Pie hole

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Grammarist

Pie hole is an interesting term that originated in the United States, though it is related to a British term. We will look at the meaning of the term pie hole, where it came from and some examples of its use in sentences.

Pie hole is an American term for a person’s mouth. Obviously, the idea is that the mouth is where someone puts bites of pie. Interestingly, the term pie hole has only been in use since the 1980s, though there is a British term that was in use before this time. The British corollary to the term pie hole is cake hole, a phrase used in Britain during World War II and recorded in the book Service Slang written by Hunt and Pringle in 1943. Today, cake hole has more or less fallen by the wayside. Pie hole is used when humorously discussing the process of eating something, and is often used in the phrase shut your pie hole! which means “be quiet!” According to The Oxford English Dictionary, pie hole is correctly rendered as two words, though it is sometimes seen as one word as in piehole.

Examples

Instead, it is right on the front of your face, where everyone can see it and cringe, and where it drains, unfortunately, into the last place you want it to drain: into your pie hole. (The Lake Country Sussex Sun)

Of course, the big reason these meals are so deceiving is because of the injera, the flatbread used to shuttle food from plate to pie hole. (Cleveland Scene Weekly)

Sadly, there’s no polite way to say shut your pie hole, you bore me to tears (The Guam Daily Post)