong. My dad said so (smart guy). However, I've not been
able to find ANY place where the actual phrase "life's bread" is used
... the one that was eventually corrupted into "sliced bread" which is
really pretty stupid if you think about it. I mean really, what is so
special about sliced bread? Nothing.

So the question is ... has anyone else seen this (correct) quote about
the "greatest thing outside of life's bread" or "greatest thing since
life's bread" etc? "Life's bread" also makes more sense when you think
about it from the bibical perspective of the Christian God giving His
people manna from heaven ...

mynn --

Strange as it may seem in an era when sliced bread is taken completely
for granted, there is good authority for the proposition that the
phrase "greatest thing since sliced bread" does indeed mean just what
it appears to mean.

A great source for information about the derivation of words and
phrases is "The Word Detective," which began as a syndicated newspaper
column in 1995 and has evolved into a useful and entertaining on-line
resource.

As "The Word Detective" (Evan Morris) explains, the mass production of
sliced bread  began fairly recently -- in the mid-20th century -- and
it was a fairly important innovation (where would we be today without
toasters?).  Here is a link to Mr. Morris's witty discussion of that
subject:
The Word Detective
http://www.word-detective.com/back-h.html

In the last paragraph of that discussion, Morris refers to a
well-known etymologist, Christine Ammer, who opines that "the greatest
thing since sliced bread' probably originated in the American armed
forces in the middle of the 20th century."  (Fruitcakes and Couch
Potatoes, and Other Delicious Expressions, by Christine Ammer,
Plume/Penguin, (New York, 1995))

One reason for the continuing popularity of the phrase today may be
that the "invention" of sliced bread seems like such a simple thing in
retrospect.  Thus, we find ourselves saying it humorously or
sarcastically about products that are ingenious but not necessarily of
earth-shaking importance -- like a hula hoop.  Here is a link to a
discussion on the subject:
The Phrase Finder
http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin_board/1/messages/2368.html

Finally, your suggestion that the phrase might have evolved from the
phrase "life's bread" does not appear to find any support on the
Internet.  I have found only one on-line instance of "the greatest
thing since life's bread."  It is in the stenographic transcript of a
meeting of the Faculty Senate of Cleveland State University and is
almost certainly the result of a transcription error by the
stenographer.  Here is a link to the page:
Faculty Senate: Minutes of the May 2, 2001 Meeting (near the bottom of
the page)
http://www.csuohio.edu/faculty_senate/min20010502.htm


Additional Links:

The Word Detective (home page)
http://www.word-detective.com/

Alibris (where a copy of the out-of-print Ammer book may be purchased)
http://www.alibris.com/search/search.cfm?qwork=2483743&ptit=Fruitcakes%20and%20Couch%20Potatoes%2C%20and%20Other%20Delicious%20Expressions%3A%20And%20Other%20Delicious%20Expressions&pauth=Ammer%2C%20Christine&pisbn=0452273684&pbest=3%2E95&pbestnew=1000000%2E00&pqty=1&pqtynew=0&matches=1&qsort=r


Google Search Terms Used:

"since sliced bread" originated
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22since+sliced+bread%22+originated


If any of the above information is unclear or if any of the links
don't work, please let me know.

markj-ga

Eh ... while it is thorough, I still maintain that "sliced bread" is
no big deal. People were slicing bread before commercial bread
processing (I should say high volume retail bread processing) and
before we had sandiwches there wasn't much need for sliced bread
anyway.

But my dad, scholar of many things and loser of many original
reference sources, insisted this to us very early on ... ah well, I'll
keep looking. Thanks.

(any one else has thoughts or answers, please contribute!)

This topic has caught my curiosity...

Just for the sake of discussion, there were no other mistakes in that
stenographic transcript aside from one instance of "a important" which
should have been "an important".  What are the odds of confusing
"life's" with "sliced" in such a popular statement?

It appears there are a few other people using the phrase "life's"
bread also:
http://saginaw.citysearch.com/saved/userprofile/LilDebOne
"In my opinion, Bruster's Chocolate Raspberry Truffle is the best
thing since life's bread."
http://www.buffysearch.com/news/talk/986231393,70586,.shtml
"buffy the best thing since lifes bread"

Most interesting...

If I am not mistaken, pre-sliced bread came out a year after the
introduction of the home toaster. That would explain the great
popularity of sliced bread at the time of its introduction. It also
answers the question of what was the greatest thing *before* sliced
bread -- the toaster!

I love sliced bread! ;)

I wonder if this isn't a phrase that has evolved in meaning.  When I
encounter this phrase today, I gather that it is being used
facetiously.  For example, when discussing some new, over-hyped
gadget, someone might say it is the greatest thing since sliced
bread--as if to say that sliced bread was overhyped, as well.

Be that as it may, sliced bread may have been a tremendous time saver
for people who were either tired of smushing their bread during
slicing or people who invested time in baking their own bread prior to
the availability of the pre-sliced variety.

For what it is worth, I think the push-button trumps sliced bread and
toasters.  The "push button" has so many uses... I'm using "push
buttons" to compose this message now.  Many gadgets would be much
harder to use without "push buttons".

Google Answers... the greatest thing since push buttons. -G Jetson