The truth is in the pudding
Posted: November 30, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: humor, idioms, the proof is in the pudding, the truth will out, words 2 CommentsA defendant was telling Judge Judy that the facts will come out shortly. This is a conflation of “the truth will out” (the facts will always be discovered) and “the proof is in the pudding” (the final results of something are the only way to judge its quality or veracity). Some may think this is a malaprop (mistaken use of a similar sounding word) – “truth” for “proof”. However, given the context, it is very likely the speaker confused two idioms resulting in a nice malaphor. A big thanks to Vicki Ameel-Kovacs for hearing this one and Mike Kovacs for his cub reporting.
Malaphors 
The way I always heard it, it was “the proof of the pudding is in the eating.” Stay well. Linda
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Very true. Over the years the expression has been shortened. Here is an interesting tidbit on the origins of the expression:
This proverbial expression of quality control dates from about 1600, appearing in print in William Camden’s Remains Concerning Britain (1605). It has been repeated many times over the centuries, particularly by British writers (including George Bernard Shaw and W. Somerset Maugham), for whom pudding is more of a basic dish than it is to Americans (it originally meant a kind of sausage, and later any food inside a crust); the Economist entitled a survey of the advertising industry “Proof of the Pudding” (June 1990). The term, generally shortened to “proof of the pudding,” survives on this side of the Atlantic as well.