Meaning of phrase "Early/late in the piece"
I've heard people say "this early in the piece" or "this late in the piece". It seems to be spoken as a kind of idiomatic expression, but I'm not sure what it really means.
What is the meaning of the phrase?
What is the abstract "the piece" that is meant? Piece of what?
I wasn't even sure if it should be "piece" or "peace", however doing a Google search seems to come up in favour of "piece".
What is the etymology of the phrase?
Examples:
"His argument against the legislation came too late in the piece. The decision had already been made."
(Word mavens ~ Is it "late in the peace" or "late in the piece"?)
From early in the piece, even before Coombs became chair of the Australian council for the Arts in 1967 (the organization that Whitlam reinvented in 1973 as the Australia Council), Ken consulted him about aspects of the art center...
(The Many Lives of Kenneth Myer, by Sue Ebury)
As an Australian, early/late in the piece does not sound strange to me. I would say it probably is the same as early/late in the game, which does sound strange, but understandable, to me.
The piece is a series of events and could describe just about anything, such as a negotiation. The U.S. came to the table late in the piece and proceeded to throw its weight around. I have found specific instances where the piece refers to a musical piece, but generally this is not the case when these phrases are used.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a reference for this so I can't offer an explanation of the etymology without just making something up. I can only offer an Ngram and a few books as examples of the phrases in use.
Early in the piece:
- The International Ombudsman Yearbook: Volume I, 1997
- Women, Policy and Politics: The Construction of Policy Problems
- Female Ascetics: Hierarchy and Purity in an Indian Religious Movement
Late in the piece:
- ThirdWay Feb 1996
Think "early in the game". "Early", or "Late in the game" are idioms used to express a viewpoint about timeliness, using a sports analogy. I'm not sure whether the usage of piece here came about as a sort of "mixed metaphor" misusage or what, but, to me, the meaning is still obvious. Here, though, "piece" replaces "game" to describe some event. "Piece" can be used to refer to a musical performance, or any other media performance or event. It can also be used to refer to a work of writing. See http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/piece. Using either "game", or "piece", the speaker is using this to provide some color or character to what they have said.
"Piece" is being used to refer to a series of events that are a subset of a bigger picture. For the legislative example, there is a time when the outcome is malleable, and there is a later time when all parties have made their decisions and there is no longer room for negotiation or persuasion. "Piece" is referring to the actions surrounding this legislation, as though they were a play. Thus "early in" or "late in" would carry some implied meaning. Since there are parallels, "piece" is being used to describe a lot more varied series of events than a strict interpretation of the definition would allow.