It's as easy as pie for the old codgers. IWSG, Origins, Weird Words, Being Thankful,

  Origins: a recurring post in which I delve into the history of a word or phrase.

Today's phrase is: Easy as pie

It's Thanksgiving, so it time to be thinking about food and pies are certainly part of the feast. It's a decidedly American phrase, just like Thanksgiving is. It's been around since at least the 1850s.

We all know what it means: something that's easy, a snap.  Unlike making a pie which is not so easy. But it also refers to something that is pleasant, which makes eating pie very easy indeed. 

It has variations - just like pie. Something can be nice as pie. Or one can say something is as pleasant as eating pie. Or you can be like Mark Twain and just use the word pie.  In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 1884, he wrote, "You're as polite as pie to them." (Whoever heard of polite pie? If you aren't careful you might get a pie in the face.) Then there's the wish or hope (maybe an unrealistic wish or hope) that something better is coming and we call that, pie in the sky. 

Today's Weird Word is: Codger

There's nothing particularly interesting about the history of the word codger. I just like it because it sounds like what it means. It's been around since the 1750s. Its origin is unknown, but probably comes from the word "cadger", meaning beggar.

Although it's usually applied to old men, I think codger can refer to any old person who is a bit of a miser or is stubborn or is even mean. However, it can also mean someone who is odd or eccentric. I like that meaning the best, because I sometimes think of myself as a bit of an eccentric old codger.

During Thanksgiving, there should always be an old codger or two hanging out in the living room complaining about "kids these days" and grumbling about "when are we eating" and asking "what kind of pie is there for dessert?"

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Posting the First Wednesday of every month, the Insecure Writer's Support Group, is the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. YOU can sign up HERE to participate.

Every month a question will be posed that may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Remember, the question is optional. You can write about anything that relates to your writing journey.

Let's give a warm welcome to our co-hosts:   Jennifer Lane, Jenni Enzor, Renee Scattergood, Rebecca Douglass, Lynn Bradshaw, and Melissa Maygrove!

This month's question is: When you began writing, what did you imagine your life as a writer would be like? Were you right, or has this experience presented you with some surprises along the way?

I began writing when I was eight and didn't imagine my life as a writer. I just wrote because I liked to write. That holds true today. There have been some pleasant surprises along the way, like winning some writing contests, getting some short stories and articles published, being a writer and editor for a newsletter that went out to 10,000 people six times a year (did that for 18 years, that's a lot of articles!), and self-publishing my books. It's been fun and enjoyable and that, for me, makes me happy for my innocent, eight-year-old self.

Quotes of the Month

• "I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual."
•  —Henry David Thoreau
• "What if, today, we were grateful for everything?" 
• —Charlie Brown
• "If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share." 
• —W. Clement Stone
• "If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough." 
• —Meister Eckhart

Being Thankful

Today I am thankful that I have enough food to share with those who don't.

What are you thankful for? What's your favorite pie? (Mine is pumpkin) When you started writing, did you imagine what your life as a writer might be like?