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You can't have your cake and eat it

Posted by ESC on May 14, 2003

In Reply to: You can't have your cake and eat it posted by TheFallen on May 13, 2003

: :
: : PLEASE EXPLAIN "YOU CAN'T HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO." WHY USE CAKE AS AN ANALOGY. OF COURSE, YOU WILL WANT TO EAT YOUR CAKE IF YOU HAVE IT. WHAT GOOD IS IT IF YOU DON'T EAT IT. KEEP IT AND IT ROTS.

: : jOAN

: You miss the point. Once you've eaten your cake, you won't have it any more, and so won't be able to enjoy it for a second time. I suppose this well-known phrase would be more readily comprehensible if it were "You can't eat your cake and still have it", but then again I didn't invent it. However, the point that you can't have it both ways is usually true.

From the archives (search under "cake"):
"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 the Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings by Gregory Y. Titelman.

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