{"id":24114,"date":"2025-07-10T12:09:51","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T12:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=24114"},"modified":"2025-07-10T12:09:51","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T12:09:51","slug":"pie-in-the-sky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=24114","title":{"rendered":"Pie in the Sky"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If something is unlikely to happen, you might say that it&#8217;s just <strong>pie in the sky<\/strong>. Have you ever wondered where this expression comes from? Let&#8217;s find out.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/pippijewelry\/5714801696\/in\/photolist-9GZRrJ-2pPk5AD-AQPViK-Ud53xu-2gJ68HF-LDp1rq-KVn5w3-2qYqoCA-2oBoQ3A-5Qch96-227j5U6-gDCyuD-2mZdhAq-Bb4uNK-mT1Lw3-2kisayN-5f71np-2pEfPZd-pWfCVy-it7ucL-NfLLNz-2pxvNRk-2p1LJzq-2qEkCPP-2r2nb9U-KyaKH-qiZwYx-2hTR5DX-pgDvne-2iu9KWa-B3qdNZ-2mZcngB-2qYwMtq-2aHfQuX-2qSopHK-2iZKRvn-CEqSf-9U8Vt2-PdD8J-2o9dPoc-aFexWN-yKW2y-2mQMTPZ-KqvMgP-C4zip6-2owzpBD-2cmDsmg-2qYwMxy-2mYKhNo-3h571\" title=\"Blueberry Pie In The Sky\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/3255\/5714801696_6a63481dd7_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" alt=\"Blueberry Pie In The Sky\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>Pie in the sky<\/strong> refers to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>a fanciful notion<\/li>\n<li>an unrealistic or ludicrous concept<\/li>\n<li>the illusory promise of a desired outcome that is unlikely to happen.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It first appeared in a song called <em>The Preacher and the Slave<\/em> written and published in 1911 by Joe Hill (1879\u20131915), a Swedish-American labour activist and songwriter. He wrote it as a parody of a Salvation Army hymn  <em>In the Sweet By-and-By<\/em>, which was published in 1868. It is a criticism of the Salvation Army&#8217;s focus on future salvation rather than on present deprivations [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/pie_in_the_sky\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>The phrase appears in the chorus of the song, which goes something like this:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>You will eat bye and bye<br \/>\nIn that glorious land above the sky<br \/>\nWork and pray live on hay<br \/>\nYou&#8217;ll get pie in the sky when you die\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>You can hear this song sung by Utah Phillips here:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PJ236CwhlPw?si=Xy5WnFPqa3A2YQmF\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>More details of this song and pie in the sky:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Preacher_and_the_Slave\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Preacher_and_the_Slave<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.phrases.org.uk\/meanings\/pie-in-the-sky.html\">https:\/\/www.phrases.org.uk\/meanings\/pie-in-the-sky.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a song I wrote recently based on this phrase, called Pie In The Sky:<\/p>\n<p>If you fly up high<br \/>\nand open your eyes<br \/>\nyou might just spy<br \/>\nsome pie in the sky<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the rainbow<br \/>\nyou might just find<br \/>\na pretty pot of gold<br \/>\nor so I&#8217;ve been told<\/p>\n<p>If you search here and there<br \/>\nand everywhere<br \/>\nyou might just snare<br \/>\na castle in the air<\/p>\n<p>Whatever you seek<br \/>\nWherever you peek<br \/>\nYou might just see<br \/>\nsomething unique<\/p>\n<p>So open your eyes<br \/>\nand your ears and your mind<br \/>\ncause you never know<br \/>\nwhat you might find<br \/>\ncause you never know<br \/>\nwhat you might find<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/2121583155&#038;color=%23ff5500&#038;auto_play=false&#038;hide_related=false&#038;show_comments=true&#038;show_user=true&#038;show_reposts=false&#038;show_teaser=true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/simon-ager\" title=\"Simon Ager\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\">Simon Ager<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/simon-ager\/pie-in-the-sky\" title=\"Pie In The Sky\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\">Pie In The Sky<\/a><\/div>\n<p>Other phrases that refer to fanciful notions or things that are unlikely to happen include: <strong>castle(s) in the air<\/strong>, <strong>eggs in moonshine<\/strong>, <strong>jam tomorrow<\/strong>, <strong>pipe dreams<\/strong> and <strong>the cake is a lie<\/strong> in English [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/pie_in_the_sky\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>In French you might talk about <strong>une promesse en l&#8217;air<\/strong> (an empty promise, lit. &#8220;a promise in the air&#8221;), <strong>un ch\u00e2teau en Espagne<\/strong> (a castle in Spain), or <strong>des paroles en l&#8217;air<\/strong> (empty words, lit. &#8220;words in the air&#8221;) [<a href=\"https:\/\/dictionary.reverso.net\/english-french\/pie+in+the+sky\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>In German you might refer to <strong>Zukunftsmusik<\/strong> (future music), <strong>ein Luftschloss<\/strong> (a castle in the air), or <strong>das Blaue vom Himmel<\/strong> (the blue of the sky) [<a href=\"https:\/\/dictionary.reverso.net\/english-german\/pie+in+the+sky\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>In Welsh it&#8217;s <strong>breuddwyd gwrach<\/strong> (a witch&#8217;s dream) [<a href=\"https:\/\/geiriaduracademi.org\/\">source<\/a>], in Irish you might talk about <strong>caisle\u00e1in \u00f3ir<\/strong> (golden castles) [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.teanglann.ie\/en\/eid\/castle\">source<\/a>], and in Swahili you could mention <strong>raha ya mbinguni<\/strong> (heavenly bliss) or <strong>ndoto za mchana<\/strong> (daydreams) [<a href=\"https:\/\/swahili-dictionary.com\/english-swahili\/pie_pie\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>What about in other languages?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.japanesepod101.com\/member\/go.php?r=759259&amp;i=b0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/banners\/banner_japanesepod.jpg\" alt=\"The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com\" width=\"630\" height=\"83\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- Blog horizontal --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\n     style=\"display:block\"\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     data-ad-slot=\"1685480124\"\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If something is unlikely to happen, you might say that it&#8217;s just pie in the sky. Have you ever wondered where this expression comes from? Let&#8217;s find out. Pie in the sky refers to: a fanciful notion an unrealistic or ludicrous concept the illusory promise of a desired outcome that is unlikely to happen. It [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,107,111,116,127,10,29,62,66,77,78],"tags":[456,158,457,138,281,455,458,163],"class_list":["post-24114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-etymology","category-french","category-german","category-irish","category-language","category-music","category-songs","category-swahili","category-welsh","category-words-and-phrases","tag-castles-in-the-air","tag-etymology","tag-fanciful-notions","tag-language","tag-omniglot","tag-pie-in-the-sky","tag-songs","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24114"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24116,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24114\/revisions\/24116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}