Learn English – Why is a bad bowler called a ‘pie-thrower’

etymologyidiomssports

A poor bowler is called a 'pie-thrower' or a 'pie-chucker'. Does anyone know why this is so; particularly, why 'pie' was adopted for this phrase when it could have been just about anything?

Best Answer

This is just a guess, because I don't see any specific mention of "pie thrower" in the OED or any of my other big dictionaries, but my Webster's Third New International Dictionary (Unabridged) lists one of the meanings as: "something easy or much desired" (as in "it was easy as pie"). Perhaps that is part of it, as in bowling something that is slow and easy to hit. Also, if you think about how a pie is thrown, you realize it doesn't go very fast and it is big and fat and round ... not something a competent batsman would miss, I should think.