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Cake - Archives!!!

Posted by ESC on October 22, 2001

In Reply to: Cake - Archives!!! posted by Bill H. on October 22, 2001

: : Most people say "You can't have your cake and eat it too." But I'm sure I read somewhere that the actual expression was "You can't eat your cake and have it too." The latter seems to make more sense as once you "eatin'" you can't have, whereas you would necessarily need to have before you could eat. I can't seem to find any detailos on this???? Thanks!

: *I just found a response in the archives, although I'm sure I had read that the original was "Can't eat....."

There are variations. The sky's the limit. "You can't have your cake and eat it too -- One can't use something up and still have it to enjoy. This proverb was recorded in the book of proverbs by John Heywood in 1546, and is first attested in the United States in the 1742 'Colonial Records of Georgia' in 'Original Papers, 1735-1752.' The adage is found in varying forms: You can't eat your cake and have it too. You can't have everything and eat it too; Eat your cake and have the crumbs in bed with you, etc. ..." From Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996).

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