easy peasy

E

easy peasy lemon squeezy

Meaning

  • very straightforward
  • simple to do or understand
  • very easy
  • presenting no difficulty

Example Sentences

  1. Just copy what I do. It’s easy peasy.
  2. Sam always thought it would be challenging to ride a bike, but it was easy-peasy once you get the hang of it.
  3. Come and join the course. The classes are easy-peasy at the start.
  4. It’s easy-peasy to book online; a child could do it.
  5. You show us all up when you make it look easy-peasy.
  6. Once he’d figured it out, it was easy peasy.

Origin

It is an informal British phrase, mainly used by children and people talking to children. It is often extended with more jokey rhyming forms, such as easy-peasy, lemon squeezy, or easy-peasy, Japanesy.

The lemon squeezy addition supposedly originates from a television commercial for Sqezy washing up liquid in a plastic bottle dating from the 50s to the 70s.

The earliest it has been found in print is in January 1953, when an American journalist (Ellis Brownell Radcliffe) reviewed the British film ‘Breaking the Sound Barrier’ by saying:

 “The flight is such an easy-peasy affair for the air travellers; they seem to be motionless in a fantastic and lovely, sun-drenched cloudland.”

A slightly different version of the phrase “easy-weasy,” can be traced back to 1911 in Aberdeen Daily News, South Dakota  May 10, 1911. It reads:

“Groton Independent: All this talk about a compromise candidate for governor next year by taking up some easy weasy who hasn’t enough red blood in his veins to get into a scrap — especially with the opportunity afforded during the past few years—makes us tired.”

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