pie [ME] The pie that is a dish with a pastry crust is probably the same as the pie in names of birds such as the magpie, which until the late 16th century was simply called a pie (the mag part comes from the name Margaret. It seems to have been quite common to give birds names, as in the *Robin). The various ingredients in early pies may have suggested the objects randomly collected by the ‘thieving magpie’, or its variegated colouring. The word itself comes from Latin pica ‘magpie’.

Originally pied [LME] meant ‘black and white like a magpie’ and referred to the robes of some friars. Now it chiefly refers to birds, such as the pied wagtail. Mammals such as horses are described as piebald [L16th], which also means ‘black and white’: the second part is *bald in the old sense ‘streaked with white’. The expression pie in the sky, ‘something pleasant to contemplate but very unlikely to be realized’, was originally American and comes from a song written in 1911 by Joe Hill, one of the leaders of an organization called the Industrial Workers of the World (also known as the Wobblies). Along with their union card, each member would receive a songbook containing parodies of popular songs and hymns of the day, with the motto ‘To Fan the Flames of Discontent’ on the cover. The song from which this phrase comes is called ‘The Preacher and the Slave’. It parodies a Salvation Army hymn, ‘In the Sweet Bye and Bye’, which promised those suffering on earth a better life in heaven. In response to the slave asking the preacher for some food, the chorus of the parody goes: ‘Work and pray, live on hay, / You’ll get pie in the sky when you die.’