greatest thing since sliced bread

English

Sliced bread.

Alternative forms

• best thing since sliced bread
• best thing since sliced pan (Ireland)

Etymology

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

• Audio (General Australian):

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Noun

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

a relatively recent invention

• French: mieux que le fil à couper le beurre
• German: das Größte seit der Erfindung der Bratkartoffel
• Swedish: det bästa sedan skivat bröd

See also

• greatest thing since sliced bread on Wikipedia.Wikipedia