# Where are you from? What does 'pie' mean to you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 6, 2004, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-from-what-does-pie-mean-to-you/267826 "2004-10-06T11:59:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-from-what-does-pie-mean-to-you/267826/101 "2004-10-07T09:54:57Z")
Pookah, you from anywhere near Dunmanus Bay in County Cork? Spent a wonderful three weeks there in the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![Winterwren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Winterwren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winterwren)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-from-what-does-pie-mean-to-you/267826/102 "2004-10-07T10:51:56Z")
New York City, born and raised; and it depends upon the usage: “Would you like some pie?” is referring to a dessert pie: fruit, custard, pecan, etc. “Do you want to **go in on a pie/go for a pie**?” refers to a pizza, a savory main-dish concotion, usually with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese, but could be more specific. “I could go for a pepperoni pie!” for example. ---
**Author:** ![Winterwren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Winterwren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winterwren)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-from-what-does-pie-mean-to-you/267826/103 "2004-10-07T10:57:45Z")
> [@Winterwren](#): > > New York City, born and raised; and it depends upon the usage: > > “Would you like some pie?” is referring to a dessert pie: fruit, custard, pecan, etc. > > “Do you want to **go in on a pie/go for a pie**?” refers to a pizza, a savory main-dish concotion, usually with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese, but could be more specific. “I could go for a pepperoni pie!” for example. Update: My sweetie from Seattle, who has lived here in NYC for twenty years or more, says that that’s weird. He never hears people refer to them as pies, just, “Would you like a pizza/a piece of pizza?” And now, as I think about it, the use of “pie” for “whole, round eight piece pizza” may be only common among adults over the age of forty-five. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-from-what-does-pie-mean-to-you/267826/104 "2004-10-07T10:59:33Z")
Born/raised in Chattanooga, TN. Pie is a baked dessert with either one or two crusts. It can have fruit or other fillings. It could also be a main dish, such as a “pot pie”. These have two crusts and are filled with a combination of meat, gravy and vegetables. I’ve never called a pizza a ‘pie’, and wouldn’t make the connection. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-from-what-does-pie-mean-to-you/267826/105 "2004-10-07T12:03:09Z")
> [@jastu](#): > > That reminds me of a conversation I overheard shortly after arriving in NZ, a guy boasting about his large dick (deck). > > Born and raised in South Australia, home of the pie floater. I have to agree with the others who have said “a pie” would be a one with meat filling and “pie” or “piece of pie” would be a dessert pie, unless playing Trivial Pursuit. > > **Calm Kiwi** Apart from Jesters, I’ve yet to find a decent meat pie in Auckland. You have to go to the pie shop at Narrow Neck beach! Their pies are so yummy. ---
**Author:** ![tsarina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@tsarina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsarina)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-from-what-does-pie-mean-to-you/267826/106 "2004-10-07T12:50:24Z")
Born and raised in Michigan. Subculture: boring whitebread Midwesterner. When I think pie, I think apple or blueberry pie with a crust on top. We have meat pies here too, but we call them pasties. They’re filled with meat, veggies, and gravy, and are completely wrapped in a crust and small enough to hold in one hand. A lot of people eat them on a plate with gravy on top, however. Mmm. I want a pastie NOW. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-from-what-does-pie-mean-to-you/267826/107 "2004-10-07T13:09:49Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > horrors…what do you put in mincemeat if not suet, and sultanas, and meat, and spices, and, and, and…damn, now i have this urge to make mincemeat for the holidays! Gotta say I’ve never made a mincemeat pie. Bought them & eaten them, yes. Made them myself, no. But I was joshing - you can get suet at the supermarket. Both unadulterated (for human consumption), and coated with birdseed & stuck in a mesh bag (for feeding to your feathered friends). ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-from-what-does-pie-mean-to-you/267826/108 "2004-10-07T13:11:30Z")
> [@tsarina](#): > > Born and raised in Michigan. Subculture: boring whitebread Midwesterner. > > When I think pie, I think apple or blueberry pie with a crust on top. > > We have meat pies here too, but we call them pasties. They’re filled with meat, veggies, and gravy, and are completely wrapped in a crust and small enough to hold in one hand. A lot of people eat them on a plate with gravy on top, however. Mmm. > > I want a pastie NOW. Oh dear here we go again. A pastie is indeed a smallish pastry encased product filled with mince, swede carrot and onions (and hog anus too probably). It is not, emphatically not, filled with gravy. It is intended to be a meal in itself (it was invented for cornish tin miners). Oddly, here in sunny London, they are the only really really decent foodstuff available at most large train stations. God bless the Original Pastie company. The Cornish also invented the stargazy pie - possibly the least attractive pie on the planet (you’ll have to google it). This sort of thing gives pies a bad name. ---
