Is ‘Pie in the Sky’ Just a Dream?

And now, Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English.

On this program, we explore words and expressions in the English language. We give examples, notes on usage, and sometimes, we use them in short conversations.

Today we talk about the sweet dish at the end of a meal -- the dessert. One of the most famous kinds of dessert is pie. With a buttery crust and sweet fillings like apple, berries, or banana cream, a well-made pie is a dreamy food, indeed.

And that gives us the expression pie in the sky.

Imagine a perfect pie coming down to you from the sky. That is like a dream. And a pie in the sky is a dream, too.

Anything described as pie-in-the-sky is fun to daydream about but is very unlikely to happen. When we act in a pie-in-the-sky manner, we are being foolishly optimistic.

Any industry or area of life can have pie-in-the-sky ideas. So, you can use this expression for different situations.

In business, let's say a company has lost money for two straight years. But the company chief promised increased earnings in the coming year. Her claims, as they say, were simply pie in the sky. She had no business plan or data to support them.

An unpublished writer may have pie-in-the-sky dreams about her book being turned into a multi-million dollar film project.

A teacher may have pie-in-the-sky wishes that all his students complete their homework on time.

Pies in the sky are empty promises or empty wishes. They are wishful thinking. They are as unlikely as tasty pies falling from the sky.

American English has another similar expression: pipe dream. The expression is also used to describe a plan, hope, or wish that is highly unlikely to happen.

However, this expression does not come from a tasty bakery. Word experts say it started in opium dens. Here, people would smoke opium in long pipes and then fall into a dreamlike state where nothing seemed real.

Now let's hear two friends using the expressions pipe dream and pie in the sky.

A: Hey, did you hear about Sarah? She's moving to Spain!

B: Really? Last week, she told me she was having trouble paying her rent.

A: Well, she told me this morning that she's moving to Madrid to open a bakery.

B: Sarah? Open a bakery? That sounds like a total pie in the sky to me. She can't even make toast.

A: You know, it sounded like a pipe dream when she told me. She didn't have details. Just a lot of dreamy talk.

B: Well, if she wants to turn her pie-in-the-sky bakery dream into a reality, I'd advise her to do one thing first – learn how to bake.

And that's all the time we have for this Words and Their Stories. Until next time, I'm Anna Matteo.

Anna Matteo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.

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butter -n. a solid yellow fatty food made by churning milk or cream : buttery -adj. containing or spread with butter

crust -n. the pastry shell of a pie

foolishly -adv. having or showing a lack of good sense, judgment, or discretion

optimistic -adj. feeling or showing hope for the future

bakery -n. a place where bread, cakes, and pastry are made or sold

opium -n. a bitter brownish addictive narcotic drug that consists of the dried latex obtained from immature seed capsules of the opium poppy

den -n. a dirty run-down place in which people live or gather

rent -n. money paid for the use of property : a periodic payment made by a tenant to the owner for the use of the owner's property