How do you do one?
A cakewalk is where participants walk around on a circle of numbers, stopping when the music stops. (Imagine musical chairs with numbers on the ground instead of chairs.) Each number corresponds to a cake or other tasty treat donated by volunteers in order to raise money. Participants purchase tickets, walk around, and end up with a cake. The trick would be to time it so that you stop on the number of the chocolate devilsfood instead of the fruitcake. Either way, everyone wins something, hence the phrase “easy as a cakewalk”.
I wouldn’t have believed this definition if I hadn’t seen it for myself:
My Lighter, American Slang kinda supports the black/dance theory, though he attributes the word to boxing origin/usage.
He specifically says "1877, D. Graham Walking for Dat Cake(popular song title). His next reference in print is from an 1897 fight which was described as a cake walk for one of the participants.
Just checked another of my books-Matthews A Dictionary of Americanisms which reveals 1879, Harper’s Mag. Reader, didst ever attend a cake walk given by the colored folks?
Thanks for the answers. The reason I was asking was that I looked it up and found that it was some sort of dance contest where the couples who promenade the best win a cake. However, I distinctly remember attending a cakewalk when I was young where there were numbers on the floor and and people would stop on a number corresponding to a cake. I guess they’re both fun ways of getting cake.
Deb
I was once involved with various vintage dance activities, and I was told by people more involved about the origin of the term being the politically incorrect slave dance competition. I was also told that the winner of the dance competition obviously “takes the cake”, hence the origin of that term.
The rhythm used was much the same as early Ragtime and, in fact, the word ‘Cakewalk’ was often used in the titles of
pieces, as in Swipesy’s Cakewalk, or elsewhere on
the cover page of the sheet music.
Based on the illustrations on some of these covers, it looks like a cakewalk was usually a sort of high-stepping march.
To take IGerstein’s “to take the cake” a bit farther…
From Lighter 1842!! …will ‘rake the cakes’
1847…'They got up a horse and fifty dolars in money a side…The winning horse take the cakes.
So, IMHO, the “take the cake” idea goes back before the cakewalk thingy.
I wish I had more to add. I’ve been playing ragtime piano for many years, and yes, a cakewalk is a sort of march/dance tune that was used to accompany dance contests.
Actually, the few cakewalks I’ve attended were all church fundraisers. Whoever got their number called got to pick their choice from the pile of baked goods. I’d heard the historical definition, however, and suspect the one is derived from the other.