magic pudding

English

Etymology

A reference to the title character in Norman Lindsay's 1918 children′s book The Magic Pudding.

Noun

magic pudding (plural magic puddings)

1. (figurative) A limitless or endlessly replenished resource.
   • 2006, Australian House of Representatives, Parliamentary debates (Hansard), House of Representatives, Volume 286, page 8,

     Medibank Private is a magic pudding which would make Norman Lindsay proud.

   • 2007, Peter Hartcher, Bipolar Nation: How to Win the 2007 Election: Quarterly Essay, number 25, page 17:

     Is this a magic pudding? A CSIRO policy economist who has worked with the modelling, Dr Steve Hatfield Dodds, said: “It's not so much a magic pudding as long-term, carefully planned structural adjustment.”

   • 2009, John Hirst, Sense and Nonsense in Australian History, page 309:

     Government was not a burden that you had to pay for; it was a magic pudding; you could cut slice after slice and there was always more.

   • 2009, Richard Everist, The Complete Guide to the Great Ocean Road, page 57:

     Unfortunately, in a world that prefers magic puddings, technological bullets and simple solutions (preferably implemented painlessly by someone else) achieving sustainability is extremely complex.