“I don’t know how many times I’ve heard it, or read it, even in this newspaper: ‘The proof is in the pudding.’ ‘No, it isn’t,’ I want to scream. ‘The proof of the pudding is in the eating.’ Cervantes wrote that four centuries ago. And don’t get me started about having your cake and eating it, too. You have to have your cake in order to eat it. The trick is to eat it and still have it.

At least it used to be, back when we knew our proverbs and weren’t misusing the word ‘proverbial.’ Not that America is going to fall apart because we butcher a few bromides. But I’m concerned about a country that’s not quite sure what it’s saying and doesn’t seem to care.” — Boston Globe Magazine