Mom and apple pie
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: examples: text: A case in point is the current concern over the drafting of Honors programs in our colleges. To be “against” Honors programs is now almost as unthinkable as to be “against” Mom and apple pie.
ref: 1959 February, Hugh G. J. Aitken, “A Hard Look at Honors Program: A Critical View”, in The Superior Student, volume 2, number 1, Boulder, Colo., →ISSN, page 4, column 2:
text: The seeming rambling plotlessness (and consider, in the context of Hollywood slickeries of production and Mom-and-apple-pie-isms of the era, the courage of his producers in permitting him his free-form structures, let alone his iconoclasms) puts an aura of carelessness on his work.
ref: 1972, Judith Crist, “Introduction”, in Richard J. Anobile, editor, A Flask of Fields: Verbal and Visual Gems from the Films of W. C. Fields, New York, N.Y.: Darien House Inc., →LCCN, pages 17–18:
text: MXing for Mom and apple pie […] It just so happens that Brad Lackey is one of the top ten 500сс motocrossers in the world. He’s only 20 years old and already riding with the best of them. Besides that, he’s an outasight dude doing his thing for Mom and apple pie. All us kids back in the states like to keep track of what he’s up to, and as a matter of fact, his right profile looks a bit like Peter Fonda.
ref: 1974 October 1, Steve Cornett, “[Voices of the West] MXing for Mom and apple pie”, in Charles Clayton, editor, Cycle News, volume XI, number 38, Long Beach, Calif.: Cycle News, Inc., page 4, column 2:
text: Among the treasured artifacts of Americana — right up there with “Mom and apple pie” and, of course, the Stars and Stripes, will — or should — always be this colorful, captivating reminder of the never-never land that, hopefully, will forever be with us.
ref: 1975, Tupper L. Turner, Catch the Brass Ring: Favorite Music from an Old-Fashioned Merry-Go-Round, volume 1, North Hollywood, Calif.: Klavier Records, →LCCN, column 4:
text: Club rules for the state of perfect competition are these: 1. the club must be made up of ethical people 2. the state must eschew excess profits and wealth, and resources must be rationally allocated. All this might sound like Mom and apple pie, and appear so obvious that these articles would not require restating, if it wasn’t for the fact that the basic rules for survival and performance call for the exact reverse in business activity.
ref: 1976 February 26, “Fraud Course Coming September”, in FYI, volume 2, number 21, Montreal, Que.: Concordia University, column 2:
text: And Bert Parks was part of all that. He was Mom and apple pie. He was the Miss America Pageant. […] Television now dominates our lives like nothing else in the world. Not newspapers, not magazines, not school. And to the dismay of many—not even Mom and apple pie.
ref: 1980, Katie Kelly, My Prime Time: Confessions of a TV Watcher, New York, N.Y.: Seaview Books, →ISBN, pages 130 and 168:
text: Your Stroller has been working on a new contract for himself and is getting ready to present it to the management of this paper. Your hero is just simply not paid enough. I know that your man is so much of a tradition on this campus that he’s almost as dear to your heart as Mom and apple pie, but apparently traditions aren’t so sacred anymore.
ref: 1981 July 24, The Stroller [pseudonym], “Stroller follows strike pattern”, in Northwest Missourian, volume 43, number 6, Maryville, Mo.: Northwest Missouri State University, page 2:
text: You’re such an impossible kid . . . Every normal, red-blooded, All-American (almost) 12-year-old boy should be (according to all standards) totally obnoxious. / Not to be / is to be unfaithful / to God and church / Mom and apple pie / not to mention dear old Dad.
ref: 1982, Ruth Alford Read, “To Chris”, in Dedication, Winston, Salem, N.C.: John F. Blair, →ISBN, page 46:
text: This quest for the mythic middle-American past is the exact opposite of the vision in A Boy and his Dog, where it is the values of middle America itself that have launched the devastation, and where the red-white-and-blue Mom-and-apple-pie underground town of Topeka is the demonic center of the hell it has created.
