greatest thing since sliced bread

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English

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Sliced bread.

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Adapted from the advertising slogan used in 1928 by the Chillicothe Baking Company (the first company to sell sliced bread), which was as follows:

The greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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greatest thing since sliced bread

  1. (idiomatic) Something amazing, outstanding or praiseworthy, especially a relatively recent invention likely to improve people's lives.
    • 1962 December 19, Jeanne Boardman, “Hints from Heloise”, in St. Joseph Missouri Gazette, page 5:
      This column is about the greatest thing since sliced bread.
    • 1978, Joe Girard, Stanley H. Brown, How to Sell Anything to Anybody, page 104:
      Because if he starts to write a check for the full amount and I say, “Take off $250”, or “I'll throw in door-guard trim and five steel radials for nothing”, Charley is going to think I am the greatest thing since sliced bread.
    • 2007, David S. Platt, Why Software Sucks: ...and What You Can Do About It, page 208:
      It was the greatest thing since sliced bread when it first came out, and I remember selling a big project to a customer by demonstrating it.

Translations

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See also

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