The phrase that I am used to hearing is, “have a slice of humble pie.” but it seems that the phrase “eat humble pie,” is more common. Of course, both phrases would have the same meaning. The idea is that the person would have to eat humble pie, be it a whole pie or a slice.
When I was young, I used to think that humble pie was really a type of pie. I wondered if I could find the recipe. I heard about eating humble pie quite often because I would hear “humble pie” on cartoons. I thought it must taste good.
As I got a little bit older, I still thought it was a real pie, but I understood the context when the phrase was said. I thought that perhaps it wasn’t something that was so delicious.
I thought there might be something called a “humbleberry,” which would be an ingredient in humble pie.
By now, I know better. I know that “eat humble pie,” is a phrase that means “to act submissively or apologetically” or “to admit to an error.”
Once I understood the meaning of the phrase, “eat humble pie,” I never thought about the origins of the phrase. I only started wondering about the origin of the phrase, “eat humble pie,” once I started researching phrase origins.
This phrase is adjacently related to the phrases “eat crow,” and “eat boiled crow,” but only because they have the same meaning. Other than the meaning being the same, the phrases are not related.
It is interesting to note that it is not thought that the phrase “eat humble pie” actually came from the word humble.
It is thought that “humble pie” originated from the word “numbles.” These are the liver, heart, entrails, etc. of an animal, especially a deer, often eating in a pie. These things are also called “offal” (often leading to the joke, “That’s an awful pie!”) This type of pie is common in the United Kingdom.
It is thought that the phrase may have been “an a numble pie,” which would often sound like “eat an umble pie.”
So, numble moved to umble which turned into humble.
The word humble has a completely different origin. It comes from the Latin and Old French word that means “loins.” (Merriam Webster defines loins as “the parts of a human being or quadruped on each side of the spinal column between the hipbone and the false ribs,” “the upper and lower abdominal regions and the regions about the hips,” or “the pubic region.” Gird is defined as “to make fast (as a sword by a belt or clothing with a cord),” so to “girl your loins” means to “clothe your pubic region.”)
It is completely plausible that those of humble situations ate umble pie, so the phrase “eat humble pie” easily moved into the vernacular.
Sources:
loins. (2010). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
Retrieved July 21, 2010, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/loins
Martin, G. (n.d.). Eat humble pie. The meanings and origins of sayings and phrases | List of sayings | English sayings | Idiom definitions | Idiom examples | Idiom origins | List of idioms | Idiom dictionary | Meaning of idioms. Retrieved July 21, 2010, from http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/eat-humble-pie.html