ref: 1983, H[oward] Bruce Franklin, “Don’t Look Where We’re Going: Visions of the Future in Science-Fiction Films, 1970-82”, in Science-Fiction Studies, volume 10, Greencastle, Ind., →ISSN, page 74:
text: The very mention of The Andrews Sisters is enough to conjure up visions of Mom and apple pie for most Americans. Since their first hit in the late 1930’s, “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen,” their sound has been a symbol of happiness and hope.
ref: 1985, Maxene: An Andrews Sister, New York, N.Y.: DRG Records Incorporated:
text: If the straight world is epitomized by Mom and apple pie, the epitome of the Gay world is camp and Quentin Crisp. […] There’s little joy in savaging Mom and apple pie or camp and Quentin Crisp, but I feel compelled to.
ref: 1985 March 14, Brian Jones, “Crisp Contradiction: Solving This Conundrum Leads to the Meaning of Life”, in Bay Area Reporter, volume XV, number 11, San Francisco, Calif., page 22:
text: Due to the above facts and opinions, I would consider it a pleasure to recommend this example of elegant video art and ingenuity to any and all with the will to win, and the steadfastness to win. Just remember, we’re not talking a few days of excitement, we’re talking weeks, if you can take it. For Mom and apple pie, go get them aliens, and save the Earth!
ref: 1987 October, Daniel Mumper, “Micro Deal’s "Jupiter Probe": An ST Review by Daniel Mumper”, in The MilAtari Ltd. Edition, volume 6, number 9, West Allis, Wis.: The Milwaukee Area Atari Users Group, page 13, column 2:
text: Team sports, as much a part of American life as Mom and apple pie, tend to bring us together.
ref: 1988, Diana Hacker, Rules for Writers: A Concise Handbook, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 48:
text: Our military and political leadership will continue to be haunted and influenced by the negative lessons of Vietnam. For these reasons informed Americans will not be persuaded by facile "Mom and apple pie" arguments and shallow, anti-communist rhetoric.
ref: 1988 March 30, Siebrand H. Niewenhous III, American Values versus Low Intensity Conflict, Carlisle Barracks, Pa.: U.S. Army War College, page 17:
text: None disagreed with either statement. Since ethics is the 1980s equivalent of America’s belief in Mom and apple pie, practically every respondent, as might be expected, reported that their public relations courses include ethics (93 percent).
ref: 1989 August 13, Stanley L. Harrison, Teaching Public Relations: The Role of Ethics, page 1:
text: A great statistician named George Box once said, “You know, there are things like Mom and apple pie and the flag, and then there are things that people argue about. Well, Quality is like Mom and apple pie. It isn’t something to argue about.”
ref: 1991, Lee Cheaney, Maury Cotter, “Quality—The Key Elements”, in Real People, Real Work: Parables on Leadership in the 90’s, Knoxville, Tenn.: SPC Press, Inc., →ISBN, page xvii:
text: A short chapter on product support suggesting a little more than just “Mom and apple pie.” […] It is difficult to write about the subject of product support or service without sounding like “Mom and apple pie”, but perhaps good support is of that nature.
ref: 1991, Paul Sherlock, Rethinking Business to Business Marketing, New York, N.Y.: The Free Press, →ISBN, pages viii (Contents) and 127 (Product Support):
text: The real story of the Democratic Party lies beyond the pall of the handlers. It lies beyond the red, white, and blue multi-media antics within Madison Square Garden or before the fawning and yammering of press legions. It lies beyond the small-town Mom and apple pie images projected onto arena video-walls or bunted along the perimeter of midwestern Amtrak or Greyhound stations.
ref: 1992, George Grant, Hillarious: The Wacky Wit, Wisdom, and Wonderment of Hillary Rodham-Clinton, Franklin, Tenn.: Adroit Press, →ISBN, page 9:
text: Today, Coke is sold in 160 countries around the world. And, although a bottle of Coke may no longer cure a headache, it still is about as all-American as Mom and apple pie.
