Variations:
- Take the cake (predominantly a Nth American saying)
- Took the biscuit
Origins:
The word Biscuit has its origins in the 14th century, being derived from the Latin 'bis' [twice] & 'coquere' [cook] (because biscuits were orig. cooked in a twofold process: first baked and then dried out in a slow oven)
That aside, take the biscuit is believed to derive from the phrase 'take the cake', there are 2 popular versions of the origins, one from 19th century Southern US states, the other from the ancient greeks.
American origins
During the 1840s, black couples (both slaves and free) had a social event where they would walk around a cake, and the prize to the couple with the most 'style' would be the cake itself. This is believed in some circles to be the origin of take the cake, cakewalk and piece of cake
Ancient greece
Cakes during the 5th century were a confection of toasted cereal sweetened and bound together with honey given to soldiers as a prize for being the most vigilant on watch (no doubt it was an excellent source of energy for these fighting men), during this era Aristotle in the "The Knights" said:
So we end up with at some stage (5th or 19th century [to allow us some options]) take the cake was synonymous with winning a prize, with the development of Biscuits (14th century), if you wanted to be ironic about someone's performance you would claim they took the biscuit (being a smaller and less apetising version of the cake). Later (around the early 20th century), the meanings of both take the biscuit and take the cake began to merge, where we are at today, where they mean the same thing.
References:
- Allwords.com: Definition of Biscuit
- Origins of English sayings: Cake
- Catholic community forum discussion
- The Phrase Finder
- Brits take the biscuit (entertaining article about eccentric brits who really take the biscuit)
- answerbag: piece of cake
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