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Dec 5, 2006
This week's theme
Desserts used metaphorically

This week's words
flummery
cakewalk
chocolate-box
ambrosia
cookie-cutter

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

cakewalk

(KAYK-wok) Pronunciation Sound Clip

noun: Something very easy to do, having little or no opposition.

[In the 19th century, cakewalk was a popular contest among slaves on the American plantations. It was a strutting dance, developed as a parody of white owners, in which couples with the most stylish steps won a cake as a prize. The dance may or may not have been easy but it was certainly a lot of fun, and eventually the term cakewalk began to be used to refer to anything easy to do. The idiom "to take the cake" has the same origin.]

"With a celebrated line-up, IOC were clear favourites. But even they would not have expected a cakewalk."
Uthra Ganesan; SRC Slip on Indian Oil, Army draw; Hindustan Times (New Delhi, India); Nov 18, 2006.

See more usage examples of cakewalk in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

X-Bonus

Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law. -Louis D. Brandeis, lawyer, judge, and writer (1856-1941)

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