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60 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, March 15, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend October 12, 2004 Since you asked ’Umble pie was fodder for lessers We took visiting family to see "Humble Boy" at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. In the play, a woman named Flora Humble is going to marry a man named George Pye. So her son toasts the "Humble Pyes." That got a big laugh. But we got wondering, does anybody know where the expression humble pie comes from? — Chris M., Medford. The umbles of a deer are the heart, liver and gizzard, Chris. In the Middle Ages, when the lord of the manor and his guests dined on venison, the servants ate umble pie. So it was something done by those in a position of inferiority. The two words’ roots are quite different. Humble comes from the Latin humilis , meaning low. Umble comes from the Latin lumulus, meaning loin. Of course, in dialects such as Cockney, the h was silent. So that could have contributed to the change. Send questions to "Since You Asked," Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by e-mail to [email protected] . We’re sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Slippers Student Loans afsa teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress Advertisement s