Meaning of Idiom ‘Like Taking Candy From a Baby’
If something is like taking candy from a baby, it is extremely easy to do; too easy to do; nearly impossible to fail at.
Similar idioms are like shooting fish in a barrel, easy as pie, piece of cake, cakewalk, and turkey shoot.
This idiom has the connotation of being so easy to do it’s almost unfair and dishonest. It is often used to describe things that are deceitful or underhanded, hence the meaning above ‘too easy to do.’
An example given in McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs [note]Spears, Richard A. McGraw-Hill’s American Idioms Dictionary. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.[/note] shows this idiom being misused as a simple synonym for easy:
“Getting to the airport was easy. It was like taking candy from a baby.”
A native English speaker would use an idiom like ‘easy as pie’ in the above scenario, as this idiom tends to only be used when being sneaky and doing something dishonest is involved. Therefore, the above example sounds incorrect. The example below is a better use:
“When I was a kid, sneaking into the movies was like taking candy from a baby.”
In other scenarios, the idiom may be employed where the action is not necessarily dishonest, but is so easy as to seem unfair:
“I’m not going to fight that guy,” said the champion. “It would be like taking candy from a baby. I’ll destroy him.”
Sentence Examples
“I can always get my uncle to lend me money. It’s like taking candy from a baby.”
“Look, said the security consultant if your employees are not stealing from you, they should be. It would be like taking candy from a baby.”
“While a configured browser is nearly impossible to compromise, stealing data from misconfigured browsers is like taking candy from a baby.” — The Hacker News, March 2, 2023
“As house prices soar and demand hugely exceeds supply, earning 1 – 2 percent of a rapidly ballooning figure becomes, almost literally, as easy as taking candy from a baby.” — The Independent, April 16, 2014
Origin of Like Taking Candy from a Baby
An American idiom, like taking (or stealing) candy from a baby has been used since at least the late 1800s. It alludes to how taking candy from a baby’s hands is so easy because babies are, of course, helpless. As well, it would be cruel and downright mean to take a baby’s candy, hence the importance of the usage notes, above.
According to WordHistories.Net an early instance appears in A Dead Easy Mark, in an article about a baseball match between Columbus and Mobile published in the Columbus Daily Enquirer-Sun (Columbus, Georgia), June 11, 1896:
Folk also fielded and batted well. Columbus has, without a doubt, drawn a prize in this player. He is tricky too, and made Mobile give up one run yesterday in the ninth inning that seemed like taking candy from a baby. 1Tréguer, Pascal. “Meaning and Early Instances of the Phrase ‘like Taking Candy from a Baby’.” Word Histories, 20 June 2022, https://wordhistories.net/2018/09/29/taking-candy-baby/.
It is also found in 1898 in the Arkansas City Daily Traveler, January 1898:
The Third ward kid foot ball team beat the Fourth ward team this afternoon 18 to 4. The Third warders say winning the game was like taking candy from a baby. 2Martin, Gary. “’As Easy as Taking Candy from a Baby’ – the Meaning and Origin of This Phrase.” Phrasefinder, https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/as-easy-as-taking-candy-from-a-baby.html.
