The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

Ever wondere'd where the expression, "greatest thing since sliced bread" came from? Me neither. But I met somebody from a small town called Chillicothe, Missouri, which claims to be the home of sliced bread. I looked it up on the web and it seems hold water. What does this expression mean, exactly, though? I ve heard it used with both sarcasm as well as with a genuine sense of wonderment. It's put very succinctly in the following passage I swiped from some other dude's blog:

"I'm really hoping somebody can clear up some confusion I'm having. We've all heard the expression, "The best thing since sliced bread." For example, "This new inside the egg scrambler is so convenient... why, it's the best thing since sliced bread!" It's usually used to express something's greatness, the potential impact it will have in our lives and so on.But does the expression mean that:

1) the creation of sliced bread marks a point in time, and this is the best thing to come along in the time since bread was first sliced? Bread has been sliced for a long time, I think, so the expression essentially says, "This inside the egg scrambler is the best invention since the dawn of man." OR
2) the new invention has utility which is greater than that of sliced bread, that is to say, it's more useful than sliced bread.

The more I consider it, though, I'm inclined to think that the invention of sliced bread was not a good development: has anybody ever really thought about the value of low quality bread that comes already sliced versus the value of high quality bread that you have to cut yourself?I'll take the high quality bread any day. And I'll never use that expression again. It is either a gross exaggeration or an endorsement of low quality bread."

More information about sliced bread can also be found here. Just goes to show ya...keep your ears open, and you can learn something new every day.

Not much goin' on today...I actually slipped home from the lab this afternoon in order to eat lunch, read comics, and generally chill out before going back in...I am scheduled to put in a very late night in the laboratory, but because the experiment is a timed one I can't really start working until about 5pm or so...I'll probably be there 'til the wee hours of the morn, but fortunately I have the weekend off to catch up on sleep...



In other news, I've always been a bit of a sports fan...but this is friggin' ridiculous!