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LANGUAGEGwen Ifill of PBS, my         pudding' is that it makes no
former New York Times colleague       sense," Quinion, a leading British
who has a book centering on Barack    word maven, wrote. "The full
Obama and other rising black          proverb is 'the proof of the
political leaders due to come out     pudding is in the eating' and the
on Inauguration Day, kept her cool    word 'proof' has the sense of
when her impartiality was             'test.' The proverb literally says
questioned as she was about to be     that you won't know whether the
the moderator of the Palin-Biden      food has been cooked properly
debate. Her reaction was expressed    until you try it. Or, putting it
in these words: "The proof is in      figuratively, don't assume that
the pudding. They can watch the       something is in order or believe
debate." And sure enough, she         what you are told, but judge the
played the moderating role            matter by testing it; it's much
commendably straight.But the          the same philosophy as 'seeing
"pudding" - the debate - was not      is believing."'See what you miss
what supplied the proof. Ifill,       when you chop off the end of an
like most who use that "old           adage? I will allude to the
saying," shortened it in a way        contrast of literally ("exact,
that leached out its historic         verbatim") and figuratively
meaning. The saying is not "the       ("metaphorical, symbolic") toward
proof is in the pudding," but "the    the end of this column, but first
proof of the pudding is in the        to Quinion's reference to the
eating." Same thing, no?No. The       related seeing is believing. This
first dispute over this saying is     was coined in 1609 by a student at
in its coinage. The Oxford            Cambridge, but was effectively
Dictionary of Quotations says only    undermined by a scene in the 1933
that it dates from the "early 14th    movie "Duck Soup" in which Chico
century," and the backup provided     Marx, disguised in bedclothes and
me by Oxford's Jesse Sheidlower       a mustache as Groucho, demands of
cites King Alisaunder around 1300     Margaret Dumont, "Who you gonna
writing "Jt is ywrite that every      believe, me or your own eyes?"A
thing Hymself sheweth in the          tic is a frequent minor muscular
tastyng." (See? You can read          spasm, usually of the eyelid or
Middle English. But                   cheek. A verbal tic is a word or
no puddyng.)The Oxford English        phrase used frequently by a
Dictionary cites William Camden's     speaker who may be unconscious of
"Remains Concerning Britain,"         its repetition but is noticed by
dated 1605: "All the proof of a       the audience.John McCain's tic was
pudding is in the eating."            my friends, interjected into many
Bartlett's Quotations, 17th           of his ad-lib sentences. Alerted
edition, however, cites Miguel de     to its repetition in this space,
Cervantes' novel "Don Quixote,"       he cut down on its overuse.Obama's
first published that same year.       tic was distraction, his word
That was a later English              chosen to brush aside any
translation; Cervantes' phrase in     criticism, which he also has
the Spanish original means "you       reduced since the device was well
will see it when you go to fry the    remarked. As the days of
eggs." I'll let these magisterial     campaigning dwindle, the
sources fight it out, but             refutation that springs most often
apparently this phrase, in more       to his lips begins with "I've got
than one language, was in the air     news for" (whomever, usually
about four centuries ago, and all     McCain), which has been magnified
agree that in the eating was in       in his commercials to the point
the quotation.Why am I burdening      that McCain used it himself.Joe
you with this arcana? The proof,      Biden's tic is the adverb
better defined as "test," is not      literally. After observation here
in the pudding, which could be        and elsewhere of his undue
delicious or fattening or             reliance on the intensifier, he
theme-less; rather, the judgment      clapped his hand over his mouth -
is in the mind of the person          figuratively speaking - and has
conducting the test - in the          literally, if not radically,
eating. As Ifill concluded, "Watch    reduced its usage.Sarah Palin's
the debate" and then it's up to       repeated Americanism does not
you to decide what the test           qualify as a verbal tic because
proves. That was her substitute       she uses it consciously, along
for "is in the eating."In The         with a deliberate, nonspasmodic
Daily Telegraph of London in 2004,    wink. Now that it has been widely
Michael Quinion of                    called to her attention, is she
worldwidewords.org took on this       likely to continue to use it?
tasty subject. "The principal         "You betcha!"safireonlanguage@nytimes.com$
trouble with 'the proof is in the