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Cake

Posted by ESC on June 09, 2000

In Reply to: NEED TO KNOW posted by PInder on June 09, 2000

: You can't have your cake and eat it too

From the archives (October 1999 discussion):
From Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings by Gregory Y. Titelman:
: "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. ..."
: And then there's the country song, "You Can't Have Your Kate and Edith too."

Another play on this came up in the now defunct
BBC radio show 'My Word'. Part of the show involved
the writer Dennis Norden making up alternative
origins of phrases. He went into a comic story
about an Eskimo who tried to keep warm on fishing
trips using a parafin stove. The resulting fire
lead to the punch line - 'You can't have your kayak
and heat it too'.

Gary

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