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Reader question: “The new smartphone seems like a quality piece, but the proof is in the pudding, as they say.” What does it mean? My comments: Perhaps the speaker wants you to buy the new smartphone, but he’s not so sure. The speaker says it looks like a good piece of work, but admits that you can only know for sure after using it. But there’s the rub – you have to buy the phone to use it. If it turns out to be good, that’s alright. If it turns out to be a disappointment, the payment is already made. What can you do? That’s why one can never be so sure in giving out advice. Anyways, the speaker here is smart enough to admit that you have to try it yourself because, well, the proof is in the pudding. The full expression is the proof of the pudding is in its eating, an American expression, to be sure, judging from its simplicity. A beautiful expression it is too, meaning you have to eat the pudding to know exactly how good (or bad) it tastes. Any other food likewise. You have to taste it to know for certain. Hearsay won’t do it. People sometimes tell you, for example, that such and such a restaurant is very good. But you have to dine there once to really know whether it is true. In other words, experience trumps hearsay. That’s basically the idea of the proof of the pudding being in its eating. Only when you try it will you know. As the late Teresa Teng sang: You ask me whether love is something sweet; I have never been in love yet. How can I know? | 