**Author:** ![Scarf-Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Scarf-Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarf-Ace)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-from-what-does-pie-mean-to-you/267826/109 "2004-10-07T14:03:39Z")
Born and raised in sunny Glasgow, Scotland. The subculture (because it falls below what culture is commonly accepted to mean), is oppressively macho in the most stupid and violent sense. I would understand a “pie” to mean a subset of the set of things which by excessive consumption would reinforce the sense of masculinity. It must also contain mushed sheep and be contained in a small, circular pastry shell about the size of a small, fat cup. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-from-what-does-pie-mean-to-you/267826/110 "2004-10-07T14:06:35Z")
> [@Scarf-Ace](#): > > Born and raised in sunny Glasgow, Scotland. > > The subculture (because it falls below what culture is commonly accepted to mean), is oppressively macho in the most stupid and violent sense. > > I would understand a “pie” to mean a subset of the set of things which by excessive consumption would reinforce the sense of masculinity. > > It must also contain mushed sheep and be contained in a small, circular pastry shell about the size of a small, fat cup. AHA! A Scotch Pie! I love them things (my Mum is a borderline weegie) and there seems to be some DNA strand from that side of the family that makes me like things like this (and square sausage, and pikelets etc etc) ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-from-what-does-pie-mean-to-you/267826/111 "2004-10-07T14:10:34Z")
Born in Massachusetts. Grew up in Georgia and New Mexico. Reside in New York City now. But I _live_ here, on the Straight Dope Message Board. Where references to “pie” usually follow someone stomping their feet and complaining about how things are run in here. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-from-what-does-pie-mean-to-you/267826/112 "2004-10-07T15:10:51Z")
> [@TeaElle](#): > > A tart, while very much like a single-crust pie, is distinguished by the pan in which it is based. A tart is more shallow than a pie, and does not have a crimped edge. It is most properly baked in a dish that has straight (not slanted) but fluted sides, [like this](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004RFPV/). To confuse matters even more, what I would call an “apple pie” (i.e. stewed apple, sugar, & spice completely enclosed in baked pastry) in Ireland is called an “apple tart”. Just that dish, though - other pies are called pies. Though I’ve noticed that pies of any stripe aren’t tremendously popular over here. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-from-what-does-pie-mean-to-you/267826/113 "2004-10-07T15:57:35Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > To confuse matters even more, what I would call an “apple pie” (i.e. stewed apple, sugar, & spice completely enclosed in baked pastry) in Ireland is called an “apple tart”. Really? I would ask for apple pie if that’s what I wanted. Maybe I picked it up when I lived in England. So, they call apple pie “apple tart” and refer to the Dutch version as “Dutch apple pie” (I’m sure that’s what they call it where I am anyway) which really is a tart. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-from-what-does-pie-mean-to-you/267826/114 "2004-10-07T16:02:44Z")
By the way. I do draw the (fruit) pie/tart distinction differently from **TeaElle** , though. To me a tart is open on the top or has a lattice style top. If the fruit is completely encased in pastry it’s not a tart in my opinion. Pie and tarts also differ in pastry usually but I feel that’s the crucial distinction to me. Not sure which nationality or location that goes with, though. Might just be my own made up rule altogether. ---
**Author:** ![Scarf-Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Scarf-Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarf-Ace)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-from-what-does-pie-mean-to-you/267826/115 "2004-10-07T20:51:54Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > AHA! A Scotch Pie! I love them things (my Mum is a borderline weegie) and there seems to be some DNA strand from that side of the family that makes me like things like this (and square sausage, and pikelets etc etc) I hate to admit it, but they do have a certain appeal, or did for me before I became vegetarian. The standard practice is to serve them piping hot, with mushy peas and vinegar and chips (french-fries). This used to be one of my favourite dishes before I heard some horror story about eyeballs and such being ground up for the contents. Even now when I see one it triggers a nostalgic sensation in my heart, and I have to check myself. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-from-what-does-pie-mean-to-you/267826.md?page=5)