“A piece of cake”in other languages

Same idea, different pictures

Most languages find easiness on the table: cake in English, a buttered roll in Polish, bread already eaten in Spanish, cold rice porridge in Korean, which needs no chewing at all. Japanese says a task can be done before breakfast, asameshi mae.

Others go by posture. Korean eats rice cake lying down, and French does the job with its fingers up its nose, les doigts dans le nez, usually traced to jockeys who won so easily they could ride with one hand idle.

Two entries lean a little differently. French c'est du nanan first meant “it's a treat”, and only then “it's easy”. English with one hand tied behind one's back is a boast: so easy I could do it handicapped.