ref: 1994 December, “[Did You Know?] It’s True…Coca-Cola Began as a Headache Cure!”, in Eric Jameson, Karen Secor, editors, The Token Hunter: […], volume 13, number 12, [South Salt Lake, Ut.]: National Utah Token Society, column 3:
text: There was a time when the PTA was as wholesome as Mom and apple pie; the school bake sale funded much needed library books; and parents’ input generally had a positive impact on the school’s governance. […] Unfortunately, it should no longer be equated with Mom and apple pie.
ref: 1995, Jeanne Allen with Angela Dale, The School Reform Handbook: How to Improve Your Schools, Washington, D.C.: The Center for Education Reform, →ISBN, pages 59–60:
text: Like Mom and apple pie, America has come to love the very idea of Route 66. More than a highway concerning the Midwest to the Pacific Coast, this is a road that connected people.
ref: 1996, “Introduction”, in Route 66 Dine In Cookbook: Flavors of Route 66 in the Comfort of Your Own Home!, Mesa, Ariz.: Terrell Publishing Co., →ISBN:
text: General Pedagogy – traditional “goods” of basic foundation, basic skills, prepare students to succeed in society, develop self-confidence, and provide a balanced education. In sum, general pedagogy was “Mom and apple pie.”
ref: 1997 October, Michelle Aston, Adrienne E. Hyle, Social Networks, Teacher Beliefs, and Educational Change, page 38:
text: Is this objective acceptable to the American public as well as other affected parties? In my view, our objectives are generally written in “Mom and apple pie” terms that have always been and will probably continue to be our general objectives.
ref: 1998, National Defense University, Lost Priorities, pages 3–4:
text: “[…] Every generation has their own references. We also can’t think about the Bates Motel without a shower curtain, knife, and a scream.” / “Yeah, me too,” I eagerly agreed. / “Well, you’ve got to think about your own. Like Mom and apple pie, although that must be a pre–World War II reference because my mom never made an apple pie in her life.[…]”
ref: 2001, Erika Lopez, Hoochie Mama: The Other White Meat (Trilogy of Tomatoes), New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 66:
text: Apples symbolize some of our strongest values: health—an apple a day keeps the doctor away; education—the shiny red apple for the teacher; family—Mom and apple pie; and the flag—as American as apple pie. […] Mom and apple pie will always be part of our national mythology, as well as the Thanksgiving Day tableau of five pies cooling on the sill, Grandma wiping her brow but still smiling.
ref: 2005, Anne Dimock, Humble Pie: Musings on What Lies Beneath the Crust, Kansas City, Mo.: Andrews McMeel Publishing, →ISBN, pages 56 (Apple) and 95 (Pie as Feminist Tool):
text: “Nikolas, growth is as American as Mom and apple pie,” my father would say to me—he loved using all-American expressions like that. […] It occurred to me that kudzu was now becoming as American as Mom and apple pie.
ref: 2005, Paul Hemp, “Growing for Broke”, in When Your Strategy Stalls (Management Dilemmas), Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press, →ISBN, pages 107 and 118:
text: The Salvation Army lassies could certainly take a lot of credit for the improved standing of the all-American pastry. Yet even so, in 1918, the transformation wasn’t complete. At the time, the donut still shared the stage with Mom and apple pie as embodiments of what the doughboys had fought for.
ref: 2014, Michael Krondl, The Donut: History, Recipes, and Lore from Boston to Berlin, Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Review Press, →ISBN, page 58:
text: In the campaign, William Henry “Tippecanoe” Harrison and John Tyler used images of log cabins and cider barrels as symbols of their authenticity against patrician incumbent Martin Van Buren—the 1840s version of running on Mom and apple pie. […] The point: Harrison was as obsolete as log cabins and cider. Not Mom and apple pie—gramophones and leisure suits.
ref: 2015, Jeff Alworth, Cider Made Simple: All About Your New Favorite Drink, San Francisco, Calif.: Chronicle Books, →ISBN, page 127:
glosses: Alternative letter-case form of mom and apple pie.