What's In a Name?

I thought I was just being clever by naming this blog "Humble Pie a la Mode." I really didn't know the origin of the term "humble pie," so I did what all good people of an academic bent do: I went to the Oxford English Dictionary. And with apologies to the vegetarians and the squeamish of stomach in my life, I'll share with you what I found out.

Humble Pie, according to the OED:

1. UMBLE PIE, a pie made of the ‘umbles’ or innards of a deer (or other animal).

2. to eat humble pie: to be very submissive; to apologize humbly; to submit to humiliation.

I promise you I was completely unaware of the first definition.

My intention was to highlight the latter definition, but with a twist. I meant to reference humility and taking what you've got and doing the best with it that you can. Humility with ice cream.

I guess the joke's on me with that innards bit, huh?

In a funny way though, the definition demonstrates my point beautifully. I was being cheeky, and I got served my very own plate of humble, from the first entry.