pie-in-the-skyとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From the noun pie in the sky.

発音

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA: /ˈpaɪ n̩ ðə ˈskaɪ/
• 韻: -aɪ

形容詞

pie-in-the-sky (comparative more pie-in-the-sky, superlative most pie-in-the-sky)

1. (idiomatic) Lacking reality and serviceability.

   a pie-in-the-sky patent

2. (idiomatic) Of a dream unlikely to ever come true; impractical, unrealizable.
   • 2000 September 10, Maggie Farley, John J. Goldman, “U.N. Crafts Plan to Change World”, in Los Angeles Times‎, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2025-06-05:

     “Halving poverty in 15 years seems like the most pie-in-the-sky goal imaginable,” said Mark Malloch Brown, head of the U.N. Development Program. “But it’s really quite doable. And the people who can do it are right here.

   • 2010 April 8, Nick Bilton, “At French Conference, Virtual Reality Meets Reality”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2025-03-22:

     There are also several augmented reality tools, meant for advertising and teaching, and some futuristic surreal experiences that remind me of scenes from Star Trek’s holodeck. Some of the virtual reality demos are very pie-in-the-sky and probably won’t see the real world for some years to come; others are just a few years away.

   • 2014 April 22, Mary Catherine O’Connor, “Reimagining growth: a new approach to business success”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2014-04-22:

     Hence the trend in many C-suites to shift the conversation away from an imagined trade-off between profits and planet, and towards a discussion about mutual benefit. The key word reverberating around the boardrooms of the world's most progressive companies is 'value' – value for business in the shape of profits, and value for everyone else in the form of a more socially just, more equitable, more environmentally friendly world in which to live. If that sounds all very pie-in-the-sky, then think again. Take B Lab. A US-based certification provider, B Lab has accredited nearly 1,000 companies that publicly commit to "harness the power of business to create public benefit … for all stakeholders, not just shareholders". This isn't whimsical stuff.

   • 2017 March 1, Anthony Zurcher, “Trump addresses Congress: A kinder, gentler president”, in BBC News‎, archived from the original on 5 June 2017:

     If his [Donald Trump's] detailing was productive, it was somewhat undermined by a final, typical Trumpian flourish of pie-in-the-sky rhetoric.

   • 2019 December 4, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Williams or Nationalisation?”, in Rail, page 3:

     In other words, the usual mix of sound thinking and pie-in-the-sky electioneering promises which convince no one.

   • 2024 April 18, Callum Jones, quoting Michael Nathanson, “Netflix profits surge as streaming service adds 9.3m subscribers in latest quarter”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     “That said, we continue to remain cautious of pie-in-the-sky forecasts that see this hockey stick continuing indefinitely,” Nathanson added […] .

語源

The phrase is originally from the song “The Preacher and the Slave” (1911) by Swedish-American labor activist and songwriter Joe Hill (1879–1915), which he wrote as a parody of the Salvation Army hymn “In the Sweet By-and-By” (published 1868). The song criticizes the Salvation Army for focusing on people’s salvation rather than on their material needs:

You will eat, bye and bye,

In that glorious land above the sky;

Work and pray, live on hay,

You’ll get pie in the sky when you die.

発音

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈpaɪ ɪn ðə ˈskaɪ/
• (General American) IPA: /ˈpaɪ ɪn ðə ˈskaɪ/, /ˈpaɪ ən ðə ˈskaɪ/
• 韻: -aɪ

名詞

pie in the sky (uncountable)

1. (idiomatic) A fanciful notion; an unrealistic or ludicrous concept; the illusory promise of a desired outcome that is unlikely to happen.
   • 1950, Anya Seton [pseudonym; Anya Seton Chase], Foxfire, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin; republished Boston, Mass.: Mariner Books, 2015, →ISBN, page 124:

     Don't you think I have anything better to do than go scrambling around hundreds of square miles of the toughest wilderness in the state looking for pie in the sky?

   • 1970, John Lennon (lyrics and music), “I Found Out”, in John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band:

     Old Hare Krishna got nothing on you / Just keep you crazy with nothing to do / Keep you occupied with pie in the sky

   • 1994, Alfred W. Crosby[, Jr.], “Demography, Maize, Land, and the American Character”, in Germs, Seeds & Animals: Studies in Ecological History (Sources and Studies in World History), Armonk, N.Y., London: M. E. Sharpe, →ISBN, page 167:

     [M]ost Americans are chronically materialistic and optimistic, more interested in short-range than long-range prospects, and have been for many generations. Pie on the table today or, at the latest, tomorrow—apple pie, mince pie, pecan pie, apricot pie, coconut cream pie, lemon meringue pie, peach cobbler pie, blueberry, blackberry, huckleberry, and pizza pie—that is what they want, not "pie in the sky," whether the source of that promise be Christianity or Marxism.

   • 2015, Sophie Hudson, “The Brat Pack Movies Didn’t Really Cover this Part”, in Home is Where My People Are: The Roads that Lead Us to Where We Belong, Carol Stream, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, →ISBN, page 117:

     […] I grew in the House Full of Practical People, so any grand, dream-chasing pursuit has always struck me as sort of pie in the sky.

   • 2020 December 2, Christian Wolmar, “Wales offers us a glimpse of an integrated transport policy”, in Rail, page 57:

     Ah, I can hear the objectors say, all this is pie in the sky and too expensive. In fact, according to Lord Burns, "this is all perfectly feasible at a reasonable cost".

同意語

• castle in the air
• eggs in moonshine
• jam tomorrow
• pipe dream
• the cake is a lie

派生語

• pie-in-the-sky (adjective)

参照

Further reading

• pie in the sky (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “The Preacher and the Slave” on YouTube